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either above or below, nor understand the 

 prime and moving cause of all things ; but 

 if we can trace the causes of good and evil, 

 so far as to enable us to promote the effects 

 of the one, and prevent those of the other, 

 we ought to be satisfied. In this viev r it be- 

 comes a necessary law of nature, that one 

 part of the creation should, to a certain ex- 

 tent, destroy another. So, even the vermin 

 may be necessary to destroy, to a certain 

 extent, the produce of fruit trees. But 

 when those become too numerous, and too 

 powerful, it is the business of man to pre- 

 serve the balance ; and this seems to be 

 all he has to do, and all he can do to 

 check the operations of nature, when too 

 violent, and to support and assist them 

 when too weak ; and ,for this purpose na- 

 ture has endowed him with superiorjpowers. 

 By destruction, it must be understood I 



