and, enlarging the understanding, may elevate 

 the affections while they improve the heart. 



Such a study, I am aware, if prosecuted in all 

 its bearings, leads to deep and abstruse investi- 

 gations, unsuitable to the habits of the great mass 

 of readers, and not to be engaged in with advan- 

 tage but by men of literary and philosophical 

 minds. A Bacon, a Newton, and a La Place, 

 appear only at long intervals, to illuminate suc- 

 cessive ages ; and the humble task of even fol- 

 lowing in the arduous path which these, and such 

 wonderful men, have opened up, is not within 

 the range of ordinary pursuits, or within the 

 reach of ordinary minds. But if the rich ore of 

 nature lies deep, there are, nevertheless, dia- 

 monds and pearls to be found near the surface ; 

 and over the whole face of the earth are scattered 

 stores of loveliness, which even a common eye 

 can delight to contemplate, and flowers of sur- 

 passing fragrance and beauty, which even a com- 

 mon hand can pluck. 



Above all, there are footsteps of a Creator so 

 palpable, that he who runs may read them ; and 

 such an exercise is the noblest and most satis- 

 factory in which the human mind can engage. 

 There is indeed something unspeakably grand 

 arid affecting in the belief which this study con- 

 firms, if it does not originate, that the Almighty 

 framer of innumerable worlds He who called 

 all things from nothing into existence by the 

 word of his power, and still sustains them in 

 beauty, and order, and harmony, by the wisdom 



