4 FINAL CAUSES. 



exist worlds far removed from the cognizance of 

 every human sense, however assisted by the utmost 

 refinements of art ; worlds occupied by the elemen- 

 tary corpuscles of matter, composing, by their 

 various configurations, systems upon systems, and 

 comprising endless diversities of motions, of com- 

 plicated changes, and of widely extended series of 

 causes and effects, destined for ever to remain 

 invisible to human eyes, and inscrutable to human 

 science. 



Thus, in whatever field we pursue our inquiries, 

 we are sure to arrive at boundaries within which 

 our powers are circumscribed. Infinity meets us 

 in every direction, whether in the ascending or de- 

 scending scale of magnitude : and we feel the im- 

 potence of our utmost efforts to fathom the depths 

 of creation, or to form any adequate conception of 

 that Supreme and Dominant Intelligence, which 

 comprehends the whole chain of being extending 

 from that which is infinitely small to that which is 

 infinitely great. 



It is incumbent on us, before engaging in a study 

 of such vast importance, and extending over so 

 wide a field as that which lies before us, to examine 

 with attention the nature of those processes of rea- 

 soning by which we are conducted to the know- 

 ledge of the peculiar class of truths we are seeking. 

 Such a preliminary inquiry is the more necessary, 

 inasmuch as the investigation of these truths is 

 beset with many formidable difficulties, and liable 

 to various sources of fallacy, which are not met with 

 in the study of other departments of philosophy. 



The proper objects of all human knowledge are 

 the relations that exist among the phenomena of 



