318 RELIGIOUS VIEWS. 



" not only because I do not feel myself sufficiently 

 strong to find in nature that which shall convince 

 obstinate atheists, but because such knowledge 

 without Jesus Christ is useless and sterile." It 

 is obvious that such a state of mind would pre- 

 vent this writer from encouraging or dwelling 

 upon the grounds of natural religion ; while yet 

 he himself is an example of that which we wish 

 to illustrate, that those who have obtained the 

 furthest insight into nature, have been in all ages 

 firm believers in God. " Nature," he says in 

 another place, " has perfections in order to show 

 that she is the image of God, and defects in order 

 to show that she is only his image."* 



Boyle was not only a most pious man as well 

 as a great philosopher, but he exerted himself 

 very often and earnestly in his writings to show 

 the bearing of his natural philosophy upon his 

 views of the divine attributes, and of the govern- 

 ment of the world. Many of these dissertations 

 convey trains of thought and reasoning which 

 have never been surpast for their combination of 

 judicious sobriety in not pressing his arguments 

 too far, with fervent devotion in his conceptions 

 of the Divine nature. As examples of these 

 merits, we might adduce almost any portion of 

 his tracts on these subjects ; for instance, his 

 " Inquiry into the Final Causes of Natural 



* Pensees, Art. viii. 1. 



