NATURAL THEOLOGY. 51 



(jf sensible forms. Also every animated being has 

 its sensorium ; that is, a certain portion of space, 

 within which perception and vohtion are exerted. 

 This sphere may be enlarged to an indefinite ex- 

 tent ; may comprehend the universe ; and, being 

 so imagined, may serve to furnish us with as good 

 a notion, as we are capable of forming, of the im- 

 mensity of the Divine Nature, i. e. of a divine Be- 

 ing, infinite, as well in essence as in power; yet 

 nevertheless a person. 



" No man hath seen God at any time." And 

 this, I believe, makes the great difficulty. Now it 

 is a difficulty which chiefly arises from our not 

 duly estimating the state of our faculties. The 

 Deity, it is true, is the object of none of our senses : 

 but reflect what limitted capacities animal senses 

 are. Many animals seem to have but one sense, 

 or perhaps two at the most ; touch and taste. 

 Ought such an animal to conclude against the ex- 

 istence of odours, sounds, and colours ? To ano- 

 ther species is given the sense of smelling. This 

 is an advance in the knowledge of the powers 

 and properties of nature : but, if this favoured 

 animal should infer from its superiority over the 

 class last described, that it perceived every thing 

 which was perceptible in nature, it is known to us, 

 though perhaps not suspected by the animal itself, 

 that it proceeded upon a false and presumtuous 

 estimate of its faculties. To another is added the 

 sense of hearing; which lets in a class of sensations 

 entirely unconceived by the animal before spoken 



