FINAL CAUSES. 



qiiiries, we are sure to arrive at boundaries 

 Avithin which our powers are circumscribed. Infi- 

 nity meets us in every direction, whetlier in the 

 ascending or descending scale of magnitude ; 

 and we feel the impotence 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 infi- 

 nitely 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 reasoning, by which we are con- 

 ducted to the knowledge 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 Avith in the 

 study of other departments of philosophy. 



The proper objects of all human knowledge 

 are the relations that exist among the phenomena 

 of which the mind has cognizance. The pheno- 

 mena of the universe may be viewed as con- 

 nected with one another either by the relation of 

 cause and effect, or by that of means and end ; and 

 accordingly these two classes of relations give 



