OF NATURE, 



FIRST VIEW. 



NATURE is that fyftem of laws eflabliiliecl 

 by the Creator for regulating the exis- 

 tence of bodies, and the fucceffion of beings. 

 Nature is not a body ; for this body would com- 

 prehend every thing. Neither is it a being ; 

 for this being would neceifarily be God. But 

 Nature may be coniidcred as an immenfe living 

 power, which animates the uuiverfe, and which, 

 in fubordination to the iirft and fupreme Being, 

 began to ait by his command, and its action is 

 Mill continued by his concurrence or confen:. 

 This power is that portion of the divine power* 

 which manifefts itfelf to men. it is at once the 

 cauie and the effect, the mode and the fubftance, 

 the defign and the execution. Very different ■ 

 from human art, whole productions are only- 

 dead works, Nature is herfelf a work perpetual- 

 ly alive, an active and never ceafing operator, 

 who knows how to employ every material, and, 

 though always labouring on the fame invariable 

 plan, her power, inftead of being lelTened, h 

 perfectly inexhauftible. Time, ipace, and mat- 

 ter, are her means ; the univerfe her object j mo- 

 tion and life her end. 



The 



