2 5 o OF NATURE. 



The phaenomena of the univerfe are the ef- 

 fects of this power. The fprings fhe employs 

 are active forces, which time and fpace can only 

 meafure and limit, hut never deftroy; forces which 

 balance, mix, and oppofe, without being able 

 to annihilate each other. Some penetrate and 

 tranfport bodies, others heat and animate them. 

 Attraction and impulfion are the two prin- 

 cipal inftruments by which this power adls 

 upon brute matter. Heat and organic particles 

 are the acYive principles me employs in the for- 

 mation and expanfion of organized beings. 



With fuch inilruments, what can limit the o- 

 perations of Nature? To render her omnipotent, 

 ihe wants only the power of creating and an- 

 nihilating. But thefe two extremes of power 

 the Almighty has referved to himfelf alone. To 

 create and to annihilate, are his peculiar attri- 

 butes. To change, to deftroy, to unfold, to re- 

 new, to produce, are the only privileges he has 

 conferred on another agent. Nature, the mini- 

 fter of his irrevocable commands, the depofitary 

 of his immutable decrees, never deviates from 

 the laws he has prefcribed to her. She alters no 

 part of his original plan ; and, in all her opera- 

 tions, fhe exhibits the zeal of the eternal Lord 

 of the univerfe. This divine impreflion, this 

 unalterable prototype of all exiftence, is the 

 model upon which fhe operates ; a model, all 

 the features of which are expreiTed in characters 

 fo ftrongly marked, that nothing can poffibly ef- 

 face j 



