473 



pleasure, of a considerable part of the animal creation. The 

 using of the means of defence, or flight, or precaution, forms also 

 the business of another part. And even of this latter tribe, we 

 have no reason to suppose that their happiness is much molested 

 by their fears. Their danger exists continually; and in some 

 cases they seem to be so far sensible of it as to provide in the 

 best manner they can against it; but it is only when the attack is 

 actually made upon them, that they appear to suffer from it. To 

 contemplate the insecurity of their condition with anxiety and 

 dread, requires a degree of reflection which (happily for them- 

 selves) they do not possess." 



On such a system the brahmin would have concluded with the 

 religious philosopher of Europe, " that if one train of thinking be 

 more desirable than another, it is that which regards the phe- 

 nomena of nature with a constant reference to a supreme intelli- 

 gent Author: to have made this the ruling, the habitual sentiment 

 of our minds, is to have laid the foundation of every thing which 

 is religious. The world henceforth becomes a temple, and life 

 itself one continued act of adoration: the change is no less than 

 this, that, whereas formerly God was seldom in our thoughts, we 

 can now scarcely look upon any thing without perceiving its rela- 

 tion to him. Every organized natural body, in the provisions 

 which it contains for its sustentation and propagation, testifies a 

 care on the part of the Creator expressly directed to these pur- 

 poses. The works of nature want only to be contemplated; when 

 contemplated, they have every thing in them which can astonish 

 by their greatness. For, of the vast scale of operation through 

 which our discoveries carry us, at one end we see an intelligent 



VOL. II. 3 p 



