OFNATURE. 21 



his Author through the ends of creation ; he is appointed a fit inhabitant of the earth, 

 that he may fhew forth the praifes of the mod high. " This contemplation of Nature 

 " may be juftly confidered as a celeftial pleafure efcaped from the porch of the ban- 

 " queting houfe of heaven ; and the mind which partakes of it, though encumbered 

 " with the darknefs of human nature, enjoys a part of the celedial light, and fpends 

 " this life below as if in a terreftrial paradife *." — " Neither can true piety, nor the 

 " full meafure of gratitude which is due to God, be perfectly comprehended without 

 " a knowledge of Nature : Man was made for the contemplation and admiration of 

 " his God ; and to this noble object the bed and readied courfe lies through the dudy 

 " of natural knowledge f." 



Wifdom, an emanation of the Divine Spirit, is man's highed perfection ; by it he 

 forms proper conclufions concerning fuch things as prefent themfelves to his fenfes, 

 which can only take cognifance of fuch natural objects as are immediately around, and 

 within reach of their fpheres of action. Hence the fird itep towards the attainment 

 of wifdom is to know natural bodies, and to diftinguiih them from each other : This 

 diftinctive knowledge requires that jud ideas be formed of each particular body, and 

 of all the marks imprinted on them by Nature, whereby they may each be difcrimi- 

 nated from every other body ; and, that this knowledge may be communicable, diflinct 

 proper names mult be affixed to each individual object. - y for, unlefs the name of any 

 object is known, it becomes impoffible to apply fuch knowledge as may be already dif- 

 covered on the fubject to its proper object. Thefe are the elements and alphabet of 

 the Science of Nature, which cannot pofiibly be dudied to advantage by any one who 

 is ignorant of this neceffary preliminary knowledge. " When the proper genus of 

 " any object is unknown, even the molt accurate and elaborate defcription cannot 

 " convey any certain knowledge of what is meant, but mud for the mod part remaia 

 " vague and uncertain {."' 



Methodical 



• Art. Holm. 



f Cicero. — After the death of Marcus Aurelius, the foldiers elefted feveral Emperors who hardly 

 knew how to write their names ; thefe illiterate princes, confidering learned men as lazy and ufelefs 

 drones, left learning entirely to the cloifters. The Monks at firft held the fludy of Nature in contempt; 

 they next afperfed it as unattainable ; and, laftly, they perfecuted its followers as forcerers : From this 

 time natural knowledge, and the revealed will of God, came to be confidered as contradictory to each 

 other; and, from the influence of this error, many bigots, even to this day, dill perfifl in fanclitied igno- 

 rance. Suhm, An. Nidrof. 1763. 



X C.iefalpinus. 



