M l C R O S COP ICA L E S S A'Y S; 



it with refpeft, becaufe we are beholding a fcene behind which 

 the supreme artist is concealed from our eyes. 



We may hence, alfo, perceive that the operations of infers are 

 the ultimate refult of the principles of life, upon their organiza- 

 tion, which correfponds to the part they are to aft: in the grand 

 machine of the world ; they are, indeed, but fmall parts, but 

 then thefe parts concur to produce one general effecl, by their 

 being interwoven with more important ones ; fo that the thread 

 fpun by a caterpillar has it's relations to the univerfe as well as 

 the ring of Saturn.* But how immenfe the number of parts, 

 which are interpofed between this thread and the ring of Saturn* 

 and between Saturn and the worlds of Syrius ! If the uni- 

 verfe is one whole, the thread of the caterpillar will alfo be 

 connected with the worlds of Syrius. How great mud. that mind 

 be which can comprehend this immenfe chain of various relations, 

 and can perceive them all to refolve into unity, unity mani- 

 felled in Jehovah Jesus ! It behoves us to remain in the place 

 that has been allotted for us, from whence we can only difcover 

 feme links of the chain. One day we {hall difcover more, and 

 fee things more diflinciiy : mean while we may confider thefe 

 proceedings of the infect, race, which are fo diverfified and replete 

 with induftry, as an agreeable fpeftacle that furnifhes us with an 

 inexhauftible fource of real pleafure, and ufeful inftruclion ; that 

 leads us to the Author of the univerfe as it were by the thread of 

 the caterpillar, and which makes us admire in the variety of their 

 means, and in their tendency to the fame end, the fecundity asid 

 wifdom of the ordaining mind. 



N n 2 As 



* Bonnet's Contemplation of Nature, 



