of life at once, but would leave off strong liquors by degrees." "By degrees !" fays the other with indignation, "if you fhould unhappily fall into the fire, would you caution your fervants not to pull you out but by degrees." THE USEFULNESS R OF PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES. EASON and Religion both confpire to engage our attention to the language of the Heavens, of the earth, and the whole universe, which, with one common voice, proclaim the glory of God from one end of the creation to the other; they clearly point out to us his invifible perfections in the vifible operations of his hands. The profpect of nature is, therefore, a kind of vulgar theology, in which all men may learn thofe truths which it is of the higheft confequence and importance for them to know. Which way foever we direct our obfervation, we difcern either fimple elements, or compound bodies, which have all different actions and offices: what the fire inflames, the water extinguifhes; what one one wind freezes, another thaws; and what the fun dries, the rain moiftens. But all thefe operations, and a thousand others, fo feemingly repughant to each other, all concur, in a wonderful manner, to produce one effect; fome ferve to affift, fome to qualify and correct the violence of others; and are all fo neceffarily useful to carry on the main defign, that were the agency of any one of thefe caufes deftroyed, the ruin of the whole, or at least an interruption of the order and harmony of the creation, would immediately enfue. As therefore, all the parts of nature were conftituted for the mutual fervice and affiftance of each other, fo they, undeniably, prove the unity of their omnifcient Creator. If one Almighty Being had created the fun, and another the earth, as the views and ends which they propofed by thefe acts of creation would be different, he who made the fun would not fubmit that fo glorious a body should be entirely fubfervient to the use of the earth; and, confequently, they would refemble the fabulous deities in Homer, always at variance. The order and government of the world, therefore, neceffarily fuppofe one only first principle, who has eftablished fuch a corref pondence between all the parts of it, and O made made them fo dependent on each other, that the annihilation, or fubduction of any one of them, would destroy the beauty and economy of the whole machine, and fuperinduce an univerfal disorder. ANECDOTE W HEN the Emperor was at Wurtemberg in 1547, fome of his officers defiring him to order the bones of Luther to be dug up and burnt, he nobly told them, "I have now nothing farther to do with Luther. He has henceforth another Judge, whofe jurifdiction it is not lawful for me to ufurp. Know that I make not war with the dead, but with the living who ftill continue to attack me." A PA A A PARAPHRASE On the 8th Pfalm. LMIGHTY Father, Lord of all! The infinite expance too fmall To circumfcribe thy fame. The lifping tongue of childhood fhews When on the starry concave bright Back on myself impetuous roll, I thus accoft my anxious foul, Contemplate man! heav'n's choicest care, Whose vast dominion spreads O'er O'er all that wing the ambient air, Beneath whofe arm the favage train Proftrate fubmiflion fhew; Whofe hand the monsters of the main Upon whofe afpect, felf confeft, By whom alone is Heav'n addrefs'd, For ever let man's favour'd race To emulate feraphic grace, And praise that name divine. Whofe kind parental love extends ANEC |