m thence? The consequence flows of itself. "If so
much wisdom and penetration," says Minutius Felix, "are required to
observe the wonderful order and design of the structure of the world,
how much more were necessary to form it!"

If men so much admire philosophers because they discover a small part of
the wisdom that made all things, they must be stark blind not to admire
that wisdom itself.

_IV.--A PRAYER TO GOD_

O my God, if so many men do not discover Thee in this great spectacle
Thou givest them of all nature, it is not because Thou art far from any
of us. Every one of us feels Thee, as it were, with his hand; but the
senses, and the passions they raise, take up all the attention of our
minds. Thus, O Lord, Thy light shines in darkness; but darkness is so
thick and gloomy that it does not admit the beams of Thy light.

Thou appearest everywhere; and everywhere inattentive mortals neglect to
perceive Thee. All nature speaks of Thee, and resounds with Thy holy
name; but she speaks to deaf men, whose deafness proceeds from the noise
and clatter they make to stun themselves. Thou art near and within them;
but they are fugitive, and wandering, as it were, out of themselves.
They would find Thee, O Sweet Light, O Eternal Beauty, ever old and ever
young, O Fountain of Chaste Delights, O Pure and Happy Life of all who
live truly, should they look for Thee within themselves. But the impious
lose Thee only by losing themselves. Alas! Thy very gifts, which should
show them the hand from whence they flow, amuse them to such a degree as
to hinder them from perceiving it. They live by Thee, and yet they live
without thinking on Thee or, rather, they die by the Fountain of Life
for want of quenching their drought in that vivifying stream; for what
greater death can there be than not to know Thee, O Lord? They fall
asleep in Thy soft and paternal bosom, and, full of the deceitful dreams
by which they are tossed in their sleep, they are insensible of the
powerful hand that supports them.

If Thou wert a barren, impotent, and inanimate body, like a flower that
fades away, a river that runs, a house that decays and falls to ruin, a
picture that is but a collection of colours to strike the imagination,
or a useless metal that glistens, they would perceive Thee, and fondly
ascribe to Thee the power of giving them some pleasure, although in
reality pleasure cannot proceed from inanimate beings, which are
themselves void and i