y
thing can be studied as a science without our being in possession of the
principles upon which it is founded; and as this is not the case with
Christian theology, it is therefore the study of nothing.

Instead then of studying theology, as is now done, out of the Bible and
Testament, the meanings of which books are always controverted, and the
authenticity of which is disproved, it is necessary that we refer to the
Bible of the creation. The principles we discover there are eternal, and
of divine origin: they are the foundation of all the science that exists
in the world, and must be the foundation of theology.

We can know God only through his works. We cannot have a conception of
any one attribute, but by following some principle that leads to it.
We have only a confused idea of his power, if we have not the means of
comprehending something of its immensity. We can have no idea of his
wisdom, but by knowing the order and manner in which it acts. The
principles of science lead to this knowledge; for the Creator of man is
the Creator of science, and it is through that medium that man can see
God, as it were, face to face.

Could a man be placed in a situation, and endowed with power of vision
to behold at one view, and to contemplate deliberately, the structure of
the universe, to mark the movements of the several planets, the cause
of their varying appearances, the unerring order in which they revolve,
even to the remotest comet, their connection and dependence on each
other, and to know the system of laws established by the Creator, that
governs and regulates the whole; he would then conceive, far beyond what
any church theology can teach him, the power, the wisdom, the vastness,
the munificence of the Creator. He would then see that all the knowledge
man has of science, and that all the mechanical arts by which he renders
his situation comfortable here, are derived from that source: his mind,
exalted by the scene, and convinced by the fact, would increase in
gratitude as it increased in knowledge: his religion or his worship
would become united with his improvement as a man: any employment he
followed that had connection with the principles of the creation,--as
everything of agriculture, of science, and of the mechanical arts,
has,--would teach him more of God, and of the gratitude he owes to
him, than any theological Christian sermon he now hears. Great objects
inspire great thoughts; great munificence excites g