But, as we have said, Divines have not been slow in contributing the weight of their testimony to the value of natural evidence, and the acceptable assistance afforded by a contemplation of the laws and the mysteries of Nature. So abundant indeed are these mysteries, that there is not a path of our progress by day, nor a waking thought by night, that does not at times present some of them to our reflection. Mysteries in operation so clear, that our very senses take cognizance of them; so orderly, that when we are allowed to discover the law which regulates them, we are at a loss which most to admire, the power, the number, or the simplicity of its manifestations; and yet which, as to their intrinsic nature, are so recondite as to be entirely beyond our researches; leaving us, in fact, no faculty which can deal with them, but faith alone. Divines have shown the value they attach to all such facts, by the admirable application they have made of them in aiding the cultivation of Religion—sometimes by teaching the necessity and reasonableness of faith in the mysteries of Religion; at others, in impressing the nature and attributes of the Supreme. It would be easy to produce a longer roll of such men; but most readers are acquainted with such names as Cudworth, Butler, Sturm, Derham, Paley, Crombie, who have, in one or other sense, exemplified the importance of natural knowledge, and the interest they took in its cultivation. In every phase of the investigation, we meet with fresh examples of the union of Religion with Science. Paschal and St. Pierre are eminent illustrations. Paschal was a Divine, and an eminent mathematician: mankind is surely under obligations to him for his "Lettres Provinciales." These extraordinary compositions must have operated with uncommon force against the sophistries of the Jesuits; and, considering the nature of the subject, it could have been no ordinary work that could have induced Voltaire to say that he had never read anything more humorous than the earlier letters, or more sublime than the later. St. Pierre[80], too, should not be passed without mention. His book is, in some points of view, one of the most interesting works ever written: occasionally fanciful or enthusiastic, it is a most unusually rich collection of facts and observations. How excellently adapted it is to encourage observation of natural phenomena! How just and philanthropic—how circumspect and comprehensive his observations in Nature! and how excellent and free from cant the paramount importance he impresses of Religion as a principle, and of Christianity as the perfect supply of all that is necessary to us in time or in eternity. Yet St. Pierre was a soldier; and it is to our present purpose that he was a scientific man, and an engineer. Neither should we pass unnoticed the numerous associations of pastoral care with the observation of nature, so pleasingly exemplified in White of Selborne, and Gilpin of the New Forest—men whose books we