As it is the part of bad divinity to make as little as possible of the Lord Jesus Christ, so it is the province of bad philosophy to leave God out of its favorite systems. In the latter case recourse is had to the doctrine of second causes, and to what are called the laws of nature. Upon this principle, vain man would attempt to _account_ for every thing, and to exclude all mystery from the natural and spiritual world; although, in both respects, the phenomena exhibited evince the vanity and danger of the effort, and prove that, “as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are God’s ways above our ways, and his thoughts above our thoughts.” But, still proud man cannot bear that his reason should be confounded, or his understanding limited; and sooner than confess his ignorance, will explore depths, which angels cannot fathom, and soar so high into the regions of speculation, as to drop into materialism, and lose sight of his God. Thus it appears, that from pride springs every atheistical hypothesis, that produces a contempt of God and a denial of his sovereign interposition; but that the very first step in that heavenly science, which revelation styles “the wisdom from above,” is humility, which makes a man submit to be taught by his Maker, and not dispute away the existence of what he cannot comprehend. The system of nature, it is allowed, is a chain of second causes, concatenated in such a manner, as to make one link depend upon another by a necessary coherence. But second causes must have a first, and laws must originate in some law-giver. So that, admitting that nature is regulated by certain laws interwoven with its existence and constitution, still the contrivance and execution of the wondrous plan force us to acknowledge, that an infinite mind must have tied together at first every link in the golden chain; and that what heathenism called the _anima mundi_, is in reality the all-pervading, all-supporting, and all-comprehending presence and power of Deity. But what shall we say, when the laws of nature suffer a temporary infringement? When the regularity of her course is diverted, and broken in upon? Do the convulsions of the earth, and the rage of elements, form any part of her laws, or any link in the concatenation of her parts? Was it by any inherent law, that the ocean once burst its barriers and overspread the earth? that the ground opened and swallowed Korah and his sacrilegious associates? that Sinai’s base shook, while its summit was enveloped with “blackness, and darkness, and tempest?” that the sun was eclipsed without any intervening sphere, and the rocks were rent, when Jesus expired on the cross? Or upon what principle will philosophy account for that final conflagration, which shall, in the destined period, burn up the earth and the works that are therein? when