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 great gratitude;but the grovelling tales and doctrines of the Bible and the Testament are fit only to excite contempt.
