Rent wide beneath his footsteps?
Nature! No?"
Who would not suppose that this was intended to "vindicate the ways of God to man?" rather than to afford any reason for supposing the author was about to deny the existence of a God? Setting aside the Pythagorean notion, that every worm has "spirit, thought, and love," this stanza might have been written by Bishop Porteus. So far from denying the existence of spirit, and adopting the doctrine of annihilation, which atheism proclaims, he contends that all is spirit!
"Throughout this varied and eternal world,
Soul is the only element. The block,
That for uncounted ages has remained
The moveless pillar of a mountain's weight,
Is active, living spirit! Every grain
Is sentient, both in unity and part,
And the minutest atom comprehends
A world of loves and hatreds!"
We may smile at this; but want of faith cannot be attributed to the man who could form such a thesis. If there be no mistake in this matter, we should really treat the cuttings of our toes, and the parings of our finger nails, with more ceremony than to throw them behind the fire, since they comprehend many "worlds of loves and hatreds!" To be sure,
