One of the consequences of this disposition to disregard the Almighty
Hand, as it is so plainly visible in all around us, is that of
substituting our own powers in its stead. In this period of the world, in
enlightened countries, and in the absence of direct idolatry, few men are
so hardy as to deny the existence and might of a Supreme Being; but, this
fact admitted, how few really feel that profound reverence for him that
the nature of our relations justly demands! It is the want of a due sense
of humility, and a sad misconception of what we are, and for what we were
created, that misleads us in the due estimate of our own insignificance,
as Compared with the majesty of God.

Very few men attain enough of human knowledge to be fully aware how much
remains to be learned, and of that which they never can hope to acquire.
We hear a great deal of god-like minds, and of the far-reaching faculties
we possess; and it may all be worthy of our eulogiums, until we compare
ourselves in these, as in other particulars, with Him who produced them.
Then, indeed, the utter insignificance of our means becomes too apparent
to admit of a cavil. We know that we are born, and that we die; science
has been able to grapple with all the phenomena of these two great
physical facts, with the exception of the most material of all--those
which should tell us what is life, and what is death. Something that we
cannot comprehend lies at the root of every distinct division of natural
phenomena. Thus far shalt thou go and no farther, seems to be imprinted
on every great fact of creation. There is a point attained in each and all
of our acquisitions, where a mystery that no human mind can scan takes the
place of demonstration and conjecture. This point may lie more remote with
some intellects than with others; but it exists for all, arrests the
inductions of all, conceals all.