The Advice of the Son of Sirach is very just and sublime in this Light.

’By his Word all things consist.  We may speak much, and yet come short:  wherefore in sum, he is all.  How shall we be able to magnify him?  For he is great above all his Works.  The Lord is terrible and very great; and marvellous in his Power.  When you glorify the Lord, exalt him as much as you can; for even yet will he far exceed.  And when you exalt him, put forth all your strength, and be not weary; for you can never go far enough.  Who hath seen him, that he might tell us?  And who can magnify him as he is?  There are yet hid greater things than these be, for we have seen but a few of his Works.’ [4]

I have here only considered the Supreme Being by the Light of Reason and Philosophy.  If we would see him in all the Wonders of his Mercy we must have recourse to Revelation, which represents him to us, not only as infinitely Great and Glorious, but as infinitely Good and Just in his Dispensations towards Man.  But as this is a Theory which falls under every one’s Consideration, tho’ indeed it can never be sufficiently considered, I shall here only take notice of that habitual Worship and Veneration which we ought to pay to this Almighty Being.  We should often refresh our Minds with the Thought of him, and annihilate our selves before him, in the Contemplation of our own Worthlessness, and of his transcendent Excellency and Perfection.  This would imprint in our Minds such a constant and uninterrupted Awe and Veneration as that which I am here recommending, and which is in reality a kind of incessant Prayer, and reasonable Humiliation of the Soul before him who made it.

This would effectually kill in us all the little Seeds of Pride, Vanity and Self-conceit, which are apt to shoot up in the Minds of such whose Thoughts turn more on those comparative Advantages which they enjoy over some of their Fellow-Creatures, than on that infinite Distance which is placed between them and the Supreme Model of all Perfection.  It would likewise quicken our Desires and Endeavours of uniting our selves to him by all the Acts of Religion and Virtue.

Such an habitual Homage to the Supreme Being would, in a particular manner, banish from among us that prevailing Impiety of using his Name on the most trivial Occasions.

I find the following Passage in an excellent Sermon, preached at the Funeral of a Gentleman who was an Honour to his Country, and a more diligent as well as successful Enquirer into the Works of Nature, than any other our Nation has ever produced. [5]