That the erect countenance and upward aspect of the human species were his peculiar endowments by the Deity, for these purposes among others, appears to have been the impression on the mind of Ovid, when he said:—
“Finxit in effigiem moderantum cuncta deorum;
Pronaque cum spectent animalia[animalia] cætera terram,
Os homini sublime dedit, cælumque tueri
Jussit, et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus.”[[34]]
Met. i. 88.
Mr. Pope has well observed, that—
“The proper study of mankind, is Man:”—
But, in order that he may be enabled to[to] know himself, it is indispensably necessary for him to acquire such a knowledge of other created beings that surround him, as the limited nature of his faculties will allow. He must attentively observe the operations of nature in the material universe, survey with a reflecting mind its stupendous fabric, and study its laws. Hence, he will be made acquainted, and although in a partial, yet not an inconsiderable degree, with the powers and extent of that intellectual principle which he finds in the government of the moral, as well as the natural world. And being thus enabled to know his own proper standing in creation, and his appropriate relation to all its parts, he will by these means be qualified to ascend to those enquiries, which will open to his mind a just sense of the attributes of the Deity, of whose existence he will feel a perfect conviction. In this way, will man obtain a due knowledge of his own “being, end and aim;” and become fully sensible of his entire dependence on his Creator: while he will thereby learn, that he incessantly owes him the highest adoration and the most devoted service.[[35]] In this way it is, that the philosopher, more especially the astronomer,—
“Looks, through Nature, up to Nature’s God.”[[36]]