without anfwering fome great and excellent purpose, would be deemed a waste or an encroachment on the earth: But a proper attention to its utility, fhews the wifdom of GOD therein to be eminently great and confpicuous. For, extended as this collection of water is, it is not too large to answer the defign of the Almighty in the ends of creation and providence. Is it not one fource of all our ftore? What would the earth produce without its aid? Hence the truly myfterious and marveloufly wonderful method of providence, in raifing up from the fea large and perpetual quantities of water, which is depofited in the air, and carried on its wings to the remoteft part of the world; and, as the exigences of the earth require, is diftilled in gentle dews, and more copious fhowers of rain, fnow, &c. by which, vegetables of every kind receiving nutricious juices, the whole earth is replenished with bleffings, and every living thing richly provided for. And indeed, how often has a reftraint of these caused a temporary famine? 8. And that the fountain be not exhausted or too much diminished, it is refunded; the greateft part of the liquid element is conveyed back to the place whence it was taken, by the rivers and fubterraneous paffages of the earth. And thus, like the circulating blood through a human body, there is a perpetual and profitable motion. 9. A fecond benefit refulting from the fea, as an effect of the wifdom of GoD, is, that it is replenished with a promifcuous crowd of fcaly inhabitants. Thefe, numerous in their kinds, and infinite in their numbers, fitted for the cool and flexible element, per form form without overfeer or guide, the various tasks by the author of nature affigned. That degree of intelligence with which the firft of every species was furnished, and which has been propagated with every fucceeding order, has fufficiently instructed them in all matters of economy, calculated for their continu ance and increase. 10. And as infinite wifdom decreed that fome animals of little service to men, fhould, by others, be fubdued and kept within proper bounds, that their numbers might not be a nuifance to the earth; how wonderfully does the fame wifdom appear in the decree concerning the fishes of the fea! Inftead of a provifion diftinct from themselves, of which their element affords very little, they are destined to be the food of each other. And to prevent this proceedure from deftroying or reducing them to too fcanty numbers, the increase of each is proportioned, whereby they are rendered fufficient for themselves, and afford a repast for myriads of mortals on every part of the globe. 11. The Revolutions likewife, which nature regularly makes, are fimilar proofs, as of the infinite, fo of the unerring wifdom of GOD. The earth, the ponderous earth, with its incumbent load of things, animate and inanimate, in its conftant whirl from weft to east, which it performs in the most exact order, produces a perpetual fucceffion of day and night. And as by this motion on its own axis, every fide is turned towards the fun in the fpace of twenty-four hours, fo every habitable part of the earth, except thofe near the poles, witnefs the alternative of day and night, and the good effects of both in fo fhort a time. And And while it is thus inceffantly labouring for the good of its inhabitants, it takes a different rout, from the north to the fouth, and from the fouth to the north, which it performs in twelve months; whence arifeth that perpetual and almost imperceptible change of feafons, governed by heat and cold, as the earth inclines to, or recedes from, the fun's directer rays; the reason of the fummer's heat being the rays of the fun falling more directly on the earth, as the winter's cold is occafioned by the oblique direction of the fame rays. Hence it is, that as the earth's diurnal motion gives day and night, fo its annual motion is the cause of fummer and winter; and both confpire to give the earth that temperament which is neceffary for its production of provifion for all creatures: In which is difcerned the wifdom of GoD, fo conftituting and ordering all things. 12. And that these revolutions are the effect of divine wisdom, is indisputably evident: For though it is granted that bodies influence each other toward producing effects, as the fun the earth in refpect of fruitfulness, &c. according to the different pofitions in which they ftand oppofed to each other; yet that regular variety of fituation, in which they have continued, and in one point of which they were first placed, can be refolved into nothing but the wifdom of GOD, who, as a wife mafter-builder, forefaw the abfolute neceffity of fo various an order, for the continued ufefulness of the whole. For, had the earth, like the fun, been detained in a fixed pofition, (which it is, as it refpects the earth) the parts facing the fun would prefently have been parched, or turned into burning fands; and the oppofite parts, through the fun's perpetual absence, stagnated with cold; in both which cafes, unfruitfulness had been the confequence, and only the parts influenced by the fun's indirect rays, could have continued in any confiderable degree fruitful. To refolve the contrary of which, into any thing but the wisdom of GOD, is certainly the foolifhness of folly. 13. The Power of GOD executed or brought into being, the things which his wifdom defigned. Stupendous are the things which are feen! And whence collected He the materials of which earth' and fkies, and all other creatures are compofed? Whence came the elements, the fource and matter of corporeal beings? Did not GOD create them? As they once were not, and as nothing can produce nothing, they rofe into being by the power of his word. He fpake, and it was done! He faid, let them be, and they ftood forth. He made the elements of earth, air, water, and fire; which for a time continuing in a confused mafs, He feparated, and out of them formed all fublunary things; the compofitions of all creatures being a mixture of the whole. And though lefs than infinite power could not produce fo wonderful effects, yet with what facility did He finith his work! 14. And how wonderfully does the fame almighty agency manifeft itself in the prefervation and government of the whole! The fkies, with their numerous and noble hofts, hang pendulous without vifible support; nevertheless are fupported and preferved in all the bloom and vigour of youth. Yea, the earth, which hangs upon nothing, and has no folid founda #Gen. i. 15. tion tion to reft on, being fufpended in air, remains the fame in nature, fituation, and motion. The air, notwithstanding the many things that mix with, and adhere to it, retains its fubftance, and performs its office in a due fubordination to Go D's providence, and the good of all creatures. And the fea, with its perpetual flux, and reflux, in its place; and the water thereof in its unremitted motion, in afcending and defcending in vapours and fhowers, miniftering to the earth, has been preferved in its fulnefs and motion from its firft exiftence, through all paft generations: Yea, in the midst of fuch revolutions and changes as human affairs are subject unto; when empires have changed their mafters, and governments their forms; when arts and sciences, and matters merely contingent, depending on the short continuance and caprice of men, have been raised or depreffed, nature, in refpect of the various orders of beings and government of the whole, has continued (notwithstanding the chafm occafioned by the flood) in an uninterrupted course to this day. Thefe, by the decree of the Almighty, according to the laws by which he preferves and governs all things, remain, and muft remain, till he revokes it; when the heavens will pafs away "with a great noife, the elements melt with fervent "heat, the earth alfo, and the works that are there"in, shall be burnt up*.' 15. And as the wifdom of GOD is exhibited in the inconceivable variety and harmony of, and his power in giving being to, and preferving all things; fo is his goodness in the conftitutional quality of them. Goodness C 2 *II. Pet. iii. 10. |