raneous caverns and burning mountains; and the lakes, rivers, and stately forests with which it is so magnificently adorned; the many millions of animals, of every size and form, from the elephant to the mite, which traverse its surface; the numerous tribes of fishes, from the enormous whale to the diminutive shrimp, which "play" in the mighty ocean; the aerial tribes, which sport in the regions above us, and the vast mass of the surrounding atmosphere, which encloses the earth and all its inhabitants as "with a swaddling band." The immense variety of beings, with which our terrestrial habitation is furnished, conspires, with every other consideration, to exalt our conceptions of that Power by which our globe, and all that it contains, were brought into existence.

Dick's Christian Philosopher.

CONTEMPLATE the grandeur and extent of the earth which we inhabit. Think of its continents and its islands, its oceans and its rivers, its mountains and its vallies, its diversified productions and its immense population. Ascend in your contemplations to the planetary system, of which our earth, vast as it is, forms but one of the minor globes; in magnitude less than a millionth part of that world of light around which it revolves, and from which it is distant nearly a hundred millions of miles. Think of the host of stars which twinkle in the firmament, and of the thousands, not visible to the naked eye, which the telescope has served to discover. Imagine these, as it is most rea-' sonable to imagine them, to be the suns and centres of other systems of worlds-worlds not improbably the scenes of conscious existence and enjoyment. Were it possible for you to visit one of these distant regions of the universe, other systems more remote might then come within your field of vision, of which no telescope

Were all

fixed on earth can give us information. `these systems brought distinctly into view, even then there would not be exhibited, to your admiring and astonished gaze, the full manifestation of the power of God, but only glorious specimens of that power which must be still unexhausted, undiminished, and which could st pleasure multiply suns and systems. 66 Lo, these are parts of his ways, but how little a portion is heard of him; the thunder of his power who can understand?-To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal, saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold, who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number; he calleth them all by names, by the greatness of his might, for he is strong in power; not one faileth.Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance ?-Behold, the nations are as the drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing and vanity." H. F. Burder.

THE WISDOM OF GOD.

WISDOM is that perfection of an intelligent agent, by which he is enabled to select and employ the most proper means in order to accomplish a good and important end. It includes the idea of knowledge or intelligence, but may be distinguished from it. Knowledge is opposed to ignorance, Wisdom is opposed to

folly or error in conduct. As applied to God, it may be considered as comprehending the operations of his Omniscience and Benevolence, or, in other words, his knowledge to discern, and his disposition to choose those means and ends which are calculated to promote the order and the happiness of the uni

verse.

The Wisdom of God is, doubtless, displayed in every arrangement he has made throughout all the provinces of his immense and eternal kingdom, however far they may be removed from the sphere of human observation. But it is only in those parts of the system of nature which lie open to our particular investigation, that the traces of this perfection can be distinctly perceived. The Heavens declare the glory of God's Wisdom, as well as of his Power. The Planetry system-that portion of the heavens with which we are best acquainted-displays both the magnificence and the skill of its Divine Author, -in the magnitudes, distances, revolutions, proportions, and uses of the various globes of which it is composed, and in the diversified apparatus by which light and darkness are alternately distributed. The sun, an immense luminous world, by far the largest body in the system, is placed in the centre. No other position would have suited for an equable distribution of illumination and heat through the different parts of the system. Around him, at different distances, eleven primary planets revolve, accompanied with eighteen secondaries, or moons,—all in majestic order and harmony, no one interrupting the movements of another, but invariably keeping the paths prescribed them, and performing their revolutions in their appointed times. To all these revolving globes, the sun dispenses motion, light, heat, fertility, and other unceasing energies, for the comfort and happiness of

their respective inhabitants-without which, perpetual sterility, eternal winter, and eternal night, would reign over every region of our globe, and throughout surrounding worlds.

The distance at which the heavenly bodies, particularly the Sun, are placed from the earth, is a manifest evidence of Divine Wisdom. If the Sun were much nearer us than he is at present, the earth, as now constituted, would be wasted and parched with excessive heat; the waters would be turned into vapour, and the rivers, seas, and oceans, would soon disappear, leaving nothing behind them but frightful barren dells and gloomy caverns; vegetation would completely cease, and the tribes of animated nature languish and die. On the other hand, were the Sun much farther distant than he now is, or were his bulk, or the influence of his rays, diminished one half of what they now are, the land and the ocean would soon become one frozen mass, and universal desolation and sterility would overspread the fair face of nature, and, instead of a pleasant and comfortable abode, our globe would become a frightful desert, a state of misery and perpetual punishment. But herein is the Wisdom of God displayed, that he has formed the sun of such a determinate size, and placed it at such a convenient distance, as not to annoy, but to refresh and cheer us, and to enliven the soil with its genial influence; so that we plainly perceive, to use the language of the prophet, that "He hath established the world by his wisdom, and stretched out the heavens by his understanding."

The rotation of the several planetary globes around their axes, to produce the alternate succession of day and night, strikingly demonstrates the wisdom and benevolence of their great Author. Were the earth and the other planetary worlds destitute of a diurnal

motion, only one half of their surfaces could be inhabited, and the other half would remain a dark and cheerless desert. The sun would be the only heavenly orb which would be recognized by the inhabitants of each respective world, as existing in the universe, and that scene of grandeur which night unfolds in the boundless expanse of the sky, would be for ever veiled from their view. For, it appears to be one grand design of the Creator, in giving these bodies a diurnal motion, not only to cheer their inhabitants with light and warmth, and the gay colouring produced by the solar rays; but also to open to them a prospect of other portions of his vast dominions, which are dispersed in endless variety throughout the illimitable regions of space; in order that they may acquire a more sublime impression of the glory of his kingdom, and of his eternal Power and Godhead. But were perpetual day to irradiate the planets, it would throw an eternal and impenetrable veil over the glories of the sky, behind which, the magnificent operations of Jehovah's power would be, in a great measure, concealed. It is this circumstanee which we should consider as the principal reason why a rotatory motion has been impressed on the planetary globes; and not merely that a curtain of darkness might be thrown around their inhabitants, during the repose of sleep, as in the world in which we dwell. For, in some of the other planetary worlds belonging to our system, the intelligent beings with which they are peopled, may stand in no need of that nocturnal repose which is necessary for man; their physical powers may be incapable of being impaired, and their mental energies may be in perpetual exercise. And in some of those bodies which are surrounded with an assemblage of rings and moons, as the planet Saturn, the diversified grandeur of their celestial phenomena,