superior in other respects, yet they are supported by the nutrimental supplies of the sun, the air, the earth, and the water, in common with all other animals, and even with the vegetables of the earth; and as the plants grow, come to maturity, decay and die, the same law of nature extends to all animals, even to mankind themselves. If we consider the species of mankind alone, what an amazing conjunction of uniformity and variety! Human nature is the same in all ages and nations: yet, amidst the countless numbers, every individual has, at the same time, a nature and form, a capacity and countenance, different in some respect from every other of his fellow-creatures. It seems as if the wisdom of the Creator intended to produce the greatest possible change and variety in the creation, consistent with an immutable general plan of the world, and uniform constitution of every species of creatures. They are divided into the two classes of animals and vegetables, subdivided into the several distinct general kinds, those kinds into particular species, and every species multiplied into numberless individuals. Hence there is no creature in the world single and solitary, or that has not a relation to others of the same kind; nor any kind that has not some affinity to other kinds, or a proper relation to the world in general. This uniformity of Nature, amidst an endless variety, constitutes the order and beauty of the world; and this arrangement of the creatures in it, shews the disposing wisdom and economy of the Creator, which has assigned to all a determinate rank and state, and rendered it impossible to confound the relations or distinctions which he has established. If we examine carefully the minuter productions of Nature, the smallest insects, or the leaves, flowers, and fruits of plants, we find a wonderful mixture of the various and the uniform, that strikes the mind with a sensible and pleasing idea of order and beauty. If we understand and consider, therefore, the like admirable arrangement, as taking place through universal Nature, it will unavoidably teach us to ascribe, from a rational

and solid conviction, perfect wisdom to the Supreme Disposer.

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Another view of the world may lead us to the perpetual circulations discernible in it. The sun, moon, and stars, perform their appointed courses with a stated unerring motion; and, without entering into the mysteries of astronomy, if we only ask ourselves, what it is that upholds and directs them? how they come to know their seasons and courses? what enables them to travel incessantly with the same unremitting force? why they never fall to the earth? or wander through the pathless desert of the sky? in a word, why they never err?-these questions will neeessarily turn our attention to the unerring wisdom of the Creator; who either supports and guides them by his own immediate power, or has lodged those mighty unknown springs in nature, which are sufficient to move the celestial wheels, and to impel and direct the heavenly orbs with an inconceivable swiftness and perfect regularity. There are also constant circulations in the lower elements, though not so obvious to a common eye or understanding. For not only the air is in a continual agitation and flux, driven to and fro round the whole globe, the wind veering about, and returning again to the same point, but the waters also travel their destined round without ceasing. The rivers discharge themselves into the sea; and from the vast surface of the ocean are exhaled the vapours that form the swelling clouds, which empty themselves in showers upon the earth, and penetrating into the hills, supply the springs, which are gradually augmented, and become rivers, and feed in return the wasting ocean. Solomon had observed, in that early age of the world, all these circulations of Nature. "The sun ariseth and goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose the wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it veereth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits: all the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.”

The like circulation of fluids is observed by anatomists in the body of every living creature. The whole mass of blood is incessantly flowing through various channels, distributing the proper alimental juices to every part, and returning back to the heart from whence it came. The soil of the earth is constantly expanding its richness in the growth of every plant, and the harvests which it annually affords: yet it is not exhausted; because the tribute which it pays, it again receives by an endless circulation of the nutritious particles. All these apparent revolutions in Nature lead us to apprehend a first mover and a directing Cause, whose wisdom has established them, and probably many others, not discernible by us; in which things move imperceptibly in a maze of changes, until they return to their former situation, and begin again their appointed courses.

The regular proportions observable in the several parts of the world, are a further evidence of creative wisdom in the structure of the whole. For as, in the fabric of every plant and animal, the several parts were all formed by rule and measure, proportionate to each other and to the whole system, so the respective magnitude of the sun, the moon, and the earth, the quantities of land and water, the height of the mountains, the depth of the seas, the weight of all solids and fluids, the size of every species of animals and vegetables, are determined in the fittest proportion. Every part of nature is weighed and measured by the unerring skill of that Being, whom the prophet elegantly and sublimely represents as holding the ocean in the hollow of his hand, meting out heaven with his span, comprehending the mass of the earth in a measure, and weighing the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance.

As the world is composed of elements and powers, many of which are not only different from, but contrary to each other in their operations, the wisdom of the Almighty Disposer admirably appears, in having so adjusted their respective forces, that there is an erlasting opposition and strife, without any pre

vailing so far as to subdue and destroy the other; which would produce universal ruin and destruction. The gravitating and projectile forces, the causes of heat and cold, of moisture and drought, of storms and calms, are balanced against each other; by this perpetual, equal strife the world subsists; and, from this incessant war, are derived the peace and order of the creation, and the security of life. In like manner there are in human nature various counterpoises between the bodily appetites and the mental principles, between self-love and social kindness, between fear and hope, affection and resentment, the desire of ease and of advancement, of saving and of expending; and, from this perpetual discord, spring the harmony and the variety of human life.

The whole process of Nature is an endless series of causes and effects; because all the parts of the world have a local relation to, and dependence on preceding causes, as well as a relation to succeeding effects. Though all things proceed from omnipotence originally, yet every thing that comes to pass in the creation is more immediately derived from subordinate causes. The world is of an exquisite mèchanism; the springs and powers contained in it are mostly concealed from all human search, and are too complicated to admit of our explication. It is sufficient if we understand so much of it, as to be fully convinced that no chance, but divine art and a wisdom surpassing our comprehension, at first erected this stupendous frame, gave motion to its various parts, and appointed the unsearchable series of events dependent on and succeeding one another. And so much knowledge is not difficult to be acquired; for though we cannot trace the process of Nature beyond narrow limits; yet we plainly see many and great effects following from causes equally apparent to human sense and knowledge.

For instance:-To how great a variety of effects does the heat of the sun sensibly contribute? Not only to the life of numberless animals, but to the growth of every plant; the ripening of all kinds of

The like circulation of fluids is observed by anatomists in the body of every living creature. The whole mass of blood is incessantly flowing through various channels, distributing the proper alimental juices to every part, and returning back to the heart from whence it came. The soil of the earth is constantly expanding its richness in the growth of every plant, and the harvests which it annually affords: yet it is not exhausted; because the tribute which it pays, it again receives by an endless circulation of the nutritious particles. All these apparent revolutions in Nature lead us to apprehend a first mover and a directing Cause, whose wisdom has established them, and probably many others, not discernible by us; in which things move imperceptibly in a maze of changes, until they return to their former situation, and begin again their appointed courses.

The regular proportions observable in the several parts of the world, are a further evidence of creative wisdom in the structure of the whole. For as, in the fabric of every plant and animal, the several parts were all formed by rule and measure, proportionate to each other and to the whole system, so the respective magnitude of the sun, the moon, and the earth, the quantities of land and water, the height of the mountains, the depth of the seas, the weight of all solids and fluids, the size of every species of animals and vegetables, are determined in the fittest proportion. Every part of nature is weighed and measured by the unerring skill of that Being, whom the prophet elegantly and sublimely represents as holding the ocean in the hollow of his hand, meting out heaven with his span, comprehending the mass of the earth in a measure, and weighing the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance.

As the world is composed of elements and powers, many of which are not only different from, but contrary to each other in their operations, the wisdom of the Almighty Disposer admirably appears, in having so adjusted their respective forces, that there is an everlasting opposition and strife, without any pre