OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 25 



from congruity and harmony, the mind being dissatisfied 

 when an idea is expressed by inadequate words, and the 

 ear offended when their collocation is inharmonious. To 

 account the mere knowledge of words, therefore, as wis- 

 dom, is to mistake the cask for the wine, and the casket 

 for the gem. I say all this because knowledge of words 

 is often extolled beyond its just merits, and put for all 

 wisdom; while knowledge of things, especially of the pro- 

 ductions of nature, is derided as if it were mere folly. 

 We should recollect that God hath condescended to in- 

 struct us by both these ways, and therefore neither of 

 them should be depreciated. He hath set before us his 

 word and his world. The former is the great avenue to 

 truth and knowledge by the study of words, and, as be- 

 ing the immediate and authoritative revelation of his will, 

 is entitled to our principal attention ; the latter leads us 

 to the same conclusions, though less directly, by the 

 study of things, which stands next in rank to that of 

 God's word, and before that of any work of man. And 

 whether we direct our eyes to the planets rolling in their 

 orbits, and endeavour to trace the laws by which they 

 are guided through the vast of space, whether we analyse 

 those powers and agents by which all the operations of 

 nature are performed, or whether we consider the vari- 

 ous productions of this our globe, from the mighty cedar 

 to the microscopic mucor — from the giant elephant to the 

 invisible mite, still we are studying the works and won- 

 ders of our God. The book, to whatever page we turn, 

 is written by the finger of him who created us ; and in it, 

 provided our minds be rightly disposed, we may read his 

 eternal verities. And the more accurate and enlarged 

 our knowledge of his works, the better shall we be able 



