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ON THE GENERAL DIFFUSION OF KNOWLEDGE. 



and sentient beings it contains, and every 

 thought and perception that passes through the 

 minds of the unnumbered intelligences which 

 people all worlds, are intimately known, and for 

 ever present to his omniscient eye, and all di 

 rected to accomplish the designs of his universal 

 providence and the eternal purposes of his will. 

 &quot; He hath prepared his throne in the heavens, his 

 kingdom ruleth over all,&quot; and &quot; he doth accord 

 ing to his will among the armies of heaven, as 

 well as &quot; among the inhabitants of the earth.&quot; 

 &quot; The host of heaven worshippeth him, all his 

 works, in all places of his dominions, praise him. 

 His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and of 

 his government there shall be no end.&quot; At the 

 same moment he is displaying the glory of his 

 power and intelligence to worlds far beyond the 

 reach of mortal eyes, presiding over the coun 

 cils of nations on earth, and supporting the in 

 visible animalcula in a drop of water. &quot; In 

 him&quot; all beings, from the archangel to the 

 worm, &quot; live and move,&quot; and on him they de 

 pend for all that happiness they now possess, 

 or ever will enjoy, while eternal ages are roll 

 ing on. 



Such views or the omnipotence of the Deity 

 and of the grandeur of his empire, are calculated 

 not only to expand our conceptions of his attri 

 butes, but to enliven our hopes in relation to 

 the enjoyments of the future world. For we be 

 hold a prospect boundless as immensity, in 

 which the human soul may for ever expatiate, 

 and contemplate new scenes of glory and feli 

 city continually bursting on the view, &quot; world 

 without end.&quot; 



Such are some of the views of the Deity which 

 the works of nature, when contemplated through 

 the medium of science, are calculated to unfold. 

 They demonstrate the unity of God, his wisdom 

 and intelligence, his boundless benevolence, 

 the vast multiplicity of ideas which have existed 

 in his mind from eternity, his almighty power, 

 and the magnificence of his empire. These 

 views are in perfect unison with the declarations 

 of the sacred oracles ; they illustrate many of 

 the sublime sentiments of the inspired writers ; 

 they throw a light on the moral government of 

 God, arid elevate our conceptions of the extent 

 of his dominions ; they afford a sensible repre 

 sentation of the infinity and immensity of the 

 divine nature, in so far as finite minds are ca 

 pable of contemplating such perfections ; and, 

 when considered in connexion with the scriptu 

 ral character of Deity and the other truths of 

 revelation, are calculated &quot;to make the man of 

 God perfect and thoroughly furnished unto every 

 good work.&quot; As the works of God without the 

 assistance of his word, are insufficient to give us 

 a complete view of his character and the princi 

 ples of his moral government, so the bare read 

 ing of the Scriptures is insufficient to convey to 

 imr minds those diversified and expansive con 



ceptions of the Divinity to which we have ad 

 verted, unless we comply with the requisitions 

 of the sacred writers, to &quot;meditate on all his 

 works, to consider the operations of his hands, to 

 speak of the glory of his kingdom,&quot; and to talk 

 of his &quot;power&quot; in order that we may be quali 

 fied &quot; to make known to the sons of men his 

 mighty operations, and the glorious majesty of 

 his kingdom.&quot; 



How very different, then, from the views now 

 stated, must be the conceptions formed of the 

 Divinity, by those whose range of thought is 

 chiefly confined to the objects that lie within a 

 few miles of their habitation, and how limited 

 ideas must they entertain of divine perfection ! 

 For the view that any one entertains of the 

 nature and attributes of God, must, in some de 

 gree, correspond to the knowledge he has ac 

 quired of the visible effects of his power, wisdom, 

 and benevolence ; since it is only by the sensible 

 manifestations of Deity, either through the me 

 dium of nature or revelation, that we know any 

 thing at all about his nature and perfections. 

 And, therefore, if our views of the manifesta 

 tions of the Divinity be limited and obscure, such 

 will likewise be our views of the Divinity him 

 self. It is owing to the want of attention to such 

 considerations, that many worthy Christians 

 are found to entertain very confused and distort 

 ed ideas of the character of the Deity, of the re 

 quisitions of his word, and of the arrangement* 

 of his universal providence. And is it not ao 

 object much to be desired, that the great body of 

 mankind should be more fully enlightened in the 

 knowledge of their Creator? The knowledge 

 of God lies at the foundation of all religion, and 

 of all our prospects in reference to the eternal 

 world, and it must surely be a highly desirable 

 attainment to acquire as glorious and expansive 

 an idea of the object of our adoration, as the 

 finite capacity of our intellects is capable of com 

 prehending. Such views as we have now ex 

 hibited of the wisdom, power, and beneficence of 

 the Deity, and of the magnificence and variety 

 of his works, were they communicated to the 

 generality of mankind and duly appreciated, 

 would not only interest their affections and in 

 crease their intellectual enjoyment, but would 

 enable them to understand the meaning and re 

 ferences of many sublime passages in the volume 

 of inspiration which they are apt either to over 

 look or to misinterpret. Such views, likewise, 

 would naturally inspire them with reverence and 

 adoration of the Divine Majesty, with gratitude 

 for his wise and benevolent arrangements, with 

 complacency in his administration as the moral 

 Governor of the world, with a firm reliance on 

 his providential care for every thing requisite to 

 their happiness, and with an earnest desire to 

 yield a cordial obedience to his righteous laws. 

 At the same time, they would be qualified to de 

 clare to others &quot;the glorious honour of *4 



