WISDOM AND GOODNESS OF GOD. 



Let us now endeavour, if we can, to sum up a 

 few of the blessings which we enjoy from these 

 wise arrangements of our beneficent Creator. 

 In our bodies there are reckoned 245 bones, each 

 of them having forty distinct scopes or intentions, 

 and 446 muscles for the purpose of motion, each 

 having at least ten several intentions. All these 

 are ready every moment to perform their func 

 tions; and every breath we draw, whether we 

 be in motion or at rest, asleep or awake, a hun 

 dred muscles at least are in constant action. In 

 the act of breathing, we respire at least twenty 

 times every minute ; the heart exerts its muscu 

 lar force in propelling the blood into the arteries 

 sixty times every minute ; the stomach and ab 

 dominal muscles are every moment in action, 

 and the curious little bones of the ear are ever 

 ready to convey sensations of the softest whisper 

 to the brain. So that, without an hyperbole, or 

 the least extravagance of expression, it may 

 truly and literally be said, that we enjoy a thou 

 sand blessings every minute, and, consequently, 

 sixty thousand every hour, and one million four 

 hundred and forty thousand every day. For, if 

 any one of these numerous functions were to 

 stop, or to be interrupted, pain, and even death 

 itself might be induced. Let us ask the man 

 who is gasping for breath, under an incurable 

 asthma, or him who is smarting under the pain 

 of a toothache, or him who has wounded a nerve, 

 an artery, or a vein, or him who has dislocated 

 his shoulder-blade, if he would riot consider it as 

 a peculiar blessing to have the functions of na 

 ture restored to their original action ? And if 

 one member out of joint, or one function out of 

 order, produces so much pain and uneasiness, 

 how grateful ought we to feel for the thousands 

 of blessings we enjoy every moment, while the 

 wheels of the animal machine are moving on 

 with smoothness and harmony ! If we consider 

 the number of years during which these blessings 

 have been continued, if we consider the mer 

 cies received in childhood, which have been long 

 overlooked or forgotten, if we count the many 

 nights which we have passed in sound repose, 

 and the many days we have enjoyed without 

 bodily pain, if we reflect on the numerous ob 

 jects of sublimity and beauty with which our 

 eyes have been delighted, the numerous sounds 

 which have charmed our ears and cheered our 

 hearts, and the numerous gratifications which 

 our other senses have received ; if we consider 

 how often food has been provided and adminis 

 tered for the nourishment of our bodies, and 

 from how many visible and invisible dangers we 

 have been delivered and, if we view all these 

 countless blessings as proceeding every moment 

 from Him, &quot; whose hands have made and fash 

 ioned us,&quot; and who &quot; breathed into our nostrils 

 the breath of life,&quot; can we forbear to recognise 

 our Almighty Benefactor as worthy of our su 

 preme affection and our most lively gratitude ? 



&quot; For me, when I forget the darling theme, 

 Be my tongue mute, my fancy paint no more, 

 And, dead to joy, forget my heart to heat.&quot; 



Under an impression of the diversified agencies 

 of Divine Wisdom which are incessantly contri 

 buting to our enjoyment, and of the vast profu 

 sion of our Creator s beneficence which we be 

 hold around us, and experience every passing 

 hour, can we forbear exclaiming with the enrap 

 tured poet : 



&quot; When all thy mercies, O my God! 



My rising soul surveys, 

 Transported with the view, I m lost 



In wonder, love, and praise. 

 Through every period of my life 



Tl.y goodness I ll proclaim ; 

 And, after death, in distant worlds, 



Renew the glorious theme. 

 Through all eternity to Thee 



A joyful song I ll rai 

 or, oh ! eternity s too sh 

 To utter all thy praise.&quot; 



If, then, the construction of our bodies, and 

 the terrestrial scene in which we are placed, pre 

 sent so many striking displays of wisdom and 

 benevolence, what an astonishing and transport 

 ing scene of divine benignity would burst upon 

 the view, were we permitted to explore those 

 more extensive provinces of the empire of Omni 

 potence, where physical and moral evil have 

 never shed their baleful influence to interrupt 

 the happiness of intellectual natures! Could 

 we soar beyond the regions of the planetary 

 system; could we penetrate into that immensity 

 of worlds and beings which are scattered in 

 magnificent profusion through the boundless 

 fields of ether ; could we draw aside the veil 

 which now conceals the grandeur and beauty of 

 their physical economy and arrangements ; could 

 we behold their inhabitants arrayed in robes of 

 beauty, with ecstatic joy beaming from their 

 countenances, basking perpetually in the regions 

 of bliss, united to one another by indissoluble 

 bands of love and affection, without the least 

 apprehension of evil, or of an interruption to 

 their enjoyments ; and looking forward with con 

 fidence to an interminable succession of delighted 

 existence; could we retrace the history of their 

 Creator s dispensations towards them since the 

 first moment of their existence, and the peculiar 

 displays of divine glory and benignity, that may 

 occasionally be exhibited to their view, it is 

 more than probable, that all the displays of wi- 

 dom and benevolence which we now behold, nu 

 merous as they are, would be thrown completely 

 into the shade, and that this world would appear 

 only as a Lazar-house, when compared with the 

 bright and transporting scenes of the celestial 

 worlds. This we are infallibly led to conclude, 

 in regard to a certain class of intelligences in 

 the future state, by the express declarations of 

 Scripture. For thus it is written, &quot; Eye hath 

 not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into 

 the heart of man, the things whreh God hath 



