SUBLIMITY OF THE PRINCIPLE OF LOVE. 



41 





Me host of stars, which unite their splendours to 

 adorn the canopy of the sky, and display the 

 riches, and grandeur, and boundless extent of 

 God s universal kingdom for the light, which 

 darts with unconceivable rapidity from the celes 

 tial luminaries, and diffuses a thousand shades 

 of colour on the terrestrial landscape for the 

 surrounding atmosphere, which supports the ele 

 ment of fire, conveys the clouds over every re 

 gion, and sustains and invigorates the functions 

 of animal life for the variety of beautiful and 

 majestic scenery which diversifies our terrestrial 

 system for the towering cliffs, the lofty moun 

 tains, and the expansive vales for the mean 

 dering river, gliding through the fields, and dif 

 fusing health and fertility wherever it flows for 

 the riches which abound in the gardens, the 

 forests, and the fields, and the mineral treasures 

 contained in the bowels of the mountains for 

 the harmony of musical sounds, the mellifluous 

 notes of the nightingale and the lark, and the 

 melodious warblings which resound from the 

 vales, the mountains, and the groves for the 

 flowers which enamel the meadows, the trees, 

 the shrubs, and the waving grain which adorn 

 the earth with picturesque beauty for the ani 

 mated beings which contribute to our comfort, 

 the bee which collects for us honey from every 

 opening flower, the sheep which yields its fleeces 

 for our clothing, and thousands of other creatures 

 which contribute to supply us with food, rai 

 ment, furniture, and innumerable enjoyments. 

 In all these, and similar objects, he perceives 

 ample reasons for elevating his soul in lively 

 gratitude to his bountiful Benefactor. 



When he turns his eyes upon himself, and 

 considers the wonderful machinery which gives 

 life and motion to his frame, he perceives the 

 strongest reason for the exercise of incessant 

 admiration and gratitude. He feels grateful for 

 every joint of his fingers, and for every me ve- 

 rnent of his wrist, by which he is enabled with 

 the utmost ease to perform a countless variety 

 of manual operations essential to his comfort 

 for the hundreds of bones which support his 

 animal system, with their various articulations, 

 and the hundreds of muscles and tendons which 

 are interwoven with every part of the machine, 

 which enable it to perform without the least 

 obstruction, a thousand varied movements sub 

 servient to his health, convenience, and plea 

 sure. He cannot walk through his apartment, 

 nor lift his eyes to the heavens, nor move a joint 

 f his finger, nor draw a single breath, without 

 perceiving an evidence of the wisdom and in 

 telligence of his Almighty Maker. He per 

 ceives, that if only one joint were wanting, or 

 one muscle out of action, or one movement out of 

 a thousand interrupted, he would instantly be 

 subjected to a thousand painful sensations which 

 would throw a gloom on every earthly enjoyment. 

 But especially, when he reflects on the wonders 



of vision the thousands of millions of rays that 

 are every moment darting from the objects 

 around him, crossing each other in an infinity 

 of directions, and yet conveying to every eye a 

 distinct perception of their colours, motions, and 

 diversified aspects ; when he reflects on the 

 facility with which he can turn his eye in every 

 direction, upwards and downwards, to the right 

 hand and to the left, and in a moment take in the 

 landscape of the earth and the heavens &quot; at a 

 small inlet which a grain might close ;&quot; when 

 he considers the numerous and complicated 

 movements continually going on within him 

 the heart, like a powerful engine in perpetual 

 motion, impelling, with prodigious force, streams 

 of blood through a thousand different tubes the 

 numerous lacteal and lymphatic vessels absorb 

 ing nutriment from the food, and conveying it 

 through every part of this wonderful machine, 

 when he considers that these incessant motions 

 are, as it were, the immediate hand of the 

 Divinity within him, over which he can exer 

 cise no control, and which are all intended to 

 preserve his existence and minister to his enjoy 

 ment, he cannot forbear exclaiming, in the 

 language of grateful admiration, &quot; How pre 

 cious are thy wonderful contrivances concern 

 ing me, O God ! how great is the sum of them ! 

 If I should count them, they are more in num 

 ber than the sand. I will praise thee, for I am 

 fearfully and wonderfully made !&quot; 



He does not overlook such instances of &quot; the 

 loving-kindness of God,&quot; because, to some, they 

 may appear minute and trivial. He does not 

 contrast them with what are reckoned spiritual 

 and more important blessings; nor attempt to 

 institute comparisons between the beneficent 

 operations of Omnipotence, in order to throw a 

 certain portion of them into the shade. He con 

 siders all the operations of God from the plan 

 of redemption for guilty men, and the mission of 

 his Son into our world, to the minutest muscle 

 that moves the joint of a finger, or the ray of 

 light that darts from a flower of the field, as 

 parts of one vast system of boundless benevo 

 lence, as essentially connected together as the 

 links of a chain ; and, in regard to himself, he 

 views all the variety of blessings now alluded 

 to, as one undivided stream of unbounded bene 

 ficence, commencing with the first moment of 

 his existence, running through all the scenes and 

 circumstances of his terrestrial existence, and 

 expanding into the unfathomable ocean of eter 

 nity. In the whole series of contrivances and 

 events which relate to his present and future 

 existence, both in what we consider the mi 

 nutest and the most magnificent works of the 

 Deity, he perceives the stamp of infinite per 

 fection, and a connexion of plan and of opera 

 tion, which excludes all attempts at comparisons 

 and contrasts. Under such impressions, ann 

 with such views of the concatenation of evert 



