WISDOM OF THE DEITY. 



times less than a mite ; and that the different 

 species of those animals are likewise all differ 

 ently organized from one another, we cannot 

 but be struck with reverence and astonishment, at 

 the Intelligence of that Incomprehensible Being 

 who arranged the organs of all the tribes of ani 

 mated nature, who &quot; breathed into them the breath 

 of life,&quot; and who continually upholds them in all 

 their movements ! 



Could we descend into the subterraneous apart 

 ments of the globe, and penetrate into those un 

 known recesses which lie towards its centre, we 

 should, doubtless, behold a variegated scene of 

 wonders, even in those dark and impenetrable re 

 gions. But all the labour and industry of man have 

 not hitherto enabled him to penetrate farther in 

 to the bowels of the earth than the six thousandth 

 part of its diameter ; so that we must remain for 

 ever ignorant of the immense caverns and masses 

 of matter that may exist, and of the processes 

 that may be going on, about its central regions. 

 In those regions, however, near the surface, 

 which lie within the sphere of human inspection, 

 we perceive a variety analogous to that which 

 is displayed in the other departments of nature. 

 Here we find substances of various kinds formed 

 into strata, or layers, of different depths earths, 

 sand, gravel, marl, clay, sandstone, freestone, 

 marble, limestone, fossils, coals, peat, and simi 

 lar materials. In these strata are found metals 

 and minerals of various descriptions salt, nitrate 

 of potash, ammonia, sulphur, bitumen, platina, 

 gold, silver, mercury, iron, lead, tin, copper, zinc, 

 nickel, manganese, cobalt, antimony, the dia 

 mond, rubies, sapphires, jaspers, emeralds, and a 

 countless variety of other substances, of incalcu 

 lable benefit to mankind. Some of these sub 

 stances are so essentially requisite for the comfort 

 of man, that, without them, he would soon dege 

 nerate into the savage state, and be deprived of all 

 those arts which extend his knowledge, and which 

 cheer and embellish the abodes of civilized life. 



If we turn our eyes upward to the regions of 

 the atmosphere, we may also behold a spectacle 

 of variegated magnificence. Sometimes the sky 

 is covered with sable clouds, or obscured with 

 mists ; at other times it is tinged with a variety 

 of hues, by the rays of the rising or the setting sun. 

 Sometimes it presents a pure azure, at other times 

 it is diversified with strata of dappled clouds. At 

 one time we behold the rainbow rearing its ma 

 jestic arch, adorned with all the colours of light ; 

 at another, the Aurora Borealis illuminating the 

 sky with its fantastic coruscations. At one 

 time we behold the fiery meteor sweeping through 

 the air ; at another, we perceive the forked 

 lightning darting from the clouds, and hear the 

 thunders rolling through the sky. Sometimes the 

 vault of heaven appears like a boundless desert, 

 and at other times adorned with an innumerable 

 nost of stars, and with the moon &quot; walking in 

 orightness.&quot; In short, whether we direct our 





view to the vegetable or the animal tribes, to the 

 atmosphere, the ocean, the mountains, the plains, 

 or the subterranean recesses of the globe, we be 

 hold a scene of beauty, order, and variety, which 

 astonishes and enraptures the contemplative 

 mind, and constrains us to join in the devout ex 

 clamations of the Psalmist, &quot; How manifold are 

 thy ivorks, O Lord ! In wisdom hast thou made 

 them all, the earth is full of thy riches ; so is the 

 great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping, 

 innumerable, both small and great beasts.&quot; 



This countless variety of objects which appears 

 throughout every department of our sublunary 

 system, not only displays the depths of Divine wis 

 dom, but also presents us with a faint idea of the 

 infinity of the Creator, and of the immense mul 

 tiplicity of ideas and conceptions which must have 

 existed in the Eternal Mind, when the fabric of 

 our globe, and its numerous tribes of inhabitants, 

 were arranged and brought into existence. And, 

 if every other world which floats in the immen 

 sity of space be diversified with a similar varie 

 ty of existence, altogether different from ours, (as 

 we have reason to believe, from the variety we 

 already perceive, and from the boundless plans 

 and conceptions of the Creator,) the human mind 

 is lost and confounded, when it attempts to form 

 an idea of those endlessly diversified plans, con 

 ceptions, and views, which must have existed 

 during an eternity past, in the Divine mind. 

 When we would attempt to enter into the con 

 ception of so vast and varied operations, we feel 

 our own littleness, and the narrow limits of oar 

 feeble powers, and can only exclaim, with the 

 Apostle Paul, &quot;Oh the depth of the riches both 

 of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! how un&amp;lt;- 

 searchable are his counsels, and his ways of crea 

 tion and providence past finding out.&quot; 



This characteristic of variety, which is stamp 

 ed on all the works of Omnipotence, is doubtless 

 intended to gratify the principle of curiosity 

 and the love of novelty, which are implanted in 

 the human breast ; and thus to excite rational 

 beings to the study and investigation of the works 

 of the Creator ; that therein they may behold the 

 glory of the Divine character, and be stimulated 

 to the exercise of love, admiration, and reve 

 rence. For as the records of revelation, and the 

 dispensations of providence, display to us the 

 various aspects of the moral character of Deity, 

 so, the diversified phenomena, and the multipli 

 city of objects and operations which the scenery 

 of nature exhibits, present to us a specimen of the 

 ideas, as it were, of the Eternal Mind, in so far 

 as they can be adumbrated by material objects, 

 and exhibited to mortals, through the medium of 

 corporeal organs. 



To convey an adequate conception of the num 

 ber of these ideas, as exhibited on the globe in 

 which we live, would baffle the arithmetician s 

 skill, and set his numbers at defiance. We 

 may, however, assist our conceptions a little, by 



