WISDOM OF THE DEITY. 



49 



it is not Unreasonable to believe, that, in the 

 &quot;uture world, this will be one property, among 

 others, of the resurrection-body, that it will be 

 furnished with organs of vision far superior to 

 the present, in order to qualify its intelligent in 

 habitant for taking an ample survey of the &quot;riches 

 and glory of the empire of God. 



I have dwelt somewhat particularly on the 

 functions of the eye, in order to show, that it is 

 only when we take a minute inspection of the ope 

 rations of the Creator, that his Infinite Wisdom 

 and Intelligence are most distinctly perceived. 

 The greater part ofChristians will readily admit 

 that the Wisdom of God is manifested in every 

 object, but few of them take the trouble to inquire 

 in what particular contrivances and adaptations 

 this wisdom is displayed ; and, therefore, rest 

 satisfied with vague and general views, which 

 seldom produce any deep impression on the mind. 

 &quot;The works of theLord,&quot; which are &quot;great&quot; 

 and admirable, &quot; must be sought out by all those 

 who have pleasure therein ;&quot; and the more mi 

 nutely they are inspected, the more exquisite and 

 admirable do all his arrangements appear. 



Were we to enter into an investigation of the 

 visual organs of the lower animals, and to con 

 sider the numerous varieties which occur in 

 their structure, position, and movements, and 

 how nicely the peculiar organization of the eye 

 is adapted to the general structure of the animal, 

 and to its various necessities and modes of ex 

 istence the operation of the same inscrutable 

 Wisdom and Intelligence would meet our eye at 

 every step. Birds, for example, which procure 

 their food by their beak, have the power of seeing 

 distinctly at a very small distance ; and, as their 

 rapid motion through the air renders it neces 

 sary that they should descry objects at a con 

 siderable distance, they have two peculiar me 

 chanical contrivances, connected with their organs 

 of vision, for producing both these effects. One 

 of these contrivances consists in a flexible rim 

 formed of bone, which surrounds the broadest 

 part of the eye, and by occasionally pressing upon 

 its orb, shortens its focal distance, and thus 

 enables it to inspect very near objects. The 

 other consists of a peculiar muscle, which draws 

 back, as occasion requires, the crystalline humour, 

 by which means it can take a distinct view of a 

 distant landscape ; and can pass from the sight 

 of a very near, to the sight of a distant object, 

 with rapidity and ease. Injishes, which live in a 

 medium of a different refractive power from that 

 of air, the crystalline humour has a greater degree 

 of convexity, and more nearly approaches to a 

 globular form than that of land animals which 

 conformation is essentially requisite to distinctness 

 of vision in the watery element. A fish of course 

 cannot see distinctly in air, nor a quadruped 

 under water ; and every person who has dived 

 into the water with his eyes open, knows, that 

 7 



though he may perceive the general forms and 

 colours of objects, his vision is obscure and in 

 distinct. In hares and rabbits the eyes are very 

 convex and prominent, so that they can see nearly 

 quite round them ; whereas,in dogs, which pursue 

 these animals, the visual organs are placed mote 

 in the front of the head, to look rather before than 

 behind them. Some animals, as cats and owls 

 which pursue their prey in the dark, have the 

 pupil of their eye so formed as to be capable of 

 great expansion, so that a few rays of light may 

 make a lively impression on their retina ; while 

 the eagle, which is able to look directly at the sun, 

 has its pupil capable of being contracted almost 

 to a point. Insects, such as the beetle, the fly, 

 and the butterfly, whose eyes are incapable of 

 motion, have several thousands of small transpa 

 rent globes set in a convex hemisphere, everyone 

 of which is capable of forming an image of an ob 

 ject; so that they are enabled to view the objects 

 around them without moving their heads . But, it 

 would be beyond the limits of my plan to prose 

 cute this subject any farther ; enough has already 

 been stated, to show, that the eyes of men and 

 other animals are master-pieces of art, which far 

 transcend the human understanding ; and that 

 they demonstrate the consummate wisdom of Him 

 who planned and constructed the organical func 

 tions of the various tribes of animated existence. 



I shall now conclude this branch of my subject, 

 by presenting an instance or two of the mecha 

 nism of the bones, and the movements it is fitted 

 to produce. 



The bones of the human frame are articulated, 

 or connected together, in different ways, but 

 most frequently in the following manner. Either, 

 1. a bone with a round head is articulated with 

 a cavity, and plays in it as a ball in a socket; 

 or, 2. they are connected together by a hinge- 

 like articulation, which enables a bone to move 

 up or down, backwards or forwards, like a door 

 upon its hinges. An idea of these two motions, 

 and the purposes they serve, may be obtained, 

 by considering the construction of the pedestal of 

 a telescope, and the joints on which it moves. 

 One of the joints is of the nature of a hinge, by 

 which a vertical motion, or a motion upwards ^ 

 and downwards is produced. A horizontal 

 motion, or a motion towards the right, hand or 

 the left, is produced by a pivot moving in a socket; 

 so that, by these two motions, the telescope can 

 be made to point in any direction. Such is the 

 nature of the articulations of the bones, and the 

 movements they produce ; and wherever one or 

 other of these motions, or both of them combined , 

 are requisite for the comfort and convenience of 

 the individual, such a power of motion is uni 

 formly found to exist. If the movement of a joint 

 in every direction would, in any particular case, 

 be found inconvenient, the hinge-like articulation 

 is fixed upon : but if a motion in ever w direct^* Is 



