THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. 



are surrounded with wonders on every hand ; and 

 therefore we cease to admire, or to fix our atten 

 tion on any one of the wonders daily performed by 

 God. Wo have never been accustomed to con 

 template or to inhabit a world where benevolence 

 and wisdom are not displayed ; and, therefore, we 

 tire apt to imagine, that the circumstances of our 

 terrestrial existence could not have been muoh 

 otherwise than they actually are. We behold 

 the sun in the morning, ascending from the east 

 a thousand shining globes are seen in the ca 

 nopy of the sky, when he has disappeared in the 

 west. We open our eyelids, and the myriad 

 of objects which compose an extensive landscape 

 are, in a moment, painted on our retina, we 

 wish to move our bodies, and, in an instant, the 

 joints and muscles of our hands and feet perform 

 their several functions. We spread out our wet 

 clothes to dry, and in a few hours the moisture is 

 evaporated. We behold the fields drenched with 

 rain, and in a few days it disappears, and is 

 dispersed through the surrounding atmosphere, to 

 be again imbodied into clouds. These are all 

 common operations, and, therefore, thoughtless 

 and ungrateful man seldom considers the obliga 

 tions he is under to the Author of his existence, 

 for the numerous enjoyments which flow from 

 these wise arrangements. But were the globe 

 we inhabit, and all its appendages, to remain in 

 their present state and were only the principle 

 of evaporation and the refractive and reflective 

 properties of the air to be destroyed we should 

 soon feel, by the universal gloom which would en 

 sue, and by a thousand other inconveniences we 

 should suffer, what a miserable world was allotted 

 for our abode. We should most sensibly per 

 ceive the wisdom and goodness we had formerly 

 overlooked, and would most ardently implore the 

 restoration of those arrangements for which we 

 were never sufficiently grateful. And why should 

 we not now while we enjoy so many comforts 

 flowing from the plans of infinite Wisdom 

 have our attention directed to the benevolent con 

 trivances within us, and around us, in order that 

 grateful emotions may be hourly arising in our 

 hearts, to the. Father of our spirits ? For the es 

 sence of true religion consists chiefly in gratitude 

 to the God of our life, and the Author of salva 

 tion 5 and every pleasing sensation we feel from 

 the harmonies and the beauties of nature, ought 

 to inspire us with this sacred emotion. &quot; Hearken 

 into this, O man ! stand still, and consider the 

 wonderful works of God. Contemplate the 

 balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works 

 of Him who is perfect in knowledge.&quot; &quot; He 

 hath made the earth by his power, he hath esta 

 blished the world by his wisdom. When he 

 uttereth his voice, there is a noise of waters in 

 the heavens ; he causeth the vapours to ascend 

 from the ends of the earth, and bringeth the winds 

 out of his treasures.&quot; While it is shameful for 



man to be inattentive to the wonders which sur 

 round him, what can be more pleasing and con 

 genial to a rational and devout mind, than con 

 templations on the works of the Most Hijil 

 &quot; What can be more gratifying,&quot; says Sturm 

 &quot; than to contemplate, in the heavens, in the 

 earth, in the water, in the night arid day, and 

 indeed, throughout all nature, the proofs which 

 they afford of the wisdom, the purity, and the 

 .goodness of our great Creator and Preserver ! 

 What can be more delightful than to recognize, 

 in the whole creation, in all the. natural world, 

 in every thing we see, traces of the ever-work 

 ing providence and tender mercy of the great 

 Father of all!&quot; 



SECTION IV. 

 On the Goodness or Benevolence of the DEITY. 



THE Benevolence of God is that perfection 

 of his nature, by which he communicates hap 

 piness to the various ranks of sensitive and in 

 telligent existence. 



The system of Nature, in all its parts, exhibits 

 an unbounded display of this attribute of the 

 Divine Mind, both in relation to man, and in 

 relation to the subordinate tribes of animated 

 existence. In relation to Man the magnificence 

 and glory of the heavens the variegated colouring 

 which is spread over the scene of nature the 

 beautiful flowers, shrubs, and trees, with which 

 the earth is adorned, which not only delight the 

 eye, but perfume the air with their delicious 

 odours the various kinds of agreeable sounds 

 that charm the ear the music of the feathered 

 songsters, which fill the groves with their me 

 lody the thousands of pleasant images which 

 delight the eye, in the natural embellishments of 

 creation the agreeable feelings produced by the 

 contact of almost every thing we have occasion 

 to touch the pleasure attached to eating, drink 

 ing, muscular mot ion, and activity the luxuriant 

 profusion, and rich variety of aliments \\hich the 

 earth affords and the interchanges of thought 

 and affection all proclaim the Benevolence of 

 our Almighty Maker, and show that the commu 

 nication of happiness is one grand object of all 

 his arrangements. For these circumstances 

 are not essentially requisite to our existence 

 We might have lived, and breathed, and walked 

 though every thing we touched had produced 

 pain ; though every thing we ate and drank had 

 been bitter; though every movement of our hand? 

 and feet had been accompanied with uneasiness 

 and fatigue ; though every sound had been as harsh 

 as the saw of the carpenter ; though no birds had 

 warbled in the groves ; though no flowers had 

 decked the fields, or filled the air with their per- 



