54 



THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. 



amply provided for by the bountiful Creator. 

 &quot; These all wait upon him, and he giveth 

 them their meat in due season.&quot; They enjoy 

 not only life, but also a happy existence. The 

 sportive motions and gesticulations of all the 

 animal tribes the birds skimming through the 

 air, warbling in the groves, and perching on the 

 trees the beasts of the field, bounding in the 

 forests, and through the lawns the fishes sport 

 ing in the waters the reptiles wriggling in the 

 dust, and the winged insects, by a thousand 

 wanton mazes all declare that they are re 

 joicing in their existence, an.J in the exercise of 

 those powers with which the Creator has fur 

 nished them. So that, wherever we turn our eyes, 

 we evidently perceive, that u the earth is full of 

 the goodness of the Lord;&quot; and that &quot; his tender 

 mercies are over all his works.&quot; This subject 

 is boundless but it would be inconsistent with 

 the limited plan of this work, to enter into any 

 particular details. And it is the less necessary, 

 when we consider, that every instance of Divine 

 Wisdom is, at the same time, an instance of 

 benevolence; for it is the ultimate object of all 

 the wise contrivances in the system of Nature, 

 that happiness may be communicated to the va 

 rious ranks of sensitive and intelligent existence. 

 Goodness chooses the end. and wisdom selects 

 the most proper means, for its accomplishment; 

 so that these two attributes must always be con 

 sidered in simultaneous operation. And, there 

 fore, the instances I have already specified, of 

 the Wisdom and Intelligence of the Creator, may 

 also be considered, asexemplifications of Divine 

 Benevolence. I shall, therefore, conclude this 

 topic with the following extract from Dr. Paley. 

 &quot; Contrivance proves design ; and the promi 

 nent tendency of the contrivance, indicates the 

 disposition of the designer. The world abounds 

 with contrivances ; and all the contrivances we 

 are acquainted with, are directed to beneficial 

 purposes. Evil, no doubt, exists ; but it is never 

 that we can perceive, the object of contrivance. 

 Teeth are contrived to eat, not to ache ; their 

 aching now and then, is incidental to the con 

 trivance, perhaps inseparable from it ; or even, 

 if you will, let it be called a defect in the con 

 trivance, but it is not the object of it. This is a 

 distinction which well deserves to be attended to. 

 In describing implements of husbandry, you will 

 hardly say of a sickle, that ll is made to cut the 

 reaper s fingers, though from the construction 

 of the instrument, and the manner of using it, 

 this mischief often happens. But if you had 

 occasion to describe instruments of torture or ex 

 ecution, This, you would say, ia to extend the si 

 news ; this to dislocate the joints ; this to break 

 the bones; this to scorch the soles of the feet. 

 Here pain and misery are the very objects of the 

 contrivance. Now nothing of this sort is to be 

 found in the works of nature. W never dis 



cover a train of contrivance to bring aboat a 

 evil purpose. No anatomist ever discovered a 

 system of organization calculated to produce 

 pain and disease ; or in explaining the parts of the 

 human body, ever said, This is to irritate ; this to 

 inflame ; this duct is to convey the gravel to the 

 kidneys ; this gland to secrete thn humour which 

 forms the gout. If, by chance, he come at a 

 part of which he knows not the use, the most he 

 can say is, that it is uselses ; no one ever suspects 

 that it is put there to incommode, to annoy, or 

 torment. Since, then, God hath called forth his 

 consummate wisdom to contrive and provide for 

 our happiness, and the world appears to have 

 been constituted with this design at first, so 

 long as this constitution is upheld by him, we 

 must, in reason, suppose the same design to con 

 tinue.&quot; Paley s Moral Philosophy, Book II. 

 Chap. 5. 



Thus, I have endeavoured, in this and the pre 

 ceding section, to exhibit a few specimens of the 

 Wisdom and Goodness of God, in the system of 

 nature. These might have been multiplied to an 

 indefinite extent, but the instances adduced, I 

 presume, are sufficient to show, that the economy 

 of the material world is not altogether a barren 

 subject, to a pious and contemplative mind/ 

 Every intelligent believer in Revelation will 

 readily admit, that it would be a highly desirable 

 object, to induce upon the mass of Christians such 

 a habit of devout attention to the visible works of 

 creation, as would lead them, in their social and 

 solitary walks, to recognize the agency of God, 

 in every object they behold ; to raise their thoughts 

 to Him as the Great First Cause, and to ex 

 pand their hearts with emotions of gratitude. 

 How very different must be the sentiments and 

 the piety of the man who looks on the scene 

 of wisdom and magnificence around him, with 

 a &quot; brute unconscious gaze,&quot; as thousands of 

 professed Christians do and the grateful and 

 pious emotions of him who recognizes the be 

 nevolent agency of God, in the motions of his 

 fingers, and his eyeballs ; in the pulsation of 

 his heart; in the picture of external objects 

 every moment formed on his retina ; in the re 

 flection of the rays of light, and the diversified 

 colours they produce; in the dry ing of his clothes; 

 in the constitution of the atmosphere ; in the 

 beauty and magnificence of the earth and the 

 heavens ; and in every other object that meets his 

 eye, in the expanse of nature ! The numberless 

 astonishing instances of Divine agency, which 

 every where present themselves to our view in 

 the scene around us, seem evidently intended 

 to arrest the mind to a consideration of an 

 &quot; ever-present Deity ;&quot; and I envy not the sen 

 timents or the feelings of that man who ima 

 gines, that he stands in no need of such sensible 

 mediums, to impress his mind with a sense of 

 the benevolent care and omnipresence of God. 



