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of God much less conspicuous in constituting two 

 Such plain and simple beings as the earth and -water, 

 to be the springs of nourishment and growth to such 

 an innumerable variety of creatures, than it was in the 

 formation of them out of two such materials. Is it 

 not counted an admirable piece of divine contrivance 

 and wisdom, that the single principle of gravitation 

 should be employed by the Creator, to answer so 

 many millions of purposes among the heavenly bodies 

 in their regular revolutions as -well as among the 

 inhabitants, and the furniture of this earthly globe 

 where we dwell ? And may it not be esteemed as 

 astonishing an effect of the same supreme wisdom, that 

 two such simple things as water and earth should be 

 the common materials out of which all the standing 

 ornaments, the vegetable beauties and the moving inha- 

 bitants of this our world, whether living 01 creeping, 

 walking or swimming, should receive their continual 

 sustenance, and their increase ? 



Let us first consider this as it relates te the vegetable 

 part of the creation. What a profusion of beauty and 

 fragrancy, of shapes and colours, of smells and tastes, 

 is scattered among the herbs and flowers of the ground, 

 among the shrubs, the trees, and the fruits of the field ! 

 Colouring in its original glory and perfection triumphs 

 here ; red, yellow, green, blue, purple, with vastly 

 more diversities than the rainbow ever knew, or the 

 prism can represent, are distributed among the flowers 

 and blossoms. And what variety of tastes, both ori- 

 ginal and compounded, of sweet, bitter, sharp, with a 

 thousand nameless flavours, are found among the herbs 

 of the garden ? What an amazing difference of shapes 

 and sizes appears amongst the trees of the field and forest 

 in their branches and their leaves ? And what a lux- 

 urious and elegant distinction in their several fruits ? 

 How very numerous are their distinct properties, and 

 their uses in human life ? And yet these two common 

 elements, earth and water, are the only materials out 

 of which they are all composed, from the beginning to 

 the end of nature and time. 



