and fall of merchandise, the favourable seasons for importing and exporting, a quick eye to see, and a nimble hand to seize advantages as they turn up; these are the talents which raise men from low to affluent circumstances. BURGH. LESSON XCI. EXISTENCE OF GOD Let us MAN himself is a proof of God's existence. place him before us in his full stature. We are at once impressed with the beautiful organization of his body, with the orderly and harmonious arrangement of his members. Such is the disposition of these, that their motion is the most easy, graceful, and useful, that can be conceived. We are astonished to see the same simple matter diversified into so many different substances of different qualities, size, and figure. If we pursue our researches through the internal economy, we shall find that all the different opposite parts correspond to each other with the utmost exactness and order; that they all answer the most beneficent purposes. II. This wonderful machine, the human body, is animated, cherished, and preserved by a spirit within, which pervades every particle, feels in every organ, warns us of injury, and administers to our pleasures. Erect in stature, man differs from all other animals. Though his foot is confined to the earth, yet his eye measures the whole circuit of heaven, and in an instant takes in thousands of worlds. His countenance is turned upwards, to teach us that he is not like other animals, limited to the earth, but looks forward to brighter scenes of existence in the skies. III. Whence came this erect, orderly, and beautiful constitution of the human body? Did it spring from the earth, self-formed? Surely not. Earth itself is inactive matter. That which has no motion can never produce any. Man surely could not, as has been vainly and idly supposed, have been formed by the fortuitous concurrence of atoms. We behold the most exact order in the constitution of the human body. Order always involves design. Design always involves intelligence. 12: That intelligence, which directed the ordinary formation of the human body, must have resided in a Being, whose power was adequate to the production of such an effect. MAXCY, CREATION. CREATION surely is the prerogative of self-existent, uncaused Being. Finite creatures may arrange and dispose, but they cannot create they cannot give life. It is a universal law through all nature, that like produces like. The same laws most probably obtain through the whole system in which we are connected. We have therefore no reason to suppose that angels created man. Neither can we, without the greatest absurdity, admit that he was formed by himself, or by mere accident. If in the latter way, why do we never see men formed so in the present day; why do we never see the clods of earth brighten ing into human flesh, and the dust under our feet crawl. ing into animated forms, and starting up into life and intelligence? If we even admit that either of the fore. mentioned causes might have produced man, yet neither of them could have preserved him in existence one moment. II. There must, therefore, be a God, uncaused, indepen. ent and complete. The nobler part of man clearly evinces this great truth. When we consider the boundless desires and the inconceivable activity of the soul of man, we can refer his origin to nothing but God. How astonishing are the reasoning faculties of man! How surprising the powers of comparing, arranging and connecting his ideas! How wonderful is the power of imagination! On its wings, in a moment, we can transport ourselves to the most distant part of the universe. We can fly back, and live the lives of all antiquity, or surmount, the limits of time, and sail along the vast range of eternity. Whence these astonishing powers, if not from a God of infinite wisdom, goodness, fe and power? MAXCY. "THE invisible things of Him from the creation of the world, are clearly seen." Let us for a moment behold our earth. With what a mighty scene are we here presented! The diversification of its surface into land and water, islands and lakes, springs and rivers, hills and valleys, mountains and plains, renders it to man doubly enchanting. We are entertained with an agreeable variety, without being disgusted with a tedious uniformity. Every thing appears admirably formed for our profit and delight. There the vallies are clothed in smiling green, and the plains are bending with corn. Here is the gentle hill to delight the eye, and beyond, slow rising from the earth, swells the huge mountain, and, with all its load of waters, rocks, and woods, heaves itself up into the skies. Why this pleasing wast deformity of nature? Undoub)edly for the benefit of man. II. Fom the mountains descend streams to fertilize the plains below, and cover them with wealth and beauły. The earth not only produces every thing necessary to support our bodies, but to remedy our diseases, and gratify our senses. Who covered the earth with such a pleasing variety of fruits and flowers? Who gave them their delightful fragranoe, and painted them with such exquisite colours? Who causes the same water to whiten in the lily that blushes in the rose? Do not these things indicate a Cause, infinitely superior to any finite being? Do they not directly lead us to believe the existence of God, to admire his goodness, to revere his power, to adore his wisdom, in so happily accommodating our external circumstances to our situation and internal constitution? MAXCY. HOW are we astonished to behold the vast ocean rolling its immense burden of waters! Who gave it such a configuration of particles as to render it moveable by the least 73 pressure, and at the same time so strong as to s heaviest weight? Who spread out this vast highway the nations under heaven? Who gave it its regular motion Who confined it within its bounds? A little more motion would disorder the whole world! A small incitement on the tide would drown whole kingdoms! Who restrains the proud waves, when the tempest lifts them to the clouds? Who measured the great waters, and subjected them to invariable laws? That great Being, "who placed the sand for the bound thereof, by a perpetual decree that it cannot pass; and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over." With reason may we believe, that from the things that are made, are clearly seen eternal power and wisdom. ΜΑΧΟΥ. WHEN we cast our eyes up to the firmament of heav en, we olearly see that it declares God's handy work. Here the immense theatre of God's works opens upon us, and discloses ten thousand magnificent, splendid objects. We dwindle to nothing in comparison with this august scene of beauty, majesty, and glory. Who reared this vast arch over our heads? Who adorned it with so many shining objects, placed at such immense distances from each other, regular in their motion, invariably observing the laws to which they were originally subjected. Who placed the sun at such a convenient distance as not to annoy but to refresh us? Who, for so many ages, has caused him to rise and set at fixed times? Whose hand directs, and whose power restrains him in his course, causing him to produce the agreeable changes of day and night, as well as the variety of seasons? II. The order, harmony, and regularity, in the revolutions of the heavenly bodies, are such incontestible evidence of the existence of God, that an eminent poet well said, "An undevout astronomer is mad." In the time of Cicero, when the knowledge of astronomy was very imperfect, he did not hesitate to declare, that, in his opinion, the heavenly bodies were not framed and understanding, was himself void of all Well indeed is it said that the heavens deMAXCY. 72 ory of God. LESSON XCVI. OMNIPRESENCE. All THIS great Being is every where present. He exists all around us. He is not, as we are apt to imagine, at a great distance. Wherever we turn, his image meets our view. We see him in the earth, in the ocean, in the air, in the sun, moon and stars. We feel him in ourselves. He is always working around us; he performs the greatest operations, produces the noblest effects, discovers himself in a thousand different ways, and yet the real God remains unseen. parts of creation are equally under his inspection. Though he warms the breast of the highest angel in heaven, yet he breathes life into the meanest insect on earth. He lives through all his work, supporting all by the word of his power. He shines in the verdure that clothes the plain, in the lily that delights the vale, and in the forest that waves on the mountain. He supports the slender reed that trembles in the breeze, and the sturdy oak that defies the tempest. II. His présence cheers the inanimate creation. Far in the wilderness, where human eye never saw, where the savage foot never trod, there he bids the blooming forest smile, and the blushing rose open its leaves to the morning sun. There he causes the feathered inhabitants to whistle their wild notes to the listening trees, and echoing mountains. There nature lives in all her wanton wildness. There the ravished eye, hurrying from scene to scene, is lost in one vast blush of beauty. From the dark stream that rolls through the forest, the silver-scaled fish leap up and dumbly mean the praise of God. Though man remain silent, yet God will have praise. He regards, observes, upholds, connects, and equals all. MAXCY: |