quirers into Nature, to be wonderfully beautiful, and ordered with great Wif dom. The feveral Planets are very regu larly difpofed; their Courses are determined; their Bulk and the Quantity of Matter which is in them is exactly adjusted to their refpective Motions and Distances from the Sun. And particularly this Earth of ours is placed in that Situation which is most proper for it: It's Bulk and Form is fuch as is excellently adapted to that. Situation; and it could neither be much bigger nor smaller than it is; neither brought much nearer the Sun, nor removed at a further Distance from it, without

great Inconvenience. God is reprefented in the beautiful Language of the Prophet, as having, when he made the World, comprehended the Duft of the Earth in a Meafure, and weighed the Mountains in Scales, and the Hills in a Balance. If. xl. 12. The Manner of Expreffion fhews that in forming this earthly Globe he adjufted all the Parts of it in the most wife and exact Proportions. The fame Thing is fignified, when it is faid that he laid the Meafures of the Earth, and stretched the Line upon it. Job xxxvii, 5. A Metaphor drawn from skilful Architects, who, building an Edifice, proceed by Rule,

and according to the jufteft Proportions. To the fame Purpose Divine Wisdom is reprefented as making a Weight for the Winds, and weighing the Waters by Meafures as having made a Decree for the Rain, and a Way for the Lightning of the Thunder. Job xxviii. 25, 26.

Thus Order every-where thines forth in the inanimate Creation. But there are ftill greater Evidences of Wisdom and Defign in the Formation of living Creatures; even those of them which feem to be the meanest, the most inconfiderable, fuch as the minutest Infects, are fo admirably formed, and in the nice and exact Adjustment of their little Parts and Members fuch exquifite Skill is displayed, that they who have made the most diligent Refearches into these Things have been at a Lofs how fufficiently to exprefs their Admiration and Aftonishment. As far as we are able diftin&tly to trace the different Species of Animals through their various Forms and Instincts, they are steadily directed to what is neceffary for their Prefervation, their Food, and the Continuance of their Species, and are provided with Gratifications and Enjoyments suited to their several Natures. They have Organs excellently fitted for Motion and

Sen

Senfation, and peculiarly adapted to that particular Kind of Life for which they are defigned. In all thofe Things we may obferve fuch manifeft Indications of orderly Contrivance, that we have Reason to cry out with the devout Pfalmift, O Lord, how manifold are thy Works! in Wisdom haft thou made them all.

Who can undertake to defcribe the in numerably various Ranks in the Scale of Beings, rifing in an orderly Progref fion, one above another, the highest of an inferior Species coming near to the lowest of an higher Order, fo that there is no difagreeable Chafm in the Creation, but a beautiful Harmony is fpread through the Whole? How delightful muft it be to pursue them through all their various Degrees of Life and Capacities for Enjoyment, till we arrive to the great Fountain of Life, the glorious felf-exiftent Jebovab, from whom they and all their Powers are derived!

But it is in the rational and moral Part of the Creation that the Glory of God is moft illuftriously difplayed. The noblest of them, of which we have any Account, are the bleffed Angels. And undoubtedly, if we had a clear and diftin&t View of their yaft and fublime Capacities, their mighty

Power

Power and Activity, the Extent of their Understanding and Knowledge, and the Height of moral Excellency to which they are capable of attaining, it would raife in us the highest Conceptions of Wifdom Goodness, as well as Power, of the Creator; but we know little of them at prefent. The only Creature of the rational and moral Kind that we are well act quainted with is Man, And a confiderate Survey of our own Nature could not fail to fill us with Wonder and Delight. How admirable is the Frame of the human Body! comprehending in fo small a Compass a furprifing Variety of Parts, many of them exquifitely minute and fine, all of them contrived with the most amazing Skill, and not one of them without it's proper Ufe. If we confider the Dignity of it's Forin, the curious Structure of it's feveral Veffels and Organs fo excellently adapted for all the Functions of the Animal Life, and with Regard to which, after the Inquiries of fo many Ages, there are ftill new Discoveries made, and new Wonders opening to our View; fhould not this caufe us to break forth into that rapturous Act of Devotion: I will praife thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvellous are thy Works, and that my

Soul

knoweth

knoweth right well. Pf. cxxxix. 14. But above all it fhould fill us with a deyout Admiration of the Deity to confider the nobler Part of our Nature, in which we more nearly resemble the pure intellectual Effence of the fupreme Being. How excellent are the Faculties of the human Soul! The Understanding, whereby it is capable of knowing and contemplating not only fenfible and material Objects, but Things fpiritual and invifible, and the moft perfect and glorious of all Beings, God himfelf; the Imagination, whereby it can form innumerable sprightly Images of Things which ftrike the Mind with great Force; the Memory, in which, as in an ample and faithful Repofitory, is treafured up a prodigious Variety of Ideas relating to numberless Subjects of various Kinds. But efpecially let us confider the moral Powers with which Man is endued; the Principle of Reafon, which is defigned to prefide over and to govern fenfitive Appetites and Paffions; the selfdetermining Power of the Will, which makes him Mafter of his own Actions, and accountable for them; the inward Senfe he hath, when not depraved by corrupt Habits and Prejudices, of Good and Evil, Right and Wrong, of the Beauty

the

and