624 The Wifdona of God, Vol. I, Providence ; and that tho' a Wife man feek to find out the work of God from the Ieginning to the end, he /hall not k able to do it, and we (hall never be able to exhauft all the various Wifdom and Contrivance which is in the Works of God tho' the oftner and the nearer we meditate upon them, the more we (hall fee to admire in them ; the more we ftudy this Book of the Creation, the morewe (hall be aftoni(h'd at the Wifdom ofthe Author: but this doth not hinder but that we may difcover fomething of the Wifdomof God, tho' it be Infi- nite. As the Effe is of Infinite Power may fall under our Senfes, fo the Defigns of InfrniteWifdommay fall under our Reafonand Underffanding ; and when things ap- pear to our heft Reafon, plainly to be order'd for the belt, and the greateft ad- vantages of the World and Mankind, fo far as we are able to judge; and ifthey had beenotherwife, as they might have beena hundred thoufand ways, they would not have been fo well; we ought to. conclude, that things are thus, and net other- wife, is the refult of Wifdom. Now the wifdom of God in the Creation will appear . by confidering the Works of Gód. Thofe Who have ftudied Nature can difcourfe thefe things more exa&-- lÿ and particularly. It would require perfect skill in Agronomy, to declare the motions and order of Heavenly Bodies; and in Anatomy, to read Leétures of the rare contrivance of the Bodies of living Creatures. But this, as it is beyond my ability, fo it would probably be above molt of your Capacities therefore I (hall content my Pelf withfome general and more obvious inflances of the Divine Wifdom, which Ihine forth fo clear in his Works, that he that runs may readit I. I.íhall take a (hart furveyof the feveral parts of the World. 2,. Single out Man the Mafter-piece of the vifibleCreation. z. If we furvey the World,.and travel overthe feveral parts ofit in our thoughts, we fhall find that all things in it are made with the greateft exa8tnefs, ranged in the molt beautiful order, and ferve the wifeyand belt Ends. If we look up to Heaven, and take notice only there of that which is moll vifi- ble, the Sun ; you fee how by the wife order and conflancyof its courfe it makes Day and Night, Winter and Summer. This the Pfalmift takes notice of, Pfal. 59. i, z. The heavens declare the glory of God; andthe firmament/heweth his handy work. Day unto Day utterethfpeech, and night unto night fheweth. knowledge. It may eadly be imagin'd many ways, how the Sun might have had another Courfe in refe- rence to the Earth; but no Man can devife any other that fhould not be very much to the prejudice of the World; fo that this being the belt, it is an Argu- ment thatWifdom had the orderingand difpofing of it. Ifwe look down to the Earth, we (hall fee Gods afcending anddefcending ; I mean clear reprefentations of Divine Wifdom inthe Treafures that are hid in the Bowels of it, and thofe Fruits that grow upon the furface of it. What vaft Heaps, and what variety of ufeful Materials and Minerals are fcatter'd up and down in the Earth as one would think with a carelefs Hand, but yet fo wifely difperft, as is molt proper for the Neceflities and Ufes of feveral Countries! Look upon the fur- face of the Earth, and you (hall find it cloathed and adorned with Plantsof a va- rious and admirable Frame, and Beauty, and Ufefulnefs. Look upon the waft O- cean, and there you -may fee the Wifdom of God in bridling and reftraining that unruly Element, I mean in finking it below the Earth ; whereas the Water might have been above and cover'd the Earth and then the Earth, had been in - a great meafure ufelefs, and incapable of thofe Inhabitans which now pof fefs it. Look again upon the Earth, and in the Air, and Sea, and you (hall find all thefe inhabited and furnifhed with great flare of living Creatures of feveral kinds, wonderfully made in the frame of their Bodies, endowed with ftrong inclination to increafe their kinds, and witha natural Affection and care towards their Young ones; and every kind of thefe Creatures armed either with ftrengrh or wit to op- pofe their Enemy, or fwiftnefs to flie from him, or-ftrong Holds to fecure them- felves. But theCreation is a waft Field, in which we may tally lofe our felves. I fhall 'therefore call home our wandring Thoughts; for we need not go out of our felves for a proof ofDivine Wifdom.. I (hall therefore, a. Seles;t
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