9EÇT: IIh IRE HAPPINESS QF SEPAILAT}: SPIF:ITS. 391 there are multitudes of new strange creatures that we read of in the narratives of foreign countries : And what a vast profusion of entertainments for them all ? How are the mountains and meadows adorned with a sur- prizing plenty of grass and herbs, fruits and flowers, almost infinite, for the use of man and meaner animals ? In the world of waters a thousand unknown creatures swim and sport themselves, and leap with excess of life even in the freezing seas.: Millions of inhabitants rangge through that liquid wilderness with swiftest motion, and in the wonders of their frame and nature proclaimthe skill of an Almighty Maker. Others of the watry kind are but half alive, and are tossed from place to place by the heaving.ocean. Think of the leviathan, the eel, and the Oyster, and tell me if God has not shewn a rich variety of contrivance in them : And as various as their nature is, so "arious is the means of their life; proper beds of lodging are provided for them, and variety of food suited to uphold every nature. Mankind is a world of itself, made up of the mingled or united natures of flesh and spirit. What an infinite difference of faces and features among the sons and daughters of men ? And how much more various are the turns of their appetites, tempers, and inclinations, their humours and passions ? And what glorious employment bath divine wisdom ordained for itself, in framing these millions of creatures with understandings and wills of so inconceivable a variety, so vast a difference of genius and inclination, to be the subjects of its providential go- vernment ? And what a surprizing harmony is there in the immense and incomprehensible scheme of divine counsels, arising from the various stations and businesses of men so infinitely diversified, and, distinct from one another, and centring in one great end the divine glory? An amazing contrivance, and a design worthy of God. Now is the pure intellectual world alone destitute of this delightful variety ? Is the nature of spirits utterly incapable of this diversity and beauty, without the aids of flesh and blood ? Rath the wisdom of God displayed no riches of contrivance there ? And must there be such 'a dull uniformity no where but in' the country Where spirits dwell, spirits the noblest parts of God's creation and dominion ? . Has he poured out all the. various glo- 2c4
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