MO STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS e1' HUMAN REASON. joyment of a thousand happy privileges, which he has bestowed upon them; who can say, that this sovereign has acted any thing tlpbecoming a wise or a gracious ruler ? Alas ! Sir, we have too ambitious and over-weening a con- ceit of ourselves, when we imagine, that we, who dell on this little spot of ground, are the whole of the intellectual creationof God ; or even that we make anygreat or considerable part of it. Perhaps the world of those spirits which we call angels, may be as large andnumerous as ours : There are many ranks and de= greesof them, thrones and principalities, dominions and powers. The multitudes of their armiesare ten thousand times ten thou- sand : And theremay be some reason to think that even all these ranks of intelligent creatures are but an inconsiderably small portion of the intellectual works of God: Perhaps most, if not all these orders of angelsmight be formed with a regard to this earth only, to be divine agents and messengers to manage the Affairs of this terrestrial province of God's dominion. It is possi- ble, that all the intellectual creatures of which God has givenns an account, fromthe beginning of Genesisto the end of the Re- velation, have some special relation to this little world of ours. Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation ? IIeb. i. 14: And the fallen- angels in thegrand scheme of God s universal government, per- haps, have all their posts assigned to them by divine order,-or by divine permission, to transact no other affairs but what relate to mankind. It is possible, that all we call angels and devils are only God's invisible ministers of this his kingdom of visiblecrea- turesCalled men; both in their bodied and unbodied state. Why may not his' other visible dominions amongthe stars,which I shalt point out presently, have also their proper ranks of invisible ministers, by which his providence and government may be ears tiedon among them. Let us consider yet further, what innhttierable ranks d beings may be found in the vast universe which God has made, superior both tomen and angels, in a gradation ahnost infinite. Let us think of theastonishing varieties and gradations of beings belonging to this our globe, in air, on earth, or in the sea, which.. lié in the descending scale or creatures betwixt the nature of min, and the nature of an oyster, or if therebe any animal of lowerfife : And why may therenot be another variety and gra- datiánof beings as vastand astonishing in the ascending scale of existences; all superior to us, and yet the highest of them infi- nitely beneath God, its Maker? surely the wisdom of God hatte an inexhaustible sufficiency of invention to contrive, and his, power to produce such gradations, and such varieties. how` audaciousa thing is it then, for such little creeping animals, who dwell on this clod of clay, to fancy ourselves so large a part of
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