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 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 lat ter way, why do we never see men formed so in the pres ent day; why do we never see the clods of earth brightening into human flesh, and the dust under our feet crawling 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, indepenent 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, 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 vast deformity of nature? Undoubt edly for the benefit of man.

II. From the mountains descend streams to fertilize the plains below, and cover them with wealth and beauty.

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 fragrance, 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.

LESSON XCIV.

OCEAN.

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

pressure, and at the same time so strong as to support the heaviest weight? Who spread out this vast highway of all 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. MAXCY.

WHEN we cast our eyes up to the firmament of heav en, we clearly 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

man who asserted the heavenly bodies were not framed and moved by a divine understanding, was himself void of all understanding. Well indeed is it said that the heavens de clare the glory of God.

MAXCY.

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 presence 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.

NEVER be tempted to disbelieve the existence of God, when every thing around you proclaims it in a manner too plain not to be understood. Never cast your eyes on creation without having your souls expanded with this sentiment, "There is a God," When you survey this globe of earth, with all its appendages; when you behold it inhabited by numberless ranks of creatures, all moving in their proper spheres, all verging to their proper ends, all animated by the same great source of life, all supported at the same bounteous table; when you behold not only the earth, but the ocean and the air, swarming with living creatures, all happy in their situation; when you behold yonder sun, darting an effulgent blaze of glory over the heavens, garnishing mighty worlds, and waking ten thousand songs of praise; when you behold unnumbered systems diffused through vast immensity, clothed in splendour, and rolling in majesty; when you behold these things, your affections will rise above all the vanities of time ; your full souls will struggle with ecstacy, and your reason, passions, and feelings, all united, will rush up to the skies with a devout acknowledgement of the existence, power," wisdom, and goodness of God. MAXCY.

LESSON XCVIII.

ASTRONOMY.

FROM what we know of our own system, it may be reasonably concluded, that all the rest are with equal wisdom contrived, situated, and provided with accommodations for rational inhabitants. For, although there is almost an infinite variety in the parts of the creation which we have opportunities of examining, yet there is a general analogy running through and connecting all the parts into one scheme, one design, one whole !

Since the fixed stars are prodigious spheres of fire, like our sun, and at inconceivable distances from one another, as well as from us, it is reasonable to conclude they are

G