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with all the Helps of Art, fhall ever be able to get a Glimpfe of them. Thus there are as it were innumerable Worlds, extending one beyond another; and, when we endeavour to turn our Thoughts this Way, we foon lofe ourselves in the Immenfity of Space, which exceedeth the utmoft Flight of human Imagination. And should not this general View of the Greatness and wide Extent of the Creation of God fill our Minds with a delightful Aftonishment? It should naturally lead us to reafon after this Manner: How immenfe, how incomprehenfibly great, is that glorious Being, by whofe Word the Heavens were made, and all the Haft of them by the Breath of his Mouth; who is reprefented in the noble Language of the Prophet, as meting out the Heavens with a Span, and whom Heaven, the Heaven of Heavens, cannot contain !

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Secondly, Let us confider not only the Greatness but the Number and Variety of the Works of God in the Creation. And, confidered in this View, they must needs give Pleasure to a religious Mind. They are fo many and various, that they are only to be fully known and comprehended by the great Author of Nature. If we take a Survey even of this Earth, which is that Part of the Creation we are best acquainted

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quainted with, we are aftonished at the Multiplicity of Things which offer themfelves to our Obfervation. No human Mind can purfue inanimate Matter through all it's various furpriting Transformations. It putteth on numberlefs different Appearances, and by it's manifold Combinations, and the Motions impreffed upon it, is diverfified beyond what the most active and enlarged Imagination is able to conceive. Who can undertake to enumerate the Foffils of various Kinds, Stones, Metals, Minerals, that are treasured up in the Bowels of the Earth; or the Vegetables which fpring up out of it's Bofom in inconceivable Quantities, and adorn it's Surface; the Trees in their several Species from the lowly Shrub to the statelieft Oak or Cedar; the Herbs and Plants of fuch different Forms and Virtue; the feveral Sorts of Grafs and Grain, and the Flowers fo inexpreflibly various, and exquifitely beautiful and pleafing!

If we next turn our Views to the animal Part of the Creation, the whole Earth feemeth to be replenished with living Creatures, and every Clod is fwarming with Life; no Mortal is able to compute the Infects of various Tribes, many of them fo minute, as not to be difcerned by the naked Eye And perhaps there are yet

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more in Number which the finest Glaffes have not been able to discover. And if from thence we proceed to the larger Kind of fenfitive Beings, their Number and Variety is amazing; the Fishes which inhabit the watery Element; the Birds that wing the airy Region; the Beasts that walk and tread upon the Earth in all their different Forms, Powers, and Instincts; to all which may be added those of the human Species, the highest Order of Beings in this lower World, in their several Tongues, and Families, and Nations.

Such is the inconceivable Variety of Creatures upon this Earth, which is fo fmall a Part of the Creation. What then must it appear to be, if we could carry our Views throughout the vast Universe! How many other Orders of fenfitive and and rational Beings there are in the several Regions of this wide extended Syftem, we are at prefent unable to explore: But the Scriptures inform us of an innumerable Company of Angels who are represented as having their Dwellings in Heaven, and the Names by which they are described lead us to judge that they are of different Orders and Degrees; and there is Reafon to believe that the leaft of them is much fuperior to Man,

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Thirdly,

Thirdly, Let us confider the admirable Order and Beauty, the Exactnefs and wife Contrivance of God's Works of Creation, Wide beyond Imagination as the Extent of this World is, Order and a moft wife Difpofition prevaileth throughout the whole. Thus it manifeftly is in those Parts of the Univerfe which come under our own particular Notice; and we may be fure that it equally holdeth concerning all the reft. The more accurate Inquiry we make into the Works of God, the more we obferve of Order and Exactnefs in them. Many of the Objections, which were urged by atheistical Philofophers of old against the Frame of the World, appear by later Difcoveries to have proceeded from Ignorance or Miftake: And thofe Things which were cenfured as confufed and irregular are found to be moft wifely and fitly ordered. This whole yaft Mafs of Matter is fubjected to fteady Laws, wifely appointed by the Creator in the Beginning: And this is what is commonly called the Courfe of Nature, whereby there is an eftablished Connection and mutual Dependence of Caufes and Effects, proceeding according to stated Rules in a regular Order. If it were not for this, no Man could tell how

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to act or what to expect; no regular Knowledge of Nature could be obtained; nor could any Use be made of Experience, fince the fame Things in the fame Circumstances might produce one Effect this Day, and the next Day a quite contrary one.

The Scripture often taketh Notice of the regular ftated Course and Order of Nature, eftablished by the Wisdom and Power of the Creator. Hence we read of the Ordinances of Heaven, and the Covenant of Day and Night. God caufeth the Day-Spring to know his Place. Job xxxviii. 12. He appointed the Moon for Seafons, and the Sun knoweth his Going down. Pf. civ. 19. The Stars, thofe huge and ftupendous Orbs, may feem to a fuperficial Eye to be carelefly scattered through the wide Expanfe, but they are really difpofedwith the moft wife Contrivance, each of them placed in that Station, and in that Part of the Univerfe, which is fitteft for them: Lift up your Eyes on high, and behold who hath created thefe Things, that bringeth forth their Hoft by Number: He calleth them all by Names, by the Greatness of his. Power, not one faileth. If. xl. 26. That particular Solar System, to which we more efpecially belong, is found according to the Obfervations of the most fagacious Inquirers

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