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 superiour 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? 3. But how are we astonished to behold the vast ocean, rolling in 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 weights? 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 tempet 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. 4. Passing by the numerous productions and appendages of the earth, let us rise from it, and consider the body of air with which we are surrounded. What a convincing proof do we here find of the existence of God! Such is the subtilty and transparency of the air, that it receives the rays of the sun and stars, conveying them with inconceivable velocity to objects on the earth, rendering them visible, and decorating the whole whole surface of the globe with an agreeable inter mixture of light, shade and colours. But still this air has a sufficient consistency and strength to support clouds, and all the winged inhabitants. Had it been less subtile, it would have intercepted the light. Had it been more rarified, it would not have supported its inhab itants, nor have afforded sufficient moisture for the pur poses of respiration. What then but infinite wisdom could have tempered the air so nicely, as to give it suf ficient strength to support clouds for rain, to afford wind for health, and at the same time to possess the power of conveying sound and light? How wonderful is this element! How clearly does it discover infinite wisdom, power, and goodness! 5. But when we cast our eyes up to the firmament of heaven, 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, splen did 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 motions, invariably observing the laws to which they were originally subjected? Who placed the sun at such a convenient distance as not to annoy but 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 pro duce the agreeable changes of day and night, as well as the variety of seasons? The order, harmony, and regularity in the revolutions of the heavenly bodies, are such incontestable proofs 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 him self self void of all understanding. Well indeed is it said, that the heavens declare the glory of God. 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 round us; he performs the greatest operations, produces the noblest effects, discovers himself in a thousand different ways, and yet the real GOD remains unseen. All 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 works, supporting all by the word of his power. He shines in the verdure that clothes the plains, 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. 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 opens 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 ail. The belief of his existence is not a point of mere speculation and amusement. It is of inconceivable importance to our present, as well as future felicity. But while we believe there is a God, we should be extremely careful to ascertain, with as much accuracy as possi ble, ble, what is his real nature. The most prominent features of this are exhibited in that incomprehensible display of wisdom, power, and goodness, made in the works of creation. A virtuous man stands in a relation to God which is peculiarly delightful. The divine perfections are all engaged in his defence. He feels powerful in God's power, wise in his wisdom, good in his goodness. The vicious man, on the contrary, stands in a relation to God, which is of all things the most dreadful. He is unwilling to know that God has sufficient wisdom to search out all his wickedness, sufficient goodness to the universe to determine to punish that wickedness, and sufficient power to execute that determination. A firm belief in the existence of God will heighten all the enjoyments of life, and, by conforming our hearts to his will, will secure the approbation of a good conscience, and inspire us with the hopes of a blessed immortality. Never be tempted to disbelieve the existence of God, when every thing around you proclaims it in a language 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 crea tures, 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 great bounte ous 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 heav ens, garnishing mighty worlds, and waking ten thou sand songs of praise; when you behold unnumbered systems diffused through vast immensity, clothed in splen dour, 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 your reason, passions, and feelings, all united, will rush up to the skies, with a devout acknowledgment of the existence, power, wisdom, and goodness of God. Let us behold him, let us wonder, let us praise and adore. These things will make us happy. They will wean us from vice, and attach us to virtue. As a belief of the existence of God is a fundamental point of salvation, he who denies it runs the greatest conceivable hazard. He resigns the satisfaction of a good conscience, quits the hopes of a happy immortality, and exposes himself to destruction. All this for what? for the short lived pleasures of a riotous, dissolute life. How wretched, when he finds his atheistical confidence totally disappointed! Instead of his beloved sleep and insensibility, with which he so fondly flattered himself, he will find himself still existing after death, removed to a strange place; he will then find that there is a God, who will not suffer his rational creatures to fall into annihilation as a refuge from the just punishment of their crimes; he will find himself doomed to drag on a wretched train of existence in unavailing woe and lamentation. Alas! how astonished will he be to find himself plunged in the abyss of ruin and desperation ! God forbid that any of us should act so unwisely as to disbelieve, when every thing around us proclains his existence ! THE DIGNITY OF HUMAN NATURE. EXTRACT OF AN ORATION G DELIVERED ISLAND COLLEGE, 1796. AT RHODE UIDED by reason, man has travelled through the abstruse regions of the philosophic world. He has originated rules by which he can direct the ship through the pathless ocean, and measure the comet's fight over the fields of unlimited space. He has established society and government. He can aggregate the profusions of every climate, and every season. ineliorate the severity, and remedy the imperfections, He can of |