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though the oftener, and the nearer we meditate S ERM. upon them, the more we fhall fee to admire in them; the more we ftudy this book of the creation, the more we shall be astonished at the wisdom of the author: but this doth not hinder, but that we may discover fomething of the wifdom of God, though it be infinite. As the effects of infinite power may fall under our fenfes, fo the designs of infinite wifdom may fall under our reafon and understanding; and when things appear to our best reason plainly to be ordered for the beft, and the greatest advantages of the world and mankind, fo far as we are able to judge; and if they had been otherwife, as they might have been a hundred thoufand ways, they would not have been fo well; we ought to conclude, that things are thus, and not otherwife, is the refult of wisdom.

Now the wisdom of GOD in the creation will ap pear by confidering the works of GOD. Thofe who have ftudied nature, can discourse these things more exactly and particularly. It would require perfect skill in aftronomy, to declare the motions and order of heavenly bodies; and in anatomy, to read lectures of the rare contrivance of the bodies of living crea"tures. But this, as it is beyond my ability, fo it would probably be above most of your capacities; therefore I shall content myself with fome general and more obvious inftances of the divine wisdom, which fhine forth fo clear in his works, that "he that runs "may read it."

1. I shall take a short furvey of the feveral parts of the world.

2. Single out man, the mafter-piece of the vifible

creation.

1. If we furvey the world, and travel over the se-. veral parts of it in our thoughts, we fhall find that

all

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SERM. all things in it are made with the greatest exactness, ranged in the most beautiful order, and ferve the wifeft and best ends.

If we look up to heaven, and take notice only there of what is moft vifible, the fun, you fee how by the wife order and conftancy of it's course it makes day and night, winter and fummer. This the pfalmift takes notice of, Pfal. xix. 1, 2. "The "heavens declare the glory of GoD, and the firmament fheweth his handy work. Day unto day "uttereth speech; and night unto night fheweth "knowledge." It may easily be imagined many ways, how the fun might have had another courfe in reference to the earth; but no man can devise any other, that should not be very much to the prejudice of the world; fo that this being the best, it is an argument that wisdom had the ordering and disposing of it.

If we look down to the earth, we shall fee gods afcending and defcending; I mean clear reprefentations of divine wifdom in the treasures that are hid in the bowels of it, and thofe fruits that grow upon the furface of it.. What vaft heaps, and what variety of useful materials and minerals are scattered up and down in the earth, as one would think with a careless hand, but yet fo wifely difperft, as is most proper for the neceffities and uses of feveral countries! Look upon the furface of the earth, and you fhall find it clothed and adorned with plants of various and admirable frame, and beauty, and usefulness. Look upon the vaft ocean, and there you may fee the wisdom of God in bridling and restraining that unruly clement, I mean, in finking it below the earth; whereas the water might have been above and covered the earth, and then the earth had been in a great

measure

measure useless, and incapable of those inhabitants SER M. which now poffefs it.

Look again upon the earth, and in the air, and fea, and you shall find all these inhabited and furnished with great ftore of living creatures of feveral kinds, wonderfully'made in the frame of their bodies, endowed with ftrong inclination to increase their kinds, and with a natural affection and care towards their young ones; and every kind of thefe creatures armed either with ftrength or wit to oppofe their enemy, or fwiftnefs to fly from him, or ftrong holds to fecure themselves. But the creation is a vast field, in which we may eafily lofe ourselves. I fhall therefore call home our wandring thoughts'; for we need not go out of ourselves for a proof of divine wisdom. I fhall therefore,

2. Select the choiceft piece of it, man, who is the top and perfection of this vifible world. What is faid of the elephant, or behemoth, Job xl. 19. in refpect of the vast bigness and strength of his body, is only abfolutely true of man, that he is divini opificii caput, "the chief of the works of God, and upon "earth there is none like him." Man is mundi

་

utrifque nexus, "the bond of both worlds," as Scaliger calls him, in whom the world of bodies, and the world of fpirits do meet, and unite; for in refpect to his body, he is related to this vifible world, and is of the earth; but in respect of his foul, he is allied to heaven, and defcended from above. We have looked above us, and beneath us, and about us, upon the feveral reprefentations of God's wifdom, and the feveral parts of the creation.; but we have not yet confidered the best piece of the visible world, which we may speak of, without flattery of ourselves, and to the praise of our Maker. GOD, when he had ..VOL. VIII.

I

made

CXXXVII,

SER M. made the world," he made man after his own

CXXXVII. «< image." When he had finished the other part of the creation, he was pleased to fet up this picture of himself in it, as a memorial of the workman. Now we shall a little more particularly confider this piece of God's workmanship, being it is better known and more familiar to us, as it is more excellent than the reft, and confequently a higher inftance of the divine wisdom. It is obferved by fome, that concerning the parts of the creation, GOD fpeaks the word, "let there be light," and "let there be a firma"ment, and there was fo:" but when he comes to make man, he doth, as it were, deliberate, and enter into confultation about him; "And GoD said, "let us make man in our image, after our likeness; "and let him have dominion," Gen. i. 26; as if man, above all the reft, were the effect and refult of divine wisdom, and the creature of his counfel.

Man may be confidered either in himself, and in respect of the parts of which he confifts, foul and body; or with relation to the univerfe, and other parts of the creation.

1. Confider him in himself, as compounded of foul and body. Confider man in his outward and worse part, and you fhall find that to be admirable, even to astonishment; in respect of which, the pfalmift cries out, Pfal. cxxxix. 14. "I am fearfully and "wonderfully made; marvellous are thy works, "and that my foul knoweth right well." The frame of our bodies is fo curiously wrought, and every part of it fo full of miracle, that Galen (who was otherwife backward enough to the belief of a GOD) when he had anatomized man's body, and carefully furveyed the frame of it, viewed the fitnefs and usefulnefs of every part of it, and the many feveral inten

"of

tions of every little vein, and bone, and muscle, and SERM. the beauty of the whole; he fell into a pang of de- CXXXVII. votion, and wrote a hymn to his Creator. And those excellent books of his, de ufu partium, "the usefulness and convenient contrivance of every part of the body," are a moft exact demonftration of the divine wifdom, which appears in the make of our body; of which books, Gaffendus faith, the whole work is writ with a kind of enthusiasm. The wisdom of GOD, in the frame of our bodies, very much appears by a curious confideration of the feveral parts of it; but that requiring a very accurate skill in anatomy, I chufe rather wholly to forbear it, than by my unfkilfulness to be injurious to the divine wisdom.

But this domicilium corporis, "the house of our "body," though indeed it be a curious piece; yet it is nothing to the noble inhabitant that dwells in it. This cabinet, though it be exquifitely wrought, and very rich; yet it comes infinitely fhort in value of the jewel that is hid and laid up in it. How does the glorious faculty of reason and understanding exalt us above the reft of the creatures! Nature hath not made that particular provifion for man, which it hath made for other creatures, because it hath provided for him in general, in giving him a mind and reafon. Man is not born cloathed, nor armed with any confiderable weapon for defence; but he hath reafon and understanding to provide these things for himself; and this alone excels all the advantages of other creatures: he can keep himself warmer and fafer; he can foresee dangers and provide against them; he can provide weapons that are better than horns, and teeth, and paws, and by the advantage of his reafon, is too hard for all other creatures, and can defend himself against their violence.