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CHAPTER VI.

THE WISDOM OF GOD.

WISDOM Consists in the pursuit of a good end, by the use of the best means. It therefore requires both benevolence and knowledge; and the combined exercise of both these attributes is essential to the existence of wisdom. There may be knowledge without wisdom, because knowledge is the mere apprehension of the understanding; and there may be benevolence without wisdom, because benevolence merely regards the rectitude of the will and the intention; but in wisdom, the understanding and the heart, the intellectual and active powers, are united.

The power, the omniscience, the goodness of God being infinite, it follows that his wisdom also must be infinite. He alone is originally, and perfectly, and unchangeably, the only wise God. The highest created beings, however exalted in intelligence, and upright in their designs, may err in their counsels, and may come short of what they aim at; but he, because he knows all things, and can accomplish all things, must always compass his end. There is no wisdom, nor understanding, nor counsel against the Lord. The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, "Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand. For the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it; and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?"

The proofs of the infinitude of the divine wisdom are so numerous, so striking in nature, and in providence, and in grace, as to render any thing like a full survey of them impracticable. But a few of the more remarkable examples are sufficient for deepening our convictions, and for enabling us to say with a grateful and admiring heart, How manifold are thy works, O Lord-in wisdom hast thou made them all!

Before looking over the works of the Creator for proofs of the perfection of his wisdom, we must previously fix in our minds the test by which we are accustomed to judge of the highest efforts of wisdom in man. That theory we regard as the best which accounts for the phenomena it treats of by the fewest possible principles; and that practical art we consider as coming nearest to perfection which attains the end proposed by the least complicated means. This is our standard of judging in estimating the wisdom of man: let us by the same standard examine the wisdom of God.

In so far as science has made us acquainted with that universal system of which our world forms only a part, we find the greatest variety produced by means the most perfectly simple. The single principle of gravitation determines the planets in their orbits, and the descent of bodies to the ground. The sun, in consequence of this principle, and of its being luminous, communicates to the bodies which surround it, motion, light, heat, regularity, and harmony; and to their inhabitants, food and raiment, usefulness, activity, and enjoyment. To this principle, occasioning the annual circuit of the earth, we owe the revolution of the.

'seasons, summer and winter, seed-time and harvest; and we all know that it is by means of this revolution that God opens his hand, and satisfies the wants of every living thing. To the same principle of gravitation, producing the diurnal rotation of the earth, we are indebted for the vicissitude of day and night,-a vicissitude by which man enjoys alternate seasons for pursuing the business of life, and for furnishing himself with refreshment and repose. It is gravitation that retains together the different parts of our globe,that prevents the sea from leaving its channel and overflowing the land,-that forms the chief cause in raising water in the form of vapour to the clouds, and in returning it to the earth as rain, to render that fertility universal which would otherwise be extremely limited. Thus, the single principle, whose governing influence extends to all worlds, is the means of attaining such numerous and important ends in our own; and which, as a means, is the cause of diversifying a few elements into the endless variety of beauteous forms which the world and the things in it are constantly assuming.

The same perfect simplicity is observable in the provision which is made for the continued existence of the animal and vegetable world. The air we breathe, and without a supply of which animal life cannot exist, is composed of elastic fluids, so, exactly proportioned, that a difference in the quantity would prove injurious. This air also, in some of its proportions, is essential to afford nourishment to the plants which surround us; is necessary to .the combustion of the fuel from which we receive

so much warmth, and which, in a variety of ways, ministers to our enjoyment. The same elastic fluids which form the atmospheric air, are, in a different state of composition, the chief constituents of water; and thus, in different forms and proportions, supply the principal wants of the animal and vegetable world. Nor is any portion of the air by which so many effects are produced, lost in the production of these effects. The original mandate of the Creator has provided that by various natural processes, a constant equilibrium shall be preserved, so that from age to age, till all the purposes for which the earth is sustained are completed, the same ends will be accomplished by the very same agency.

Again: how numerous and beneficial are the purposes accomplished by means of water alone. In the form of mists and of clouds it is the source of varied beauty and of universal fertility. Water furnishes nourishment to all vegetable and animal bodies, and is the chief component part of them. It furnishes the means of easy and frequent communication between countries the most widely separated from each other. While it performs many other purposes, it is an essential material in most of the processes that are necessary to the health and the sustenance of man.

The slightest survey of the constitution of the natural world will convince us that all the purposes required to render it a habitable system, are attained by the simplest conceivable means. Our admiration of this comprehensive wisdom will be heightened when we consider the unceasing variety, which, by means so simple, is continued in the Creator's works. Of the

myriads of beings by which the world is ever peopled, and of the events that are constantly taking place around us, perhaps no two are perfectly similar. A diversity is seen in the leaves of trees, in the blades of grass, and in all the productions of the mineral, the vegetable, and the animal kingdoms. For beneficial purposes, this variety obtains in the human race, and is shewn in the countenance, the figure, the voice, the handwriting of man. This endless diversity which the hand of the Creator produces without, gratifies that love of novelty and desire of knowledge which by the same hand are awakened within; while it furnishes the means of distinguishing between one individual and another, which is so necessary to the order of society.

The wisdom which, for these and many other important ends, has produced this endless variety, has, at the same time, and for ends not less beneficial, produced certain kinds and degrees of resemblance. It is in virtue of this resemblance which so universally prevails, that we are enabled to arrange all the objects of knowledge into kinds and classes; and to arrive at those general truths in which, by means of one proposition, we express our judgment concerning the properties of innumerable individuals. There is a prospective, provision in nature to accelerate the progress of reason and knowledge. But for this provision, we should always remain conversant with individual things only; that is, we should always remain as children, and incapable of reaping great advantage from the experience of former generations. In place of being able, as we now are, of pronouncing concerning any new object that is presented to us to

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