ances and sweet changes of raiment9 are visiblet almost hourly, But these creatures are of lower life, and give but feeble displays of the Maker's wisdom. 5. Let us raise our contempla tions2 another story, and survey a nobler theatre of divine wonders. What endless armies of animals is the hand of God moulding3 and figuring this very moment, throughout his brutal dominions! What immense flights of little birds are now fermenting4 in the eggs, heaving and growing towards shape and life! 6. What unknown myriads of insects in their various cradles and nesting places, are now working towards vitality5 and motion! And thousands of them with their painted wings just beginning to unfurl6 and expand themselves into fluttering and daylight; while other families of them have forsaken their husky beds, and exult7 and glitter in the warm sunbeams! 7. An exquisite world of wonders is complicated8 even in the body of every little insect; an ant, a gnat, a mite, that is scarcely visible to the naked eye. Admirable engines !9 which a whole academy of philosophers could never contrive; which the nation of poetst hath neither ert nor colours to describe; nor has a world of mechanics2 skill enough to frame the plainest or coarsest of them. 2 Mechanic, a manufacturer. 3 Muscles, fleshy fibres. 4 Minute, a small, slender trifling. 5 Mathemati 8. Their nerves, their muscles,3 and the minute4 atoms which compose the fluids fit te run in the little channels of their veins, escape the notice of the most sagacious mathe. matician,5 with all his aid of glass-cian, s one skilThe active powers and curiosity6 of human nature are limited in their pursuits, and must be content to lie down in iguorance. es. 9. It is a constant triumph over all the intellectual7 powers of man, which God maintains in these inimitable8 works of nature, in these impenetrable recesses of divine art! The flags and banners of Almighty wisdom are now displayed round half the globe, and the other half waits the return of the sun to spead the same triumph over the southern world. 10. The sun is God's prime9 minister in this wondrous world of beings, and he works with sovereigu vigort on the surface of the carth, and spreads his influence under the clods to every root and fi bre2 moulding them iuto their proper forms by divine direction. There is not a plant, nor a leaf, nor one little branching thread, a led in mathenatics. 6 Curiosity, ☛ inquisitiveness. bove or beneath the ground, that escapes the eye or influence of this benevolent luminary:3 an illustrious emblem of the omnipotence4 and universal activity of the Crea-4 Cmnipotence tor. 3 Luminary, ny body that gives light, s almighty pow er. The Pleasures of Virtuous Sens- bility. Let us The good effects of true sensibility 5 on general virtue and happtness, admit of no dispute. consider its effect on the happiness of him who possesses it and the various pleasures to which it gives him access.6 If he is master of riches or influence, it affords him the means of increasing his own enjoyment,7 by relieving the wants or increasing the comforts of oth ers. 5 Sensibility. a quickness of sensation. 6 Access, s adapmission, proach, means of approach, 7 Enjoyment, fruition, hap. piness. 8 Advantage, superiority; op. portunity. profuse ess, ex. uberant, plenty, 2. If he commands not these advantages,8 yet all the comforts, which he sees in the possession of the deserving, become in some sert his, by rejoicing in the good which they enjoy. Even the face of nature yields a satisfaction to him which the insensible can never know. The profusion9 of good-† ness which he beholds poured for ou the universe,† dilates his heart 9 Profusion Universe, the world, general system of things. with the thought, that innumerable multitudes2 around him are blest and happy. 3. When he sees the labors of men appearing to prosper, and views a country flourishing in wealth and industry 3 when he beholds the spring coming forth in its beauty, and reviving the decayed face of nature; or in autumn4 beholds the fields loaded with plenty, and the year crowned with all its fruits; he lifts his affections with grati to the great Father of all, and joy. es in the general felicity and 4. It may, indeed, be objected, that the same sensibility 6 lays open the heart to be pierced with many wounds, from the distresses which abound in the world; expose us to frequent suffering from the participations7 which it communicates of the sorrows as well as the joys of friendship. But let it be consider. ed that the tender melancholy of sympatny8 is accompanied with a sensation, which they who feel it would not exchange for the gratification of the selfish. 5. When the heart is strongly moved by any of the kind affections, even when it pours itself forth in virtuous sorrow, a secret attractive9 charm mingles with the pain 5 Gratitude, s duty to bene factors. 6 Sensibility, a sensation. a quickness of 7 Participa tion, a partaking of something. 8 Sympathy: fellow feeling compassion. what draws or incites. 9 Attractive. ful emotion; there is a joy in the midst of grief. Let it be further considered, that the griefs which sensibility introduces, are counterbalanced by pleasures which flow from the same source. Counterbalanced, ย 10 Sensibility make amends, heightens, in general, the human equal. powers, and is connected with acuteness2 in all our feelings. quickness. subtleness, 3 Vivid, a lives ly, sprightly, quick, active. 2 Acuteness, 6. If it makes us more alive to 8 sharpness; some painful sensations, in return, it renders the pleasing ones more vivids and animated. The selfish man languishes in his narrow circle of pleasure. They are confined to what affects his own interest.He is obliged to repeat the same gratifications, till they become insipid. But the man of virtuous4 sensibility moves in a wider sphere of felicity. 7. His powers are much more frequently called forth into occupations,5 of pleasing activity. Numberless occasions open to him of indulging his favourite taste, by conveying satisfaction6 to others. Often it is in his power, in one ways or other, to south the afflcted heart; to carry some consolation into the house of wage. 8. In the scenes of ordinary life, in the domestic7 and social intercourse of men, the cordiality of his Ε 4 Virtuous, a morally good, chaste, devout. 5 Occupation, & business, em ployment. 6 Satisfaction, being pleased or satisfied.. 7 Domestic, a belonging to a house. private ; not wild.. |