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Second Series
Sermon 103
What is Man?
“When I consider thy heaven, the work of thy fingers, the moon and
stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man?”
Psalm 8:3, 4.
How often has it been observed, that the Book of Psalms is a rich
treasury of devotion, which the wisdom of God has provided to supply the wants
of his children in all generations! In all ages the Psalms have been of singular
use to those that loved or feared God; not only to the pious Israelites, but to
the children of God in all nations. And this book has been of sovereign use to
the Church of God, not only while it was in its state of infancy, (so
beautifully described by St. Paul in the former part to the fourth chapter to
the Galatians,) but also since, in the fullness of time, “life and immortality
were brought to the light by the gospel.” The Christians in every age and nation
have availed themselves of this divine treasure, which has richly supplied the
wants, not only of the “babes in Christ,” of those who were just setting out in
the ways of God, but of those also who had made good progress therein; yea, of
such as were swiftly advancing toward “the measure of the stature of the
fullness of Christ.”
The subject of this psalm is beautifully proposed in the beginning
of it: “O Lord our Governor, how excellent is thy name in all the earth; who
hast set thy glory above the heavens!” It celebrates the glorious wisdom and
love of God, as the Creator and Governor of all things. It is not an improbable
conjecture, that David wrote this psalm in a bright star-light night, while he
observed the moon also “walking in her brightness;” that while he
surveyed This fair half-round, the ample azure sky, Terribly large, and
beautifully bright, With stars unnumber’d, and unmeasured light, —
he broke out, from the fullness of his heart, into the natural
exultation, “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and
the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man?” How is it possible that the
Creator of these, the innumerable armies of heaven and earth, should have any
regard to this speck of creation, whose time “passeth away like a
shadow?” Thy frame but dust, thy stature but a span, A moment thy
duration, foolish man!
“What is man?” I would consider this, First, with regard to his
magnitude; and, Secondly, with regard to his duration.
I. 1. Consider we, First, What is man, with regard to his
magnitude? And, in this respect, what is any one individual, compared to all the
inhabitants of Great Britain? He shrinks into nothing in the comparison. How
inconceivably little is one compared to eight or ten millions of people! Is he
not
Lost like a drop in the unbounded main?
2. But what are all the inhabitants of Great Britain, compared to
all the inhabitants of the earth? These have frequently been supposed to amount
to about four hundred millions. But will this computation be allowed to be just,
by those who maintain China alone to contain fifty-eight millions? If it be
true, that this one empire contains little less than sixty millions, we may
easily suppose that the inhabitants of the whole terraqueous globe amount to
four thousand millions of inhabitants, rather than four hundred. And what is any
single individual, in comparison of this number?
3. But what is the magnitude of the earth itself, compared to that
of the solar system? Including, beside that vast body, the sun, so immensely
larger that the earth, the whole train of primary and secondary planets; several
of which (I mean, of the secondary planets, suppose that satellites or moons of
Jupiter and Saturn) are abundantly larger than the whole earth?
4. And yet, what is the whole quantity of matter contained in the
sun, and all those primary and secondary planets, with all the spaces comprised
in the solar system, in comparison of that which is pervaded by those amazing
bodies, the comets? Who but the Creator himself can “tell the number of these,
and call them all by their names?” Yet what is even the orbit of a comet, and
the space contained therein, to the space which is occupied by the fixed stars;
which are at so immense a distance from the earth, that they appear, when they
are viewed through the largest telescope, just as they do to the naked eye?
5. Whether the bounds of the creation do or do not extend beyond
the region of the fixed stars, who can tell? Only the morning-stars, who sang
together when the foundations thereof were laid. But it is finite, that the
bounds of it are fixed, we have no reason to doubt. We cannot doubt, but when
the Son of God had finished all the work which he created and made, he
said, These be thy bounds,
This be thy just circumference, O world!
But what is man to this?
6. We may take one step, and only one step, farther still: What
is the space of the whole creation, what is all finite space that is, or can be
conceived, in comparison of infinite? What is it but a point, a cipher, compared
to that which is filled by him that is All in all? Think of this, and then ask,
“What is man?”
7. What is man, that the great God who filleth heaven and earth,
“the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity,” should stoop so inconceivably
low as to “be mindful of him?” Would not reason suggest to us, that so
diminutive a creature would be overlooked by him in immensity of his works?
Especially when we consider,
II. Secondly, What is man, with regard to his duration?
1. The days of man, since the last reduction of human life, which
seems to have taken place in the time of Moses, (and not improbably was revealed
to the man of God at the time that he made this declaration,) “are threescore
years and ten.” This is the general standard which God hath now appointed. “And
if men be so strong,” perhaps one in a hundred, “that they come to fourscore
years, yet then is their strength but labour and sorrow: So soon passeth it
away, and we are gone!”
2. Now, what a poor pittance of duration is this, compared to the
life of Methuselah! “And Methuselah lived nine hundred and sixty and nine
years.” But what are these nine hundred and sixty and nine years to the duration
of an angel, which began “or ever the mountains were brought forth,” or the
foundations of the earth were laid? And what is the duration which has passed
since the creation of angels, that which passed before they were created, to
unbeginning eternity? — to that half of eternity (if one may so speak) which had
then elapsed? And what are threescore years and ten to this?
3. Indeed, what proportion can there possibly be between any
finite and infinite duration? What proportion is there between a thousand or ten
thousand years, or ten thousand time ten thousand ages, and eternity? I know not
that the inexpressible disproportion between any conceivable part of time and
eternity can be illustrated in a more striking manner than it is in the
well-known passage of St. Cyprian: “Suppose there was a ball of sand as large as
the globe of earth, and suppose one grain of this were to be annihilated in a
thousand years; yet that whole space of time wherein this ball would be
annihilating, at the rate of one grain in a thousand years, would bear less,
yea, unspeakably, infinitely less, proportion to eternity, than a single grain
of sand would bear to that whole mass.” What, then, are the seventy years of
human life, in comparison of eternity? In what terms can the proportion between
these be expressed? It is nothing, yea, infinitely less than nothing!
4. If, then, we add to the littleness of man the inexpressible
shortness of his duration, it is any wonder that a man of reflection should
sometimes feel a kind of fear, lest the great, eternal, infinite Governor of the
universe should disregard so diminutive a creature as man? — a creature so every
way inconsiderable, when compared either with immensity or eternity? Did not
both these reflections glance through, if not dwell upon, the mind of the royal
Psalmist? Thus, in contemplation of the former, he breaks out into the strong
words of the text: “When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the
moon and the stars which thou has ordained, What is man, that thou shouldest be
mindful; or the son of man, that thou shouldest regard him?” He is, indeed, (to
use St. Augustine’s words,)
aliqua portio
creatur栴uc漯i>, “some portion of thy creation;” but quantula portio, “how amazingly small a portion!”
How utterly beneath thy notice! It seems to be in contemplation of the latter,
that he cries out in the hundred and forty-fourth Psalm, “Lord, what is man,
that thou hast such respect unto him; or the son of man, that though shouldest
so regard him?” “Man is like a thing of naught.” Why? “His time passeth away
like a shadow.” In this, although in a very few places,) the new translation of
the Psalms — that bound up in our Bibles — is perhaps more proper than the old,
— that which we have in the Common Prayer Book. It runs thus: “Lord, what is
man, that thou takest knowledge of him; or the son of man, that thou makest
account of him?” According to the former translation, David seems to be amazed
that the eternal God, considering the littleness of man, should have so much
respect unto him, and should so much regard him: But in the latter, he seems to
wonder, seeing the life of man “passeth away like a shadow,” that God should
take any knowledge of him at all, or make any account of him.
5. And it is natural for us to make the same reflection, and to
entertain the same fear. But how may we prevent this uneasy reflection, and
effectually cure this fear? First. By considering what David does not appear to
have taken at all into his account; namely, that the body is not the man; that
man is not only a house of clay, but an immortal spirit; a spirit made in the
image of God; an incorruptible picture of the God of glory; a spirit that is of
infinitely more value than the whole earth; of more value than the sun, moon,
and stars, put together; yea, than the whole material creation. Consider that
the spirit of man is not only of a higher order, of a more excellent nature,
than any part of the visible world, but also more durable; not liable either to
dissolution or decay. We know all the things “which are seen are temporal;” — of
a changing, transient nature; — but “the things which are not seen” (such as is
the soul of man in particular) “are eternal.” “They shall perish,” but the soul
remaineth. “They all shall wax old as a garment;” but when heaven and earth
shall pass away, the soul shall not pass away.
6. Consider, Secondly, that declaration which the Father of
spirits hath made to us by the Prophet Hosea: “I am God, and not man: Therefore
my compassions fail not.” As if he had said, “If I were only a man, or an angel,
or any finite being, my knowledge might admit of bounds, and my mercy might be
limited. But ‘my thoughts are not as your thoughts,’ and my mercy is not as your
mercy. ‘As the heavens are higher than earth, so are my thoughts higher than
your thoughts;’ and ‘my mercy,’ my compassion, my ways of showing it, ‘higher
than your ways.’”
7. That no shadow of fear might remain, no possibility of
doubting; to show what manner of regard the great eternal God bears to little,
short-lived man, but especially to his immortal part; God gave his Son, “his
only Son, to the end that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.” See how God loved the world! The Son of God, that was “God of
God, Light of Light, very God of very God,” in glory equal with the Father, in
majesty co-eternal, “emptied himself, took upon him the form of a servant; and,
being found in fashion as a man, was obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross.” And all this he suffered not for himself, but “for us men and for our
salvation.” “He bore” all “our sins in his own body upon the tree,” that “by his
stripes we” might be “healed.” After this demonstration of his love, is it
possible to doubt any longer of God’s tender regard for man; even though he was
“dead in trespasses and sins?” Even when he saw us in our sins and in our blood,
he said unto us. “Live!” Let us then fear no more! Let us doubt no more! “He
that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, shall he not with
freely give us all things?”
8. “Nay,” says the philosopher, “if God so loved the world, did
he not love a thousand other worlds, as well as he did this? It is now allowed
that there are thousands, if not millions, of worlds, besides this in which we
live. And can any reasonable man believe that the Creator of all these, many of
which are probably as large, yea, far larger than ours, would show such
astonishingly greater regard to one than to all the rest?” I answer, Suppose
there were millions of worlds, yet God may see, in the abyss of his infinite
wisdom, reasons that do not appear to us, why he saw good to show this mercy to
ours, in preference to thousands or millions of other worlds.
9. I speak this even upon the common supposition of the plurality
of worlds, — a very favourite notion with all those who deny the Christian
Revelation; and for this reason, because it affords them a foundation for so
plausible an objection to it. But the more I consider that supposition, the more
I doubt of it: Insomuch that, if it were allowed by all the philosophers in
Europe, still I could not allow it without stronger proof than any I have met
with yet.
10. “Nay, but is not the argument of the grey Huygens sufficient
to put it beyond all doubt? — ‘When we view,’ says that able astronomer, ‘the
moon through a good telescope, we clearly discover rivers and mountains on her
spotted globe. Now, where rivers are, there are doubtless plants and vegetables
of various kinds: And where vegetables are, there are undoubtedly animals; yea,
rational ones, as on earth. It follows, then, that the moon has its inhabitants,
we may easily suppose, so are all the secondary planets; and, in particular, all
the satellites or moons of Jupiter and Saturn. And if the secondary planets are
inhabited, why not the primary? Why should we doubt it of Jupiter and Saturn
themselves, as well as Mars, Venus, and Mercury?’”
11. But do not you know, that Mr. Huygens himself, before he
died, doubted of this whole hypotheses? For upon further observation he found
reason to believe that the moon has no atmosphere. He observed, that in a total
eclipse of the sun, on the removal of the shade from any part of the earth, the
sun immediately shines bright upon it; whereas if the moon had atmosphere, would
appear dim and dusky. Thus, after an eclipse of the moon, first a dusky light
appears on that part of it from which the shadow of the earth removes, while
that light passes that the moon has no atmosphere. Consequently, it has no
clouds, no rain, no springs, no rivers; and therefore no plants or animals. But
there is no proof or probability that the moon is inhabited; neither have we any
proof that the other planets are. Consequently, the foundation being removed,
the whole fabric falls to the ground.
12. But, you will say, “Suppose this argument fails, we may infer
the same conclusion, the plurality of worlds, from the unbounded wisdom, and
power, and goodness of the Creator. It was full as easy to him to create
thousands or millions of worlds as one. Can any one then believe that he would
exert all his power and wisdom in creating a single world? What proportion is
there between this speck of creation, and the Great God that filleth the heaven
and earth, while “We know, the power of his almighty hand Could form another
world from every sand?”
13. To this boasted proof, this argumentum palmarium of the learned infidels, I answer, Do
you expect to find any proportion between finite and infinite? Suppose God had
created a thousand more worlds than there are grains of sand in the universe;
what proportion would all these together beat to the infinite Creator? Still, in
comparison of Him, they would be, not a thousand times, but infinitely, less
than a mite compared to the universe. Have done, then, with this childish
prattle about the proportion of creatures to their Creator; and leave it to the
all-wise God to create what and when he pleases. For who, besides himself, “hath
known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counselor?”
14. Suffice it then for us to know this plain and comfortable
truth, — that the almighty Creator hath shown that regard to this poor little
creature of a day, which he hath not shown even to the inhabitants of heaven
“who kept not their first estate.” He hath given us his Son, his only Son, both
to live and to die for us! O let us live unto him, that we may die unto him, and
live with him ever!
What is Man?
“When I consider thy heaven, the work of thy fingers, the moon and
stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man?”
Psalm 8:3,
4.
How often has it been observed, that the Book of Psalms is a rich
treasury of devotion, which the wisdom of God has provided to supply the wants
of his children in all generations! In all ages the Psalms have been of singular
use to those that loved or feared God; not only to the pious Israelites, but to
the children of God in all nations. And this book has been of sovereign use to
the Church of God, not only while it was in its state of infancy, (so
beautifully described by St. Paul in the former part to the fourth chapter to
the Galatians,) but also since, in the fullness of time, “life and immortality
were brought to the light by the gospel.” The Christians in every age and nation
have availed themselves of this divine treasure, which has richly supplied the
wants, not only of the “babes in Christ,” of those who were just setting out in
the ways of God, but of those also who had made good progress therein; yea, of
such as were swiftly advancing toward “the measure of the stature of the
fullness of Christ.”
The subject of this psalm is beautifully proposed in the beginning
of it: “O Lord our Governor, how excellent is thy name in all the earth; who
hast set thy glory above the heavens!” It celebrates the glorious wisdom and
love of God, as the Creator and Governor of all things. It is not an improbable
conjecture, that David wrote this psalm in a bright star-light night, while he
observed the moon also “walking in her brightness;” that while he
surveyed This fair half-round, the ample azure sky, Terribly large, and
beautifully bright, With stars unnumber’d, and unmeasured light, —
he broke out, from the fullness of his heart, into the natural
exultation, “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and
the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man?” How is it possible that the
Creator of these, the innumerable armies of heaven and earth, should have any
regard to this speck of creation, whose time “passeth away like a
shadow?” Thy frame but dust, thy stature but a span, A moment thy
duration, foolish man!
“What is man?” I would consider this, First, with regard to his
magnitude; and, Secondly, with regard to his duration.
I. 1. Consider we, First, What is man, with regard to his
magnitude? And, in this respect, what is any one individual, compared to all the
inhabitants of Great Britain? He shrinks into nothing in the comparison. How
inconceivably little is one compared to eight or ten millions of people! Is he
not
Lost like a drop in the unbounded main?
2. But what are all the inhabitants of Great Britain, compared to
all the inhabitants of the earth? These have frequently been supposed to amount
to about four hundred millions. But will this computation be allowed to be just,
by those who maintain China alone to contain fifty-eight millions? If it be
true, that this one empire contains little less than sixty millions, we may
easily suppose that the inhabitants of the whole terraqueous globe amount to
four thousand millions of inhabitants, rather than four hundred. And what is any
single individual, in comparison of this number?
3. But what is the magnitude of the earth itself, compared to that
of the solar system? Including, beside that vast body, the sun, so immensely
larger that the earth, the whole train of primary and secondary planets; several
of which (I mean, of the secondary planets, suppose that satellites or moons of
Jupiter and Saturn) are abundantly larger than the whole earth?
4. And yet, what is the whole quantity of matter contained in the
sun, and all those primary and secondary planets, with all the spaces comprised
in the solar system, in comparison of that which is pervaded by those amazing
bodies, the comets? Who but the Creator himself can “tell the number of these,
and call them all by their names?” Yet what is even the orbit of a comet, and
the space contained therein, to the space which is occupied by the fixed stars;
which are at so immense a distance from the earth, that they appear, when they
are viewed through the largest telescope, just as they do to the naked eye?
5. Whether the bounds of the creation do or do not extend beyond
the region of the fixed stars, who can tell? Only the morning-stars, who sang
together when the foundations thereof were laid. But it is finite, that the
bounds of it are fixed, we have no reason to doubt. We cannot doubt, but when
the Son of God had finished all the work which he created and made, he
said, These be thy bounds,
This be thy just circumference, O world!
But what is man to this?
6. We may take one step, and only one step, farther still: What
is the space of the whole creation, what is all finite space that is, or can be
conceived, in comparison of infinite? What is it but a point, a cipher, compared
to that which is filled by him that is All in all? Think of this, and then ask,
“What is man?”
7. What is man, that the great God who filleth heaven and earth,
“the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity,” should stoop so inconceivably
low as to “be mindful of him?” Would not reason suggest to us, that so
diminutive a creature would be overlooked by him in immensity of his works?
Especially when we consider,
II. Secondly, What is man, with regard to his duration?
1. The days of man, since the last reduction of human life, which
seems to have taken place in the time of Moses, (and not improbably was revealed
to the man of God at the time that he made this declaration,) “are threescore
years and ten.” This is the general standard which God hath now appointed. “And
if men be so strong,” perhaps one in a hundred, “that they come to fourscore
years, yet then is their strength but labour and sorrow: So soon passeth it
away, and we are gone!”
2. Now, what a poor pittance of duration is this, compared to the
life of Methuselah! “And Methuselah lived nine hundred and sixty and nine
years.” But what are these nine hundred and sixty and nine years to the duration
of an angel, which began “or ever the mountains were brought forth,” or the
foundations of the earth were laid? And what is the duration which has passed
since the creation of angels, that which passed before they were created, to
unbeginning eternity? — to that half of eternity (if one may so speak) which had
then elapsed? And what are threescore years and ten to this?
3. Indeed, what proportion can there possibly be between any
finite and infinite duration? What proportion is there between a thousand or ten
thousand years, or ten thousand time ten thousand ages, and eternity? I know not
that the inexpressible disproportion between any conceivable part of time and
eternity can be illustrated in a more striking manner than it is in the
well-known passage of St. Cyprian: “Suppose there was a ball of sand as large as
the globe of earth, and suppose one grain of this were to be annihilated in a
thousand years; yet that whole space of time wherein this ball would be
annihilating, at the rate of one grain in a thousand years, would bear less,
yea, unspeakably, infinitely less, proportion to eternity, than a single grain
of sand would bear to that whole mass.” What, then, are the seventy years of
human life, in comparison of eternity? In what terms can the proportion between
these be expressed? It is nothing, yea, infinitely less than nothing!
4. If, then, we add to the littleness of man the inexpressible
shortness of his duration, it is any wonder that a man of reflection should
sometimes feel a kind of fear, lest the great, eternal, infinite Governor of the
universe should disregard so diminutive a creature as man? — a creature so every
way inconsiderable, when compared either with immensity or eternity? Did not
both these reflections glance through, if not dwell upon, the mind of the royal
Psalmist? Thus, in contemplation of the former, he breaks out into the strong
words of the text: “When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the
moon and the stars which thou has ordained, What is man, that thou shouldest be
mindful; or the son of man, that thou shouldest regard him?” He is, indeed, (to
use St. Augustine’s words,)
aliqua portio
creatur栴uc漯i>, “some portion of thy creation;” but
quantula portio, “how amazingly small a portion!”
How utterly beneath thy notice! It seems to be in contemplation of the latter,
that he cries out in the hundred and forty-fourth Psalm, “Lord, what is man,
that thou hast such respect unto him; or the son of man, that though shouldest
so regard him?” “Man is like a thing of naught.” Why? “His time passeth away
like a shadow.” In this, although in a very few places,) the new translation of
the Psalms — that bound up in our Bibles — is perhaps more proper than the old,
— that which we have in the Common Prayer Book. It runs thus: “Lord, what is
man, that thou takest knowledge of him; or the son of man, that thou makest
account of him?” According to the former translation, David seems to be amazed
that the eternal God, considering the littleness of man, should have so much
respect unto him, and should so much regard him: But in the latter, he seems to
wonder, seeing the life of man “passeth away like a shadow,” that God should
take any knowledge of him at all, or make any account of him.
5. And it is natural for us to make the same reflection, and to
entertain the same fear. But how may we prevent this uneasy reflection, and
effectually cure this fear? First. By considering what David does not appear to
have taken at all into his account; namely, that the body is not the man; that
man is not only a house of clay, but an immortal spirit; a spirit made in the
image of God; an incorruptible picture of the God of glory; a spirit that is of
infinitely more value than the whole earth; of more value than the sun, moon,
and stars, put together; yea, than the whole material creation. Consider that
the spirit of man is not only of a higher order, of a more excellent nature,
than any part of the visible world, but also more durable; not liable either to
dissolution or decay. We know all the things “which are seen are temporal;” — of
a changing, transient nature; — but “the things which are not seen” (such as is
the soul of man in particular) “are eternal.” “They shall perish,” but the soul
remaineth. “They all shall wax old as a garment;” but when heaven and earth
shall pass away, the soul shall not pass away.
6. Consider, Secondly, that declaration which the Father of
spirits hath made to us by the Prophet Hosea: “I am God, and not man: Therefore
my compassions fail not.” As if he had said, “If I were only a man, or an angel,
or any finite being, my knowledge might admit of bounds, and my mercy might be
limited. But ‘my thoughts are not as your thoughts,’ and my mercy is not as your
mercy. ‘As the heavens are higher than earth, so are my thoughts higher than
your thoughts;’ and ‘my mercy,’ my compassion, my ways of showing it, ‘higher
than your ways.’”
7. That no shadow of fear might remain, no possibility of
doubting; to show what manner of regard the great eternal God bears to little,
short-lived man, but especially to his immortal part; God gave his Son, “his
only Son, to the end that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.” See how God loved the world! The Son of God, that was “God of
God, Light of Light, very God of very God,” in glory equal with the Father, in
majesty co-eternal, “emptied himself, took upon him the form of a servant; and,
being found in fashion as a man, was obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross.” And all this he suffered not for himself, but “for us men and for our
salvation.” “He bore” all “our sins in his own body upon the tree,” that “by his
stripes we” might be “healed.” After this demonstration of his love, is it
possible to doubt any longer of God’s tender regard for man; even though he was
“dead in trespasses and sins?” Even when he saw us in our sins and in our blood,
he said unto us. “Live!” Let us then fear no more! Let us doubt no more! “He
that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, shall he not with
freely give us all things?”
8. “Nay,” says the philosopher, “if God so loved the world, did
he not love a thousand other worlds, as well as he did this? It is now allowed
that there are thousands, if not millions, of worlds, besides this in which we
live. And can any reasonable man believe that the Creator of all these, many of
which are probably as large, yea, far larger than ours, would show such
astonishingly greater regard to one than to all the rest?” I answer, Suppose
there were millions of worlds, yet God may see, in the abyss of his infinite
wisdom, reasons that do not appear to us, why he saw good to show this mercy to
ours, in preference to thousands or millions of other worlds.
9. I speak this even upon the common supposition of the plurality
of worlds, — a very favourite notion with all those who deny the Christian
Revelation; and for this reason, because it affords them a foundation for so
plausible an objection to it. But the more I consider that supposition, the more
I doubt of it: Insomuch that, if it were allowed by all the philosophers in
Europe, still I could not allow it without stronger proof than any I have met
with yet.
10. “Nay, but is not the argument of the grey Huygens sufficient
to put it beyond all doubt? — ‘When we view,’ says that able astronomer, ‘the
moon through a good telescope, we clearly discover rivers and mountains on her
spotted globe. Now, where rivers are, there are doubtless plants and vegetables
of various kinds: And where vegetables are, there are undoubtedly animals; yea,
rational ones, as on earth. It follows, then, that the moon has its inhabitants,
we may easily suppose, so are all the secondary planets; and, in particular, all
the satellites or moons of Jupiter and Saturn. And if the secondary planets are
inhabited, why not the primary? Why should we doubt it of Jupiter and Saturn
themselves, as well as Mars, Venus, and Mercury?’”
11. But do not you know, that Mr. Huygens himself, before he
died, doubted of this whole hypotheses? For upon further observation he found
reason to believe that the moon has no atmosphere. He observed, that in a total
eclipse of the sun, on the removal of the shade from any part of the earth, the
sun immediately shines bright upon it; whereas if the moon had atmosphere, would
appear dim and dusky. Thus, after an eclipse of the moon, first a dusky light
appears on that part of it from which the shadow of the earth removes, while
that light passes that the moon has no atmosphere. Consequently, it has no
clouds, no rain, no springs, no rivers; and therefore no plants or animals. But
there is no proof or probability that the moon is inhabited; neither have we any
proof that the other planets are. Consequently, the foundation being removed,
the whole fabric falls to the ground.
12. But, you will say, “Suppose this argument fails, we may infer
the same conclusion, the plurality of worlds, from the unbounded wisdom, and
power, and goodness of the Creator. It was full as easy to him to create
thousands or millions of worlds as one. Can any one then believe that he would
exert all his power and wisdom in creating a single world? What proportion is
there between this speck of creation, and the Great God that filleth the heaven
and earth, while “We know, the power of his almighty hand Could form another
world from every sand?”
13. To this boasted proof, this
argumentum palmarium of the learned infidels, I answer, Do
you expect to find any proportion between finite and infinite? Suppose God had
created a thousand more worlds than there are grains of sand in the universe;
what proportion would all these together beat to the infinite Creator? Still, in
comparison of Him, they would be, not a thousand times, but infinitely, less
than a mite compared to the universe. Have done, then, with this childish
prattle about the proportion of creatures to their Creator; and leave it to the
all-wise God to create what and when he pleases. For who, besides himself, “hath
known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counselor?”
14. Suffice it then for us to know this plain and comfortable
truth, — that the almighty Creator hath shown that regard to this poor little
creature of a day, which he hath not shown even to the inhabitants of heaven
“who kept not their first estate.” He hath given us his Son, his only Son, both
to live and to die for us! O let us live unto him, that we may die unto him, and
live with him ever!
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