glorious courfe, he may attain the high reward by thee allotted; thou entertaineft him with all the glories of the material world, and enableft him to penetrate into the receffes of nature. It is thou that givest to all bodies their forms and their motions, to all spirits their reafon and their virtues ; it is from thee that every thing flows, it is in thee that every thing exifts, it is by thee that every thing lives, and to thee alone fhould all things be referred. We see thee existing in wisdom and in benevolence both fupreme. As fpots in the fun's bright orb, fo in the univerfal plan fcattered evils are loft in the blaze of fuperabundant goodness.. Even by the research of human reason, weak as it is, thofe feeming evils continually diminish and fly away; and objects fuppofed fuperfluous or noxious affume a beneficial afpect. How much more to thine allpenetrating eye muft all appear excellent and fair! It must be fo, we cannot doubt; neither imperfection nor malice dwell with thee; thou appointeft as falutary what we lament as painful. Even the follies, and vices of men adminifter to thy wife defigns; and as at the beginning of days, thou faweft, fo thou feeft, and pronouncest still, that every thing that thou haft made is good.

Now we fee through a glafs darkly, and know but in part, but the time cometh when we shall know even as we are known. We fhall then fee things in that facred uncreated light, which permits no error, which admits of no obfcurity. Then, O ALMIGHTY GOD, all that thou art now doing, all that thou haft done, will be found harmoniously beautiful, and divinely worthy of thee, it's great and facred LORD. Then will thy creation and government appear fublimely wife to the purified eye of man; and what now bewilders and perplexes is, what cannot now be comprehended by us, will

G4

be

be seen in all it's unerring rectitude, will blaze forth upon us in the clearnefs of it's holy fplendor, and we shall join with angels and archangels in declaring that heaven and earth are full of thy glory.*

Lord Kaims.-Commyns's Sermons.

LECTURE

LECTURE XXVI.

ON MECHANICS.

ONE of the first arts men had occafion to prac

tife was that of MECHANICS; it was therefore studied in the earliest ages of the world. Poffeffing very little theory, what knowledge they acquired was more the refult of experience than reafoning, having neither any methods of working, nor inftruments to work with, but what they must first invent; their progrefs was flow, their performances rude and imperfect.

We hear therefore of no confiderable mechanical inventions for a long feries of ages; the first we find mentioned are in the book of Genefis ; there we find that fhips were as old, even on the Mediterranean, as the days of Jacob. In the time of Saul, 1070 years before CHRIST, we find the Philistines bringing 30,000 chariots into the field; in 1030 before Chrift, Ammon built tall and long fhips with fails, on the Red Sea and the Mediterranean; about 800 years before Chrift, Uzziah made engines to be on the towers and on the bulwarks, to fhoot arrows and great ftones.

Corn-mills were of early invention, for in Deuteronomy we find it was not lawful for any man to pledge the nether or the upper mill-ftone. In Jeremiah we read of the potter's wheel. The works of Archimedes, who lived about 200 years before Chrift, would alone afford fufficient matter for a volume; fome of his discoveries appear so much above the reach of men, that many among the moderns have found it more eafy to doubt their existence than to imitate them. His name ftill occupies the foremost ranks in the fcience of mathematics; by his mechanical knowledge, he alone,

alone, for three fucceffive years, fupported the tottering towers of Syraeufe, and baffled the attempts of the Romans. Marcellus admired the fuperior fcience of Archimedes: he inftructed the Romans to refpect his fafety, but the impatience of a foldier proved fatal to his life.

It is not eafy at this distance of time to conceive the nature of their machines, or fay how they reared their bulky towers 150 feet in height, and 60 in circumference, with a battering ram at the bottom fufficient to beat down walls, with a drawbridge in the middle to be let down upon the wall of the attacked city; and at the top a body of men, who being placed above the befieged, harraffed them without danger.

It would be endlefs to enumerate the inftances of their mechanical abilities. Italy is filled with monuments, and the ruins of monuments, which aid us in comprehending the refources and genius of the ancient Romans. The ftones which are laid upon the tops of the pyramids of Egypt, each of which are as large as a small house, create even wonder in a modern mechanic, and teach him to reverence the fuperior arts of antiquity.

Ignorant of the numerous arts which depend on mechanical knowledge, man would exift as in a defert, comfortlefs and unfocial, little fuperior in enjoyment to the lion and the tyger, but much their inferior in ftrength and fafety." Aided by these the fields are cultivated, the wilderness becomes a garden, ftrength is given to the fortrefs, and elegance to the palace; and man beholds himfelf far removed from thofe animals, to whom, while in a state of nature, he feems nearly allied.

But if the exertions of our mental powers in giving rife to the arts are thus worthy of attention, it is furely proper to devote a few minutes in furveying the works of the DIVINE MECHANIC; here,

which

which foever way you turn yourfelves, you will find the cleareft footsteps of omniscience.

Confider then your CREATOR determining the precife number of substances; allotting properties and capacities, fitted to complete the grand defign he had in view; forming the plan of a world which was to laft for ages, with infinite varieties and fucceffive changes; where every particle must have it's appointed ftation, every motion it's determinate direction and velocity; calculating at one glance all the combinations they will run into, the fpecies of compound they will produce, their fecondary operations, and mutual affections.

How ftupendous must be that wisdom which directed infinite power, and by which every thing was established in number, weight, and meafure! God knew the exact quantity of invifible force, whereon fermentation, heat, explosion, repulsion, and all the different kinds of attraction depend, which if it had been greater or lefs, would have been productive of infinite diforder.

He proportioned the elements, that none of them might either predominate or fall deficient, and contrived fprings for mingling them together to concur in performing their feveral tasks; HE appointed the degree of influence in the fun and moon, the inequalities of the earth, the rise of exhalations, the varieties of foils, and other causes, which bring on the change of feasons, the viciffitudes of the weather, and various other difpofitions of the air, caufing the earth to yield her increase in due feafon, neither redundant nor wanting.

HE contrived the curious ftructure of vegetables, the more admirable organization of animals, where every veffel, gland, fibre, &c. performs it's appropriate office for the growth and prefervation of the whole. Hs adapted the con

texture