September 5

O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches. - Psalms 104:24.

GOD is wonderful; and in his works the Most High has displayed the glory of his infinite perfections. Not only are they great and marvellous works, they are also great and manifold. Who can estimate their number? If we only consider the heavens, the work of his fingers, and think of the stars which cannot he numbered, “Our thoughts are lost in reverent awe.” Infidelity has displayed its gross ignorance in mocking at the idea of comparing the number of stars to the sands upon the sea shore; for the discoveries of astronomers have proved the comparison to be perfectly consistent with facts.

And if we turn our attention from the heavens and look upon the face of the earth, how “manifold” are God’s works there; how numerous and diversified its inhabitants; what numbers visible; and what vast numbers are there which are invisible. If we look at the trees, herbs, plants, and flowers, are we not compelled to exclaim, “How manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.” Let us consider their diversity. How large are some! how minute are others! If we take up the microscope and the telescope, and examine them, we shall be constrained to say of each, This is “the finger of God.”

What vastness in the sun! what smallness in the mite! And the animalculæ, all of them, however imperceptible to the naked eye, have their peculiar qualities, their tribes, their families, their birth, their breeding, their education, their government. Only observe the commonwealth of the ants, and the monarchy of the bees; how manifold and how marvellous are these works!

Thirdly, If we consider the means of their support, they are all provided for; there is sufficient for all and for all seasons; so that we are constrained to say, “The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season;” “thou openest thy hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.”

Then, lastly, What wisdom do we behold in their structure! If we examine only one of the vegetable tribes, how mysterious its growth, how simple its form, and yet how beautiful! so that our Saviour said of one of them, “Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” What man contrives man can comprehend; and the more admiration is excited the more disappointed we feel because we see that what we behold admits of improvement. Whereas in the works of God, all fully answer the ends for which they were intended; and the more frequently and minutely we examine them, the more abundantly are their beauties seen and admired.

We sometimes wonder how we shall employ the successive ages of eternity; but we need not be at a loss here. In the human frame-the soul, the mysterious junction of the two, the particles of earth, an insect, a blade of grass; here is more than enough to engage the study of the longest life. We find that we are in the region of perfection; and also in the region of infinity. “The earth is full of thy riches.”