Scriptures, become new objects to the mind; immeasurably more noble,
rich, and delightful, than they can appear to a worldly, sensual mind.
The heavens and the earth, and the great as well as numberless events
which result from the divine administration, are in themselves vast,
wonderful, frequently awful, in many instances solemn, in many
exquisitely beautiful, and in a great number eminently sublime. All
these attributes, however, they possess, if considered only in the
abstract, in degrees very humble and diminutive, compared with the
appearance which they make, when beheld as the works of Jehovah.
Mountains, the ocean, and the heavens, are majestic and sublime. Hills
and valleys, soft landscapes, trees, fruits, and flowers, and many
objects in the animal and mineral kingdoms, are beautiful. But what is
this beauty, what is this grandeur, compared with that agency of God, to
which they owe their being? Think what it is for the Almighty hand to
spread the plains, to heave the mountains, and to pour the ocean. Look
at the verdure, flowers, and fruits which in the mild season adorn the
surface of the earth; the uncreated hand fashions their fine forms,
paints their exquisite colors, and exhales their delightful perfumes. In
the spring, his life re-animates the world; in the summer and autumn,
his bounty is poured out upon the hills and valleys; in the winter, "his
way is in the whirlwind, and in the storm; and the clouds are the dust
of his feet." His hand "hung the earth upon nothing," lighted up the
sun in the heavens, and rolls the planets, and the comets through the
immeasurable fields of ether. His breath kindled the stars; his voice
called into existence worlds innumerable, and filled the expanse with
animated being. To all he is present, over all he rules, for all he
provides. The mind, attempered to divine contemplation, finds him in
every solitude, meets him in every walk, and in all places, and at all
times, sees itself surrounded by God.