erent natures and dispositions between elements, and things
composed of them, yet all these contrarieties have such a commixion, and
are so moderated by supreme art, that they make up jointly one excellent
and sweet harmony or beautiful proportion in the world. O how wise must he
be who alone contrived it all! We can do nothing except we have some
pattern or copy before us; but now, upon this ground which God hath laid,
man may fancy many superstructures. But when he stretched out the heaven,
and laid the foundation of the earth, "who, being his counsellor, taught
him?" At whom did his Spirit take counsel? Certainly, none of all these
things would have entered into the heart of man to consider or contrive,
Isa. xl. 12, 13. Some ruder spirits do gaze upon the huge and prodigious
pieces of the creation, as whales and elephants, &c.; but a wise Solomon
will go to the school of the ant to learn the wisdom of God, and choose
out such a simple and mean creature for the object of his admiration.
Certainly, there are wonders in the smallest and most inconsiderable
creatures which faith can contemplate. O the curious ingenuity and draught
of the finger of God, in the composition of flies, bees, flowers, &c. Men
ordinarily admire more some extraordinary things; but the truth is, the
whole course of nature is one continued wonder, and that greater than any
of the Lord's works without the line. The straight and regular line of the
wisdom of God, who, in one constant course and tenor, hath ordained the
actions of all his creatures, comprehends more wonders and mysteries, as
the course of the sun, the motion of the sea, the hanging of the earth in
the empty place upon nothing. These, we say, are the wonders indeed, and
comprehend something in them which all the wonders of Egypt and the
wilderness cannot parallel. But it is the stupid security of men, that are
only awakened by some new and unusual passages of God's works beyond that
straight line of nature.

Then, fourthly, Look upon the power of God in making all of nothing, which
is expressed here in Heb. xi. There is no artificer but he must have
matter, or his art will fail him, and he can do nothing. The mason must
have timber and stones laid to his hand, or he cannot build a house; the
goldsmith must have gold or silver ere he can make a cup or a ring. Take
the most curious and quick inventor of them all,--they must have some
matter to work upon, or their knowledge is no better th