CHAP. I.ThatGod’s Works are Great and Excellent.
ThatGod’s Works are Great and Excellent.
The first Inference I shall make, shall be by way of Confirmation of the Text, That theWorks of the Lord are great[a]. And this is necessary to be observed, not against the Atheist only, but all other careless, incurious Observers of God’s Works. Many of our useful Labours, and some of our best modern Books shall be condemned with only this Note of Reproach, That they areabout trivial Matters[b], when in Truth they are ingenious and noble Discoveries of the Works ofGOD. And how often will many own the World in general to be a Manifestation of the Infinite Creator, but look upon the several Parts thereof as only Toys and Trifles, scarce deserving their Regard? But in the foregoing (I may call it) transient View I have given of this lower, and most slighted Part of the Creation, I have, I hope, abundantly made out, that all the Works of the Lord, from the most regarded, admired, and praised, to the meanest and most slighted, are great and glorious Works, incomparably contrived, and as admirably made, fitted up, and placed in the World. So far then are any of the Works of theLORD, (even those esteemed the meanest) from deserving to be disregarded, or contemned by us[c], that on the contrary they deserve (as shall be shewn in the next Chapter) to besought out, enquired after, andcuriouslyanddiligently pryed intoby us; as I have shewed the Word in the Text implies.
FOOTNOTES:[a]Equidem ne laudare quidem satìs pro merito possum ejus Sapientiam ac Potentiam, qui animalia fabricatus est. Nam ejusmodi opera non Laudibus modò, verùm etiam Hymnis sunt majora, quæ priusquam inspexissemus, fieri non posse persuasum habeamus, conspicati verò, falsos nos opinione fuisse comperimus.Galen. de Us. Part. L. 7. c. 15.[b]Non tamen pigere debet Lectores, ea intelligere, quemadmodum ne Naturam quidem piguit ea reipsà efficere.Galen. ibid. L. 11. fin.[c]An igitur etiamsi quemadmodum Natura hæc, & ejusmodi, summâ ratione ac providentiâ agere potuit, ita & nos imitari aliquando possemus? Ego verò existimo multis nostrum ne id quidem posse, neque enim artem Naturæ exponunt: Eo enim modo omnino eam admirarentur, Sin minùs, eam saltem non vitaperarent.Galen. ib. L. 10. c. 3.
[a]Equidem ne laudare quidem satìs pro merito possum ejus Sapientiam ac Potentiam, qui animalia fabricatus est. Nam ejusmodi opera non Laudibus modò, verùm etiam Hymnis sunt majora, quæ priusquam inspexissemus, fieri non posse persuasum habeamus, conspicati verò, falsos nos opinione fuisse comperimus.Galen. de Us. Part. L. 7. c. 15.
[a]Equidem ne laudare quidem satìs pro merito possum ejus Sapientiam ac Potentiam, qui animalia fabricatus est. Nam ejusmodi opera non Laudibus modò, verùm etiam Hymnis sunt majora, quæ priusquam inspexissemus, fieri non posse persuasum habeamus, conspicati verò, falsos nos opinione fuisse comperimus.Galen. de Us. Part. L. 7. c. 15.
[b]Non tamen pigere debet Lectores, ea intelligere, quemadmodum ne Naturam quidem piguit ea reipsà efficere.Galen. ibid. L. 11. fin.
[b]Non tamen pigere debet Lectores, ea intelligere, quemadmodum ne Naturam quidem piguit ea reipsà efficere.Galen. ibid. L. 11. fin.
[c]An igitur etiamsi quemadmodum Natura hæc, & ejusmodi, summâ ratione ac providentiâ agere potuit, ita & nos imitari aliquando possemus? Ego verò existimo multis nostrum ne id quidem posse, neque enim artem Naturæ exponunt: Eo enim modo omnino eam admirarentur, Sin minùs, eam saltem non vitaperarent.Galen. ib. L. 10. c. 3.
[c]An igitur etiamsi quemadmodum Natura hæc, & ejusmodi, summâ ratione ac providentiâ agere potuit, ita & nos imitari aliquando possemus? Ego verò existimo multis nostrum ne id quidem posse, neque enim artem Naturæ exponunt: Eo enim modo omnino eam admirarentur, Sin minùs, eam saltem non vitaperarent.Galen. ib. L. 10. c. 3.