9. So, then, from the earth proceed all the varieties of plants and vegetables, having exchanged their old attire for a new and delicate dress. The tattered garments of the preceding year being decayed and dead, they come forth with exquisite beauty, odor, and color, and, as it were, preach to mankind in words such as these: “Look upon us, ye unbelieving sons of men; we were dead, and are now alive again. We have laid aside our old garments and bodies, and are now renewed. Do ye also imitate us; 'put off the old man, and put on the new' (Eph. 4:22-24); being renewed in your eternal fountain and original, which is God, your Creator, in whose image ye were created. If ye do this, then in the day of the righteous judgment of God, when ye have lost your old bodies, ye shall, like us, come forth out of the earth (1 Cor. 15:42), with new bodies, clothed with immortal glory, of which our new-born beauty is but a faint resemblance. And whilst ye are in this world, take not too much thought for the body. Matt. 6:25, etc. Consider us, whom the God of nature has annually, for so many thousands of years since the first creation to this time, provided with beautiful clothing, as an argument of his bounty and goodness. Consider our virtues and qualities, which are given not for our, but for your benefit; we bloom and blossom, not for our good, but yours; [pg 433] yea, the blessing of God blossoms through us.”
10. Among the vegetables, also, a man may discern many thousands of witnesses of the goodness and omnipotence of God. Here we have a perfect collection of drugs and simples, an admirable and complete herbal; yea, a living one, not furnished with faint draughts and dead pictures; but graved with living characters and impressions, to be read by every curious spectator, but not to be fully understood by any, except by Him that made them. And till we come fully to understand their divine signatures, we cannot so perfectly know the wonders of Providence contained under them.
11. Every herb and plant has its proper signature, which is nothing less than the inscription and handwriting of God, whereby he has most wonderfully and beautifully distinguished them all according to their virtues and qualities; and in many of them, the outward form is a token of their inward virtues. The turf we tread upon is furnished both with food and medicine. Yea, in the smallest grain or seed is manifested the unsearchable wisdom of God. He has created nothing in vain, and the minutest part of the creation is not to be overlooked or despised, since we know not the thousandth part of its virtues.
12. But if from their external forms we descend to their internal, and extract their spirit by chemical processes, separating that pure essence, which being full of high medicinal virtue, is lodged by God in the outward body, as a diamond in a casket, then, indeed, we shall truly taste the goodness of God in the virtues of his creatures, and bless him with a grateful heart, for the many comfortable medicines which he has provided for miserable man.
13. Consider, moreover, how the bountiful Creator has provided not only for man, but also furnished “food for all flesh.” Ps. 136:25; 145: 15. He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of men, “that he may bring forth food out of the earth, and wine that maketh glad the heart of man.” Ps. 104:14, 15. So that we may properly call the earth the treasury or storehouse of God, in which are laid up a variety of blessings both for man and beast: upon which account the Psalmist says, “the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.” Ps. 33:5.
14. A very wonderful effect of this divine goodness is, that bread sustains the whole body, so that in one single morsel is contained the nourishment of all the members of the body. And because of this nutritive quality that is in bread, therefore, the eternal Son of God calls himself the “bread of life” (John 6:35); denoting his power of nourishing and sustaining the whole man, body, soul, and spirit.
15. It is no less wonderful, that the greatest tree, with its root, trunk, boughs, leaves, seed, flowers, and fruit, should be contained in a very small seed; and that every year the same plants and trees, with their respective fruits and seeds, should appear in their proper order and season. All this must be resolved into the principle of the seed, containing in it all those powers, which successively display themselves in so great a variety of size, thickness, height, and breadth.
16. Notice also, how the grass, upon which the cattle feed, becomes food for man; being converted into the milk and flesh of the creatures that [pg 434] eat them. Even our beds and clothes grow out of the earth, since both sheep and birds live upon the fruits of it.
17. I shall not in this place speak particularly of trees and plants: otherwise, perhaps, I should have taken notice of the fig-tree which was accursed by our blessed Saviour (Matt. 21:19); of the olive-tree, whose leaf the dove brought into Noah's ark (Gen. 8:11); of the palm-tree, to which the flourishing state of the righteous is compared (Ps. 92:12); of the cedars, and of the spices, of which Moses made the holy ointment (Exod. 30:23); of the generous spikenard, which is a type of the Holy Spirit, and of the resurrection of the dead, being used in embalming bodies, in order to preserve them from putrefaction; of the vine, and various vegetables; from which the Holy Ghost draws beautiful similitudes, designed to illustrate and explain to us the mysteries of the kingdom of God.
18. Of the fruitfulness of the earth, David speaks thus: “Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it: thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God which is full of water: thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it. Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly; thou settlest the furrows thereof: thou makest it soft with showers: thou blessest the springing thereof: thou crownest the year with thy goodness, and thy paths drop fatness.” Ps. 65:9-11. That is, every month produces its peculiar fruit out of its treasury, the bosom of the earth.