ning; but were he to do so, then the freedom of man's will would be infringed, and in so doing he would have acted contrary to his infinite wisdom, which requireth man to be free in all his acts. Moreover, were man withheld from sin by the power of another, even then he would not be less blameable or unrighteous than if he were permitted to sin as he would. But God, as most beneficent, hath given us sufficient warnings against evil, without violating the freedom of our will. Of the omnipotence of God, the Scriptures reason in the same manner. " I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee." 2. *

Job xlii.

13. All the above mentioned attributes of God are his eternal excellencies, in which consist his majesty and glory. These divine excellencies are without bounds, and they do not belong to God only in time, but his Being has been adorned with them from all eternity. Hence, God never is, nor can be, in need of any thing. And as such a condition must indeed be blessed; therefore, strictly speaking, God alone is perfectly blessed. O how happy will those be, who shall be reckon

*The Slavonian renders this verse," I know that thou canst do every thing, and that there is nothing impossible for thee."

ed worthy to be made partakers of this blessedness! And thus David exclaims: "For with thee is the fountain of life; in thy light shall we see light!" Psalm xxxvi. 9.

14. None can with such propriety have power over the creatures, as he who created them; who being almighty, can always preserve them in existence; and being infinite in wisdom, knows how to direct them according to his own purpose, to the accomplishment of the ends for which they were created. Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations." Psalm cxlv. 13.

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VI.

Who created the universe, and how was it created?

The great God created the universe, and all things that are therein. Created it out of nothing, not out of necessity, but according to his own free will, to make it a partaker of his goodness.

1. Under the term universe, is understood all creation taken collectively, and in which we also are included. All the creatures are generally divided into visible and invisible. The visible are those which are perceived by our senses; as the sun, the stars, the earth, the air, &c. But on the contrary, we only attain to a knowledge of

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the invisible by our intellectual faculties. human souls and angels are not objects of sense; and hence they are called immaterial spirits.

Of the existence of spirits we have sufficient proof from reason; though the Holy Scriptures afford us fuller assurance on this point: "For by him were all things created, that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible." Col. i. 16. Here it is necessary to observe, 1st, That God in creating all things, united them in one strong bond, in order that one thing might serve another, and taken collectively, might preserve unity in the whole creation. In this is most evidently seen the infinite wisdom of God. 2d, There is nothing in creation, taken abstractly, that can be called bad, or the use of which, taken in itself, can be called unclean. Hence it is written: "And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good," Gen. i. 31; and the apostle reasons in the same way, in these words: "I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean." Rom. xiv. 14. However, good things will become bad, if an improper use is made of them; as, when a sword is used to slay

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the innocent, or reason used to the perversion of truth.

2. Some have been of opinion, that the world was created out of some kind of material substance. But if this matter was produced by the power of God out of nothing, then such an opinion is not much contrary to our own ideas. If, however, this matter was not created out of nothing, then it must have been eternal! Such a way of reasoning is very pernicious and ill-founded; because no being, except God, can be infinite, and of course without beginning. However, as no being can produce itself, and as before its creation it had no existence; consequently, all creatures were made out of nothing. Hence it is evident, that before the creation of the universe, there existed nothing except God.

3. God can never find difficulty in any work: to create all things, only cost him one word; that is, he needed only to will, and it was done. And though the Holy Scriptures teach us, that God created the universe in the course of six days, yet it was not because he could not create all things in one moment. By this it is evident also, that God doth not act out of necessity, or according to some blind impulse; but that he useth his power where it is agreeable to him, and in proportion as he pleaseth. Now, of what God

willed to create each day, the divine Moses has informed us; and that this creation took place in the following order. On the first day, he created the heavens, and the earth, and the light. On the second day, the firmament, that is, in all its extent as we view it from the earth. Afterwards he made a division between the waters above, (by which, it appears, we ought to understand the clouds,) and the waters below, namely, rivers, lakes, and seas. On the third day, he divided the waters from the land, by which the waters were gathered together into one place, which gathering together of the waters, we call the Ocean: and then the earth shewed its face, which was immediately adorned with different kinds of herbs and trees. On the fourth day, the luminaries of heaven were created, the sun, the moon, and the stars, probably from the luminous substance which was created on the first day On the fifth day, the fishes that swim in the waters, and the fowls that fly in the air. On the sixth day, beasts, and cattle, and creeping things; and last of all, man, male and female. Gen. i.

4. God being, from all eternity, most perfect, could never stand in any need of the creatures; but he created them in order to make them partakers of his goodness, that is, to communicate to them perfections that have the image of his own per