great Rabbi Eliezer says, "Before the Almighty created the world, He and His name existed alone."

Manassah

Ben Israel, in his work on creation, shows that this opinion was received and approved of by all the wise men of ancient times. We gain nothing to relieve our minds by throwing back the date of creation, or supposing that other worlds and systems existed previously to the now existing material universe. For, whether we suppose the oldest creature in existence to have been created six thousand or six thousand millions of years ago, or even to have existed as many ages as there are drops of water in the ocean and sands on its numerous shores, it does not in the least alter the axiomatical truth-God, as the one Eternal Being, once existed alone. He is therefore to be regarded as the sole Creator of all things, corporeal and spiritual, visible and invisible. The admission of a contrary notion would lead to endless inconsistencies and uncertainties. If matter existed from eternity, and existed of itself, as some Atheistical philosophers have impiously and foolishly asserted, it is indebted to God for nothing it possesses, and we might properly ask, what right had God to it? or what title had he to fashion it according to his pleasure? And as Basil observes" If it was, in reality, uncreated, it must be esteemed worthy of the same honours with God," and further, we should be at a loss to conceive how the Great Architect of the universe came into possession of that which might be considered, not only equal, but in some respects superior to himself. It was at least a thing of which he stood in need, and which supplied him with materials and facilities for his operations, and thus was greater than himself, while this supposed eternal and self-existent matter stood

in no need of him, or at least received nothing from him. Hence, if this hypothesis were correct, as Vogelsangius says, "matter must have conferred a truly signal favour upon God, in furnishing him with means by which he might, to this day, be known and acknowledged as Omnipotent." It will, therefore, be seen, that God is the only Being in the universe who has existed from all eternity. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth," &c. Before proceeding to illustrate the natural attributes and moral perfections of the Deity, it seems necessary to shew, that He is the Creator of all things, and that He rules them by His sovereign authority, and preserves them by His providence. These facts will furnish us with arguments by which to illustrate such attributes and perfections.

III. ON CREATION.

Nothing eternal but God. God is the Creator of all things in the universe, whether material or intellectual. The manner in which God brought the material universe into existence. Creation, a grand and sublime subject. The vastness of creation in relation to both matter and mind. All creation dependent on God. The creation and formation of our globe considered. The date of creation, according to the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint, Usher, Josephus, Dr. Wills, and Mr. Whiston. The discoveries of modern geology, considered in reference to the age of our world. Various theories investigated and considered. Weighty objections to the present popular theory, when considered in connection with the Mosaic account of creation. Quotation from Macgillivray. Dr. Baylee's hypothesis considered. Quo. tation from Dr. J. Pye Smith. Remarks on the article written by S. H. Boyd, Esq. The manner of accounting for the now-existing phenomena in the geological strata. The deluge, and its probable effects on our globe. The Word of God our safest guide. Summing up of the opinions of many learned men-Hitchcock, Dr. A. Clarke, Professor Ray, Dr. Woodward, Couvier, and others.

We have endeavoured to prove in the preceding essay that, before creation, nothing existed except God; that there was no such world as this we now behold, which some have foolishly supposed to have been co-eternal with God; and that there was not any shapeless chaotic matter from which, by means of motion and chemical affinity, other substances were formed by some imaginary mind, which reduced them to certain forms and order, subjecting them to certain laws, and arranging them according to the now settled state of nature. Such ideas are chimerical, and the mind which gave birth to them was false and Atheistical.

For, if there were an eternal nature beside an eternal God, as Dr. Clarke observes, "there must have been two selfexisting, independent, and eternal beings, which is a most palpable contradiction." The Divine Being-satisfied in himself, i.e. with his own infinite perfections, and with the fulness and glory of his own eternal nature—was consummately and unchangeably happy from everlasting; and this happiness still forms one of the grand characteristics of his moral nature. He is infinitely, consummately, and eternally blessed in Himself. He, therefore, needs no external works, apart from himself, to complete his happiness; and it is necessary that this idea of the eternal perfection of Deity should be as fully believed as it is explicitly taught in the revelation of his Word. But, as Witsius very properly remarks, "It pleased him, however, to display his attributes in certain works that are without himself, (or in a certain sense apart from himself), the form and image of which he had most wisely delineated in his mind from eternity." And since he needs no assistance from any-as nothing existed, or ever can exist, independently of him-he commanded the substance of all things that are to rise out of nothing. This was the act of his almighty and sovereign will. He created all things according to his good pleasure. The stupendous work which we call creation, or the material universe, was brought into existence without any laborious effort. "He spake and it was done." "The creation of the world," says St. Clement," is the effect of his counsel alone;" and this idea is explicitly expressed in several passages of Scripture, a few of which it may be proper here to mention.

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the

66

Exodus xx.

earth." Gen. i. 1. "In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is." 11. The Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabinah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, Stand up and bless the Lord your God for ever and ever; and blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise. Thou, even thou, art Lord alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshipeth thee." Nehemiah ix. 5, 6. By the word of the Lord," says the Psalmist, " were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth." "The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast formed them." "I form the light, and create darkness." "The day is thine, the night also is thine thou hast prepared the light and the sun." And "By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens." Psalms xxxiii. 6; lxxxix. 11; Isaiah xlv. 7; Psalms lxxiv. 16; Job xxvi. 13. The same sentiments are sublimely expressed in numerous passages by the prophets. "For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord; and there is none else." Isa. xlv. 18. Lord God, behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee." Jer. xxxii. 17. In a manner equally emphatic, the same great and glorious truth is expressed in the New Testament. The Apostle John, in

:

"Ah