our eyes can reach, let us seriously reflect that He who created us made them, and that he is worthy of our highest praise and adoration. But what are we, when compared with the glorious works of God as they appear in the heavens? "When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers; the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?" Ps. viii. 3, 4.

I. Our world began with time; and time began about six thousand years ago. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Gen. i. 1.

Many ancient philosophers were of opinion that the world was eternal; and some modern unbelievers have adopted their error. Three arguments are quite sufficient to refute this opinion: first, we have not any records of events that go back more than three or four thousand years, except those of Moses; but if the world had been from eternity, our records might have gone back as many millions of ages. Secondly, our arts and sciences, which are but yet in their infancy, would have arrived at amazing perfection before this time, had the world been eternal. And, thirdly, the world, which is continually increasing its population, would have been over-stocked with inhabitants many ages ago, had it existed from eternity.

We may farther observe, that if the world

had no beginning, it is self-existent; and if it be self-existent, it cannot be the work of God. It would follow, that the argument for the being of a God, from the works of creation, is of no value; and thus we should be plunged at once into the depths of atheism. Blind nature, on this supposition, is the only cause of every thing that exists; and every event is under the control of chance. If this be true, there is no governing Spirit; and man has no soul: matter is all in all; and mind is nothing but an empty To say there are some difficulties in the way of our views on this subject, amounts to nothing; for every subject has its difficulties; and if we believe nothing but what we can comprehend, we shall not believe any thing at

name.

all.

II. The world was created by the omnipotent power of God.

To create is to give being to that which had no being before. Some have thought that creation implies no more than a new formation of pre-existing matter; and that our world was made out of matter which had existed in some form or other prior to the Mosaic creation. But how do they prove this opinion? They intend to remove a difficulty; but they only throw that difficulty a little farther back. We ask, When did that previous matter, out of which the world was made, begin to exist? Was it eternal? We must allow, either that something

was created that had no being before, at some remote period, or that matter is eternal; and if ever something was made by the Almighty that had no prior existence, why might it not be when our world was created? The contrary notion, fairly carried out, will drive us into the atheistical imagination, that the material world has existed from eternity. We allow that no created being can comprehend this profound mystery; but we rest in this fact, that all things are possible with God.

III. Six days were employed, by the Lord God omnipotent, in making and forming the world.

He could have made it in a moment; but his infinite wisdom saw fit to work progressively. In six days the solar system was formed, in all its beauty and perfection; and all things were calculated to promote the most valuable and useful purposes, in whatever light they are viewed by the children of men. "The earth was at first in a confused, dark, and chaotic state, 'without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep,' till the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters,' and reduced all to order. At last it pleased the Almighty to prepare it for the abode of man. This was effected at six periods. First, the element of light appeared, not concentrated in the sun, but diffused over the world: 'God said, Let there be light.' This brought the

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atmosphere into view. And God said, Let there be a firmament.' Water then began to be suspended in the air, in addition to that which was spread upon the earth. There were waters under the firmament, and waters above the firmament.' The waters, in the next place, flowed from the more elevated parts of the world into vast cavities, and formed the ocean. The waters being thus gathered into one place, the dry land appeared. When the ground was thus drained, different kinds of herbs, shrubs, and trees, began to spring up. The earth brought forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit.' The air was now sufficiently purified to let the sun and moon appear: ‘God said, Let there be lights in the firmament.' The genial heat of the globe was, by this time, capable of sustaining life; but before the land was prepared to support its inhabitants, the waters brought forth abundantly.' The next habitable element was the air: and accordingly

God created the winged fowl, that fly above the earth.' The ground being, by this time, sufficiently firm, and covered with vegetables, 'God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind.' And when every thing was thus prepared for his reception, God said, Let us make man.' This is a simple, elegant, and rational account of a very natural process, as it would appear to an inhabitant of this globe, if any such there had been, containing all that

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is necessary for us to know, or perhaps possible for us to comprehend."* "And God saw

every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good." Gen. i. 31.

IV. The creation, in its vast extent, is an astonishing display of the wisdom, power, and goodness of God.

The life of man is too short to explore the works of his Maker in the visible creation. In his profound inquiries, new beauties and glories. continually open to his view; and he is lost in the vast extent and rich variety of the wondrous works with which he is surrounded. What are the works of men, in their highest perfection, when compared with the works of the Almighty? Men of genius erect fine monuments of art, and imitate, by painting and sculpture, the works of nature's God; but when their greatest and most finished works are contrasted with those of the Deity, they appear irregular, unfinished, and defective.

Divine wisdom appears in all the works of God. They are numerous and various; but usefully connected and combined in the arrangements of their author. Everything has been made by weight and measure; so that nothing is redundant, and nothing is wanting. Beauty, grandeur, and utility are marvellously mixed; and every thing that exists, whether animate or inanimate, loudly proclaims the wisdom of the

* Dr. Bruce.