SERMON XVII.

CREATION.

AIR; STARRY, AND SUPREME, HEAVENS.

GENESIS i. 1.

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Is the preceding discourses I have considered the existence and perfections of God; his decrees, or that pleasure, or choice, with which he willed the existence of all things; and the sovereignty with which he disposes of them. The next subject in such a system of discourses is the Works of God; which are no other than the execution of that pleasure. These are generally and justly distributed under two great heads, Creation and Providence. Under these heads I propose to consider them.

In the text it is asserted, that, In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. The phrase, In the beginning, is universally expressive, in the Scriptures, of the commencement of created, or finite existence. Whether it is intended to be applied in the present case to both the heavens and the earth, with exactly the same meaning, is uncertain; as will be evident from the proper import of this phraseology. The word, created, denotes, brought into existence. The heaven and the earth, is a Jewish phrase, denoting the Universe and all things which it contains. As some of these things, particularly the souls of men, were not created at the same time with the earth, it is evident, that the phrase, in the beginning, cannot be particularly, and strictly, applied to every created being,

In the text, thus explained, the following doctrine is evidently asserted;

THAT ALL THIngs were brought into EXISTENCE BY GOD.

The truth of this doctrine has been already sufficiently evinced in the two first of these discourses; so far as arguments from Reason are concerned. That it is the real doctrine of the text; and that the word, created, does not mean merely moulded, or fashioned, is completely evident from the explanation of Moses himself; who undoubtedly will be allowed to be his own Commentator. In Gen. ii. 3, he says, And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work, which God created and made. In the original language it is, which God created, to make, that is, which he created, or brought into being, first; and made, or fashioned, afterwards, into all the innumerable forms and beings, with which the Universe is, in a sense endlessly, replenished.

This truth has by various persons, of no small note in the world, as men of science, been called in question. It seems so evident that all things, which do not involve a contradiction, are possible with the Omnipotent God; that a sober man can scarcely fail to wonder, how these persons can hesitate to believe, that the act of creating, or giving being, is within the limits of his power. The acts of preserving and governing the universe, also seem to be equally evidential of Omnipotence, and equally to demand its exertions. I cannot easily conceive how any man can admit, that God governs the Universe, and doubt whether he brought, or was able to bring, it into being. At the same time, the several modes, adopted by these very men to account either for the existence, preservation, or government, of all things, are attended with incomparably more difficulty: being indeed palpable absurdities, and involving evident contradictions. This, it is believed, has been proved in a former discourse*.

But the formation of the human Soul, is itself a continual exhibition of creating power. It is, unquestionably, as difficult to create Minds, as to create Matter. But that God creates Minds is certain; because Matter, being unintelligent, cannot commn.

See Sermon II.

nicate intelligence; and therefore, even if admitted to possess active power, cannot bring into existence a Mind. Nor ought it to be forgotten, that this opinion rests upon no evidence. On the contrary, it is a doubt, or denial, gratuitously assumed. The abettor of it merely doubts, or denies, the fact, that God created all things; and, to justify himself, alleges, that he cannot conceive such an act to be possible. But he ought to show, that he does see it to be impossible. That he cannot discern what Omnipotence can do, any farther than God discloses it, either by his acts, or his declarations, is very obvious; but that this ignorance should be a foundation of doubt to himself; or of conviction, or even of attention, to others; is, I think, explicable only by the sup position of extreme folly in either case.

As this amazing Work is in the text divided into two great parts; the Heavens, and the Earth; I shall adopt this natural, and pertinent, division in my discourses; I shall begin my consideration of it with the subject, mentioned first in the text, viz. the Heaven.

The word Heaven, in the text, is used to denote what is elsewhere called the Heavens; as is evident from the first verse of the following chapter; in which it is said, with a reference to exactly the same subject, Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. As the term is variously applied in the Scriptures; it will be proper in this place to mention the objects, to which this application is made. In the first place, Heaven, or Heavens, (for the word is used indifferently in either the singular or plural number,) is applied to God. Until thou know, that the Heavens do rule, Dan. iv. 26.

2dly. To Angels. The heavens are not clean in his sight. Job

XV. 15.

3dly. To the church. There was war in heaven. Rev. xii. 7. 4thly. To a great height. Cities walled up to heaven. Deut. i. 28.

5thly. To distinguished glory. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! Isai. xiv. 12.

All these are plainly figurative senses of this word. In a lite cal sense, it seems to have been used by the Jews to denote, VOL. I.

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1st. The Air. As when the Scriptural writers speak of the dew, winds, and fowls, of heaven.

2dly. The Firmament, or expansion over our heads. Thus it is said in the context, verse 17, God set them, that is, the sun, moon, and stars, in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth.

3dly. The supreme Heaven; styled also the Heaven of Heavens. Behold the Heaven, and the Heaven of Heavens, is the Lord's. Deut. x. 14. God also is styled the God of Heaven; and St. John beheld a door opened in Heaven, and was directed by a voice to go up thither; and was immediately carried in the spirit before the throne of God.

From these, and many other passages, it is evident, that the Jews acknowledged three heavens; and considered all things, beside the earth and that which it contains, and the world of punishment, as being included under the word, heaven. As this is the common language of Scripture, I shall consider the subject in the same manner, and in the order already specified.

I. The Air, or Atmosphere, by which the earth is surrounded, is replete with wonderful displays of the power and wisdom of God. Particularly it has ever engaged the attention of wise and observant men, and merits our own attention,

1st. As it is the immediate mean of life to mankind, and to the animal and vegetable kingdoms.

The nature of life, and the manner in which it is maintained, are both very imperfectly understood; nor will it be expected from me, that I should here attempt to give an account of such discoveries, as have been made by inquisitive men concerning these mysterious subjects. The remarks of a Minister of the Gospel, and not those of an Anatomist, the views of common sense, and not those of chemical, or medical science, will be expected in the present discussion. All men know, that living beings depend, in this world, for the continuance of life, on respiration; and that the medium of respiration is Air. Among the wonders, which pertain to this subject, this is one; that, although the Air is a compound substance, made up of very diverse materials, one of them noxious, and a second by itself perfectly unproductive of life; yet these are so blended with the third, in which alone the

power of maintaining life resides, that in their combination they are better fitted to continue life, than even the life-giving principle would be, if it existed pure and unmixed. Another is, that this combination is maintained in such a manner, that the proportional quantities of these materials are at all times substantially, if not exactly, the same. When we consider the innumerable revolutions, of which the Air is the subject, and the perpetual fluctuations; it seems scarcely less than a miracle, that this equability, so necessary for the continuance of life, should be always, and every where, preserved. Nothing less than the wisdom of God could have contrived the means, by which this fact is accomplished.

2dly. As it is the great instrument of dissolution.

This world is formed to be a theatre of successive existence. The beings, which exist in it, are intended to fulfil the end, for which they exist, and then to leave the stage vacant to those, who succeed them. Of course they dissolve; and return to their original dust. Of this dissolution, Air is acknowledged by Philosophers to be the primary means. If we had never been witnesses of the fact; few things could seem more strange and improbable to us, than that the same element should be, at once, the chief means of preserving life, and the chief means of dissolution; and that both these processes should, without any confusion, go on from age to age in perfect harmony, and as indispensable parts of a complete system.

3dly. As it is a principal mean of heat and cold.

These great effects are both produced by different operations of the same element, hitherto inexplicably mysterious, but without any discord or confusion. The manner, in which Air withdraws heat from other objects, and again gives it out to those objects, must be confessed, familiar as the fact is, to be eminently wonderful: while, at the same time, the operation is absolutely necessary. On it, depends a great part of the activity, comfort, and usefulness, of mankind. From it, spring in a great degree, those changes of the seasons, those varieties of temperature, which are so pleasing, necessary, and useful, to the world. In a word, from this source, in a great measure, arise the growth and perfection of the vegetable world, the existence of a great