which we are under to devote all our faculties and labours to the promotion of this end. This observation needs no comment.

8thly. We also see, here, in a clear light, the necessity of Regeneration.

The native disposition of man, is opposed to the end of his being. This disposition nothing has ever changed essentially, except the power of the Spirit of truth. As necessary, therefore, as it is, that Man should answer the end of his creation, so necessary is it, that he should become the subject of this change in his moral character.

9thly. We discern in this subject the transcendent Excellence and Glory of God.

All things display the glory of God; but some display it much more than others. In the scheme of creation, which has been now discussed, there is a splendour, wholly peculiar, attributed to JEHOVAH. In the end, proposed by Intelligent Beings in their designs, and displayed in their conduct, their proper character is especially manifested. The end, proposed by God, and displayed in his works of creation and providence, is unquestionably the noblest and most important of all possible ends, and the strongest proof of the best of all possible characters. It is the most finished, and the most ample, manifestation of all that is great, exalted, lovely, and divine. Out of it, springs created Intelligence, virtue, and enjoyment, enlarged, refined, and brightened, for ever. Heaven and its immortal glory are its fruits; Angels, and the Spirits of just men made perfect, are its offspring. The Sun of Righteousness here rises on the astonished sight, without a cloud, and shines with the clear effulgence of eternal day. In the future world, that Sun shall no more go down, neither shall that Glory withdraw itself; but with a presence ever enjoyed, a lustre ever increasing, shall enlighten, warm, and quicken. the universe of virtuous minds with one unceasing day, one everlasting spring; while all that is beautiful, fragrant, and delightful, lovely in the eye of God, and a resemblance of his transcendent perfection, shall rise, and bloom, and flourish, beneath the life-giving influence for ever and ever. Amen.

SERMON XXVI.

PROVIDENCE.

THE PROBATION OF MAN.

GENESIS ii. 15-17.

And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden, to dress it, and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die.

In several preceding sermons, I have considered the work of Creation; including the heavens and the earth, their inhabitants and their furniture. The next subject in a theological system, is the Work of Providence.

From the text, which is an account of the first act of Providence towards mankind, we learn the following things.

I. That the Providence of God towards man began immediately after he was created.

In the great and wonderful work of Creation, provision was effectually made for the production, subsistence, and comfort, of such beings, as were afterwards to exist in this world. By this observation, I do not intend absolutely, that no being has been, in the strict sense, created since the conclusion of the period, in which the Scriptures exhibit this work as having been accomplished. Whether this has, or has not, in the strict sense, been

the fact, is not material to the present design. I intend, in the Scriptural language, that the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. The beings, which, during succeeding ages, were to exist in this world, whether in the rational, animal, or vegetable, kingdoms, were all, together with the changes in the mineral or inanimate kingdom, to be produced by the instrumentality of secondary causes. As man was the last creature, which was made; when he was formed, the work of Creation was finished. From this time, that superintending and controlling agency of God, commonly called Providence, commenced; and has ever since been unceasingly extended over all the works of his hands.

ner.

The Providence of God is two-fold; ordinary and miraculous. Miraculous Providence, is an immediate agency of God in the production of events, adopted, at times, to accomplish certain ends, which would be less advantageously accomplished in any other manThe ordinary Providence of God is an agency, directing the several creatures, which he has made, to the several purposes, for which they were made; and conducted according to certain rules, which he has been pleased to establish, and which are commonly, although improperly enough, called Laws of nature. In the Scriptures, with much more propriety as well as beauty, they are termed Ordinances of Heaven. In the succession of things, according to these ordinances, the power, wisdom, and goodness of God, are gloriously manifested in a series of events, beautiful and harmonious, wonderful and sublime, beyond any limit, assignable by the thoughts of man.

Before the Apostasy, these laws, and their effects, were, beyond a doubt, exceedingly different from those, which prevail at the present time. Man was then immortal, holy, and happy; and was destined to breathe in air, to feed on fruits, and to pursue employments, suited to the perpetuation of this delightful state. The world was beautiful and pleasant. All things were peaceful, friendly, and means of unceasing and undisturbed eajoyment. The sources of pain, hunger, and thirst, of disquiet, disease, and death, were unopened, and unknown. To a single end, was directed the whole energy of nature; and that end was the immediate good of man.

After the apostasy, a state of things began, which was in many respects new; a state suited to fallen beings, who were to live under many manifestations of the divine wrath against sin; and who in the end were to die, and thus cease from all future connection with the place of their former residence.

After the Deluge, the state of the world appears to have been still further changed. More, and more painful proofs of the anger of God against Sin, were introduced into the system. Life, within a little time, was shortened from one thousand years to seventy. Labour, sorrow, and disease, were greatly enhanced. The bloom of immortality, already deeply faded, now withered away. Food, together with the whole train of necessaries, lost its power of prolonging life; sickliness overspread the vegetable kingdom; storms convulsed the air and the ocean; earthquakes and volcanoes shook the land; and decay and disorder impaired the whole face of the system.

II. We learn also, that man, immediately after his creation, was placed in a state of active employment.

The text declares, that the Lord God took the man, and put him in the garden of Eden to dress it, and to keep it. Activity of body, and of mind, is the sole means of doing good, and of glorifying God; and is, therefore, indispensable to the end, for which Intelligent beings were created. Hence man, like the Angels, was destined to be active; and was directed to industrious business, immediately after he was brought into the world.

III. That he was, at the same time, placed in a state of Trial. By this I intend, that he was put into such a condition, as to show whether he would obey, or disobey, his Maker. The rectitude and reasonableness of this dispensation are easily evinced.

Man, as I flatter myself has been heretofore proved, was created a moral Agent, possessed of understanding and will, and therefore free, and capable of obeying. Of course, inability to obey could not be pleaded by him, as a reason why he should be exempted from obedience.

At the same time, his Creator had an entire and indisputable right to his services. No property is so high, or so perfect, as that which the Creator has in the thing created; and no right so complete, as that which arises out of this property. God, thereVOL. I.

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