a heap of unprepared stones and pieces of timber? We all know what skill and contrivance are requisite in the construction of our little habitations and shall chance, which could never build the smallest house or cottage, be able to erect the wonderful fabric of the universe? Even the lines in a globe cannot be made without art: and shall the earth, which that only imperfectly imitates, be formed without it? Examine the formation of man. What ingenuity must the painter employ to portray the human countenance! With what skill must the sculptor handle the chisel to turn the shapeless block into the comely figure of a man! And is there no skill necessary in the formation of the original? Is that noble countenance, that elegant form, the effect of mere chance-an unmeaning, ridiculous thing? How correctly did the apostle argue that "the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse."

But we are not left to the researches of curiosity and the deductions of reason, to ascertain the origin of the world. We have the unerring word of God himself to enlighten us on this point. In the introductory part of that word it is written, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." In the beginning-a plain refutation of the opinion of the eternal state of the world. The existence of all things is ascribed to the Divine Being. The heaven and the earth, and all the variety of beings that inhabit them, are the effect of his power and wisdom. Infinite wisdom planned the world; infinite power produced it out of nothing: "He hath made the earth by his power: he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his understanding."

"And the earth was without form and void." At first it was a mere chaos. The several elements were mixed together, and "darkness was upon the face of the deep." But God spake and it was done; he commanded, and they were created. "He said, Let there be light, and there was light." The finer particles of matter, which made light and fire, were separated from the more gross and dark;-they were scattered through the whole system, but centered afterwards in the sun in greatest abundance.

"And God said, Let there be a firmament;" or, as the margin of our Bibles more properly renders it, an "expanse," "in the midst of the waters; and let it divide the waters from the waters." "And God said, Let the waters under the firmament be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear." By the firmament or expanse is meant the air or atmosphere around us, which divides the waters of the sea from the waters that float above us in clouds and vapours. The several elements of air, earth, and water, were thus properly adjusted, their respective places assigned, and the due bounds of each settled.

"And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself." A principle of vegetation was communicated to the dry land, or earth, by which the various herbs, plants, and trees sprung up, brought forth their proper fruits, and shed their seed for the further

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production of their kind, so that the earth might ever furnish food for the different animals to be created.

"And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years," and " to give light upon the earth." The sun, the moon, the stars, and the planets, were thus created: to each was assigned its proper orbit, its periodical revolution fixed, and its utility determined.

"And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament." "And let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind." Thus the various animals came into existence; and to each were allotted the qualities proper for living in their respective elements. To the winged fowl was given power of flying in the open air; to the fish of swimming in the waters; while the cattle and creeping thing were appointed to dwell on the earth.

Last of all man was "formed of the dust of the ground;"- He who was to "have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth on the earth." As this was the most noble part of creation, the crowning act of the whole, Moses describes it in more sublime language, and accompanies it with more solemn circumstances: "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness;"-thus, in the formation of his reasonable and accountable creatures, uniting with his own eternal essence his everblessed Son who was to redeem them, and his Holy Spirit, who at the dawn of creation had "moved upon the face of the waters," and who was to enlighten and restore to order the dark chaos of their benighted minds.

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him." By the Divine image in which man is here said to be created, is meant the moral image of God; viz. uprightness, true holiness, and knowledge. That the mind of man was endued with true knowledge, we learn from St. Paul, who speaks of the Colossians as "having put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of him that created him." Adam knew his Maker; he knew his glorious perfections, his power, his wisdom, his holiness, his goodness. He knew his relation to God, his duty towards him, and his dependence upon him. He saw the glory of God in his works, and studied them that he might glorify him. In the book of Ecclesiastes it is said, "God made man upright;" and St. Paul exhorts the Ephesians to "put on the new man, which after God" (or according to the image of God)" is created in righteousness and true holiness." Adam was naturally and habitually righteous. His heart was properly disposed towards God. The law was not then written on tables of stone, but on his heart. His will was conformed to the mind of God. It had no such bias to evil as we now have; but was disposed to comply with the Divine will in all respects. His passions were all in complete subjection to his reason. The affections of his soul were directed to all that was holy, just, and

heavenly. He loved God above every thing,-considered him as the supreme good and the grand source of happiness. He loved the creatures for the Creator's sake; and all the beauty he discovered in them, led him the more to adore and love his God. In the apocryphal Book of Wisdom, it is said, "God created man to be immortal, and made him an image of his own eternity." Had Adam continued in his original state of uprightness and purity, had he never defaced the Divine image in which he was created, he would, probably, have been translated, without pain or death, to an immortal state of happiness far superior to that of Paradise; and all his posterity would have been confirmed in the same condition of immortality and happiness, without the danger of falling as he did: for as it is certain that all mankind, descended from Adam, are involved in the consequences of his fall, we may justly conclude, that, had he maintained his integrity, they would have all shared in the happy fruit of it. But as Scripture is silent on this point, it becomes us to restrain an idle curiosity that can be of no possible benefit. One thing is certain, that "God did create man upright; but they have sought out many inventions." The crown is fallen from his head, the glory is departed from him. Instead, then, of employing ourselves in unprofitable conjectures as to what might have been our case if Adam had not transgressed the command of his Maker, let us rather reflect upon what our condition actually is. Let us with sorrow behold that monument of our disgrace recorded by the sacred penman; that, on account of wickedness, "it repented the Lord that he had made man, and it grieved him at his heart." Let us with the deepest contrition deplore those crimes that exposed the Saviour of the world to the greatest torture and agony, which nailed the Son of God to the cross. This is a subject which cannot but be productive of the most essential benefit. Pious meditation upon the manifold frailties to which we are liable, and the innumerable sins of which we are guilty, will humble our proud hearts, will lead us to pray that God, for his mercy's sake in Christ Jesus, would pour down upon us the influences of his Holy Spirit to renew and assist our corrupt natures, and will make us more diligent in our endeavours to regain that knowledge of duty, that uprightness of heart, that submission of the will to God, and that affection of soul towards him, which constituted the Divine image in which our first parent was made.

It is an extraordinary fact, and deserving of notice, that, notwithstanding some of the ancient philosophers invented strange absurdities to account for the existence of the world, there prevailed among the heathen nations of antiquity, and still exist in countries where the light of God's word does not shine, notions of the creation of the world and the formation of man agreeing in many particulars with the Mosaic history. This fact merits our notice, because it strongly corroborates the truth of Moses' narration, and can be accounted for, only by admitting that these nations had these particulars by tradition from the parent of mankind. From Adam to Noah, the generations of men were so few, and their lives of such duration, that the true account of the Creation could not be much altered or corrupted. After the Flood, when for their wickedness in attempting to build the

Tower of Babel God dispersed mankind, the inhabitants of the earth, becoming idolaters, by degrees forgot some and disfigured other parts of the original account of creation, and handed down to their posterity those imperfect and corrupt notions of it which are to be found among them. Infinitely superior, however, to all these adulterated and perverted histories of the Creation, is the narration which the inspired writer gives in the chapter before us. Concise but clear, simple but sublime, it bears every evidence of having been dictated to Moses by the inspiration of God, and carries in its very front the stamp of eternal truth.

Creation is a fit subject for the frequent meditation and serious study of man. "The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein." It is a subject that comes recommended to our attention by a variety of forcible motives. The study of it is a duty we owe to God and to ourselves. It leads our thoughts to the great Creator, to his glorious perfections; disposing us to fear his omnipotence, to adore his omniscience, and to love his unbounded goodness. It likewise furnishes the mind with the most pleasing entertainment; and to the thinking though unlettered man, as well as to the man of science, is a source of continued delight. Every part of creation affords useful and moral instruction. "The fowls of the air, who sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns," teach us a lesson of dependence on Divine Providence. "The flowers of the field, which are cut down and wither," remind us of our mortality, that ere long we shall be cut down by the stroke of death, and fade away suddenly like the grass. Sloth is put to the blush by the industry of the ant. Intemperance is admonished by the sow that walloweth in the mire. Pride is humbled by the worm that crawls beneath its feet, destined perhaps one day to feast on its mortal remains. In a word, every thing around us is capable of contributing to our rational delight and to our moral improvement.

Creation preeminently claims the admiration and gratitude of

man.

We are told in the book of Job, that when God laid the foundations of the earth, "the morning stars" (i. e. angels) "sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." And in the book of Revelation we read, "The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, honour, and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." Shall the holy angels be affected with joy at the production of the earth, and admire and celebrate the works of God; and shall man be unaffected, and withhold his admiration and praise ?-man, to whom the earth is given for an habitation; for whose support and delight it was filled with so many good things; to whose authority the inferior creatures are made subject, and for whose use they were chiefly designed? Rather let us resolve, like the pious Psalmist, that we "will sing praises, unto our God while we have our being." The more attentively we look into the works of nature, the more glorious they will appear, and the more we shall magnify the Divine Artist.

As God is the Creator of all things in heaven and in earth, he has

an undeniably absolute dominion over all creatures; and the most implicit subjection to his laws is due from them. But, alas! there is one part of the creation, and that too the noblest part, which has dared to defy the authority and to transgress the rules of its Maker. What a lesson of obedience do the irrational works of God hold out to rational man! "Mine hand," saith the Lord, "hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together.' "The most loyal and obedient servants, which stand continually before the most illustrious prince, are not so ready," says a learned author,*" to receive and execute the commands of their sovereign lord, as all the host of heaven and earth to attend upon the will of their Creator." "Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their hosts by number: he calleth them all by names, by the greatness of his might; for that he is strong in power, not one faileth;" but every one maketh his appearance, ready to observe the designs of their great Director. Thus the Lord commanded, and "they fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera." He "commanded the ravens to feed Elias; and they brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening:" and thus a prophet lived merely upon the obedience of the fowls of the air. He spake to the devouring whale, " and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land :" and so another prophet was delivered from the jaws of death by the obedience of the fishes of the sea. Do we not read of "fire and hail, snow and vapour, and stormy wind, fulfilling his word?" And shall there be a greater coldness in man than in the snow ?-more vanity in us than in a vapour?-more inconstancy than in the wind? If the universal obedience of the creature to the will of the Creator cannot move us to the same affection and desire to serve and please him, they will all conspire to testify against us, and condemn us, when God shall call unto them, saying, Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken: I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me."

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In every condition of life, adverse as well as prosperous, the true servants of God may find a never-failing source of consolation in piously meditating upon his works. Those glorious perfections of the Deity which creation sets forth, inspire us with confidence, and trust, and hope in him. God is omniscient; "the eyes of the Lord are in every place;" and he sees the past, the present, and the future at one glance. Nothing then can happen without his knowledge. His power is irresistible and subject to no decay. Creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not, neither is weary;" he "worketh all things after the counsel of his own will." He is consequently able to bless and succour us. And of his willingness to help, we are abundantly assured. "God will not despise the work of his hands." "He will not suffer thy foot to be moved." We are exhorted to 66 cast all our care upon him, for he careth for us." Happy is he whose hope is in the Lord his God, which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is."

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* Pearson on the Creed, 8vo. edition, pp. 121, 122.