there must be an object answerable unto them; a perfect Being, which is no other than God, who is the first cause and last end of all things, of whom the Psalmist says, Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none on earth my soul desires besides thee, Psalm lxxiii. 25.

The third argument proving the Being of God, shall be taken from the works of creation; concerning which the apostle says, the invisible things of God, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen; being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, Rom. i. 20. Plutarch, in answer to

a question, Whence have men the knowledge of God? replies, "They first receive the knowledge of him from the beauty of things that appear; for nothing beautiful is made in vain, nor by chance, but wrought with some art: that the world is beautiful, is manifest from the figure, the colour, and magnitude of it; and from the variety of stars about the world." And these so clearly display the Being and power of God, as to leave the heathen without excuse, as the apostle observes; and as this, and other instances, shew. Most admirable was the reasoning of a wild Greenlander, which he declared to a commissionary to be the reasoning of his mind before his conversion; "It is true, said he to him, we were ignorant heathens, and knew nothing of God, or a Saviour; and, indeed, whỏ should tell us of him till you come? but thou must not imagine that no Greenlander thinks about these things. I myself have often thought: a kajak (a boat) with all its tackle and implements, does not grow into existence of itfelf, but must be made by the labour and ingenuity of man; and one that does not understand it, would directly spoil it. Now the meanest bird has far more skill displayed in its structure, than the best kajak; and no man can make a bird: But there is still a far greater art shewn in the formation of a man, than of any other creature. Who was it that made him? I bethought me that he proceeded from his parents, and they from their parents; but some must have been the first parents; whence did they come? common report informs me, they grew out of the earth: but if so, why does it not still happen that men grow out of the earth? and from whence did this same earth itself, the sea, the sun, the moon, and stars, arise into existence? Certainly there must be some Being who made all these things; a Being that always was, and can never cease to be. He must be inexpressibly more mighty, knowing, and wise, than the wisest man. He must be very good too, because that every thing that he has made is good, useful, and necessary for us.

Ah, did I but seen him? who

know him, how would I love him and honour him! But who has has ever conversed with him? None of us poor men. Yet there may be men too that know something of him. O that I could but speak with such! therefore, said he, as soon as ever I heard you speak of this great Being, I believed it directly, with all my heart; because I had so long desired to hear it." A glaring proof this, that a supreme Being, the first cause of all things, is to be concluded from the works of creation. The notion of the eternity of the world, has been imbibed by some heathens, but sufficiently confuted by others. And even Aristotle, to whom

De Placitis Philosoph. I. 1. c. 6, p. 879. b Crantz's History of Greenland, ut fuprà.

it is ascribed, asserts that "it was an ancient doctrine, and what all men received frorn their ancestors; that all things are of God, and consist by him." And those that believe the divine revelation, cannot admit of any other doctrine; but must explode the notion of the eternity of the world, and of its being of itself; since that assures us, that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth: also that all things were made, not of things which do appear, but out of nothing, Gen. i. I. Heb. xi. 3. for, be it, that the heavens and the earth were made out of a chaos, or out of preexistent matter; it may be reasonably asked, out of what was the preexistent matter made? the answer must be, out of nothing: since it was by creation, which is the production of something out of nothing; and which can never be performed by the creature; for out of nothing, nothing can be made by that. If therefore all things are originally produced out of nothing, it must be by one that is almighty, whom we rightly call God: No creature can produce itself; this involves such contradictions as can never be admitted; for then a creature must be before it was; as that which makes must be before that which is made: it must act and operate before it exists; and be and not be at one and the same time; which are such glaring contradictions, as sufficiently confute the creature's making itself; and therefore its being must be owing to another cause; even to God, the Creator; for between a creature and God, there is no medium: and if it could be thought or said, that the most excellent creatures, men, made themselves; besides the above contradictions, which would be implied, it might be asked, why did not they make themselves wiser and better; since it is certain, they have knowledge of beings superior to them? and how is it that they know so little of themselves, either of their bodies or their souls, if both were made by them? and why are they not able to preserve themselves from a dissolution to which they are all subject? It may be further observed; that effects, which depend upon causes in subordination to one another, cannot be traced up ad infinitum; but must be reduced to some first cause, where the inquiry must rest; and that first cause is God. Now here is an ample field to survey; which furnishes out a variety of objects, and all proofs of Deity. There is nothing in the whole creation the mind can contemplate, the eye look upon, or the hand lay hold on, but what proclaims the Being of God. When we look up to the heavens above us; the surrounding atmosphere; the air in which we breathe, which compresses our earth, and keeps it together; the fluid æther, and spreading sky, bespangled with stars of light, and adorned with the two great luminaries, the sun and moon, especially the former, that inexaustible fountain of light and heat; and under whose benign influences, so many things are brought forth on earth; whose circuit is from one end of the heaven to the other; and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof: when we consider its form, magnitude, and virtue; its proper

< De Mundo, c. 6. d δ αμφοτέρως δε αδύνατον εις άπειρον ιέναι, Ariftot. Metaphysic. 1. 1. c. 8. Quis est tam vecors, qui aut cum suspexerit in coelum deos esse non sentiat. Cicero. Orat. go. De Harufp. resp. So Plato de Legibus, 1. 12. p. 999. Zaleucus apud Diodor. Sicul. 1, 12. p. 84. Ed. Rhodoman.

distance from us, being not so near us as to scorch us; nor so remote as to be of no use to us; the motion given it at first, in which it has proceeded without stopping, but once as is supposed, in the days of Joshua; a motion it has had now almost six thousand years; the course it has steered, and steers, so that all, parts of the earth, at one season or another, receive benefit by it; and the way it has been guided in, without varying or erring from it all this while. Whoever reflects on these things, must acknowledge it to be the work of an all-wise and almighty agent, we call God; and that it must be upheld, guided and directed by his hand alone. When we take a view of the earth, of the whole terraqueous globe, hanging on nothing, like a ball in the air, poized with its own weight; the different parts of it, and all disposed for the use of man; stored with immense riches in the bowels of it, and stocked with inhabitants upon it; the various sorts of animals, of different forms and shapes, made, some for strength, some for swiftness, some for bearing burdens, and others for drawing carriages, some for food, and others for cloathing: the vast variety of the feathered tribes that cut the air; and the innumerable kinds of fishes that swim the ocean. The consideration of all this will oblige us to say, Lord, thou art God, which hast made the heaven, earth, and sea; and all that in them is, Acts. iv. 25. in short, there is not a shell in the ocean; nor a sand on the shore, nor a spire of grass in the field, nor any flower of different hue and smell in the garden, but what declare the Being of God: but especially our own composition is deserving of our notice; the fabric of the body, and the faculties of our souls. The body, its form and shape; whilst other animals look downwards to the earth, os homini sublime dedit Deus, as the poet says, man as a lofty countenance given him, to behold the heavens, to lift up his face to the stars; and for what is this erect posture given him, but to adore his Creator? And it is remarkable that there is a natural instinct in men to lift up their hands and eyes to heaven, when either they have received any unexpected mercy, by way of thankfulness for it; or are in any great distress, as supplicating deliverance from it: which supposes a divine Being, to whom they owe the one, and from whom they expect the other. The several parts and members of the body are so framed and disposed, as to be subservient to one another; so that the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee; nor the head to the feet, I have no need of you. The same may be observed of the other members. The inward parts, which are weak and tender, and on which life much depends, were they exposed, would be liable to much danger and hurt; but these are cloathed with skin and flesh, and fenced with bones and sinews; and every bone, and every nerve, and every muscle, are put in their proper places. All the organs of the senses, of sight, hearing, smelling, tasting, and feeling, are most wonderfully fitted for the purposes for which they are made. Galen an ancient noted physician, being atheistically inclined, was convinced of his impiety by barely considering the admirable structure of the eye; its various humours,

Ovid. Metamorph. 1. 1. fab. 2. v. 84, 85. Vid. Ciceronem de Natura Deorum, 1. 2. Hence the Greeks call man avpwmos, from his looking upwards, Lactant, de Orig, err. 1. 2. c. 1.

VOL. I.

tunics, and provision for its defence and safety. The various operations performed in our bodies, many of which are done without our knowledge or will, are enough to raise the highest admiration in us; as the circulation of the blood through all parts of the body, in a very small space of time; the respiration of the lungs; the digestion of the food; the chylification of it; the mixing of the chyle with the blood; the nourishment thereby communicated; and which is sensibly perceived in the several parts of the body, and even in the more remote; which having been weakened and enfeebled by hunger, thirst, and labour, are in an instant revived and strengthened; and the accretion and growth of parts by all this. To which may be added other things worthy of notice; the faculty of speech, peculiar to man, and the organs of it; the features of their faces; and the shape of their bodies, which all differ from one another; the constant supply of animal spirits; the continuance of the vital heat, which outlasts fire itself; the slender threads and small fibres spread throughout the body, which hold and perform their office seventy or eighty years running: all which, when considered, will oblige us to say, with the inspired Psalmist, I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well: and will lead us to ascribe this curious piece of workmanship to no other than to the divine Being, the God of all flesh living.

But the soul of man, the more noble part of him, more fully discovers the original author of him; being possessed of such powers and faculties that none but God could give: it is endowed with an understanding, capable of receiving and framing ideas of all things knowable, in matters natural, civil, and religious; and with reason, to put these together, and compare them with each other, and discourse concerning them; infer one thing from another, and draw conclusions from them: and with judgment, by which it passes sentence on things it takes cognizance of, and reasons upon; and determines for itself what is right or wrong; and so either approves or disapproves: it has a mind susceptive of what is proposed unto it; it can, by instruction or study, learn any language; cultivate any art and science; and, with the help of some geographical principles, can travel over the globe, can be here and there at pleasure, in the four parts of the world; and in a short time, visit every city of note therein, and describe the situation of every country, with their religion, manners, customs, &c. it can reflect on things past, and has a foresight of, and can forecast and provide for things to come: it has a will, to accept or reject, to embrace or refuse, what is proposed unto it; with the greatest freedom of choice, and with the most absolute power and sovereignty: It has affections, of love and hatred, joy and grief, hope and fear, &c. according to the different objects it is conversant with. There is also the conscience, which is to a man as a thousand witnesses, for him or against him; which, if it performs its office as it should do, will accuse him when

*See an excellent treatise of Dr. Nieuwentyt, called, The Religious Philosopher; in which the Being and Perfections of God are demonstrated from the works of creation, in a very great variety of instances. So Plato proves the Being of God from the sou¡ of man, de Legibus, p. 998.

be does ill, and commend, or excuse him, when he does well; and from hence arise either peace of mind, or dread of punishment, in some shape or another, either here or hereafter: To which may be added, the memory, which is a storehouse of collections of things thought to be most valuable and useful; where they are laid up, not in a confused, but orderly manner; so as to be called for and taken out upon occasion: here men of every character and profession lay up their several stores, to have recourse unto, and fetch out, as their case and circumstances may require. And besides this, there is the fancy or imagination, which can paint and describe to itself, in a lively manner, objects presented to it, and it has entertained a conception of; yea, it can fancy and imagine things that never were, nor never will be: and, to observe no more, there is the power of invention; which in some is more, in others less fertile; which, on a sudden, supplies with what is useful in case of an emergency. But above all, the soul of man is that wherein chiefly lay the image and likeness of God, when man was in his pure and innocent state; and though it is now sadly depraved by sin, yet it is capable of being renewed by the spirit of God, and of having the grace of God implanted in it, and is endowed with immortality, and cannot die: now to whom can such a noble and excellent creature as this owe its original, but to the divine Being, who may, with great propriety be called, the Father of spirits, the Lord, the Jehovah, who formeth the spirit of man within him.

The fourth argument will be taken from the sustentation and government of the world; the provision made for the supply of creatures, and especially of man, and for his safety. As the world, as we have seen, is made by a divine Being, so by him it consists. Was there not such an almighty Being, "who upholds all things by the word of his power," they would sink and fall. Did he not bear up the pillars of the earth, they would tremble and shake, and not be able to bear its weight: the most stately, firm, and well-built palace, unless repaired and maintained, will fall to decay and ruin; and so the grand and magnificent building of this world, would soon be dissolved, did not the divine agent that made it, keep it up: as he that built all things is God, so he that supports the fabric of the universe must be so too; no less than an almighty hand can preserve and continue it; and which has done it, without any visible appearance of age or decay, for almost six thousand years; and though there is such a vast number of creatures in the world, besides men, the beasts of the field, and " the cattle on a thousand hills," the fowls of the air, and the fishes of the sea; there is food provided for them all, and they have" every one their portion of meat in due season:" and as for man, he is richly provided for, with a plenty and variety of all good things; not only for necessity, but for delight; every man has a trade, business, and employment of life; or is put into such a situation and circumstances, that, with care, diligence, and industry, he may have enough for himself and family, and to spare: the earth produces a variety of things for food and drink for him; and of others for medicine, for the continuance of health, and restoration cf it. And can all this be without the care, providence, and interposition of a wise and almighty Being?