ence, the thing itself is actually an image, under a different form, of something that is in man and man himself was produced to satisfy the divine love of God-thus for the sake of God, that there might be a being in the world capable of receiving, in a conscious manner, gifts from God, and of returning them to Him in love and adoration: and God himself thus being to man both the proximate and First Cause of his existence, man must be, in a certain manner, an image of God; and the most immediately so of any thing that the world contains. We accordingly are assured by divine Revelation, that man was created in the image and likeness of God. And if man, altogether, is in a certain manner, an image of God, it follows evidently, that every particular thing which exists in man, (so far as he stands in the order of his creation,) is an image of something that exists in God and, indeed, every thing in him which is not in the order of his creation, but which he has introduced by the abuse of his faculties, still has reference to something that exists in God, though not as an image, but as an opposite. In short, as God is the Origin and First Cause of all things, it is evident, that nothing whatever can exist which has not some sort of reference to something that is in Him; which reference is nearer or more remote, in proportion as the sphere in which it stands is nearer to the divine centre or to the extreme circumference of the universe. Thus things natural and material bear a secet relation to things moral and spiritual, and these again to things divine.

1. This will be seen yet more evidently when it is considered, that the proper mode of viewing the creation, is, to regard it as an Outbirth from the Deity ;—as a production essentially distinct from the Producing Cause, but necessarily bearing, through all its parts, to that Infinite Cause, and to the infinite essential properties and attributes existing in that Cause, a constant and immutable relation.

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Among the objects of the visible creation, man, the acknowledged image of his Maker, stands in the highest degree of this relation, and the inert substances of the mineral kingdom in the lowest. This truth is not invalidated by the fact, that the latter came first into existence. It must unquestionably be true, that, in the creation of the world, the globe of earth and water, or the unorganised parts of its composition, though lowest in rank, must have been the first that were formed: but why? because their uses were indispensable to the higher orders of existence, to afford them nutriment and a basis. Then, doubtless, the vegetable kingdom succeeded, because, without both these, animals could not exist. Thus the higher orders of creatures must have appeared by degrees, and last of all man himself; as he could not begin to exist till everything necessary for his use was provided. Still it was for the sake of man that all inferior things were produced: man was in the divine mind through the whole process thus everything produced was an image of something that was to exist in him, and the spiritual and moral essences of all inferior things were concentrated in him; as he himself was to be an image of the Creator, in whom alone exist, in their first principles and divine essences, all the powers, faculties, and virtues, which were to exist derivatively in man. In fact, the Deity, in the work of creation, cannot be considered as operating at random, producing things which have not in himself their divine prototypes or grounds of being. To produce such things, the Creator must step out of Himself, which is impossible. As the tabernacle with everything in it, which Moses was instructed to make, was to be made after the pattern or antitype shewn to him in the mount,* or was to be au outward type of such things as exist in heaven; so, no doubt, when God created heaven and earth with their inhabitants, he formed every thing after the image of divine prototypes

* Exod. xxv. 40, xxvi. 30.

existing in himself;-after the pattern of the ineffable attributes and perfections which exist only in his own divine essence. Thus the whole universe, instead of being, as it is sometimes inconsiderately regarded, a production of mere caprice, little better than the offspring of blind chance, was unquestionably, what may most expressively be called, an Outbirth of the Deity and if so, it must bear, in all its parts, an immutable relation to the attributes or essential properties, which belong to the nature of that Omnipotent Being.

2. If then the whole Universe is thus an Outbirth from the Deity, and hence bears, in all its parts, an immutable relation to Him who gave it birth; this relation must be more immediately perceptible in the spiritual part of the creation. If, on all things that exist, the Divine Creator has stamped, in some mode or other, a certain image of himself, more especially must all things belonging to the moral, intellectual, and spiritual worlds, be marked with that image. We will endeavour to make this plain, by considering the two most important particulars in which the divine image is stamped on man-the head of the visible creation for extensive as this subject is in itself, it happily can be reduced to a few general principles; and when these are distinctly seen, the immense multitude of particulars into which it diverges will create no confusion.

That there are two general principles to which all the infinities which compose the divine nature have reference, and to which, in like manner, all that man possesses by derivation and gift from his Maker have some relation, would be evident to any one who should deeply examine the subject this, also, is pointed out by numerous passages of Scripture. Thus in the account of the origin of the human race, in the first chapter of Genesis, it is observable, that two terms are employed to describe the relation which man bears to God. It is not only said that man was pro

posed to be created in the image of God, but also in his likeness; evidently implying, unless we charged the sacred text with unmeaning tautology, that there are two general things in which man was designed to resemble his Maker. "God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. What are we to suppose is intended by the divine Word, when it manifestly points to two distinct things in which man was created a resemblance of his Creator? What can be intended, but an allusion to the same truth as philosophy also brings us acquainted with ;—that man is formed with distinct faculties, designed for the reception of the two leading attributes which pre-eminently characterize the Divine Nature?

It is generally acknowledged, that the two leading attributes in the nature of the Deity, are Infinite Love and Infinite Wisdom, or, what amounts to the same, Infinite Goodness and Infinite Truth,-for what is Love, essentially, but Benevolence, and what is Benevolence but Goodness?—so, what is Wisdom but the possession and judicious application of Truth? That these are the two attributes which give the essential character to the divine nature, is so clear a truth, that it cannot be necessary to offer any proof of it; otherwise arguments in confirmation of it might easily be drawn, both from the whole field of creation and the whole Word of God. If the Lord had not been essential Love, there could never have been any creation, since, otherwise, there could have been no motive capable of calling his creative energy into action. The Apostle accordingly tells us, in the plainest language, that, "God is love :" and the Lord Jesus Christ, by a most beautiful periphrasis, affirms the same truth, when he says, "Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again: and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest; for he is kind

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unto the unthankful and to the evil : be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful :"*-than which, there cannot be a more decisive assertion of the unbounded benevolence of the Divine Nature.

But Love alone, though the prime mover of all things, is not sufficient for the production of a universe. By itself, it can do nothing. It wills, intends, and prompts: but before it can arrive at the ends it proposes, it must seek for means in another principle and no principle is capable of supplying such means, but Wisdom. Divine Wisdom or Divine Truth, is what is specifically called in Scripture, "the Word," taking that name from the instrument of its enunciation and of this it is said, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.-All things were made by him [or it ;] and without him [or it] was not anything made ;"t-plainly teaching, that what is here called "the Word," which is easily seen to be the Divine Wisdom or Truth, is the immediate agent by which Divine Love acts in the production of all things.

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It will then, I trust, be readily admitted, that Infinite Love and Wisdom, in union, are the two most essential attributes of the Divine Nature. There are others, indeed, such as Omnipotence and Omnipresence, which, in one respect, are equally essential, since, without them, God would be a limited Being: yet even into these, the former enter, and give them their peculiar quality. Thus the Divine Omnipotence, we may be certain, can never be exerted for any other object, than to give effect to the designs of Divine Love and Wisdom; and thus the Divine Love and Wisdom are, in fact, the essence of the Divine Omnipo

Luke vi. 35, 36.

+ John i. 1, 3. I have added the words [or it,] bocause if the Divine Truth be considered as a distinct attribute or essential property of the Being in whom it is, it must be considered, in English, as of the neuter gender. The original admits equally of either mode of translation.