odious and deformed is it most justly accounted! How false; how malicious; how cruel; how base; how detestable! Let it be remembered, that all opposition to God, is, in nature and substance, the same; and that it differs not in kind, but merely in degree.

III. In how many respects do wicked men resemble wicked An gels!

Like them, do wicked men exalt themselves against God, hate his government, oppose his designs, and revile his character; inflate themselves with pride; murmur at their own allotments; covet the enjoyments of others; corrupt their fellow-creatures; tempt them to iniquity; and defraud them of endless life. Like them, do they hate, envy, injure, calumniate, and destroy. How much of the history of this great world has resembled a history of fiends! How much of it has been a history of falsehood, fraud, treachery, pollution, slanders, contentions, murders, oppression, slaughter, irreligion, impiety, profaneness, and blasphemy! How readily have evil men, like evil angels, undertaken to rival God; and demanded the homage, worship, and obedience, due to him alone!

How laboriously do Infidel writers, even now, oppose their Maker, and their Redeemer; and strive to shut both their fellowmen and themselves out of heaven! Particularly, with what frequency, and constancy, do they repeat the very falsehood, which was first told to the parents of mankind: Although ye disobey God, ye shall not surely die. How continually do wicked men, by argument, ridicule, eloquence, and example, tempt each other to sin against God! How great a part of their life and labours do multitudes spend in this employment! Where can we find a moral distinction between this conduct, and that of fallen Angels?

IV. The same punishment, which is reserved for evil Angels, is accordingly reserved for evil men.

This punishment was prepared, at first, for the Devil and his Angels. But Christ, the final Judge of the quick and the dead, has informed us, that impenitent men shall, at the great day, stand with them on the left hand; be included in the same sentence; and depart to the same place of torment. Both will have been embarked in one cause; will have sustained one character; and will, therefore, share in one allotment of wo. Perhaps there is not a more affecting, more overwhelming consideration to a serious mind, than this: that evil men will hereafter be confined in the same habitation with these hateful beings; who are possessed of a disposition to do every thing, which is injurious to God, and their fellow-creatures, and to perpetrate all the crimes dictated by malice, cruelty, deceit and revenge. To be imprisoned in this world with a collection of abandoned villains; to be hated and despised, deceived and betrayed, oppressed and insulted, wounded to the soul with unceasing cruelty and treachery, and broken down by scorn and in

solence, even for our present momentary life; would, I think, be a lot sufficiently dreadful to lacerate the soul with agony. What then must be the nature and misery of a confinement with these powerful, active, sagacious beings; whose minds are all malice, fraud, and cruelty; and whose endless being is only a succession of rage, revenge, and despair!

SERMON XXI.

CREATION. THE EARTH.

GENESIS i. 1.—In the beginning God created the Heaven and the earth.

IN the four preceding sermons, I have briefly considered the several things, intended in the Jewish use of the word Heaven; and made some observations concerning the character and circumstances of those beings, who either are, or have been, Inhabitants of the Supreme Heaven. The next subject of examination in our progress, is the World, which we inhabit.

In the history, given by Moses of this great work, we are informed,

In the first place, that, together with the rest of the material system, it was made of nothing; or, in other words, the materials were brought into existence, of which the world was afterwards composed. That we might be at no loss concerning this truth, Moses has taught it distinctly in Genesis ii. 3; where he informs us, that God rested from all his works, which he created, and made; or, as in the original, created, to make. Of the energy, by which this mighty effort was accomplished, the Psalmist gives us a most sublime conception, when he says, concerning the Creator, that He spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast. These materials, after they were first brought into being, were, originally, a mere mass of confusion, in the language of the Divine Writer, without form, and void; and are styled, successively, the earth, the waters, and the deep.

Secondly. The first element, separated from the Chaos, was light; the most wonderful, and the most useful, of all material objects. At this time, it seems not to have been gathered into any common receptacle; as, according to the received philosophy, it is at the present time; but to have been diffused extensively through the universe. It is possible, that this may now be its real state; and that the sun, and stars, instead of being in themselves luminous, may merely possess the power of originating its motion, and direction. That period of darkness, which intervened between the creation of the Chaos, and the production of light; and that period of light, which preceded the next return of darkness, constituted the first day. In reference to this event, the Israelites were commanded to celebrate their Sabbath from evening to evening: this being the true course of a natural day.

Thirdly. The next event in this great work was the constitution of the Firmament, and a division of the chaotic mass into two great VOL. I.

42

parts, one beneath and one above the Firmament. This was the work of the second day.

Fourthly. This was followed by the separation of the land from the waters; the land being named Earth; and the great collections of water, Seas.

To this, immediately succeeded the creation of grass and herbs, of shrubs and trees. These were all formed with the power of reproduction, and of continuing their respective kinds in this manner to the end of the world. By a wonderful process of vegetation, they were enabled to yield, each its own proper seed: a minute particle, which being committed to the earth, a plant of the same nature and properties regularly springs up, and gradually advances to its perfection. Thus vegetables have existed in every age, of the same kinds, which were formed on the third day of the Creation; and have ever constituted much of the food of both men and animals, and not a little part of the pleasures, enjoyed by both. With the creation of these, terminated the third day.

Fifthly. On the fourth day were created the lights of heaven, particularly the sun and moon.

As I have heretofore considered these, in the discourse on the Heavens; it will be unnecessary to repeat here what I have so lately said. I shall, therefore, confine myself to a few additional observations.

These luminaries were set in the firmament of heaven, to divide the day from the night; and to be for signs and for seasons, for days and for years. Accordingly, they have been the great means of distributing time, from the beginning, into all its important divisions; enabling us to form the chronology of the world, to ascertain the order and connexion of all historical events, and to regulate, by correct dates, our various useful business.

The Sun, at the same time, is the great fountain of light to this world, and to all those, which are united in our system; and thus enables the inhabitants to pursue successfully their necessary employments. It is the Parent, also, of that universal vegetation, with which the earth is so beautifully adorned, and on which, we are so obviously dependent for the existence of health, comfort, and life. Not less absolutely, and still more immediately, is our life, together with our activity, dependent on the presence, warmth, and energy, of this fountain of light. In a word, whatever lives and moves, lives and moves by the influence of the sun; and without his presence, eternal night, and eternal winter, would reign with boundless desolation over this habitable globe.

The moon, also, is inestimably useful to mankind in the beautiful light which she gives by night, in the important changes, which she accomplishes in the ocean, and the atmosphere; and in becoming, in connexion with the other luminaries of heaven, the source of a great part of our skill in Navigation, and our knowledge of Geography, and Astronomy.

Sixthly. When the earth was thus prepared to be a habitation of living beings; God said, on the morning of the fifth day, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life; and fowl, that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. Immediately the ocean, and the air, were filled with their respective inhabitants. The innumerable useful and delightful purposes, which they were destined to accomplish, and which accordingly they have accomplished to the present time, it will be unnecessary to particularize on the present occasion.

Seventhly. On the sixth, and last, day of the creation, the Earth was replenished with the four-footed beasts, and creeping things, by which it has been ever since inhabited. These, also, so useful to man, and so indispensable to his comfortable existence, are so well known, as not to demand any account of their nature or destination, from me.

Eighthly. All these works of the Divine hand were severally pronounced by their great Author to be very good. Such indeed was the original nature of them all. This world was formed to be a delightful residence. Its surface was beautiful; its soil fertile without decay; its seasons vernal; its atmosphere, waters, and productions, pregnant with life; and all its inhabitants, pacific, useful, and happy. In the country of Eden, the Lord God planted also a garden, to become the appropriate residence of the first man, and here he made to grow every tree, that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food. This Paradise, was the beautiful Metropolis of a beautiful world.

REMARKS.

From these observations, we learn,

1st. How mighty and majestic a work was the creation of this world!

The Earth is a vast and solid globe, composed of particles, so small as to be imperceptible to us, united by the energy which called them into being, and holden together by the same energy in a manner wholly incomprehensible. This globe is hung upon nothing; and moved through the fields of Ether with amazing velocity, and yet with infinite ease, by the hand of its Creator. Too great to be moved at all, perhaps, by all created Intelligences, it has yet for many thousand years been rolled on with perfect ease by Him, who fainteth not, neither is weary. It has also moved always in its own place, and in perfect harmony with other worlds. Its motion, at the same time, is so regular and undisturbed, as to be imperceptible to its inhabitants; and yet so rapid, as to outrun every human conception.

In a manner not less wonderful, it turns its face continually to the sun; and derives light, and warmth, and energy, for the comfort of its inhabitants, the production of its fruits, and the accomplishment of the business, allotted to the race of man.