creatures into existence, and could, if it had pleased him, have called them into instant perfection, should see fit, first, instantaneously to call matter into shapeless existence, and then to spend six days in gradually reducing it to beauty and order! But thus are we taught to adore the sovereignty of God, who does what, and when, and how he pleases; thus are we led more distinctly to contemplate the wisdom, power, and goodness manifested in the works of creation: herein also has the great Creator condescended himself to give us an example of diligence and activity through the six days of labour, as well as of holy rejoicing on the Sabbath of rest.

How transcendently sublime is the passage, " And God said, Let there be light, and there was light.” These few simple monosyllables give us a more grand and overwhelming idea of the power and majesty of the great Creator, than volumes of laboured description. It is a delightful character under which the blessed God is spoken of in the New Testament; as "the Father of lights, the giver of every good and perfect gift," James i. 17. How truly encouraging to those who feel the darkness and blindness of their minds by nature, and earnestly desire His enlightening influences! How truly happy are those persons who have good ground for saying with St. Paul, 2 Cor. iv. 6. "God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined into our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ!"

The order of creating arrangement demands our notice. 66 'Light" was the creation of the first day; the formation of the sun, moon, and stars, which to us are the sources of light, was the work of the fourth day. Infidels have scoffed at the idea of the formation of light before the sun; and weak Christians have sometimes been confounded and stumbled for want of an answer to their cavils. But every advance in astronomical science (as of genuine philosophy in general) has been found to harmonize more and more with the Mosaic account of the creation. For many ages, the sun was supposed to be a ball of fire, the actual source of light and heat; but the most eminent modern philosophers think it more probable that the sun is of itself an opaque body, and surrounded with an immense atmosphere of light. On this supposition all is harmonious; the light, created on the first day, might on the fourth day be collected round the sun, and fit him for his appointed station, as the great luminary of our system. Observe again; on the second day was spread out the spacious firmament on high;' on the third, the dry land and seas were separated, and the earth caused to bring forth grass, herbs, and fruits; the fourth gave being to the luminaries of heaven; and the fifth and sixth were devoted to the production of creatures endued with animal life; from the reptile, through the various classes of fowl, fish, and beast of variɔus name, up to man the lord of this lower creation.

Thus the creation of the living creatures was de

ferred until their destined habitation was formed, furnished, fructified, and illuminated for their reception. But the fruits and herbage, which are in the ordinary course of nature reckoned among "the precious things brought forth by the sun and the moon," Deut. xxxiii. 14. were originally brought forth before the sun or moon existed: thus are we taught (as in numberless instances) that God is a sovereign, and as he sees fit, either acts by ordinary means and established order, or shews himself not confined to them.

Every thing that God created, was perfect in its kind. Every blade of grass displays the most exquisite contrivance; every creature is exactly fitted to the sphere it was designed to fill; food suited to its nature is placed within its reach; and each is furnished with means of defence against its enemies. How strikingly are the wisdom and goodness of the Creator displayed, in the green carpet of earth, and in the blue canopy of heaven, colours most grateful and beneficial to the eye;-in the freshness of rivers, and the saltness of seas;-in the interchange of day and night for labour and for rest;-in the ripening of cooling fruits at a season which renders them most desirable and wholesome; and in ten thousand other instances.

"All things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." In the works of man, we see continual progression, and at least continual attempts at improvement. Each individual artificer

becomes more skilful and expert by experience and observation; and every succeeding age gives birth to new inventions, and improves those of its predecessors. But in the works of God there are no omissions, no after-thoughts, no improvements. After almost six thousand years of trial, it has never yet entered into the heart of man to imagine how any of the works of creation could have been better formed, better situated, or better adapted to their end and design.

The works of art strike most at first sight, but by a continued observation they weary, and on a close inspection they lose their beauty and discover many imperfections. It is quite otherwise with the works of God. Examined through a microscope, the finest and most costly lace appears coarse and unsightly; but seen through the same medium, the commonest object in nature strikes us with admiration. A seared leaf, for instance, discovers the most delicate texture. The foot of a fly (on being magnified to one hundred times its real size) displays a contrivance in its structure which enables it to act as a sucker on the bodies over which it passes, even the most polished surfaces, and thus it is that the insect is able, with equal ease to take its way along the floor, the walls, or the ceiling, or the windows of our habitations; a fact which fails to strike us with surprise and admiration, only because it is so common. A microscope of much inferior powers to those required for discovering this mechanism in the

foot of a fly, will serve to display to us the humble brown dusty moth, as clothed in a garment of the richest velvet, and the gayest and most exquisitely coloured plumage. Such instances are here pointed out, in the hope of leading young persons to examine and admire the ten thousand works of wonder by which they are surrounded, and to adore the creating skill and power displayed in them. "O Lord, how manifold are thy works; in wisdom hast thou made them all,” Ps. civ. 24.

§ 2. Of the Creation of Man, and his Situation in

Paradise.

GEN. i. 26-29. and ii. 7, 15-25.

The creation of man demands especial notice: Of other creatures, the Deity is simply represented as saying, "Let them be, and they were," but when man was to be created, a council was called; "And God said, let us make man, in our image, after our likeness." But with whom was this council held? with angels? oh no, there is no angel to whom God giveth account of his matters, neither was man made in the image of angels. The passage represents a council between the sacred Three, to each of whom, and to whom alone, the work of creation is elsewhere ascribed, in whose image man was created. What an especial honour and dignity was thus put upon man in his state of innocence!

We have a more particular account of theformation