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figures. Matter, therefore, could not exist and yet be incapable of such figures. For then it should both be and not be at the same time; since no substance can exist without its essential properties.

(2.) He is a Being of infinite wisdom.a

The wisdom or knowledge of God has been divided into three kinds, according to its various objects. First, the knowledge of simple intelligence or apprehension, whereby he sees all the possibilities of things, previous to any determination in favour of one more than another. The second, called the knowledge of vision, whereby he knows all things that have been in time past, all that now are, and all that shall be hereafter. This knowledge arises from his decrees with respect to the existence of these things. The third, called middle knowledge, whereby he sees with certainty in what way free agents will choose to act, in all the contingencies in which they may be placed. Such wisdom as is here supposed, is necessary to the creation and preservation of the world, and is infinite in its extent; since there is no circumstance to which it does not reach.

a See Sherlock on Providence, c. 8. and Scott's Christian Life, Part 2. v. 2. p. 242.

b See Turretin's Inst. Theol. L. 3. Q. 13.

The existence of a middle knowledge in God, has been denied by some writers. Their arguments shall be considered hereafter.

(3.) He is a Being of infinite goodness.

The goodness of God abstractedly considered, is a tendency to communicate the divine perfections to all created beings, according to their several capacities. And since he has made rational creatures capable of certain degrees of happiness and purity, the perfection of which he himself possesses, his goodness is accordingly exerted in a twofold manner. The primary act of it consists in proposing to them, means calculated to exalt them to the rank he has enabled them to attain; in exciting them to the proper use of those means, and aiding their sincere endeavours. The secondary act of his goodness is subordinate to the former, and consists in accepting their exertions and continuing to assist them, as long as any possibility remains of their final success. Thus, his first aim is to make us, like himself, good and happy, for which purpose he adopts such means as are calculated to effect it.

Lastly, we proposed to consider the works of God. For this purpose we shall observe,

1. He is the Maker of all things, both visible and invisible.

This is evident from their original.

We have seen the absurdity of supposing the world to have existed from eternity. It must, therefore, have been made in time by the supreme

first cause. This proof, too, is not confined to the natural world, since it has been shown that eternal succession is quite as inconsistent with spiritual as with material substances. God, therefore, is the Maker of all things both visible and invisible.a

Analogous to God's power of creation out of nothing, is his power of annihilating that which already has existed. This power, however, has been modified by others, who have supposed that all things have a natural tendency to decay, and would fall back into nothing, unless upheld by his providence. But according to this opinion, the preservation of the world should be an act of constant violation to nature. Besides, it is inconceiveable how any thing should have an inclination towards that which is essentially opposite to, and destructive of, it."

a

Bishop Burnet derives another argument in proof of this, from the preceding inference; that God is of infinite power, which, therefore, supposes that of creation. But the reader will find that he establishes God's omnipotence, by the fact of his having made the world. I have, therefore, omitted this argument, to avoid a fallacy which logicians call a circle.

b The objections are, to my mind, far from convincing. A tendency to self-preservation is nothing but animal instinct. If, therefore, according to Bishop Burnet's idea, this tendency be implanted in material things, they thence become living beings. Besides, when it is said that all things have a tendency to decay, it is not meant that such a tendency or inclination is implanted in them as an active living principle. It is rather a negative than a positive quality. It is the absence of a power of self-preservation, and surely

2. God is the preserver of all things, visible and

invisible.a

For, we find in our minds a power to alter the course of the material world. Notwithstanding this power, the latter still acts by general laws, which have never been changed. This can only be effected by the providence of God, which restrains the one and preserves the other.

It is evident we perceive in ourselves a freedom of acting, and a power, by the exertion of our wills, of so employing the engines that may be invented, as to alter considerably the appearance of the earth, from the state in which it would remain, if it were left unwrought. Thus, in the lapse of time, the surface of the earth would become a perfect forest; this, its cultivation by man prevents. In like manner, the working of mines and fossils, produces great alterations;

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God cannot be said to act in violation of nature, when he only supplies this impotency, without annulling any existing quality. For my own part, I prefer Scott's reasoning on the subject: "Preexisting matter is the basis of our works, for in order to them, "we require not only the act by which we mould matter, but the "matter itself. When, therefore, that basis is withdrawn, our "work ceases with it. But in respect of God's works, no such pre-existing matter is necessary. The act of his power alone is "the foundation on which they rest, for he made them out of nothing. "If, therefore, that act of his power be withdrawn, his works must "fall back into annihilation."-See Scott's Christian Life, Part. 2. v. 1. c. iv. sec. 1.

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the air being thereby purified from the damps which lay concealed in those recesses, and which is thus suffered to escape. Thus, then, considerable changes are made in the natural course of things, which would never have been produced were not the earth peopled by beings of a spiritual and rational mind. Notwithstanding these changes, however, the universe still moves by general appointed laws, which it never violates. This regularity can only be accounted for by admitting a providence which maintains the material world in its present motions, and at the same time restrains that power of the human mind within certain limits. In the former case, this providence acts in the preservation of the visible world, and in the latter, it secures the preservation of the invisible or spiritual world.

Some difficulties have been stated in the doctrine of God's preservation of the world, which it may be necessary to consider.

(1.) That we cannot conceive how the Supreme mind can have all things under its view at once.

This difficulty arises from men applying their limited capacities as the standard by which to measure infinite perfection. Even in ourselves, it is matter of wonder, how we get so great a variety of ideas by one organ, the eye; and how we are enabled by it to form accurate notions of the distances of objects, by the angles they make with each other. The immense assemblage of

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