Consider first, what power was requisite not not only for the formation, but for the original production, the creation of the materials, from which the universe was formed! The power, which modelled the worlds, which upholds them, and regulates their motions, can be limited by no impediment: for, if every particular wonder must have an adequate cause to account for it, the combination of all, being infinite, demands an infinite cause. The creation of a grain of sand, however, is a work, that calls for omnipotence; and the universe itself requires no more. We ascribe therefore to this first cause infinite power.

For in the

His wisdom also is unlimited. first place, his knowledge must be as universal as his presence is. He, who formed, must likewise know all things. He must know every thing, which passes in the worlds, which he made, every thought, that rises in the minds, which he created. Past, present, and future must appear all alike before him, and the night be as clear as the day. But, to constitute perfect wisdom, something more than knowledge is requisite. That indeed is indis

pensable. But there must also be such an application of knowledge as will lead without failure to the accomplishment of beneficial purposes. Now this proof of wisdom is every where impressed upon the face of nature, and appears most strikingly exemplified in the concurrent bounty and frugality, with which all her operations are conducted. The waste of animals is the support of plants; the destruction of one part of nature is the material, from which another derives food and subsistence; and the whole machine is so nicely hung together, that, while each part of it is continually changing, the whole remains from age to age, unaltered and unalterable, except by his will, who, having made, can alter all things. The whole universe is kept most exactly balanced. The planets revolve round the sun; the sun itself takes its single and subordinate station amidst the starry system; the whole system moves in one mazy dance together without disorder and without confusion, while infinite space is too little to comprehend the harmonious variety, which adorns it. Can the conception, the creation, the maintenance of this

order in all its vastness and beauty be attributed to wisdom, less than infinite?

Nor, while we are tracing the proofs of wisdom, which the volume of nature spreads before us, ought we to overlook those marks of goodness, which are interspersed in the same page with them. What purpose is all this assemblage of magnificence designed to answer, but the happiness of innumerable creatures, who all owe their lives and capacities to the same almighty being, who has also satisfied those capacities with objects, properly formed to suit them? Earth, air, and water are all filled in every part with living beings, who have each their peculiar modes of pleasure; and, while we see, that

this dim spot,

Which men call Earth,

teems with such variety of enjoyment, can we doubt, that other parts of creation must bear their equal proportion of happiness and what an universe of enjoyment does this thought disclose to us!

Even in our own frame we may read such a profusion of blessings, as can flow only from

infinite goodness. The author of our being has provided us with senses, which are quite sufficient to guide us, had that been his only object, for the mere purposes of our existence, without any other aid. But his bounty was not so satisfied. He has mercifully superadded the sensation of pleasure to each, insomuch, that we can never see or hear or smell or taste or touch any object, which is adapted to the natural conformation of the respective organs of those senses, without receiving pleasure. To see a beautiful form is not only a sight, but a pleasure. To hear a beautiful sound, is not only hearing, but pleasure. The same also may be said of inhaling a fragrant scent, or tasting good food; and many of our pleasures arise likewise in the same manner from feeling. Surely the superaddition of pleasure to our other sensations is a sufficient evidence of the benevolence of the Deity; a proof, that, when he destined us to exist, he designed us to be happy also.

We ascribe therefore to the supreme author of the universe the three qualities of power, wisdom, and goodness: and, if he possess

them at all, he must possess them infinitely, because there is by the very necessity of the case no superior power to limit his perfections. Moreover, there can be but one such being: for, were there more than one, either a diversity would appear in their works, or at least the uniformity, which we actually behold, instead of being explained, would be rendered still more inexplicable than before. Were there two Gods, either one of them must be necessary to the existence of the other, in which case that one God would be the being, for whose existence we contend, or else both must be necessary to each other; and then still from the necessity of the thing and the force of all the foregoing arguments there must be some higher being, equally necessary to both, who alone is himself the true God. But yet further, when we come strictly to weigh in our minds the idea, which we have, of two gods, what is it, that we weigh, but the idea of two first causes, two eternal beings, two self-existent, omnipresent, almighty beings, two creators and governors of the universe, both invested with the same unlimited attri