The perpetual changes that take place in the material world; the production, dissolution, and re-production, of animal and vegetable life, demonstrate that Eternity does not necessarily belong to them; and that the ascription of this attribute to them is arbitrary and conjectural. If they be not eternal, from a necessity of nature, they must have a cause prior to themselves. Notwithstanding the most extended concatination that may exist in the series of productions, effects succeeding to their causes through incalculable ages, yet the mind must ultimately repose itself in a first Cause; who, being uncaused, must exist from eternity. If matter have no apparent Claim to existence from eternity, of which there is not one vestige in its nature, and if it could not create itself, it must have received its existence from a Being, whose nature is different and superior.

To a Being who exists, distinct from and superior to matter, we ascribe the attribute of Spirituality.

All material forms depend upon the arrangement of their parts, and the dissolution of these

forms proceeds from the dissolution of their parts; the Being, therefore, who is superior to matter, not consisting of parts, must possess a nature free from dissolution. No supposable change can alter his mode of existence, or dissolve his being therefore, no law of his nature can prevent his being eternally as he is.

By ascribing the works of creation to this uncaused Being, we acknowledge that he possesses power equal to the production; the marks of design stamped upon the works of creation, indicate that this powerful Agent is not an unmeaning, unintelligent Agent, but that he must possess wisdom and knowledge, equal to the undertaking.

This intelligent Cause, not being subjected to any of the laws of that matter which he himself created; nor to any superior power, for all power is an emanation from him; and not being necessitated to exist in one part of boundless space, more than in another, there can be no natural impediment to his omnipresence. If creation imply the operative presence of the creator, and if created beings exist through the

infinitude of space, his presence must be universal.

His knowledge accompanying all his works, and these being infinite, he must be omniscient.

When we contemplate the wonderful adaptation of various parts of the system to each other, and the harmonious result which characterizes the whole, our minds are deeply impressed with the marks of wisdom and active intelligence, inscribed upon every part, which fully manifest an unity in the whole. The more extensive our knowledge is of the productions in nature, the more extensive does his Wisdom appear; and if we have reason to conclude, that these are infinite, we must infer that his wisdom is infinite also.

In like manner, wherever we remark that the exertions of power, and the execution of plans, indicate some useful purpose, we form conceptions of that wisdom which not merely indicates skill, but which manifests Goodness. We conclude that the Being who forms purposes of good, must possess a goodness of character. The more these purposes are displayed in the diversities of

creation, and in its established laws, the more conspicuous is the union of benignity with wisdom, in the productions of an intelligent agent.

Not being in subjection to his own productions, being superior to all foreign opposition, and his wisdom invariably discerning what is best, the Will of this intelligent cause must be wise, immutable, and above controul.

Being incapable of deceiving or of injuring the meanest or the most exalted of his creatures; having a right, by the law of creation, to obedience to every duty enjoined upon his intelligent creatures; knowing the full extent of their powers, and viewing them with the eye of a benevolent source of their existence, he cannot be unjust, either in his requisitions or his punish

ments.

Not deriving his perfections from any one; knowing, without possibility of mistake, in what perfection consists, and possessing wisdom to give it the preference to the contrary, his perfections must be as boundless and uninterrupted,

as his knowledge, his wisdom, and his will. Thus as no interposition of matter can circumscribe his existence; as no part of space can refuse his presence; as no intellectual defect can obscure his knowledge; as no power can resist the source of all power; as no will can controul his, who gave to every being the power to will; as he must prefer perfection to imperfection, as decidedly as he discerns the distinctions; the necessary result is, that this great first Cause must possess every possible perfection.

As to enjoy existence is the incessant desire of every created being; for it is this enjoyment alone which renders existence a blessing; as he himself has implanted these desires in all sensitive and conscious beings, and has pointed out to intelligent beings the way to procure it; this Being must know in what happiness consists; he must know its indispensable value, and he must enjoy it to an extent as unbounded as his own perfections.

These attributes and perfections prove to us the unity of the divine nature. The supposition of two or more eternal, self-existent, neces