FIRST DAY.-MORNING.

The doctrine of creation, in the proper sense of the term, depends upon the testimony of inspiration for its proof. Evidences of design so

the earth, Gen. i. 1.

THE work of creation, implying the production of all things out of nothing, constitutes an amazing operation of the power of God. And as the universe arose at his command, its continued duration is absolutely dependent upon his will. Nothing in heaven or on earth is independent or self-existent; for this constitutes the incommunicable excellence of him who alone hath immortality, who dwelleth in light which is inaccessible to mortal eye, and full of glory. As to man he is of yesterday, and knows nothing. Tracing back the annals of time, we arrive at no very extended era at the foundation of the proudest monarchies, and the most venerated institutions. Within a circle, somewhat more enlarged, we embrace the origin of the globe itself, and of the surrounding heavens; when the sun began to roll his earliest circuit, and the moon to measure forth her appointed revolutions. Beyond this, and within a range, however, comparatively great, still finite, we reach the era when the angelic hosts were called into existence. But the years of the right hand of the Most High who can number? He inhabiteth eternity and its praises. Uncreated, unlimited, and independent, as there shall never arrive a period in the exhaustless flow of the cycles of futurity when he shall cease to be; neither was there ever a period, in all the remote tracts of past duration, when he began to exist.

'I am the First, and I the Last;
Time centres all in me;

Th' Almighty God, who was, and is,
And evermore shall be.'

ments of the universe, unquestionably proclaim to every reflective mind the existence of God. But it was long a question, with some of the most eminent philosophers of antiquity, whether matter was not essentially eternal; and whether God ought not to be viewed rather as the contriver of the universe out of elements already existing, than in the strict and proper signification of the term, its Creator, or absolute Author. To the devout student of revelation there is no longer any darkness resting upon this subject; for through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God; so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.'

The design of this great work was to display the glory of its adorable Author; and how fully it was fitted to secure this end, we may even yet understand, notwithstanding the extent to which it has been marred by the influence of sin. The wisdom, the power, and the majesty of God, every where appear in the astonishing magnificence and sublimity of those vast and harmonious arrangements which constitute what have been called the laws of the material universe. His goodness, liberality, and benevolence, together with the all-comprehending and ceaseless assiduity of his providence, shine forth not less conspicuously in connection with the organization, the preservation, and the enjoyments common to the endless variety of the tribes of animate creatures which people the earth, the air, and the sea. It has been justly observed, that though pain and suffering are incident to the creation, it cannot

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