SERMON I

HEBREWS xi. part of verse 6.

He that cometh to God, must believe that He is.

In these words the Apostle lays down the foundation of all religion; declaring it to consist in a belief in the existence of God.

Religion being the service which man owes to his Maker, it is plain that such service will not be performed until the obligation to do so is acknowledged. Unless a man believe that he owes his life, and every thing which is necessary to support that life, to some great and over-ruling POWER, he wil not discharge the offices of religion. His doing so, would in fact, be absurd and inconsistent. We worship God, therefore, because we believe that HE made us, and continues to protect and preserve us.

This doctrine of the existence of a great FIRST CAUSE of all things, is written so plainly in the book of nature, that few persons have ever been found foolish enough to deny it; and those who have done so, have

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always been looked upon as a sort of monsters in the creation. There is scarcely a people on the face of the earth, however ignorant and savage, who do not believe in some superior Power, to which they pay their vows and adorations.

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Nevertheless, that your faith may remain unshaken in this fundamental principle of religion; and that you may be able to give to every one that asketh you, a reason of the hope that is in you," I must beg your attention whilst I proceed to lay before you the most striking proofs of the being and providence of God. And let me intreat you to consider, that it is not a matter of indifference whether you pay attention to this, or not it is, on the contrary, far more important to you than any of those things about which your time and your thoughts are generally occupied.

I. The very constitution of the world as we see it, proves that it must have had a CREATOR. Such a world could never have been made by chance. There is not one of you who can look attentively around him. without coming to the conclusion that all things must have been originally made by some wonderful and ALMIGHTY hand. For, whatever shews any marks of having been done by design and contrivance, must have required some mind to plan and contrive, as well as some power to carry into execution.

If, for instance, you were to be shewn for the first time, a threshing machine, and were desired to observe the contrivances by which it was enabled to do its work; how a pole, or lever, set one wheel in motion, and how that wheel operated on others, so as to make it separate the corn from the straw, and discharge the one at one opening and the other at another, would you say that this was all a matter of chance, and that the different pieces were put together by accident, or put themselves in their different situations? Or would you not rather conclude that it must have been contrived by some ingenious workman? Or if you were to find a watch, and observe the movements of the spring and wheels, and were to be shewn to what useful purposes it could be applied, would you not be convinced that it must have been contrived with skill and made with ability?

Now, apply this to the great world in which we live. Is it not every where manifest that it was made by design, and for particular purposes? And if so, is it not clear that it must have had for its maker some GREAT AND UNDERSTANDING BEING? But follow me into some particulars.

From the wonderful works of the creation, and their beautiful order, we infer the hand of an ALMIGHTY CREATOR. "The invisible things of God," says the Apostle Paul,

"from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made a Could it be any other than an ALMIGHTY POWER that framed the beautiful, the spacious, and the stately fabric of the world? That stretched out the north over the empty space, and hanged the earth upon nothing?" That formed those vast and numberless globes of light, and gave many of them the power of performing such regular motions? That appointed the sun to rule the day, the moon and the stars to govern the night? "The heavens do indeed declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handy work "."

Ask yourselves, what hand it was which fixed the sun at such a distance from the earth, that it should neither consume it with too strong a heat; or suffer it to perish from excess of cold? Could it be any other than the hand of God? Enquire, again, who it was that ordered all nature to bud forth in the spring; the seed to burst its case, and the leaf to unfold its wonderful texture? By whom was it contrived that a substance scarce larger than a pin's head, should contain within its narrow chest the trunk and members of the tallest tree? Can this be the work of chance?

Look, also, at the ground on which you daily tread. Behold it covered with plants Job xxvi. 7. • Psalm xix. 1.

. Rom. i. 20. "

and flowers so extremely beautiful, that "even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of them". What hand created all these but that of the great God whom we all adore?

Do you want any other proof of the existence of a Maker of all things? Look well to your own bodies? The frame of man (were all other evidence wanting,) is alone sufficient to display the hand of an Almighty workman. It every where manifests marks of design, and the most wonderful contrivance. Reflect how the eye is fitted to seeing, and the ear for hearing; how every sinew has its particular duty to perform, and how all the bones, muscles, veins and arteries combine to complete the system, and you will agree with the Psalmist, in declaring that that you are fearfully and wonderfully made," and that the issues of life are in the hands of an Almighty Creator.

In truth, my brethren, you can turn your attention no where without finding out that there must exist a PowER above us, which made and which preserves the world in which we live. I say, which made and preserves, because, unless we believe that the same Power which made, also protects and governs the world, we shall be but half-believers; and, indeed, to all moral purposes,

• Matt. vi. 29.