vent them from blending the opinions of others with their own. The Books of Mofes were lodged in the facred recefs of the Tabernacle, and afterwards in the Holy of Holies in Solomon's Temple. Every king at his coronation, was obliged to transcribe a copy of them from the original, and every individual to get a part of them by heart. They were read at ftated times; and every person who excelled in the knowledge of them, was held in the highest estimation. In fhort, these writings were, and ftill continue to be to the posterity of Jacob, their magna charta and ftatute book, as containing the whole of their rules, for the administration of justice, and for every part of their worship. Every privilege, whether of a civil or religious nature, wherewith their temporal and fpiritual Sovereign, honoured them above the reft of mankind, were only to be found in these venerable records.

Revelation examined with Candeus.

LECTURE II.

GENESIS i. I.

In the Beginning God created the Heavens and the

TH

.

Earth.

HE Book of Genefis is placed first in the facred canon, because its contents are first in order of time, and firft in dignity and importance; as being the bafis of all thofe revelations, which are the constituent parts of the christian fyftem. But, before I enter upon the illustration of that part of the book which comes within the limits of my propofed plan, it may not be amifs to premise the following remarks.

1. The great aim of Mofes in all his writings, was to guard the Ifraelites against idolatry, and gradually to wean them, from those fuperftitious principles and practices, to which they had contracted an attachment, while fojourning in the land of Egypt. For which reafon he begins his writings by exhibiting to them a ftriking display of the character and perfections of the one true God, as the fole creator, and fupreme governor

of

of the world, and of every being therein. At the fame time, he fhews them what they had to dread from trampling upon his authority, and violating his laws. And to excite them to gratitude and obedience, he acquaints them with a gracious promife, which God made to their firft parents thro❜ the feed of the woman. Which promife being afterwards renewed and ratified to Noah, and to Abraham, their ancestors, gave them affured hopes, that every bleffing contained in it, would be accomplished in God's own time.

2. We are not to fuppofe that Mofes repeats the very words, which were spoken by every character which he had occafion to introduce. It is enough, when a revelation is published to the world, that its fubftance be preferved entire, and that the truths which it contains, be unadulterated and genuine; tho' the publisher may use a stile, which, he thinks will beft anfwer the end for which it was given. Doubtlefs, therefore, Mofes delivered his fentiments, in a ftile and manner, adapted to the capacities of his countrymen.

3. We never find the facred hiftorian introducing reafon and argument to fupport the doctrines which he lays down. He uses a more efficacious method of delivering them: a method fuitable to the capacities of all men. He establishes the whole upon facts; in my opinion, the best

and fureft method of communicating knowledge both natural and moral. How feeble are our convictions of the being of a God, from all the arguments which ingenuity has invented, compared with the investigation of his own works? Here, our fenfes come in to the aid of our reafon; and then we both fee and feel the brightest traces of his wifdom, power, and goodness.

4. When Mofes wrote the hiftory of the crea tion, it was not his intention, to enter into a minute and philofophical difcuffion of that fubject. The account which he gives us is purely hiftorical, and calculated to raise in our minds fuch affecting ideas of this ftupendous work, as might best promote the purposes of piety and religion. If his history be true as far as it goes, this is fufficient to remove every cavil. It fhall be my business in the following work, to establish its authority, from the invariable laws of nature, and the different phenomena, which this globe presents to our obfervation.

That the earth is not eternal, nor arose from chance, appears a felf-evident truth, when we confider both the nature, and the regularity of those materials of which it is compofed. The harmony of its parts, and the apparent unity of its design, bespeak it the workmanship of one being. Therefore Mofes introduces his hiftory, by laying it

down

down as a maxim, That in the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth, i. e. the whole universe, and every thing which it contains. The beginning alludes to time; for time and existence are coeval. We have no measure of time, but the duration of this world; what is prior to that, is to us eternal. Hence the phrafe, in the beginning, means as far back as our ideas can reach. To create, is to give being to that which had none before. It is impoffible for a thing to be, and not to be at the fame time; but that a thing fhould exist now that did not exist before, is no more a contradiction, than that a man fhould move his arm after its having been in a state of rest.

Tho' Mofes fays, that in the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth, yet his words do not imply, that they were all created at one and the fame time. In this vaft univerfe, there are many bodies which differ in magnitude and fplendor, and probably they differ as much, in refpect of time and duration. It fills our minds with ideas worthy of the great Creator, when we reflect that he has ever been enlarging the fphere of his providence and government, and is ftill exerting his power and wifdom, by forming in the bofom of boundless fpace, new worlds of different kinds, and fubject to different laws.