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it is juftly confidered by the facred writers. With a view to exclude this kind of worship, God is likewife faid to be invifible, Heb. xi. 27, and to "dwell in light which no man can approach unto, "whom no man hath seen, nor can fee." 1 Tim. vi. 16.

The works of creation are in a peculiar manner afcribed to the one true God, and especially the creation of the heavenly bodies, which were the first objects of idolatrous worship in the Gentile world. The first book of Mofes begins with reciting all the visible parts of the univerfe, as the work and appointment of God, Gen. i. 1. "In "the beginning God created the heaven, and the "earth." Ver. 16. "And God made two great "lights, the greater light to rule the day; and the

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leffer light to rule the night: he made the stars "alfo." The cafe with which all thefe magnificent works were produced is most happily expressed by representing them as the immediate effect of a fimple command, Gen. i. "And God faid, "Let there be light and there was light." In the fame manner alfo the Pfalmift expreffes it, Pf. xxxiii. 6. &c. "By the word of the Lord were "the heavens made, and all the hoft of them by "the breath of his mouth. He fpake, and it was "done; he commanded, and it stood fast."

The vain pretences of the heathen gods are expofed on this very account, viz. their not having

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made the world. Jer. x. 10. &c. "is the true God, and an everlasting king. The "gods that have not made the heavens, and the "earth, even they fhall perish from the earth, "and from under these heavens. He hath made "the earth by his power, he hath established the "world by his wisdom, and hath ftretched out the "heavens by his difcretion."

When the people of Lyftra would have paid divine honours to Barnabas and Paul, fuppofing the former of them to have been Jupiter, and the latter Mercury; Paul, with peculiar propriety, fays to them, Acts xiv. 15, "Sirs, why do ye thefe things? We alfo are men of like paffions "with you, and preach unto you that ye fhould "turn from thefe vanities, unto the living God, "who made the heaven and earth, and the fea, "and all things that are therein." For neither the people of Lyftra, nor any of the idolatrous Greeks or Romans, had the leaft idea of even Jupiter, the chief of their gods, having been at all concerned in the creation of the heavens or the earth. To the fame purpofe, alfo, the apoftle Paul addreffes himself to the people of Athens, Acts xvii. 24. &c. "God that made the world, "and all things therein, feeing that he is lord of "heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made' "with hands, neither is worshipped with men's "hands, as though he needed any thing; feeing

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"he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; " and hath made of one blood all nations of men, "for to dwell on all the face of the earth; and "hath determined the times before appointed, and "the bounds of their habitation." All this ex

cellent doctrine would be quite new to his Athenian audience, who had never been used to afcribe fuch extraordinary powers to any of the gods which were the objects of their worship.

The abfolute property which the only true God has in the works of which he is the author, is often finely expreffed in the books of fcripture. Abraham, addreffing himself to the supreme being, calls him "the most high God, the poffeffor of heaven "and earth," Gen. xiv. 22. David, in his laft fpeech, delivered in the presence of all the congregation of Ifrael, addreffing himself to God, fays, 1 Chron. xxix. 10, &c. "Bleffed be thou, Lord "God of Ifrael, our Father, for ever and ever. "Thine, O Lord, is the greatnefs, and the "power, and the glory, and the victory, and the "majefty for all that is in the heaven and in the "earth, is thine. Thine is the kingdom, O "Lord, and thou art exalted, as head over all." Pf. xxiv. 1. &c. "The earth is the Lord's, and "the fulness thereof, the world, and they that "dwell therein; for he hath founded it upon the "feas, and established it upon the floods. Pf. xcv. 3. "The Lord is a great God, and a great king

<< above all gods. In his hands are the deep places "of the earth, the ftrength of the hills is his alfo. "The fea is his, and he made it; and his hands "formed the dry land. O come, let us worship, "and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our "Maker; for he is our God, and we are the peo"ple of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.” Mofes alfo was careful to imprefs the Ifraelites with this important truth, as well as with the belief of the unity, and creating power of God, Deut. x. 14. "Behold, the heaven, and the heaven of "heavens is the Lord's thy God, the earth alfo, "with all that therein is."

The abfolute fovereignty of God is alfo ftrongly expreffed by Paul, 1 Cor. iii. 21.. "Let no man "glory in men, for all things are your's, and ye "are Chrift's, and Chrift is God's." Alfo, 1 Cor. xv. 24. "Then cometh the end, when he fhall

have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the "Father, when he fhall have put down all rule, "and all authority, and power; for he muft reign "till he hath put all enemies under his feet. But "when he faith all things are put under him, it is "manifeft that he is excepted who did put all "things under him. And when all things fhall "be fubdued under him, then shall the Son alfo "himself be fubject unto him that put all things "under him, that God may be all in all.

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The one true God is alfo reprefented, in the fcriptures, as the fole preferver, and conftant upholder of all things. Upon the occafion of the folemn fast, and prayer, which was observed by the Jews upon their return from the they fay, Neh. ix. 5. &c.

Babylonifh captivity, "Bleffed be thy glo

"rious name, which is exalted above all bleffing "and praife. Thou, even thou art Lord alone, "thou haft made heaven, the heaven of heavens, "with all their hoft, the earth, and all things that 66 are therein, the fea, and all that is therein, and "thou preferveft them all, and the host of heaven "worship thee." David expreffes the fame fentiment more fully, Pf. cxix. 90. "Thou haft cftablished "the earth, and it abideth. They continue this "day, according to thine ordinances, for all are "thy fervants."

The divine fovereignty, with respect to the absolute difpofal of all things, is a necessary consequence of his fole property in them; and this alfo is frequently and strongly expreffed in the fcriptures, Pf. ciii, 19. "The Lord hath prepared his "throne in the heavens, and his kingdom ruleth "over all." Perhaps the fulleft and most explicit acknowledgment of this kind, is that which was made by Nebuchadnezzar, after his humiliation, Dan. iv. I. 35. 37. "Nebuchadnezzar the king, "unto all people, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth, peace be multiplied unto

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