THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD

Every man that believes in the Supreme Being, the maker of heaven and earth, and all the host of them, that he is Omnipotent, Omnicient, and Omnipresent; that is to say that he is Almighty, allwise and everpresent majesty; that there is nothing but what he can perform and execute, even by his word speaking, that there is nothing come to pass, but what he is well aware before it did or does come to pass, and that he is present when it does come to pass, that there was nothing made but what he made, and saw all that he made and beheld it was

very good, and blessed all that he made, so that there could be nothing bad or evil in existence, neither should there be, for no man can put good and bad together without spoiling the good, for if the good had only a desire to compare itself with the bad, the self desire destroys itself through pride and lust, so that, if there was a temptation in the way of our ancestors, who put it there? Did the creator? Certainly not! or he would be the author of sin, knowing also what would come to pass, neither did he make anything to tempt them or try them, he perfectly knew without. What he made was good, and blessed, as such; there would be no wisdom in making anything otherwise; and God is all wise and powerful, all love and kindness, truth and mercy, and perfect holiness, so that he could not call into existence anything evil whatsoever, neither could such be pronounced good and blessed.

Genesis 2nd, 1st v.

MAN AND ANGELS.

"Thus the heaven and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.” After God had finished the earthand heaven, and all the host of them, there was none as stewards to take charge of the same two worlds; so that the host of them is the sun, moon and stars, that were for signs and seasons, days and years, consequently, subservient to the two structures and giving lights to the world, as made for, and doing their respective duties assigned them, and not either of the two structures moving at all; and then also when man was made, had his duty to take charge of it and till it. Man was not made until the structure was made, neither an

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angel until the heaven was made, and as the heaven and earth were made of one material, so also man and angels. The angels could not be made more pure than man was, for he received the breath of God, which made him a son of God; so did the angels. The angels have no wings any more than man has: but each made alike, in every wit and particular, the one to take charge and generate in the one, and the other the other. St. Paul tells us, 66 we ought to be careful to entertain strangers, as some have entertained angels unawares." Christ came not by the nature of angels, but by the seed of Abraham. By looking in the 18th chapter of Genesis, we may see that the angels that appeared to Abraham, did eat and drink, and wash themselves and rested; also in the next chapter with Lot, they did the same there: these angels are called men, and were known only as such; and man also has eaten angels food, so that they can eat each others food and drink each others drink; they can descend to earth, but only when so commissioned; but man cannot ascend, for he is fallen from that state when he was alike made, otherwise man would never have undergone the penalty of death, but would be, like the angels, live for ever, undying, without pain or suffering, and age without decay, which will have to be the case hereafter again, Revelations xxi, 4. "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are past away." This would have been the case in this world according to the intentions of the Deity, no man would ever have died, nor had pain or troubles. Man and angels were made alike to endure for ever; they each multiplied and brought forth after there kind, as all other generation in their respective habitations, John x, 16. "And other sheep I have which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; aad there shall be one fold and one shepherd.” The sheep here spoken of are not of this fold, nor ever will be: there were two folds made at the beginning, and, consequently, sheep also belonging to them; and both angels and men had power to generate, both received the breath of life from God, and made not only in his image but likeness, so if we inquire what God is like, the answer is like man' that is to say when first made he was pure, perfect and holy, and could talk face to face with his maker, he being as St. Paul says, an "offspring of God;" and no angel was more pure in the other fold than the sheep of this fold was, when made by the holy hands of God and endowed with

his life and attributes, so that both sheep of both folds were both made alike, both generating in either folds. Let no person be under an impression that Jew and Gentile are two folds or two sheep, they had but one mother at first, or, when a Jew and Gentile bringeth forth children what folds are they: we might soon get as many folds as sheep, which of course is not the meaning of the words. God made man and angels of the one same original material, and breathed into him his own breath of every enlightenment, which made them both sons and offsprings of God, and so yet are the angels, but man is not, but by regeneration he can be so again, as at the natural state he is by nature children of wrath as St. Paul says, Ephesians, ii, 3 v. We are not sons and offsprings of God by nature, though made so, but may be by adoption, John x. 34 v. “Jesus answered them, ' Is it not written in your law, I said ye are Gods. .? If he called them gods, unto whom the words of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken," See Psalms lxxxii, 6 & 7 v. "I have said ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High; but ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes."

Genesis 2nd. 7v.

THE SOUL.

“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." Nothing in the world can be written more plainer than this, it contains the information what man was made from, who made him, and what he became when made. When God created man it was for his pleasure, and to take charge of Creation; he was the image and likeness of the Creator, and his representative on earth, God being more mindful of him than any other created work of his hands, making him his son and offspring by infusing into him the breath of life, giving him an exalted and holy mind, of every comprehensible principle of understanding, complete in perfection of knowledge and wisdom after God's own attributes, so that he may be justly called the son and offspring of God, and a god in miniature, with all creation submissive to his dominion, granted him by the Father who art in heaven. When Adam received life there was no reason in his nature, there is no reason in the Deity but omnicience and wisdom; this is what Adam received; he was not educated

under a schoolmaster. He could give names to every living thing under the canopy of heaven, that no man could improve upon, his wisdom was that of God, but sin made that wisdom reason, instead of divine knowledge. Adam was made pure and perfect, and could talk face to face with God his father, who took great pleasure in his society, a never forgotten love from the beginning of time to the end of it; be made and gave him everything, meats and fruits of all kinds, and a companion to love as God also loved him, giving him power to generate so that he could have an offspring to love also, so that God would be perfected in all had it so continued-then would this world have been as designed, a perfect and holy Paradise of bliss. The material that man was made from was the dry ground, obtained from the mighty water existing before Creation, so that the Creator took part of the same and moulded it into his very image and likeness, and what was it then providing the Creator had done no more to it? Nothing but an image of dust in the form of God; it was neither flesh, blood, nor bone, though all parts were framed of the one same substance, ready to be changed as soon as the Creator applied the breath of life to the nostrils. And while this formation of dust is lying at the feet of the Maker, we might ask could that formed body of dust die? Certainly not. There was not faculty or action. It could neither taste, smell, think, speak, hear, walk, nor move; such is the body, which is "considered as nothing, and profitteth nothing," as St. Paul states. "Dust thou art," saith the Creator, and "unto it shalt thou return," not into, but unto it again, so that the life that was gave is the life that dies. God breathes into the nostrils of this form of dust, and the same formation of dust is dust no longer, but is changed and become a living soul instead, not a living soul placed within it, but the whole body of dust is by the breath of life employed become a living soul! Then could the living soul taste, smell, hear, talk, ask and answer, having every faculty of every comprehension of the attributes of God by measure as, chap. i. Gospel of John, v. 4, "In him was life, and the life was the light of men." This was what Adam received, the enlightened life of God, that made him a living soul, and this is what the form of dust and life become because being made pure and holy and possessed with the same attributes of God he was then under no power of death, and, consequently, a living soul, being like the angels of heaven who are living souls too, because they, like Adam, were made to live for ever, and not

says,

made to die. It was sin that brought death, and as soon as death was passed upon Adam he was not a living soul, but a soul under bondage of death. There is but that one place throughout scripture that man is said to be a living soul, and that was when made and under no sentence of death. Could not God who made him a living soul have the power to subject the same to death? Decidedly, yes; for as soon as sin generated, he became a sinful soul, and nothing more than a moving body of dust, without that noble and enlightened wisdom that was breathed into him by the Tree of Life, and became as before as, "dust thou art, and unto dust shall thou return." This is quite a different position to what he was when proclaimed to become a living soul by breathing into a formation of dust the holy spirit of God, which is light and life, as Saint John "In him was life, and that life was the light of man." Mark the word "was," it is not so now. So be it understood, that as soon as the formation of dust in the form of man received the quickening spirit of enlightened life and understanding, which are all the holy attributes of the Deity, and spirit of the man, the life moving principle of every conceptive faculty, then the said formation of dust became, as conveyed by Moses, a living soul, so that the whole object was the living soul to be beheld as such; but it did not continue a living soul long, for it was through sin soon brought under the bondage of death, and was a living soul no longer, the word living being cut off by death. This is the true meaning of scripture, as example, Genesis xlvi, 26 & 27 v. “All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, which came out of his loins besides Jacob's sons' wives; all the souls were threescore and six: and the sons of Joseph which were born him in Egypt were two souls: all the souls of the house of Jacob which came into Egypt, were threescore and ten." Here we find that the two sons of Joseph were two souls, but not living souls, but has the same meaning as if it was written men and women, or subjects; but it is most proper and convenient to write souls, thereby meaning the whole moving and enlightened body or prin】 ciple, or else, if man will determinedly adhere to the false opinion hitherto entertained that the soul is a vital principle of divinity entombed in man as death cannot reach, then for his salvation's sake, let him look into the Apocraphy, in the 21st chapter of Ecclesiasticus, 27th verse,"When the ungodly curseth satan he curseth his own soul." having weighed these words over well can he conclude within himself that the vital