is the fact, that with the sacred writers there is no timidity, no hesitation in this announcement, or in the application of it to any case. They do not seem to suspect that it would tarnish the glory of God to create just such a universe as actually exists, with all its evils and imperfections. They do not speculate about secondary or physical causes, but trace the stream up at once to the fountain. If the waters are troubled and the ships are tossed and overwhelmed in the waves, they tell us that "God raiseth the stormy wave and causeth it to mount up." If the famine destroys its vast multitudes, they lay bare the final cause in the announcement that "the Lord called for the famine, and it came." If the pestilence sweeps away its thousands, the explanation is, "the Lord hath sent the pestilence." If the flood comes and sweeps away all the inhabitants of the earth, there is no attempt to rest the fact of the flood on secondary causes, by saying that it was owing to an unfortunate rain which happened about those days; but, directly and to the point, the word is,

Behold, I, even I, do send a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh wherein is the breath of life." And so, in general terms, it may be said that, with great plainness, the Scriptures ascribe to God all the phenomena of the universe. He makes the sun to rise and the shower to descend, the breeze to blow and the grass and the flowers to bloom and grow. He also darts the vivid lightnings and rolls the thunder through the sky; and sendeth the storm, the earthquake, the famine, the pestilence, and the flood; and even the carnage and the blood of war, saying full often, "Gird on thy sword and go forth to battle."

Herein consists the great and radical difference between the Theology of the Bible and the systems of the ancients. They did their best to solve the problem of the origin of the universe, and if at any time they reached the idea of

God at all, they fell, naturally enough perhaps, into Polytheism. They saw effects of the most opposite character, so far as they could judge. They could not perceive how these effects could flow from the same cause. Hence, the Magians must have their god of light, to account for the good, and their god of darkness, to account for the evil; and the Brahmins must have their Brahma, the creator, Vishnu, the preserver, and Seeva, the destroyer, and the malignant spirit Mahazoor; and to each of these they must refer different classes of phenomena as their cause. And then the multitude, following up the example of the wise men, arranged these phenomena into smaller classes still, and forth came inferior divinities without number, each having his own peculiar province or domain; and gods and goddesses, sprites and demons became as numerous as the stars. And who shall blame them? Let any man throw aside divine revelation; nay, let him attempt to find the final cause of any single thing in the universe, out of God, the infinite and eternal, and if he arrive at Theism at all, he must end in Polytheism or Atheism. To the eye of reason there are but three possible views: these are, Atheism, with no God; Polytheism, with many Gods; or Monotheism, with one, and only one, God. To show how inevitably we must fall into one or the other of these, let us take but "one poor grain of dust," and ask for its origin. If we say it exists per se, and is in itself eternal, we have no need of God, and may be Atheists. If we say it owes its existence to the infinite and eternal God, who created all things, and without whom there was nothing made, then we propound Monotheism. But if we search for its cause in any thing else but the one only living and true God, then the limitations of thought will compel us to invest that other thing with the attribute of eternity, and thus to deify it; and Polytheism is the result, and we

must have as many gods as we find things invested with the power of absolute causation; and there is no avenue of escape. Now, the Bible propounds Monotheism as the solution of the mysteries of the universe, not in part, but in whole; and gives the single fact of the existence of one infinite and eternal Spirit, who is the sum and substance of all possible being, as the true and only explanation of the origin of all things, the absolute fountain whence came all phenomena, all causes, and all effects. Revelation is, therefore, adequate to the work it assumes, and performs what it promises in this regard. We may safely say, then, that "all things are of God," and that there is not, in all the wide domain of the universe, so much as a grain of sand that did not originate in God. That God created the universe and gave being to all its countless forms, is generally admitted in words, however much it may be practically denied in efforts to find some other cause for certain things deemed evils. But whether the God who created the universe actually governs it and controls all its movements, is regarded as a question of more doubtful solution. We can not discuss that question now, but shall make it the subject of another chapter-perhaps of several chapters.

CHAPTER IV.

ATTRIBUTES OF GOD.

The Infinite known only by Attributes-Power and its Manifestations-EternalBelongs to God-Infinite Power Distributed but not Augmented-Evidences of Wisdom-Wisdom, as Power, did not come from Nothing-Goodness in the Universe-Attraction its Philosophical Name -The Absolute belongs to God-Something Existing from Eternity-Revelation calls it God-Something from Nothing an Impossible Thought—Pantheism-Dr. Henry's Definition-God not Confounded with the Universe, but Above and Beyond it— Illustrations-God one, Living and True-God the only Efficient CauseWisdom of God the Highest Wisdom-All Things Certain in the Final Issue-Divine Permission-God's Government not Exceptional.

THE fact that God is, and that he is the origin of all things, being given, the inquiry concerning his nature and character is pertinent and legitimate. But we must not attempt to grasp too much. If we know material things only by their properties and qualities we must not expect to know the Infinite and Eternal in essence, but only in his attributes and perfections. On this subject there are some things that may be reached by the process of logic, and other things there are which human reason, in its highest perfection, may not attain. Looking out upon the material universe, its simplest phenomenon, that of motion, is suggestive of power. Indeed, it may be doubted if the latter is not inseparable from the former in thought. It would seem impossible to conceive of motion, even in a falling

ment.

leaf or a grain of sand, without associating it with some power by which it is produced and continued in being. If this be so, then, of course, the mighty movements of the spheres and the sweep of worlds in their orbits can not be otherwise than suggestive of tremendous force, or power, ever active. We see not the power itself, but only the effects and the manifestation of it. That there is such a thing as power in existence no man can doubt for a moMen may differ in their definitions of it, and in their opinions as to its source and origin, but that it is, no man can, by any effort, doubt. Moreover, there are no conceivable limits that we can assign to it; nor are there any conditions on which we can affirm that its existence depends. It may, and indeed must, be manifested to us, if manifested at all, under conditions and limitations; but these limitations and conditions are not necessary to the existence of the thing itself, any more than metes and bounds are necessary to the existence of space. Metes and bounds are necessary to the manifestation of space to us, but not to its existence. And so of power. Its manifestation, and not its existence, depends upon conditions and limitations. Power is, and is absolute. But whence did it come? It did not come from nothing, nor is it possible for us to think of it as absolutely beginning to be. Its efforts and manifestations may begin and end; but we can not conceive of the essential being of it as beginning to be. Hence, by the laws of thought, we come, in the last analysis, to power eternal; and inasmuch as there is but one Eternal, and that is, according to our postulate, God: therefore, power belongs to God. Further, his power must be infinite, and all power must be in him and of him. Hence, the sum of power is eternally the same, and it can neither be increased nor diminished. This absolute power may be distributed through countless forms,