parted to the creature, which is not a portion of his own perfection. For this reason, some persons choose to say that he engaged in the work of creation out of a regard to that perfection, since it was the determination to diffuse that perfection, which induced him to give existence to the creature-the creature without that perfection being nothing. Thus they say that the highest gifts of existence are knowledge, virtue, and happiness, but that the knowledge communicated is a portion of God's own infinite knowledge-that it is the same in nature, though infinitely less in degree, and that it consists primarily in a knowledge of himself, in a knowledge of his attributes as displayed in his works-that the same is true of virtue -that the virtue of the creature, in the degree in which it is real, is a participation of God's own moral excellence --that it consists in benevolence, in love to beings in general, and therefore primarily in love to God, who comprehends in himself all being; consequently, that God's own love of virtue is a love of himself; that is, a love of his own excellence; because in strictness there is no excellence in any creature-nothing which any intelligent being can love, that is not his, that is not derived from him, and in a manner a part of him; so that, in loving excellence, he must love himself. In like manner, that God's happiness consists in the exercise and enjoyment of his own attributes-that the creature's happiness in the highest sense consists in the name—in the exercise and enjoyment of attributes the same in nature, however different in degree, and with whatever imperfections mixed; in the exercise and enjoyment, for example, of wisdom, power, and goodness; that, therefore, in as much as there is no true excellence or happiness in the creature, which was not primarily in God, and which was not communicated from God, God must have had in the creation a supreme regard to himself; that is, to the communication of his own excellence and happiness, and have been influenced by a love of himself; that is, a love of his own excellence and happiness.

Now, admitting this representation to be just, still, according to it, the love of himself and the love of the

creature are so far from being different or opposite, that they are the very same. His love of the creature is the love of himself, and his love of himself is the love of the

creature.

There are persons who think that this view is highly calculated to elevate the mind to God, to lead it to attribute to him all that it is, and has, and hopes-to consider him as the only source of being and of beauty, of excellence and of happiness-to annihilate self and every object except the all-pervading, all-comprehending Author of the universe-to see him in every thing, and every thing in him-in the truest sense, to render God the great all in all, since, in the most real sense, it makes God the Fountain of all. For, according to this view, all the excellence of the creature is God's. The knowledge communicated is the knowledge of God, and the love communicated is the love of God, and the happiness communicated is joy in God. So that, in the creature's knowing, esteeming, loving, rejoicing in, and praising God, the glory of God is both exhibited and acknowledged; his fulness is received and returned. Here is both an emanation and remanation. The refulgence shines upon and into the creature, and is reflected back to the luminary. The beams of glory come from God, are something of God, and are refunded back again to their original. So that the whole is of God, and in God, and to God, and he is the beginning, and the middle, and the end.'*

Those who feel their conceptions of the Great Author of all things, the only proper agent in the universe, the first cause and the last end of his creatures, elevated by this manner of viewing this importat subject, cannot be wrong in indulging it; but it requires considerable comprehensiveness of mind, and some power of abstract reasoning, and of carrying the thoughts above the imperfection and obscurity of language. For, in the language commonly employed on this subject, there is much that is calculated to mislead those who are not accustomed to

Edwards' Dissertation concerning the End for which God created the World, chap. ii. sect. vii.

clear thinking and close reasoning. It is important, then, to bear in mind, that all which is really meant is here stated. For God's creation of the world for his own glory does not signify that he created it in order to render himself more glorious, that being impossible, but to display the glory of his attributes to creatures capable of understanding it and of participating of it; and thus not only to make it known to myriads of admiring and adoring intelligences, but to communicate it to them. Hence

he gives existence to rational beings, in order to render them glorious, by imparting to them his own glory; and he is said to do this out of a regard to his own glory, only because it is the communication of his own excellence that renders them glorious. They are glorious because they partake of the Creator's glory. The Creator gave them being for the purpose of communicating to them that glory; that glory consists in a participation of his own excellence, and therefore it is argued, strictly speaking, he gave them existence from a love of his own glory. Whatever truth there may be in this represen

*God seeking himself in the creation of the world, in the manner which has been supposed, is so far from being inconsistent with the good of his creatures, that it is a kind of regard to himself, that inclines him to seek the good of his creatures. It is a regard to himself that disposes him to diffuse and communicate himself. It is such a delight in his own internal fulness* and glory, that disposes him to an abundant effusion and emanation of that glory. The same disposition that inclines him to delight in his glory, causes him to delight in the exhibitions, expressions, and communications of it.

In God, the love of himself and the love of the public are not to be distinguished as in man, because God's being, as it were, comprehends all. His existence being infinite, must be equivalent to universal existence. And, for the same reason that public affection in the creature is fit and beautiful, God's regard to himself must be so likewise. In God, the love of what is fit cannot be a distinct thing from the love of himself, because the love of God is that wherein all holiness primarily and chiefly consists, and God's own holiness must primarily consist in the love of himself.

'Love to virtue itself is no otherwise virtuous, than as it is implied in, or arises from, love to the Divine Being. Consequently, God's own love to virtue is implied in love to himself, and is virtuous no otherwise than as it arises from love to himself. Consequently, whensoever he makes virtue his end, he makes himself his end. In fine, God being, as it were, an all-comprehending Being, all his moral perfections, his holiness, justice, grace, and benevolence, are some way or other to be rendered into a supreme and infinite regard to himself; and, if so, it will be easy to sup

tation, it is in fact only another method of saying that he is himself excellence and happiness; that, being so, he diffuses excellence and happiness, and that he diffuses them because he loves them. These views, properly understood, seem to lead to no other than just conceptions of the Supreme Being; but they are too refined to be in general accurately conceived and followed. The language commonly employed to express them is apt to confuse and mislead. As far as they are intelligible and clear, they coincide entirely with the more usual opinion, that God's ultimate end in the creation is the happiness of his creatures. This last proposition is universally intelligible, and cannot be misunderstood; it is therefore the better mode of speaking. It is then a truth as obvious as it is delightful, that the design of the Creator must have been the communication of happiness, and that nothing can possibly more effectually display the glory of a Being who is infinitely wise, powerful, and good, than to contrive and effect the happiness of rational crea

tures.

pose that it becomes him to make himself his supreme and last end in his works.'-Edwards' Dissertation concerning the End for which God created the World, chap. i. sect. iv.

* In the above phrase, God's fulness, is comprehended all the good which is in God, natural and moral, either excellence or happiness.-Edwards" Dissertation, chap. i. sect. ii.

12 *

SECTION V.

OF THE UNIVERSALITY OF THE DIVINE BENEVOLENCE. For the same reason that the Deity designed to make one human being happy, he must have purposed to bestow felicity ultimately upon all. For, if there be a single individual whom he created without this design, since he must still have had some design, it must be different from that which we have already shown to be the only one which he could have had in view.

In reality, his purpose with respect to every individual must have been either to make him happy or miserable. If it were not to make him happy, it must have been to make him miserable; but to suppose that he purposed to make any one miserable ultimately and upon the whole, is to suppose that he purposed the production of misery for its own sake, which has already been shown to be impossible.

The sun,

And, if every principle of the human understanding revolt at the conclusion, that he is partial and capricious in his kindness, and has designed to make some individuals happy, and others miserable, it is equally opposed by all the appearances in nature. It is refuted by every object to which we can direct our attention. in the brightness of his glory, diffuses light and joy through all the nations of the earth. He has no favorite to bless. He regards not in his course the little distinctions which prevail among mankind. He shines not on the lands of the great, forgetting to pour his beams on the lowly spot of the peasant. He lights up the Indies with a burning glow-he smiles upon the nations of Europe with a milder beam, and he shines upon the hoary path of the Laplander, amidst his mountains of eternal snow. The Lord is good to all. He causes his sun to shine upon the evil and the good.'

The cloud, bearing in its bosom riches and fertility,