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the good of the universe, as much and as fast as possible. Though God causes both darkness and evil, yet in him there is no evil nor darkness at all. In his light, his people may always see light; and in his government, his people may always see good, and enjoy peace. Let them only unite their hearts and hands in carrying into execution his wise and holy purposes, and they may rest satisfied and comforted that all things shall work together for their good.

6. If God is a universal agent, and operates upon the hearts of all his intelligent creatures, then he will infallibly counteract the designs, and disappoint the hopes, of all his enemies in every part of the universe. Though God gives all men full liberty to devise their own ways, yet he always directs their steps. Though his agency always controls their agency, yet it never destroys it. They are perfectly free, and they are conscious that they are perfectly free, notwithstanding his agency upon their hearts. Though his enemies freely and voluntarily form a thousand designs to frustrate his designs, yet he always can and does fulfil his own designs, and disappoints theirs. It is as vain as impious, for them to attempt to rise up against him, and endeavor to frustrate his wise and holy purposes. For the counsel of the Lord shall stand, and he will do all his pleasure. The enemies of God have often made the experiment and attempted to frustrate the counsel of God, but have always been disappointed. Pharaoh was disappointed. Esau was disappointed. Ahab was disappointed. Saul of Tarsus was disappointed. God will counteract the designs of all sinners at this day. However numerous and powerful and confident the enemies of God may be, he will defeat all their designs and exertions; and he will cause their folly and wickedness to manifest his wisdom and goodness. Their hands and their tongues and their hearts are constantly and entirely under the holy and sovereign agency of God, who works all things after the counsel of his own will. "For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things; to whom be glory for ever.

Amen."

SERMON XXIX.

SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD IN THE FORMATION OF MAN.

NAY but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?-Rom. ix. 20.

THE apostle, in the preceding verses, introduces the doctrine of personal election to eternal life in its full extent, as implying personal reprobation to eternal destruction. And he illustrates the doctrine, by two memorable cases, well known to the Jews. First, by the instance of Jacob and Esau. "As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." Next, by the instance of Pharaoh. "For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy; and whom he will he hardeneth." To this the apostle anticipates an objection. "Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?" Instead of evading this objection, as some suppose he does, he gives a direct and full answer to it. "Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?" The apostle does not mean to say to the objector, you have no right to put a question to me which no man can answer; but he means to say there is no ground for the question, "Why doth he yet find fault?" any more than for the question, Why should not a creature find fault for being a creature? This is the plain sense of the text:

Men have no reason to complain of God for making them just such creatures as they are.

I shall first show that God has made them just such creatures as they are; and then that they have no reason to complain that he has made them what they are.

I. God has made men just what they are, in distinction from all living creatures below them, and from all rational creatures above them, in various respects. And,

1. In respect to their bodies. When God made the first man, he gave him just such a body as he pleased, and just such a body as he intended to give to all his numerous posterity. The human body we know is very different in size, in form, in strength, in activity and in sensibility, from the bodies of every species of the lower creation; and it is no less different from the light, ethereal, transparent and splendid vehicles with which angels are clothed. There is a corporeal and visible dignity in the appearance of mankind, which is superior to the corporeal appearance of any other creatures on earth; and perhaps but a very little inferior to the corporeal appearance of the angels of light. Christ now appears, and will always appear, in the form of man in heaven; and we can hardly suppose that his visible appearance will be less dignified than that of the highest angels. But notwithstanding the general uniformity in the corporeal appearance of mankind, by which they are distinguished from the higher and lower orders of creatures, there is a vast variety in the appearance of individuals by which they are distinguishable from one another. Among the immense millions of mankind, there are no two men exactly alike, in their size, their form, their complexion, their strength and activity. All this personal variety is owing to the design of our Creator. He has made the bodies of all men just as he pleased. And so he has,

2. Their intellectual powers and faculties. He has made as great a diversity in the intellectual talents of men, as in their corporeal properties. He has given to some men a more solid, and acute, and comprehensive understanding than to others. He has given a stronger and more retentive memory to some men than to others. He has given a livelier and more brilliant imagination to some men than to others. And he has given a more easy and flowing eloquence to some men than to others. Though the intellectual talents of mankind in general appear very nearly equal, yet there is a wide and discernible difference between the lowest and highest talents of some of the human race. God has diversified and distinguished mankind as much by their intellectual powers, as by their corporeal forms and features, and external circumstances. He has made them to differ in all these respects, just as much as he pleased. And he exercises the same sovereignty,

3. In forming their hearts, or moral exercises. We read that "God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him." This image of God did not consist in Adam's corporeal form, nor in his intellectual faculties, but in his moral exercises. Adam had the same moral exercises before he sinned, that his posterity have after they are renewed. When they are renewed in the spirit of their mind, they are said to "put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." God creates the hearts of all men, as well as their rational powers. David asserts: "The Lord looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men." And he adds: "he fashioneth their hearts alike." God is said to take away the stony heart from sinners, and to give them a heart of flesh; and when he does this, they are said to become new creatures. In order to make men moral agents and accountable creatures, it is necessary that God should make their hearts, as well as their understandings. Whether their hearts consist in moral exercises, or in something that is the foundation of them, they must be created. When God created Adam, he created not only his body and his understanding, but his heart. And he has created all mankind in respect to their bodies, their understandings and hearts, just as he pleased, and just as they all actually exist. Or he has, as the apostle says, "Made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth," in all the innumerable varieties which appear in their corporeal, intellectual and moral qualities. Whatever men find they actually are, they may be assured that God made them thus. I now proceed to show,

II. That they have no reason to complain that God has made them just such creatures as they are. This will appear, if we consider,

1. That God had an original and independent right to create them. He had just as good a right to create them, as not to create them, or any other creature, or object. And who will presume to deny that he had a right not to create the heavens and the earth; not to create the angels in heaven; not to create man upon the earth; not to create the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, the beasts of the field, and every thing that has life and breath, and creeps upon the earth? He had a right not to bring these, or any other creatures and objects, out of nothing into being. He had a right to exist alone from eternity unto eternity, and never to exert his almighty power in producing any creature, or object, in any part of unbounded space. He had this original and independent right not to create, because his not creating could not infringe upon the rights of any other being in the universe. And for the very same reason, he had

an absolute independent right to create, because his creating could not infringe upon the right of any being not to be created; for no being had a right not to be created. God had a right to create angels, because his creating them could not infringe upon their rights, for they had no rights before they were created. They could neither choose nor refuse to be created; and God's creating them was neither agreeable nor disagreeable to their choice. And it is equally true that God had a right to create mankind, because his creating them could not infringe upon their rights; for they had no rights before they were created. They could neither choose nor refuse to be created; and God's creating them was neither agreeable nor disagreeable to their choice. The act of God in creating is the most sovereign act conceivable. It is impossible that he should create any being or object, without acting as a sovereign; and so far as he has a right to act as a sovereign, no being in the universe can have any reason to complain of his conduct. If he should now create a new material world, and create a new race of intelligent and accountable creatures to inhabit it, no being in that world, nor in heaven and earth, could have any reason to complain of his exercising his original and independent creative power. If it be true that God had an original and independent right to create mankind, and did create them without infringing upon their rights, then they certainly have no reason to complain that he has made them, or brought them, from nothing into being. "Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me?"

2. God had an original and absolute right to make mankind just such creatures as they are. He had precisely the same right to make them exactly as he has made them, as to make them at all. He had a sovereign right to make them inferior to the angels of heaven, and superior to all the irrational creatures on earth. He had a sovereign right to produce as great a uniformity and as great a variety among mankind themselves, as among the other inanimate objects in this lower world. He has made a great uniformity and a great variety in every species of trees that grow in the forest, and in every species of grain, grass, fruits and flowers, that grow out of the earth. And he has made a great uniformity and a great variety in every species of creatures that fly in the air, swim in the ocean, and walk and creep upon the earth. We every where observe a beautiful uniformity and a beautiful variety in every species of sensitive natures and inanimate objects; but we cannot discover any two individuals which compose these numerous species, which are exactly alike. Now all will allow that God had a sovereign right to produce such a uniformity and variety in all these spe

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