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A HYMN.

Instruction from Scripture.

HOW shall the young secure their hearts,
And guard their lives from sin!
Thy word the choicest rules imparts,
To keep the conscience clean.

When once it enters to the mind,
It spreads such light abroad;
The youngest minds instruction find,
And raise their thoughts to God.

'Tis like the sun, a heav'nly light,
That guides us all the day;
And thro' the dangers of the night,
A lamp to lead our way.

The youths that keep thy law with care

And think upon thy word,

Grow wiser than their teachers are,

And better know the Lord.

Thy word is everlasting truth,

How sure is ev'ry page;

That holy book shall guide our youth,

And well support our age.

Watts.

ON THE CREATION OF THE WORLD.

GEN. i. 1. In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth.

THIS Book is called Genesis. The name signifies a generation, an original or beginning, and it is properly named; for it is a history of beginnings. The beginning of the heavens and the earth. The beginning of time, of days, weeks, and years. The beginning of all things which we behold around us. The beginning of sin, and the entrance of death into the world. The invention of arts. The beginning of kingdoms and empires. The commencement of the church of God, A history of the generations of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Esau, and Jacob."Without this history the World would be in total darkness, not knowing from whence it came, or how it will end. In the first page of this book a child may learn more in one hour

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ON THE CREATION

hour than all the Philosophers of the world learned without it in thousands of years."

The writer of this book was Moses, it is supposed that he wrote it while he was a shepherd in the Land of Midian. Some think, it was written while he was leading the people of Israel through the wilderness. It is the history of a period which contains about 2369 years,

creation.

It is a glorious sight to behold the works of When you see them you cannot but admire them. You wish to know how all these things were made, attend to the words you now hear, and you will learn who made the world and all that it contains. When you see a watch, you know that it must have had a maker. The different springs and wheels great and small, all moving round and regularly pointing out the hour of the day. must wonder and admire the skill

You

of the

you will see

watchmaker. Look again, and his name engraven on the inside of the watch and the name of the place where he lives. In like manner the skill and wisdom of God is

seen

seen in the creation of the world. His name is deeply engraved on all the works of his hands. Nay more, we are told that heaven is his throne and the earth his footstool. That he is every where present, and upholds all things by the word of his power.—

Attend while I inform you.

I. Who was the CREATOR of the World. A house must have a builder, " for every house is builded by some man, but he that built all things, is God." He is called the "creator of the ends of the earth." Our text says, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, that is, the substance and not the form, for after this, it was without -form and void. That power must be Almighty, which could make all things out of nothing. The thunder of his power who can

understand.

A

Creation means the making of all things from nothing. When Solomon built the Temple, he had workmen, and they had tools to work with, and materials to work upon, but when

C

when God made the world, it was by a word; he wrought without tools. "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the hosts of them by the breath of his mouth." We are told that "the earth was without form and void, and that darkness was upon the face of the deep. Nothing but darkness had overspread the unformed earth and water, which with the other materials of the creation, lay blended together, without order or distinction. It was a rude, shapeless mass like a piece of clay or wood. There was no shape, no order, no beauty, no ornament, all was coufusion and emptiness. All was darkness, not even the very image of things to come. "" And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." Behold and admire the power of God. That power which brought such a world as this out of darkness, confusion and emptiness at the beginning of time, can at the end of time bring our vile bodies from the grave, which is called the land of darkness. He can form them anew, glorious and beautiful, like the Angels in heaven: like the body of Jesus himself.

11. Let

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