THE EXISTENCE OF GOD DEMONSTRATED FROM

THE WORKS OF CREATION.

A

SERM O N,

PREACHED ON

LORD'S DAY MORNING,

AUGUST 9, 1795,

IN THE

REV. DR. HITCHCOCK'S MEETING HOUSE,

IN

PROVIDENCE.

6

TO THE

YOUNG GENTLEMEN,

STUDENTS OF RHODE ISLAND COLLEGE,

OVER WHOM I HAVE THE HONOR AS WELL AS

THE PLEASURE TO PRESIDE,

I MOST AFFECTIONATELY RECOMMEND THE MOST

SERIOUS ATTENTION TO THE

IMPORTANT TRUTH BROUGHT FORWARD AND ILLUSTRATED

IN THE FOLLOWING

SERMON.

J. MAXCY.

THE EXISTENCE OF GOD.

FOR THE INVISIBLE THINGS OF HIM FROM THE CREATION OF THE WORLD ARE CLEARLY SEEN, BEING UNDERSTOOD BY THE THINGS THAT ARE MADE, EVEN HIS ETERNAL POWER AND GODHEAD,-ROMANS i. 20.

NOTHING will more effectually guard us against vice, than a firm belief of the existence of God. For surely if we realize that there is such a Being, we shall naturally infer from his perfections, from the nature of his moral government, and from our situation as rational creatures, that we are amenable at his awful tribunal. Superior power, wisdom and goodness, always lay us under restraint, and command our veneration. These, even in a mortal, overawe us. They restrain not only the actions, but the words and thoughts of the most vicious and abandoned. Our happiness depends on our virtue. Our virtue depends on the conformity of our hearts and conduct to the laws prescribed us by our beneficent Creator. Of what vast importance then is it to our present as well as future felicity, to possess in our hearts a feeling sense, and in our understandings a clear conviction, of the existence of that Being whose power and goodness are unbounded, whose presence fills immensity, and whose wisdom, like a torrent of lightning, emanates through all the dark recesses of eternal duration! How great must be the effect of a sense of the presence of the great Creator and Governor of all things, to whom belong the attributes, eternity, independency, perfect holiness, inflexible justice, and inviolable veracity; complete happiness and glorious majesty; supreme right and unbounded dominion! A sense of accountability to God will retard the eager pursuit of vice; it will humble the heart of the proud, it will bridle the tongue of the profane, and snatch the knife from the hand of the assassin. A belief of the existence of God is the true original source of

all virtue, and the only foundation of all religion, natural or revealed. Set aside this great luminous truth, erase the conviction of it from the heart, you then place virtue and vice on the same level; you drive afflicted innocence into despair; you add new effrontery to the marred visage of guilt; you plant thorns in the path, and shed an impenetrable gloom over the prospects of the righteous.-Sin has alienated the affections, and diverted the attention of men from the great Jehovah. "Darkness has covered the earth, and gross darkness the people." Men have worshipped the works of their own hands, and neglected the true God, though his existence and perfections were stamped in glaring characters on all creation. From the regularity, order,

beauty and conservation of this great system of things, of which man makes a part; from the uniform tendency of all its divisions to their proper ends; the existence of God shines as clearly as the sun in the heavens.- "From the things that are made (says the text) are seen his eternal power and Godhead."

1. MAN himself is a proof of God's existence. Let us place him before us in his full stature. We are at once impressed with the beautiful organization of his body, with the orderly and harmonious arrangement of his members. Such is the disposition of these, that their motion is the most easy, graceful and useful that can be conceived. We are astonished to see the same simple matter diversified into so many different substances, of different qualities, size, and figure. If we pursue our researches through the internal economy, we shall find, that all the different opposite parts correspond to each other with the utmost exactness and order; that they all answer the most beneficent purposes. This wonderful machine, the human body, is animated, cherished and preserved, by a spirit within, which pervades every particle, feels in every organ, warns us of injury, and administers to our pleasures. Erect in stature, man differs from all other animals. Though his foot is confined to the earth, yet his eye measures the whole circuit of heaven, and in an instant takes in thousands of worlds. His countenance is turned upward, to teach us that he is not like other animals, limited to the earth, but looks forward to brighter scenes of ex