2. Actions. — "The second means by which the Scrip- tures convej' to us the knowledge of God is bj' the ac- tions w hich the)- ascribe to him. They contain, indeed, the important record of his dealings w ith men in every age which is comprehended within the limit of the sa- cred historj', and by prophetic declaration they also exhibit the principles on which he will govern the world to the end of time ; so that the whole course of the divine administration may be considered as exhib- iting a singularly illustrative comment upon those at- tributes of his nature which, in their abstract form, are contained in such declarations as those which have been just quoted. (1.) The first act ascribed to God is that of creation. By this were manifested : his eter- nity and self-existence, as he who creates must be before all creatures, and he who gives being to others can himself derive it from none ; his cdmighly poiver, shown lioth in the act of creation and in the number and vast- ness of the objects so produced ; his wisdom, in their arrangement and in their fitness to their respective ends ; and liis goodness, as the whole tended to the hap- ])iness of sentient beings. The foundations of his nat- ural and moral government are also made manifest by bis creative acts. In what he made out of nothing he had an absolute right and jirerogative ; it awaited his ordering, and was completely at his disposal ; so that to alter or destroy his own work, and to prescribe the laws Viy which the intelligent and rational ]>art of his crootures should bo governed, are rights which none can question. Tims, on the one hand, his character of Lord or Gorernor is estal)lislicd, and, on the other, our duty of lowly homage and absolute obedience. ('J.) Providence. — Agreeably to this, as soon i\s man was created he was jdaced under a rule of conduct. Obe- dience was to be followed w ith the continuance of the
divine favor; transgression, with death. The event called fortli new manifestations of tlie cliaracter of God. His tender mercy, in the compassion showed to the fallen pair; h\s justice, in forgiving them only in the view of a satisfaction to be hereafter offered to his justice b}' an innocent representative of the .'■inning race; his love to that race, in giving his own Son to become this Redeemer, and in the fulness of time to die for the sins of the whole world ; and his holiness, in connecting with this provision for the pardon of man the means of restoring him to a sinless state, and to the obliterated image of God in which he had been created. Exeniplitications of the divine mercy are traced from age to age in his establishing his own wor- ship among men, and remitting the punishment of indi- vidual and national offences in answer to prayer of- fered from penitent hearts, and in dependence upon the typified or actualh' offered universal sacrifice ; of his condescension, in stooping to the cases of individuals, in his dispensations both of providence and grace, by showing respect to the poor and humble, and princi- pally bj' the incarnation of God in the form of a serv- ant, admitting men into familiar and friendly inter- course with himself, and then entering into heaven to be their patron and advocate until they should be re- ceived into the same glorj', ' and so be forever with the Lord;' of his sU\c\\j righteous government, m the de- struction of the old world, the cities of the plain, the nations of Canaan, and all ancient states, upon their ' filling up the measure of their iniquities,' and, to show that 'he will Ijy no means clear the guilt)',' in the nu- merous and severe punishments inflicted even upon the chosen seed of Abi'aham because of their transgres- sions ; of his long-svjfering, in frequent warnings, de- lays, and corrective judgments inflicted upon individu- als and nations before sentence of utter excision and destruction ; of faithfulness and truth, m the fulfilment of promises, often many ages after they were given, as in the promises to Abraham respecting the posses- sion of the land of Canaan by his seed, and in all the ' promises made to the fathers' respecting the advent, vicarious death, and illustrious offices of the 'Christ,' the Saviour of tlie world ; of his immutability, in the constant and unchanging laws and principles of his government, which remain to this day precisely tlie same in every thing universal as when first promul- gated, and have been the rule of his conduct in all places as well as through, all time ; of h.\s jirescience of future events, manifested by the jjredictions of Scrip- ture; and of the depth and stability of his counsel, as illustrated in that plan and purpose of bringing back a revolted world to obedience and felicity which we find steadily kept in view in the scriptural history of the acts of God in former ages — which is still the end towards which all his dispensations bend, however wide and mysterious their sweep, and which they will final- ly accomplish, as we learn from the prophetic history of the future contained in the Old and New Testa- ments. Thus the course of divine operation in the world has from age to age been a manifestation of the divine character, continually receiving new and strong- er illustrations until the completion of the Christian revelation by tlie ministry of Christ and his inspired followers, and still placing itself in brighter light and more impressive aspects as the scheme of human re- demption runs on to its consummation. From all the acts of God as recorded in the Scriptures we are taught that he alone is God ; that he is present every Avhere to sustain and govern all things ; that his wisdom is infinite, his counsel settled, and his power irresistible ; that he is holy, just, and good — the Lord and the Judge, but the Father and the Friend, of man.