Page:A Compendium of the Chief Doctrines of the True Christian Religion.djvu/133

Rh to it's order; all of which are so connected and interlinked with the general order of the whole, as to constitute together only one human system. The case is similar in other instances, as in every beast of the earth, every bird of the air, every fish of the sea, every worm and creeping thing, even to the minutest insect; all of which were in like manner created according to their respective orders. It is the same with every tree, shrub, herb, and plant; and lastly with every stone and mineral, even to the smallest grain of sand, and with every drop of water in the ocean; all of which were created and still subsist according to the order originally inscribed on each.

Now in the various cases above mentioned, it is easy to see, that the perfection of the creature depends upon the preservation of it's proper order: and this would have been especially the case with man, had he continued in the order of his creation, with respect to the exercise of those faculties, which were placed under his control. Yet even as he is now circumstanced, his perfection and power depend entirely on his acting according to those principles of right order, in which he was at first created, and to which he may again in a great degree be restored, by the use of the means provided for that purpose.

Such then being the case with the natural subjects of creation, and particularly with man, whose powers both of mind and body can rise to their highest state of perfection solely by his return to, and perseverance in, the proper order of his life; how much more justly and truly may it be said of Him, who is divine order itself, that his omnipotence arises from his invariable observance of those divine laws, which his own infinite perfections have prescribed! For the divine will and the divine power are one: and since God wills nothing but what is good, it follows, that he can do