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 and evil. Now, the word create carries with it a meaning applicable to reformation, and thence to regeneration; and when evil exists in man, the operations of the divine providence are designed to remove that evil, by creating desires in him for goodness,

The Lord jesus Christ is the true light, whence originates wisdom and truth; and it is truth that forms the light of the soul, while error constitutes its darkness. By the light of divine truth error or darkness is discovered; and the operation of the divine providence creates or regenerates the mental darkness, and ultimately blesses the soul with the effulgence of divine light.

Again: the divine love is essentially pure, and this love seeks to dwell in the soul, that it may render it finitely perfect. But while the man is in evil, this cannot be accomplished; therefore the Lord, by his goodness, through the intervention of particular providences, operates upon this evil, penetrates it, creates or regenerates it, purifies and cleanses the will from its secret faults, expels from it the pollution which had so grievously contaminated it; and thus the work of regeneration is the work of the Lord: "I the Lord do all these things."

HERE is nothing so well calculated to make us acquainted with our dependence upon the Lord, as frequently reading the Holy Word, and holding