all was good, derived from the One good Creator of all things; but that man, being necessarily endowed with freedom of will, in order that he might be a likeness of his Maker, a quasi independent being, seeming to think, feel, and act for himself,—did, in the course of time, abuse that freedom, and so brought disorder into his constitution and into the world: still, that by turning again to his Maker and Saviour, in a spirit of humble repentance and dependence, he may once more be brought back to order and to happiness. And to this hope is added the positive prophecy and promise, that the world shall be again brought into a state of goodness and joy, and the end be like the beginning. Now, this view throws a cheerful light both over our individual existence, and also over the world and the destiny of man.
It was, then, to destroy the great fundamental falsity just described, and to establish the vital truth that there is but One Creator and Source of all things,—that it is declared in Isaiah—"I am the Lord and there is none else; I form the light and create darkness; I make peace and create evil: I, the Lord, do all these things," Here, the statement is made in broad general terms, so as to make a strong impression on the mind, of the oneness of the Creator. To modify it in this place, by any exceptions or explanations, would destroy the effect, and, moreover, would lead simple minds into confusion. The Sacred Volume was intended, not as a book of philosophy, but of practice,—the All-wise Creator knowing well, that if the life was but made right, philosophy would follow, in good time—if not in this world, in the next. Wisdom ever follows in the train of goodness: secure the latter, and the former will come of itself: from the flame of love in the
