with the sound of the wind that blew just before. . . . And if it be thus with the brightness or colour of the moon, so it must be with its solidity, and every thing else belonging to its substance, if all be, each moment, as much the immediate effect of a new exertion or application of power. The matter may perhaps be, in some respects, still more clearly illustrated by this: the images of things in a glass. . . . The image, constantly renewed by new, successive rays, is no more, numerically, the same, than if it were by some artist put on anew with a pencil, and the colours constantly vanishing as fast as put And, truly, so the matter must be with the bodies themselves, as well as their images. They also cannot be the same, with an absolute identity, but must be wholly renewed every moment, if the case be, as has been proved, that their present existence is not, strictly speaking, at all the effect of their past existence, but is wholly, every instant, the effect of a new agency or exertion of the power of the cause of their existence. If So, the existence caused is every instant a new effect, whether the cause be light, or immediate divine power, or whatever it be."

on.

Now, if all this be true,-if the creature that now is, instantly vanishes, to give place to another equally evanescent,--it is evident that there is no room for the exertion of any force by the substance thus so transient. It and all cotemporaneous substances are annihilated at the same instant, and give place to others, which, as they are immediate productions of creative power, must receive all their primary impressions, and realize their first impulses, from the creative energy. And these alone they ever feel; for with the first instant of existence-they are gone, and others fill their place. The position is formally stated, as unquestionable and fundamental, "that no cause can produce effects in a time and place in which itself is not." 'Nothing can exert itself or operate when and where it is not existing;" an axiom which, in whatever sense true, is certainly false in that intended; since it is here expressly designed to separate all present created existences and their phenomena from any efficient relation whatever, either to their antecedents or succes

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sors. In fact, the axiom, as here employed, is contradictory to any conceivable exercise of power by a creature. The very idea of power in exercise is that of an energy put forth of the substance from which it springs, and perpetuated after the cessation of the impulse in which it originated.

The conclusion to which the whole argument of Edwards is directed, renders his meaning yet more unquestionable. He is combating the objection, that the imputation of Adam's sin goes upon the false supposition that he and we are one. He replies, that "the objection supposes there is a oneness in created beings, whence qualities and relations are derived down from past existence, distinct from, and prior to, any oneness that can be supposed to be founded on divine constitution; which is demonstrably false; and therefore the objection wholly falls to the ground." That is, since a given existence, a man or a tree,-"simply and absolutely considered, is not the same with any past existence, though it be like it, and follows it according to a certain established method," and its identity through successive moments of time is constituted by the mere sovereign establishment of God, -it follows, that the same authority can decree us to be one with Adam; and such decree shall constitute this the truth, and make us really one with him.

Here it is necessary to notice distinctly the peculiar sense in which the word, constitution, is employed by Edwards and his disciples. By it he does not mean, as might be supposed, a system of fundamental principles, adopted by the Creator at the beginning, in accordance with which to make and endow the creatures; but an act of executive sovereignty, in the order of nature subsequent to creation, and in which he is supposed, by decree, to constitute or determine the creatures to be something else than essentially and creatively they were. Thus, the colour of the moon, its solidity, and every thing else belonging to its substance is at each moment a new and immediate effect of creative power, and "differs not at all from the first creation, but only circumstantially; as in first creation there had been no such act and effect of God's power before; whereas, his giving existence afterwards follows preceding acts and effects of the

same kind in an established order." By a sovereign act of God, these things, thus created different and distinct, are decreed to be one. This decree is what Edwards calls, a constitution; and is, he says, "the thing which makes truth in affairs of this sort."

No doubt, many expressions may be found in the writings of Edwards, which are entirely inconsistent with the theory here exhibited, a theory irreconcilable with doctrines which he held with an unwavering faith. Inconsistency is the characteristic of error. And we are persuaded that a careful examination of his works must convince any candid mind, that the opinions set forth in the above quotations were characteristic of his entire philosophy, and very influential in modifying his theological system.

tural.

The scheme has an air of piety, by which Edwards was betrayed. It seems to honour God, by making things dependent on him in the most absolute and intimate manner. 25. This doctrine unscrip- It, in reality, dishonours him, denying his power, his truth and his holiness. It limits his power, by assuming that he cannot create a substance endowed with true perpetuated forces. So that the doctrine is irreconcilable with the real existence of creation at all. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." What is meant by this statement? It attests the creation, "in the beginning," of the heavens and earth which now are. It asserts the production of substances, of given form, and other specific attributes. These attributes are forces, which we intuitively attribute to the substances. Such is the constitution of our minds, such the impress stamped upon them by the Creator, that we universally, necessarily and immediately refer the effects which attach to a substance, to powers which we attribute to it, as of its essence, constituting it the efficient cause of those effects. But, when we attempt to describe the heavens and earth, and in so doing enumerate these powers or properties, we are told in respect to each, "It is nothing but a continued immediate efficiency of God, according to a constitution that he has been pleased to establish." By the time the description and the application of this principle

is completed, the creation has vanished;-there remains nothing but the power of God, putting into operation-“I speak as a man"-a series of phantasmagoria, for the deception of the observer! Nay, the principle follows us still further. If its evidence is adequate to set aside all our intuitive apprehensions, so as even to overthrow the testimony of consciousness to our real existence and identity, through the successive moments of life, there is no reason that can be assigned, why we should rely on the witness of that same consciousness, to the reality of our present existence. If all effects be referred to God, as sole and immediate cause, so must the self-consciousness which we realize; and, before we are aware, the conscious soul is robbed of existence, the universe is blotted out, and nothing remains, after the juggle has wrought, but God and the phenomena of his existence. His word testifies that he has formed a creation, It declares that he has given to his creatures powers to be exercised by them, to his intelligent creatures, powers, for the right use of which they must account to him. We are assured, that, having finished the creation, God rests from all his works. The indelible conviction of the potentiality of our own nature, and that of all the creatures, is enstamped by the hand of God on the soul of man. Upon the right or wrong use of our powers, by us and all moral agents, are suspended the destinies of eternity. The alternative is the rejection of all this evidence, or of the theory in question.

In fact, here is that form of pantheism which makes God the only real existence; of which, the universe of mind and matter is the phenomenon. We know nothing of substances, except their properties or powers. No other knowledge is conceivable; and if these have God as their immediate cause, there is nothing left, of which to predicate existence or to conceive it possible,

This doctrine, again, is utterly irreconcilable with the holiness of God. If it be so that God is "the only cause of natural effects," there can be no author of sin but he. He has declared that it is that abominable thing which he hates. He has assured us that he is angry with the wicked every day; and that, although he has no pleasure in their death, but that they turn

to him and live, although he afflicts not willingly,—yet will he visit the workers of iniquity with a fearful destruction:"snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest, this shall be the portion of their cup." He has shown his abhorrence of sin, by the fearful tide of indignation which was poured on the head of his own beloved Son, when our sins were laid upon him. Yet the doctrine in question involves, immediately and unavoidably, the conclusion, that so far from sin being hateful to God, he is the efficient and only cause of every sin of all creatures. Edwards avoids this conclusion, by recourse to the distinction between a privative and a positive cause. Of this we shall take notice in another place.

Edwards' doctrine of identity stands or falls with his theory of causation. He supposes us shut up to the alternative, that the cause of the continued existence of a substance is, either the antecedent existence of the same substance, or else, the immediate agency, will and power of God. But the very idea of an effect is, something distinct from the cause and abiding after it. It is something effected, something done, and therefore remaining; and the idea of creative causation, is that of the production of substance,-of something that exists, and has forces; and not of mere transient shadows. Such is the scriptural idea of creation:-"He spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast."-Psalm xxxiii. 9. The reason, therefore, of the present existence of any creature, is not its antecedent existence; nor is it the immediate creative agency of God. But it now is, because God at the first made it,-gave it substance, and so determined its continuance; and, having thus created it, now sustains it, with that providential care in which he “upholdeth all things by the word of his power,"-thus continuing to the creatures the same being and identity which he bestowed at the first. Nor does identity consist in an arbitrary relation, determined by a decretive act of God's sovereignty, at variance with the creative system, and contrary to the essential reality. But it depends upon the continuous evolution of unchanging forces; implanted once by creative power, in conformity with sovereign wisdom.