THE GENESIS OF NATDRE. 



43 



to be perfect in order and arrangement ; — no part overlooked 

 ; — no part neglected — no part nnguarded by His active 

 knowledge. There would remain no room for accident or 

 chance ; and the whole structure fitly framed together would 

 grow up into a cosmic master-piece. 



(7) As God is oniniprcsenf, His creation would be expected 

 to be elaborate in detail. The impress of His power would be 

 felt at every point, the mark of His presence would rest on 

 every particular. Nowhere would there be failure through any 

 lack of streno'th ; nowhere would there be flaw from the absence 



CD ' 



of His hand. 



(8) As God is unscarclmhlc, His creation would be expected 

 to be recondite beyond our bounds of knowledge ; the roots of 

 it would strike down beyond the limits of our ken ; the 

 explanations of it would go deeper than human intellect could 

 fathom ; the foundation of every science of it would rest on 

 postulates and axioms to be accepted but not understood. 



(9) As God is unapproaclKiMc,^ His creation would be 

 expected to be full of mystery. The lines it took would ever 

 and anon be shrouded in the clouds that veil His presence ; the 

 ways it followed would lose themselves in the darkness that is 

 around His Being ; the " why " and the " how " of it would 

 ever tend to vanish in dazzling heights of wonder beyond the 

 comprehension of any finite beings. 



(10) As God knows the end from tlic hcginmnr/, His creacion 

 would be expected to proceed on a definite plan to definite 

 ends. There would be in it nothing of chance in its progress, 

 nothing of failure in its design. Each portion, as it went on, 

 would have its reason in its arrangement, which might indeed 

 seem lost for a time, but which would in due season come uut 

 to take its proper place in producing the ends for which it had 

 been originally ordained. 



(11) As God is immutahle, His creation would be expected to 

 proceed upon a plan, which was not only definite but 

 undeviating. There would be no deflection in its aim ; no 

 variation in its purpose. Its course would not change at hap- 

 hazard, but would only so alter as to form progressive steps in 

 the development of its primitive unalteral)le plan. 



(12) As God is yatient, that plan would be expected to be 

 worked out slowly, unhurriedly ; built up in calm sequence 



This word is substituted for " incomprehensible " according to tlie 

 suggestion of Dr. Wallace, p. 42. It more clearly expresses the meaning 

 of 1 Tim. vi, 16. 



