A Compendium of the Chief Doctrines of the True Christian Religion/Chapter 4
IV. Creation.
AS Jehovah God, by virtue of his divine love, had in view the happiness of others out of himself, yet contiguous to himself; so by virtue of his divine wisdom, operating according to the laws of his own order, he produced from himself, and not out of nothing, as many have supposed, substances and forms, both spiritual and natural, in indefinite variety, and at length human forms capable of receiving and perceiving in themselves his divine love and wisdom. These human forms were therefore created to be images and likenesses of him, from whom they were produced, and by whose power they were brought into existence. On which account it is written, "In the beginning was the Word, (the Divine Wisdom,) and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made," John. i. 1,3. And again, "God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him," Gen. i. 26, 27.
From this general view of the nature and design of creation, may be inferred the following particulars, relative to the order of it's progression from first principles to ultimate effects, viz. 1. That from Jehovah God there emanated, and still emanates, a sphere of divine glory, which encircles him on every side, and constitutes the sun of the spiritual world. 2. That through the instrumentality of this sun, which in it's essence is pure love, and gives forth spiritual heat and spiritual light, in other words, love and wisdom, to minds capable of receiving them, three spiritual atmospheres, of different purity and activity, were produced, giving birth to all things in that world; and that the sun of the natural world, which is pure fire, was in like manner produced, together with three natural atmospheres, and all earths which exist by their means. 3. That thus all things were produced, not out of nothing, but from the divine love by means of the divine wisdom, which are indeed the substance of all substances. 4. That every created subject is, by the very condition of it's existence, finite and limited, and consequently distinct from the Infinite, from which or from whom it proceeded. 5. That nevertheless the Infinite is in created subjects, as in it's receptacles, according to their various degrees and states of being. 6. That all things, which thus came forth from the Divine Being, do in a certain way return to him through the medium of man, in whose body are collected all the uses of the natural world, and in whose mind all the uses of the spiritual world: and that such return is made by an acknowledgment in heart, understanding, and life, that all things are derived from, and continually supported by, the divine love and the divine wisdom of the great Author of all being.
These and similar considerations, arising from a view of the grand work of creation, demonstrate to the truly rational mind, when enlightened by revelation, that God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent that by virtue of his divine perfections he is essential order; that this order was originally introduced into the universe, and all it's parts; and that man especially was created to be a living form of such order, and consequently an image and likeness of his bountiful Creator.
