SECT. I.

The Scriptures represent God as making himself his own last end in the creation of the world.

It is manifest, that the Scriptures speak, on all occasions, as though God made himself his end in all his works; and as though the same being, who is the first cause of all things, were the supreme and last end of all things. Thus in Isa. xliv. 6. “Thus saith the Lord, the king of Israel, and his Redeemer the Lord of hosts, I am the first, I also am the last, and besides me there is no God.” Chap. xlviii. 12. “I am the first and I am the last.” Rev. i. 8. “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” ver. 11. “I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last.” Ver. 17. “I am the first and the last.” Chap. xxi. 6. “And he said unto me, it is done; I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.” Chap. xxii. 13. “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.”

When God is so often spoken of as the last as well as the first, the end as well as the beginning, it is implied, that as he is the first, efficient cause and fountain, from whence all things originate; so, he is the last, final cause for which they are made; the final term to which they all tend in their ultimate issue. This seems to be the most natural import of these expressions; and is confirmed by other parallel passages; as Rom. xi. 36. “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things.” Col. i. 16. “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by him, and for him.” Heb. ii. 10. “For it became him, by whom are all things, and for whom are all things.” And in Prov. xvi. 4. it is said expressly, “The Lord hath made all things for himself.”

And the manner is observable, in which God is said to be the last, to whom, and for whom, are all things. It is evidently spoken of as a meet and suitable thing, a branch of his glory; a meet prerogative of the great, infinite, and eternal Being; a thing becoming the dignity of him who is infinitely above all other beings; from whom all things are, and by whom they consist; and in comparison with whom all other things are as nothing.