I do not say that every real Christian can say, with the Marquis de Renty, "I bear about with me continually an experimental verity, and a plenitude of the presence of the ever blessed Trinity." I apprehend this is not the experience of "babes," but rather of "fathers in Christ."

But I know not how any one can be a Christian believer till he "hath [as St. John speaks] the witness in himself;" till "the Spirit of God witnesses with his spirit that he is a child of God;" that is, in effect, till God the Holy Ghost witnesses that God the Father has accepted him through the merits of God the Son; and, having this witness, he honours the Son, and the blessed Spirit, " even as he honours the Father."

Not that every Christian believer adverts to this; perhaps, at first, not one in twenty: but if you ask any of them a few questions, you will easily find it implied in what he believes.

And

Therefore I do not see how it is possible for any to have vital religion who denies that these Three are One. all my hope for them is, not that they will be saved during their unbelief, (unless on the footing of honest heathens, upon the plea of invincible ignorance,) but that God, before they go hence, will "bring them to the knowledge of the truth."-Sermons, vol. ii, pp. 23, 24.

SECTION II.

His Eternity.

WHO can search out this God to perfection? None of the creatures that he has made. Only some of his attributes he has been pleased to reveal to us in his word. Hence we learn, that God is an eternal Being. "His goings forth are from everlasting," and will continue to everlasting. As he ever was, so he ever will be; as there was no beginning of his existence, so there will be no end.

This is universally allowed to be contained in his very name, JEHOVAH; which the Apostle John accordingly renders, "He that was, and that is, and that is to come." Perhaps it would be as proper to say, "He is from everlasting to everlasting."-Sermons, vol. ii, p. 429.

SECTION III.

His Knowledge and Wisdom.

SOME аpprehend the wisdom and knowledge of God to mean one and the same thing. Others believe that the wisdom of God more directly refers to his appointing the ends of all things, and his knowledge to the means which he hath prepared and made conducive to those ends. The former seems to be the most natural explication; as the wisdom of God, in its most extensive meaning, must include the one as well as the other; the means as well as the ends.

Now the wisdom, as well as the power of God, is abundantly manifested in his creation; in the formation and arrangement of all his works, in heaven above and in the earth beneath; and in adapting them all to the several ends for which they were designed: insomuch that each of them, apart from the rest, is good; but all together very good: all conspiring together, in one connected system, to the glory of God in the happiness of his intelligent

creatures.

As this wisdom appears even to short-sighted men (and much more to spirits of a higher order) in the creation and disposition of the whole universe, and every part of it; so it equally appears in their preservation, in his "upholding all things by the word of his power." And it no less eminently appears in the permanent government of all that he has created. How admirably does his wisdom direct the motions of the heavenly bodies; of all the stars

in the firmament, whether those that are fixed, or those that wander, though never out of their several orbits; of the sun in the midst of heaven; of those amazing bodies, the comets, that shoot in every direction through the immeasurable fields of ether! How does he superintend all the parts of this lower world, this " speck of creation," the earth! So that all things are still, as they were at the beginning, "beautiful in their seasons ;" and summer and winter, seed-time and harvest, regularly follow each other. Yea, all things serve their Creator: "fire and hail, snow and vapour, wind and storm, are fulfilling his word:" so that we may well say, "O Lord our Governor, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!"

Equally conspicuous is the wisdom of God in the government of nations, of states, and kingdoms; yea rather, more conspicuous, if infinite can be allowed to admit of any degrees. For the whole inanimate creation, being totally passive and inert, can make no opposition to his will. Therefore, in the natural world, all things roll on in an even uninterrupted course. But it is far otherwise in the moral world. Here evil men and evil spirits continually oppose the divine will, and create numberless irregularities. Here therefore is full scope for the exercise of all the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, in counteracting all the wickedness and folly of men, and all the subtlety of Satan, to carry on his own glorious design, the salvation of lost mankind. Indeed, were He to do this by an absolute decree, and by his own irresistible power, it would imply no wisdom at all. But his wisdom is shown by saving man in such a manner as not to destroy his nature, nor to take away the liberty which he has given him.

But the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God are most eminently displayed in his church: in planting it like a grain of mustard-seed, the least of all seeds; in preserving and continually increasing it till it

grew into a great tree, notwithstanding the uninterrupted opposition of all the powers of darkness. This the apostle justly terms the manifold wisdom (wohvwoikihos copia) of God. It is an uncommonly expressive word, intimating that this wisdom, in the manner of its operation, is diversified a thousand ways, and exerts itself with infinite varieties. These things the highest "angels desire to look into," but can never fully comprehend. It seems to be with regard to these chiefly that the apostle utters that strong exclamation, "How unsearchable are his judgments!" His counsels, designs, impossible to be fathomed;" and his ways" of accomplishing them "past finding out!" Impossible to be traced. According to the psalmist, "His paths are in the deep waters, and his footsteps are not known."-Sermons, vol. ii, pp. 108, 109.

The almighty, all-wise God sees and knows, from everlasting to everlasting, all that is, that was, and that is to come, through one eternal now. With him nothing is either past or future, but all things equally present. He has therefore, if we speak according to the truth of things, no foreknowledge, no afterknowledge. This would be ill consistent with the apostle's words, "With him is no variableness nor shadow of turning ;" and with the account he gives of himself by the prophet, "I the Lord change not." Yet when he speaks to us, knowing whereof we are made, knowing the scantiness of our understanding, he lets himself down to our capacity, and speaks of himself after the manner of men. Thus, in condescension to our weakness, he speaks of his own purpose, counsel, plan, foreknowledge. Not that God has any need of counsel, of purpose, or of planning his work beforehand. Far be it from us to impute these to the Most High; to measure him by ourselves. It is merely in compassion to us that he speaks thus of himself as foreknowing the things in heaven or earth, and as predestinating or foreordaining

them. But can we possibly imagine that these expressions are to be taken literally? To one who was so gross in his conceptions might he not say, "Thinkest thou I am such a one as thyself?" Not so: as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than thy ways. I know, decree, work, in such a manner as it is not possible for thee to conceive: but to give thee some faint, glimmering knowledge of my ways, I use the language of men, and suit myself to thy apprehensions, in this thy infant state of existence." -Sermons, vol. ii, p. 41.

SECTION IV.

His Omnipresence.

THIS subject is too vast to be comprehended by the narrow limits of the human understanding. We can only say, the great God, the eternal, the almighty Spirit, is as unbounded in his presence as in his duration and power. In condescension, indeed, to our weak understanding, he is said to dwell in heaven: but, strictly speaking, the heaven of heavens cannot contain him; but he is in every part of his dominion. The universal God dwelleth in universal space so that we may say,

:

"Hail, FATHER! whose creating call.

Unnumber'd worlds attend;

JEHOVAH, Comprehending all,

Whom none can comprehend."

If we may dare attempt the illustrating this a little further what is the space occupied by a grain of sand, compared to that space which is occupied by the starry heaven? It is as a cipher; it is nothing; it vanishes away in the comparison. What is it then to the whole expanse of space, to which the whole creation is infinitely less than a grain of sand? And yet this space, to which the whole creation bears no proportion at all, is infinitely less