Page images
PDF
EPUB

THE ELEMENTS

OF

MORAL PHILOSOPHY

BOOK I.

CHAPTER I.

THE BEING, PERFECTIONS, AND PROVIDENCE OF GOD, MADE KNOWN BY THE CREATION.

GOD is a spirit, and is therefore invisible to us. No man hath seen God at any time. In his nature and essence he is hid from us; and his perfections also would have been for ever unknown to us, had he not been pleased to give a manifestation of them. While this manifestation is unquestionably given in his word, some have doubted whether it has been afforded in his works, at least, with such clearness as might furnish the mind of man with distinct apprehensions of the being, unity, and attributes of God.

It is affirmed, however, by an inspired Apostle, that that which may be known of God is manifest without the light of revelation; and that the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead. Had we been destitute of the sacred volume, this would still be a question of the deepest personal interest; and even as it is, it

F

possesses considerable practical importance, both as it regards our views of the moral government of God in general, and as it relates to the evidence of divine revelation. All the sources of our information, and all the pursuits of life, are valuable only as they can be subservient to an increase of our knowledge of the character and glories of the Creator and Preserver of all; and if a survey of his works and of his ways tends to render our conceptions of him more accurate, or, should it merely serve to shew how greatly we are indebted to the light of the written word, the labour which we undergo, and the attention which we give, are not bestowed in vain.

I shall, therefore, attempt briefly to ascertain what may be known of the character and government of God from the works of creation and providence, or without the light of revelation.

But before entering on the elucidation of these particulars, it may be proper to make a remark or two on the language of the Apostle to which I have referred. The phrase," that which may be known of God," refers, of course, not to his essence, which is invisible, but to his properties and attributes. That which may be known of a person is that which distinguishes him from all other objects, whether it be his form, or some other characteristic qualities; and that which may be known of God are the qualities and perfections that are peculiar to him. These, we are told, are manifest, or may be ascertained, by those who have not the light of revelation; for God hath shewed them unto them. The accuracy of this interpretation is confirmed by the phraseology of the following verse. By the words,

"the invisible things of him," some would understand, the being and perfections of God, in contradistinction to the heathen deities, the attributes of which were visible. But, without supposing that the Apostle has any reference to the corporeal deities of the heathen, we know, from the current language of revelation, that the living and true God is not, and cannot be, the object of our vision. No man hath seen God at any time; and hence he is styled, "the King eternal, immortal, invisible; the invisible God; who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto: whom no man hath seen, nor can see.”

But his being, perfections, and government, are not on this account the less evidently reflected from his works. "They are from the creation of the world," says the Apostle, "clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made." The same doctrine is taught in several other parts of Scripture, more especially by the Psalmist, when he discovers, in the grandeur and magnitude of the planetary worlds, the glorious majesty of the eternal God. "When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man, that thou visitest him?" Here the Psalmist tells us that the contemplation of the heavenly bodies suggested this reflection to his mind; and, consequently, that they are calculated and intended to awaken this train of thought in all who behold them. He enlarges, in the nineteenth Psalm, on their design and tendency to proclaim the Creator's glory. "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his

handy-work. Day unto day uttereth night unto night sheweth knowledge.

speech, and There is no

speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race." Let us now proceed,

Briefly, to ascertain what may be known of the character and government of God from the works of creation and providence, or, without the light of revelation. In the outset it may be urged, by way of objection to our inquiry, or, rather, to our capability of bringing it to a successful issue, that no man, born and educated in a Christian country, can place himself in the situation of a mere disciple of reason and nature; that he cannot possibly divest himself of notions with which he has been familiar from his earliest years, and stand precisely on the footing of Socrates or Plato ; that he is walking in the light of heaven, even when he disowns its existence, and is vainly ascribing to his own understanding those elementary truths which unaided reason would not discover. I am so far from denying the truth of this position, that I own it to be my opinion, that much of what is termed natural religion, is itself the effect, partly, of that early revelation which existed in the family of mankind before its dispersion over the globe, and, partly, of that clearer revelation which has since poured its light on the human mind.

Yet, surely, as we are so explicitly taught by the sacred volume, as well as by many other considera

« PreviousContinue »