it would soon be lost by the prevalence of human depravity, by the influence of that carnal mind which is at enmity against God. I observe, III. The necessity of divine revelation. It may seem surprising that this should be so necessary to make known to us doctrines which, because we think they are discovered to us by the light of nature, are termed the doctrines of natural religion. Yet I think it must have appeared, that revelation is as necessary to give us information of these, and to preserve the knowledge of them among men, as it is to make known to us the doctrines of grace and salvation. If the ignorance and depravity of mankind render it so difficult to preserve this knowledge pure and incorrupt, where the light of divine revelation is enjoyed, how deplorable must ever be the condition of those on whom this light does not shine! Unaided and undirected by it, reason, the most cultivated, will only lead to error, to atheism, and infidelity. Without this day-spring from on high, we should have remained in ignorance of the character, the unity, and perfections of the true God, of the duties which we owe him, and of the immortality which awaits us. If this light were suddenly withdrawn from us, the inhabitants of our favoured land would soon be in the same state with the people who dwell in the regions where once the Asiatic churches stood; or in that condition of idolatrous superstition from which our ancestors were rescued a first and a second time by christianity. "Blessed are your eyes, for they see. Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound, for they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance. In thy name shall they rejoice all the day; and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted." Without this light we should have been for ever without the delight which we now feel in the knowledge of the divine character and perfections; without that comfort and peace which we now enjoy in beholding the glory of God in the person and work of Christ; and without that good hope derived from the cross, of obtaining, when this life has terminated, a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. IV. Let us rejoice to contemplate God, who is a spirit, self-existing, infinitely perfect, unchangeable, and eternal, as he is brought near us in the person, and offices, and work of Christ. Great, indeed, is the mystery of godliness, that God should be manifested in the flesh. Yet this is the mystery on which the whole truth of Christianity is founded, a mystery essentially connected with the only ground of our acceptance and justification before God, and with our redemption from the guilt and the power of sin. For our sakes, and to accomplish our salvation, he who is God, made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Let us draw near, and view the character and glory of the invisible God in the person of his Son, as he unites the nature of man with that of God; and as he exhibits in his work as a Saviour, and in all the offices which he exercises as a mediator, the wisdom and the love, the grace and the power, the truth and the faithfulness, of the Father. Here we see in the most awful, and at the same time, in the most inviting form, the glory of God; that glory into the image of which we are changed, and which will be the object of delightful contemplation to angels and to saints for ever. 112 : : CHAPTER IV. THE OMNIPRESENCE AND OMNISCIENCE OF GOD. THE infinite knowledge of God is intimately connected with his omnipresence, and, therefore, I shall enter on the consideration of both in this chapter. They are often spoken of as united by the sacred writers. " Can any hide himself in secret places, that I shall not see him? Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord? The heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee. Great is the Lord, his understanding is infinite." The attribute of knowing all things, as necessarily resulting from the omnipresence of God, is stated as an obvious and elementary truth in that sublime address of the Psalmist: "O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising, thou understandest my thoughts afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying-down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or, whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee." The same evidence which proves the being of God, shews that he is present everywhere in the undivided perfection of his nature. "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handy work. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge." We see the agency of God in the air, the earth, the sky; in all the kingdoms of nature, and in all the blessings of domestic enjoyment. All above and around us will lead us to believe that God is ever present, ever felt, " in the void waste, as in the city full;"-that he pervades, sustains, surrounds, and fills this universal frame. He who possesses necessary and self-existence, must be everywhere and always the same, and must fill, without any variety or mutation, every point of infinite space. He fills all space, not merely by knowing all that it contains, all that is done in it, and all that can be done in it, he fills it not only by his authority and power directing all things, and accomplishing all the divine purposes without any to control them, but he fills it with his essence and being. God not only fills all places, and at the same time, but he is present in every place, in his nature, and in all his perfections. At the farthest verge of the universe to which our imagination can reach, there is a boundless void beyond which the King eternal, immortal, and invisible fills, and beyond this, still there is an infinite space |