God, as Nature and as Scripture lead up to him the awe-struck, trembling mind; God, the sacred Father of the universe, apart-retired behind his works in holy majesty; God, shrouded in a mystery never to be penetrated, and set forth in embodied fulness of being by the very breadth of shade in which he is enveloped ; THIS GOD is to us a majestic parent: the object of affection, reverence, trust, obedience: looking out upon our childish gaze with a countenance earnest and full of meaning; but yet-HIMSELF, his inward being, O how wondrous and inexplicable! O how far removed from all our comprehension, nay, our holiest fancy! Would I have a Saviour whom I can adore and yield submission to, I must have that Saviour God incarnate. Would I have a Father, the very thought of whom, whose very name shall thrill throughout my soul, and bring me prostrate to the earth in filial piety, that Father must be the Great Unseen: the dark, mysterious Godhead, THE HOLY, HOLY, HOLY, LORD GOD ALMIGHTY, WHICH WAS, AND IS, AND IS TO COME!

pathies, and hence its influence on our imagination, its hold upon our affections, its vivid freshness, and neverdying interest.

SERMON II.

GOD MANIFESTED BY HIS WORKS.

ROMANS i. 20.

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.

GOD in himself is inscrutable. The mystery of his nature is utterly beyond our comprehension. But God in his relation to us-his Character as concerns our welfare-this is within knowledge, and this has For all that respects our

the compass of our

been revealed to us.

duty and happiness-for the understanding of our relations towards Him, and the experience of emotions corresponding to those relationsfor the attainment of the blessings which in those relations He will grant, and the rendering of the honour and obedience which by those

relations are bound upon us-for every practical purpose, God has manifested himself to man. As our Creator, our Redeemer, our Friend, he has displayed himself: by his Works, He has manifested his eternal power and godhead as the Creator of all the world: by his Son, He has revealed his pardoning compassion, as the Redeemer of all mankind: by his Spirit, He discloses his paternal sympathy as the friend of all his elect people.

Let us consider now the first of these revelations of the Invisible God; namely, His power and authority as manifested by his works.

This is the first manifestation of the Most High, not only in the order of time, but in the scale of importance; for on this are the others grounded, and in proportion as we know and feel this, shall we value those. Let us recollect, that the object of every revelation of God's character is the production of certain dispositions in man; is, in a word, the raising man into communion and similarity with God; and then we shall see how indispensable are all the manifestations of which we are to speak-how closely linked they are with each other-how equal in authority and value, so that to esteem or dwell on one beyond another is a dangerous

C

mistake;—and how naturally and necessarily they grow out of each other, so that without the full perception of the former, the latter neither can be valued, nor experienced, nay, nor understood. In order to ultimate communion with God, and assimilation to his image, we must regard Him as our Friend and Father; but in order to regard Him as our Friend and Father, we must know and value Him as our Redeemer; and to value Him as our Redeemer, we must reverence and adore Him as our great Creator.

In proportion therefore, I assert, as we feel the power and authority of God, in that proportion will our piety be deep and solid.

And in proportion as we contemplate with a thoughtful mind the works of God, shall we feel his power and authority.

I. In proportion as we feel the power and authority of God, in that proportion will our piety be deep and solid.

For all piety has its root and origin in a sense of dependance on some greater Being. Its proper definition is, That conviction of our dependance on the favour, and of our subjection to the authority of some superhuman power, which begets in us a corresponding awe and obedience; and the very words and phrases

by which it is expressed in different languages, all refer to this as the primary idea. Thus, in the Scriptures we have it called

"The fear of "Fear "-i. e.

the Lord," or more shortly, reverence, submissiveness of mind; and again, "the service of God," and "the obedience of God," and its possessors are called "the servants of the Lord;" and in James i. 26, 27, that which we translate "Religion" (i. e. Piety) is, in its primary sense, Veneration, fearful adoration; and that other frequent word for piety, Godliness, || has reference to the same feeling in short, all the Scripture terms for piety express either the awe-struck dependance of an inferior being on his superior,** or the adoration and obedience due from such a being to his Lord.tt Nay, our own word Religion itself implies the obligation by which we are bound to a Superior Authority.‡‡ And how

* Prov. i. 7. Job xxviii. 28.

§ θρησκεια.

+ Job xv. 4..

Η ευσέβεια.

Job xxxvi. 11. ** Ε. g. ΠΠΙ ΠΑΥ, φοβος θεου, ευσεβεια, θρησκεια.

++ E. g. 7722, δουλεια, λατρεία.

"Hac conditione gignimur, ut generanti nos Deo justa et debita obsequia præbeamus: hunc solum noverimus, hunc sequamur. Hoc vinculo pietatis, obstricti Deo, et religati sumus, unde ipsa religio nomen accepit." -LACTANTIUS.