Language of the Bible.

Leading traits of the Divine character.

necessary to sustain the uniformity of material processes, or to carry out the moral operations of his general system, who can imagine that he will fail in the energy of his government in regard to the consequences of personal guilt. The Bible speaks on this subject in language so terrible that men shrink from repeating it; but nature speaks all around us more emphatically and more terribly still.*

As I have already remarked, it would not be surprising if some of my readers were to shrink back from these views of the determined decision which God manifests in carrying out to the end, all these arrangements which he has once deliberately adopted for the ultimate good of all. We cannot deny, however, that the history of God's dealings with men is full of such examples as we have presented, and that if we really and honestly wish to know what is his character and what principles do really govern his conduct, such cases deserve a most attentive consideration. He who wishes to frame for himself an imaginary Deity, suited to his own limited views and narrow conceptions, will probably shut his eyes against them. We however wish to know the truth, whatever it may be, and if we attempt to study God's character as it is exhibited in those manifestations of himself which he makes in his daily providence, we shall find everywhere inscribed in blazing characters, UNBOUNDED POWER AND SKILL; UNIVERSAL AND INEXTINGUISHABLE LOVE; AND INFLEXIBLE FIRMNESS IN THE

EXECUTION OF LAW.

* We must not suppose from these facts, that the Deity is guided, in the government of the world, by general laws, which, though on the whole useful and salutary, are, in individual cases, mischievous and only to be tolerated because they effect, on the whole, more good than evil. These laws of nature, even in those cases where, to the eye of man, they produce nothing but evil, are in reality as truly intended and calculated to produce good, as in the other cases where the good is manifest and direct.

Second manifestation.

The Holy Spirit.

Contrasts of character.

We have thus far exhibited the mode by which you are to study the character of our great Magistrate and Father, by his acts; and this mode of study, you will observe, is essentially the same, whether you read the record of his acts contained in the Bible, or observe them in the histories of nations and individuals, or in the occurrences of common life. All these however constitute but one mode by which the Deity manifests himself to men. There are two others which I must briefly allude to here, though they will be more fully brought to view in the future chapters of this work.

The second great manifestation of the Deity which is made to us, is in the exertion of a direct power upon the human heart. In all ages of the world, there have been remarkable exceptions to the prevailing selfishness and sin which generally reign among mankind. These exceptions occur in the earliest history contained in the Bible; and were it not for the light which Christianity throws upon the subject, they would be almost unaccountable. Cain and Abel, for example, took entirely different courses in reference to their duties towards God. Love, gratitude, and reverence seem to have reigned in the heart of one, while a cold, heartless, and selfish worship was all that the other rendered. Here is an extraordinary difference among beings of the same species, possessing the same native powers and propensities, and placed in substantially the same circumstances.

Noah listened to the warning voice of God, while all the rest of the world gave themselves up to sin. Why should this be so? Worldly pleasure, we might have supposed, would have been as alluring to him as to others, and the disposition to obey and fear their Maker as strong in others as in him. But it was not so. He stood alone; and how shall the moral phenomenon of his solitary virtue amidst universal degeneracy and vice, be explained?

Influences of the Spirit.

Testimony of the Bible; of witnesses.

So in a multitude of other cases. The narratives with which the Old Testament is filled seem designed to exhibit to us contrasts. A few individuals, with hearts filled with filial affection towards God, form the bright parts of the picture, and the natural character of selfishness and sin, acting in different circumstances, but in all, working out the same bitter fruits, exhibit abundantly the darker shades. Why should this be so? Why should Abraham find in himself a willingness to obey God, and to deal kindly and justly with man, while ungodliness, injustice and cruelty reigned almost all around him. Why was Joseph pure and spotless,-conscientious, just and forgiving? His brothers were men of violence and blood. Why, in such a family should there be such an exception?

Similar examples have been always occurring and the Bible exhibits them as the effects of a peculiar operation of the Holy Spirit, as it is termed, upon the human heart. A mysterious operation, powerful in its results, but incomprehensible in its nature. This you will observe is a manifestation of the Divinity entirely different from those to which we have already alluded. In the works of creation and Providence, Jehovah himself acts, and from the nature of his actions we learn his character. In his direct power over moral agents, he mysteriously mingles his influences with their moral powers, so as to lead them to act, and by the character of the results, we likewise in this case learn his character. They are however two modes of manifesting the powers and character of the Deity, which are very dissimilar.

This class of moral effects are not only in the Bible ascribed to an influence from above, but they have always been so attributed by the individuals themselves. Good men, in all ages, have always understood, and have been eager to acknowledge their dependence upon a higher power, for all that is good in their hearts They

United testimony.

The Son.

Seeing face to face.

have differed exceedingly in their modes of expressing it, but they have agreed substantially as to the fact. It has always been easy for an antagonist to run them into difficulty and perplexity in defending the opinion; still they have clung unceasingly to it; or returned to it again and again when torn away; and go where you will, among mankind, wherever you find holiness of heart, and real moral virtue, you will find their possessor ascribing them to a mysterious but all powerful influence from above. It is so with the refined and cultivated intellect in the most elevated christian community, and it is so with the humblest, lowest savage that ever bowed before his Maker to confess and to abandon his sins. It was so in former times with David and with Paul, and it is so now with every lonely widow, who, in God finds consolation and even happiness in the midst of her tears; and with every sick child, who, renewed by the Holy Spirit, finds such peace with God that he can smile at death, and welcome the grave.

A more full consideration of this subject we must reserve: we only allude to it here, in order to bring distinctly forward in its place, the fact that there is this, among the other modes, by which the great unseen power manifests himself to men.

There is one other; which we have already alluded to,—that more direct and personal exhibition of himself which God has made in Jesus Christ his son. Here God, for the first time, shows himself to men, openly and without a veil. Here we see the moral attributes of divinity in living and acting reality. In those other manifestations of himself which he has made, 66 we see through a glass darkly, but here face to face." When he acts in his providence, or in the mysterious and secret agency of his Spirit in human hearts, we must pause and reflect, in order to come to conclusions; we must trace back causes to effects, and infer the principles which

Studying God's character.

True mode.

Approaching the Deity.

must have guided them. But when the great unseen assumes our own human nature, when he becomes flesh, and dwells among us, his attributes and perfections come out into open day.

Such are the three great manifestations of himself to men, which the one Unseen all-pervading essence has made, as exhibited to us in the Bible, and in our own experience and observation. Though there have been. interminable disputes in the Christian church about the language which has been employed to describe these facts, there has been comparatively little dispute among even nominal Christians about the facts themselves. I have endeavored in describing them to go just as far as the Bible goes, and no farther, and to use as nearly as possible the expressions which are furnished us in that sacred volume.

These views, my readers will perceive, open a very wide field to be explored in studying the character of God. Many young persons, when they hear of this study, form no idea of any thing more than committing to memory a few passages of scripture, or learning by rote the summary views of some theological writer. But you see that all nature and all revelation, the whole field of observation, and of experience, and all the records of history are full of materials. Go then, and take no man's opinions upon trust, but study the character of God for yourselves by seeing what he does.

There is one thing more to be said, before I close this chapter. Many persons feel a difficulty in determining how to approach the Deity in prayer. "What conception," you ask, "shall we form, of the Being whom we address?"

The unseen Divinity itself, in its purely spiritual form, we cannot conceive of; they who attempt to do it will find on a careful analysis of the mental operation, that it