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All imperfection excluded from GOD. said of Him, but in the Athanasian Creed the word means "infinite, boundless;" for so it is written, "Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the LORD?" and again, "Behold the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain GoD;" and again, "Whither shall I go from Thy SPIRIT? or whither shall I flee from Thy Presence? if I climb up to heaven Thou art there, if I make my bed in hell Thou art there also":" not, "Thou followest me thither," but "Thou art there." He is wholly every where; yet nothing contains Him3.

But, in a word, whatever is a sign of weakness or imperfection, be sure that that is not in God. It is written that He "cannot lie:" and "He cannot deny Himself," that is, be inconsistent in His dealings towards us, promising without fulfilling, and threatening without meaning His threats. These are things which we dislike and despise there is no such thing in Him. Nothing is so great, but it is ordered by His will; He would not be perfect if anything that He has created were beyond His power and government nothing so small, even to the lighting of a sparrow on the ground, but it is

" Jer. xxiii. 24; 1 Kings viii. 27; Ps. cxxxix. * S. Aug. Conf., I. § 2, 3.

Tit. i. 2; 2 Tim. ii. 13.

The duty of imitating Him.

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no less ordered by Him; for it would be imperfection in Him if anything that He has been pleased to create were beneath His notice. He is not older now than He was when He made the world: a million of years hence He will not be older, for this would be short of perfection. His to-day is eternity": He is the same and changeth not. He is full of love; nay He is love itself, and mercy and forbearance, and whatever else is gentle and winning. Yet He is also most just, by no means clearing the guilty a; for to suffer the impenitent to be unpunished would be a breaking of His word, and, as in our consciences we must feel, a weakness and an imperfection.

It was said by a heathen", and it is true, that religion consists in imitating Him Whom we worship. We cannot imitate His immensity and eternity, His unchangeableness, His almightiness, His presence every where: in all these things and the like to them He is unapproachable. But in those which are called His moral attributes we may and must be like Him: in mercifulness, as it is written, "Be ye merciful, as your Father also is merciful:" and

S. Aug. Conf., XI. § 16.

a See Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7. b Seneca.

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How to grow like God.

in holiness, as it is written, "Be ye holy, for I am holy:" and in truthfulness, and in justice tempered with mercy, and in fidelity, and in all that is lovely and of good report, as it is written, "Be ye perfect, as your Father which is in heaven is perfect c."

Beloved, now are we the sons of GOD, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that hath this hope in Him, (' avr,) purifieth himself even as He is pured." We must begin here on earth to be like Him: like GOD, and therefore unlike what most people think to be enough in the way of religion. Be our calling what it may, in the clergy or in the laity, in trading or in service, great riches or pinching poverty, or a competent estate, neither rich nor poor, we must be living heavenly lives by the grace of GoD, and thus growing more like Him in Whom we believe. Be much with Him alone in your heart, giving Him your heart's most earnest love; for even among ourselves, His creatures, they grow alike who live together in love. If you have much leisure, be

v. 48.

S. Luke vi. 36; Levit. xix. 2; 1 S. Pet. i. 16; S. Matt. d 1 S. John iii. 2, 3.

How to grow like God.

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all the stricter with yourself, for it is very difficult to use much leisure properly; if you have little or almost none, build at least a chapel in your heart, and retire into it by continual short prayers and quiet thoughts of holy things. He teaches those who are anxious to learn; shewing them Himself, as they are able to bear the sight of His perfection, that He may win them to love Him, and by loving Him to grow into His likeness.

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Points to be illustrated.

SERMON IV.a

THE EMINENCE OF THE FATHER.

1 COR. viii. 6.

To us there is but one God, the Father, of Whom are all things, and we in Him.

THE whole of the first article in the Apostles' Creed stands thus: "I believe in GoD, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth." What is intended by the first portion of it, "I believe in GoD," has been shewn in the last two Sermons. Now we have to consider and to establish from Holy Scripture that which we confess concerning the First Person in the Blessed Trinity: viz. that He is the FATHER,what that name signifies; that He is Almighty, and why this title is ascribed to Him only in the Creed, and not also to the SON and the HOLY GHOST; that He is the Maker of heaven and earth, and why this act, the creation of

a This Sermon is chiefly from Bp. Pearson on the first Art. of the Creed.