but a real lover of God, and willing to be taught by him*, resolve within himself, above all things, to make this sacred volume his constant study, mixing his reading with frequent and fervent prayer; for if this be omitted, his labour will be altogether in vain, supposing him to be ever so well versed, not only in these books, but also to have all the advantages that can be had from the knowledge of languages, and the assistance of commentators and interpreters. Different men have different views in reading this book; as in the same field the ox looks for grass, the hound for a hare, and the stork for a lizard. Some, fond of critical remarks, pick up nothing but little stones and shells. Others run in pursuit of sublime mysteries, giving themselves but very little trouble about the precepts and instructions, that are clear and evident; and these plunge themselves into a pit, that has no bottom. But the genuine disciples of this true wisdom are those, who make it their daily employment to purify their hearts by the water of those fountains, and reduce their whole lives to a conformity with this heavenly doctrine. They desire not to know these things only, that they may have the reputation of knowledge, or to be distinguished in the world; but that their souls may be healed, and their steps directed, so that they may be led through the paths of righteousness, to the glorious felicity which is set before them.

The sum of all is, that our felicity lies solely and entirely in that blessed God, who is also the fountain and source of our being; that the only means of our union with him is true religion; and this, again, consists in our entertaining just notions of God, worshipping him acceptably, and endeavouring after a constant and unwearied obedience to all his commands, according to that most pure

and perfect rule laid down in these divine books, which we profess to receive as such. Let us, therefore, have constantly fixed in our minds these words of the Psalmist, "Blessed are the undefiled in the that walk in the way of the Lord. Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently. O! that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes ""

way,

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LECTURE XXI.

Of the DIVINE ATTRIBUTES.

F all the maxims that are naturally written on the heart of man, there is none more certain or more universally known, than THAT GOD IS; concerning which I have given a dissertation some time ago. But of all the secrets and hidden things of nature, which have been the subject of human study and inquiry, there is nothing, by a prodigious odds, so difficult or unsearchable, as to know WHAT HE IS. The saying of St. Augustine concerning time, is well known in the schools; with how much greater truth might it be said of him, who is more ancient than time," and who bid time flow from the beginning? That he hath made darkness his hiding-place, and amidst that darkness dwells in light inaccessible," which, to our eyes, is to be sure more dark than darkness itself! O the divine darkness! says a great man†; and another most acutely, "If you divide or cut asunder this darkness, who will shine forth?" When, therefore, we are to speak of him, let us always call to remembrance the admonition, which bids us "speak with reverence and fear§." For what can we say that is worthy of him, since man, when he speaks of God, is but a blind person describing light? Yet, blind as we are, there is one thing we may, with great truth, say of

that glorious light, and let us frequently repeat it; O when will that blessed day shine forth, which shall deliver the soul from those thick integuments of flesh, that, like scales on the eye, obstruct its sight, and shall introduce it into a more full and open view of that primitive eternal light? Perhaps the properest answer we could give to the question, What is God? would be to observe a most profound silence: or, if we should think proper to give any answer, it ought to be something next to this absolute silence; viz. GOD IS; which gives us a higher and better idea of him, than any thing we can either express or conceive.

Theological writers mention three methods, whereby men come to some kind of knowledge of God themselves, and communicate that knowledge to others, viz. the way of negation, the way of causation, and the way of eminence: yet the very terms, that are used to express these ways, shew what a faint knowledge of the invisible Being is to be attained by them; so that the two last may be justly reduced to the first, and all our knowledge of this kind called negative. For to pretend to give any explanation of the Divine Essence, as distinct from what we call his attributes, would be a refinement so absurd, that, under the appearance of more accurate knowledge, it would betray our ignorance the more: and so unaccountable would it be to attempt any such thing, with regard to the unsearchable majesty of God, that possibly the most towering and exalted genius on earth ought frankly to acknowledge, that we know neither our own essence, nor that of any other creature, even the meanest and most contemptible. Though in the schools they distinguish the divine attributes or excellencies, and that by no means improperly, into communicable and incommunicable; yet we ought so to guard this distinction, as always to remember, that those which are called communicable, when applied to God, are not only to be understood, in a manner incommunicable, and quite pecu

liar to himself; but also, that in him they are, in reality, infinitely different from those virtues; or rather, in a matter where the disparity of the subjects is so very great, those shadows of virtues, that go under the same name, either in men or angels; for it is not only true, that all things, in the infinite and eternal being, are infinite and eternal, but they are also, though in a manner quite inexpressible, himself. He is good without quality, great without quantity, &c. He is good in such a sense, as to be called by the Evangelist, the only good being. He is also the only wise being; "To the only wise God," saith the Apostle. And the same Apostle tells us, in another place, "That he only hath immortality," that is, from his own nature, and not from the will or disposition of another*.” "If we are considered as joined to, or united with God," says an antient writer of great note, "we have a being, we live, and in some sort are wise; but if we are compared with God, we have no wisdom at all, nor do we live, or so much as have any existence †." All other things were by him brought out of nothing, in consequence of a free act of his will by means of his infinite power; so that they may be justly called mere contingencies, and he is the only necessarily existent being. Nay, he is the only really existent being. TouTws òv; or, as Plotinus expresses it, rò vasporlws ov. Thus also the Sepὑπερονίως tuagint speaks of Him, as the only existent being ‡, and so also does the heathen poet§. This is likewise implied in the exalted name Jehovah, which expresses his being, and that he has it from himself; but what that being is, or wherein its essence, so to speak, consists, it does not say; nor, if it did, could we at all

g Matth. xix. 17.

* ἐξ οικείας φύσεως ἐκ ἐξ ἑτέρω βελήσεως.

+ Deo si conjungimur, sumus, vivimus, sapimus: Deo si comparamur, nec sapimus omnino, nec vivimus, imo nec sumus. Greg. Mag. Mor.