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idea of the Deity, and to display the power of Him who forms the thunders, the whirlwinds, and the tempests, and employs them at his pleasure to execute his judgments. But since God himself has combined these two things in the symbols he has given us of his presence, we may go farther, and remark, that this combination is well adapted to represent what God is with relation to us, both in his nature, and in his conduct. An ancient philosopher most correctly observed, that there is nothing at ' once so known, and so concealed, as God.' Do you want to know that there is a God? Behold the light. Do you want to know what he is? Look at the darkness.

our eyes.

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Do we inquire after a God? We discover him every where, like the splendour of the sun at noonday, which makes itself perceived as soon as we open "All the creatures proclaim their author: "His eternal power and Godhead are clearly seen "being understood by the things that are made."* But do we wish to comprehend his nature; to form just ideas of his perfections; to develop the secrets of his providence; to penetrate his counsels, his ends, his operations? This is an abyss in which we are lost. Here we find deep and venerable shades which we cannot pierce. God acts; but it is behind the curtain. God speaks to man; but it is from the midst of the cloud. God manifests himself; but it is in visions of the night, in ways mysterious and obscure. God shews himself; but it is only his "back part:"t him "no man hath seen, nor can see." He dwells in light; but it is a light which is inaccessible, and

Rom. i. 20. + Exod. xxxiii. 23.

1 Tim. vi. 16.

secures him from the temerity of our investigations, as much as the thickest darkness. This great God, then, is concealed from us. But if there be always some obscurity, always something impenetrable in his conduct; there is, nevertheless, also some splendour and fire; there is something luminous, which strikes the eyes, enlightens the mind, and justifies his providence. The miracles which he sometimes employs, for the deliverance of his children and the confusion of his enemies, resemble the lightning which flashes from the cloud, and discovers him who appeared immerged in darkness. The prophet Isaiah had in view this admirable union of obscurity and splendour which is found in the divine conduct, and intended to assert it, when he exclaimed: "Verily "thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, "the Saviour."

To explain these words, my brethren, it is necessary to know the occasion on which they were uttered. At first view there is some difficulty in connecting this exclamation with the context. It is a sudden transition, which abruptly breaks the thread of the discourse. It is, however, a very natural reflection, arising from the events which Isaiah has just been predicting; the deliverance from Babylonian captivity, and the restoration of Jerusalem by Cyrus, with the surprizing conquests of that prince. The prophet began to speak of these things in the preceding chapter. In this he enlarges upon them. He says, that "the Lord hath holden Cyrus's right hand;" that he will" subdue nations before him;" that he "will loose the loins of kings;" that he "will break "in pieces before him the gates of brass;" that he

"will give him hidden riches;" that he "will direct "all his ways;" and that the " Egyptians, Ethio

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pians, and Sabeans, shall come over unto him, "and fall down before him." And what is the reason of all this? Why are so many favours granted to this prince? It is, "saith the Lord, For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect: that they may know from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is no God besides me. I have "raised him up in righteousness: he shall build my

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city, and he shall let go my captives." Then the prophet addresses God in the language of admiration, resulting from a view of the surprizing methods by which the deliverance of the Jews was to be accomplished. It was to be by the instrumentality of a heathen prince, a stranger to their religion, who it appears would have no interest in their restoration: wherefore it is said; "he shall let go my captives, "not for price nor reward." And Cyrus was to be directed to this measure by the divine providence without knowing it; God having raised him up for this end, "though he knew him not." Here Isaiah makes a double apostrophe; one to Cyrus," Surely "God is in thee, and there is none else, there is no "God beside him:" and the other to God, whom he addresses with a mixed emotion of astonishment and faith:-" Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O "God of Israel, the Saviour."

I know that some interpreters put these words into the mouths of the astonished Egyptians and Sabeans, who are mentioned in the preceding versę. It is of little importance who utters them; but I am inclined to consider them as a parenthetical interruption in

the discourse of the prophet, produced by an emo→ tion which he was unable to resist; just as if he had said: Truly, O my God, wonderful and altogether impenetrable are the methods which thou wilt employ for the deliverance of thy people! Who can fathom thy understanding! Who could have conjectured thy designs! Verily thou hidest thyself from us by the mysteriousness of thy conduct! Thou only art able to effect our restoration by means so marvellous and inconceivable to our minds! "Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, "the Saviour."

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But in order to a full examination of these words, taken by themselves, you will observe that they exhibit two things: a God that hideth himself," and "a God, the Saviour." Or rather let us remark, that we may deduce from them two general truths :— the First, THAT GOD, THE SAVIOUR OF ISRAEL, IS A GOD THAT HIDETH HIMSELF-the Second, THAT THIS GOD WHO HIDETH HIMSELF, IS, NEVERTHELESS, ALWAYS THE SAVIOUR OF HIS PEOPLE:-two truths so noble and important, that they well deserve all our care in discussion, and all your attention in hearing: and the consideration of them, I apprehend, will exhaust the entire sense of the text. We shall make them, therefore, the two parts of our discourse. God grant that what we shall say may be effectual, under the blessing of his grace, to produce in us that humble and wise patience, that consolation and hope, which we need in the present state of the church. Amen.

I. Here I shall not dwell on the first word of the

text: "Verily, or certainly, thou art a God that "hidest thyself." It is a commencement which indicates a transported heart, a tongue unable to keep silence. Asaph begins the seventy-third psalm in a similar manner: "Truly," or as some have translated it, However, Be it as it may, "God is good to. "Israel." This language very properly follows the solemn reflections we make on the mysteriousness of the divine conduct; the contemplation of which made St. Paul exclaim: "O the depth of the riches both "of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How un"searchable are his judgments, and his ways past

finding out!"*-Let us come to the truth itself, that our God is a God that hideth himself. If we intended to consider this truth in all the extent that might be given to it, by a little digression from the design of Isaiah, we might observe that in many respects God hides himself, or does not make himself fully known to us.

Who

If we consider him in himself, who can comprehend his nature? "With God is terrible majesty: he "is the Almighty, we cannot find him out. Behold, "God is great, and we know him not, neither can "the number of his years be searched out." can comprehend his subsistence without a beginning? his eternity without succession? his immensity without extension? his prescience without any constraint on our liberty? his perpetual action without any change in himself? and a thousand similar things? and how many others are there, of which we have not even the least idea!

Was not God hidden, when he revealed himself + Job xxxvii. 22. xxxvi. 26.

Rom. xi. 33.

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