is done under the sun, yet shall he not be able to find it out" (Eccles. viii. 17). Again, as to the power of God," all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?" (Dan. iv. 35.) In like manner, the holiness of God presents an appalling contrast to the character and conduct of man : "For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones" (Isa. xxxvii. 15). But as for man, "We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away" (Isa. lxiv. 6). Turn now to the justice of God, as displayed in providence: "The fierce anger of the LORD shall not return until he have done it, and until he have performed the intents of his heart in the latter days ye shall consider

it" (Jer: xxx. 24). "The LORD our Righteousness," his prerogative is that he "shall execute judgment and justice in the earth" (Jer. xxiii. 5, 6). But otherwise, "all the foundations of the earth

are out of course" (Ps. lxxxii. 5). Again let us advert to the goodness of God, as displayed in providence : "The earth is full of the goodness of the LORD" (Ps. xxxiii. 5). "The goodness of God endureth continually" (Ps. lii. 1). "Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!" (Ps. xxxi. 19.) But as for men, their "goodness is as a morning cloud; and as the early dew, it goeth away" (Hos. vi. 4). And here particularly is the grand force of the command of God, for the wicked to return to him; for, unlike man, the goodness of God endureth for "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God; for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD." Once

ever.

more, let us contrast the truth of God, in his providence, as it is to be observed, in opposition to the falsehood and error of man: Man may promise, and not perform; but God's promises are irrevocable. Hath the LORD promised "mercy" and "pardon" to the returning penitent? He hath and therefore, as the pardon of David, and the pardon of Manasseh (2 Chron. xxxiii. 12, 13), and the pardon of Peter, and the pardon of Saul of Tarsus, and the pardon of thousands of others, emphatically teach us, that promise of God shall, to a certainty, be fulfilled. "Trust ye in the LORD for ever for in the LORD Jehovah is everlasting "Trust in him at all

strength" (Isa. xxvi. 4).

times, ye people: pour out your heart before him : God is a refuge for us" (Ps. lxii. 8).

Amen.

IX.

THE WAYS OF THE LORD ARE INFINITELY ABOVE

THOSE OF MAN.

"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."-ISA. LV. 9, first clause.

WHEN the assembly of divines who met at Westminster in the seventeenth century had come to the question, "What is God?" there was for a while a solemn pause, after which a young minister from Scotland, George Gillespie by name, gave answer, nearly in the following words: "God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth." So the words stand in our Shorter Catechism, that admirable summary of Divine truth; and the utterance of our Scottish divine has been often since admired for its comprehensiveness and precision; but it is only just

to add, that nearly the same enunciation had been made by the German Reformer, Philip Melanchthon1 fully a century before: and the sure word of prophecy tells us of the character of the great God with whom we have to do, in expressions so plain that he that runs may read. Yet, after all, the finite cannot comprehend the Infinite; mortal man may be reconciled to God, and may love him; but "the thunder of his power who can understand?" (Job xxvi. 14.) "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."

May the Spirit of wisdom and knowledge be given unto us; may we be convinced of the infinite distance that there is between God's ways in providence and our ways in our manner of life

1 "Deus est essentia spiritualis, intelligens, æterna, verax, bona, pura, justa, misericors, liberrima, immensæ potentiæ, et sapientiæ; Pater æternus, qui Filium imaginem suam ab æterno genuit; et Filius imago Patris co-æterna; et Spiritus Sanctus procedens a Patre et Filio; sicut patefacta est Divinitas certo verbo."—Loci Communes, Erlangæ, vol. i. p. 13.