of a manifestation of the Godhead in the Son of God-THE WORD; a manifestation before this world's beginning, and from all eternity; a manifestation to angels in the realms of heaven, as well as on the earth to men. The Son of God is Deity apparent, the visible ray from the invisible fount of light and life. The FATHER is shrouded in eternal and impenetrable mystery: the SON is the revealer of his glory and his will.

Well, therefore, may we speak of God with Paul, as "the King Eternal, Immortal, Invisible, dwelling in the light that no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen nor can see." And well may we adopt the noble words of Hooker, "Dangerous it were for the feeble brain of man to wade far into the doings of the Most High; whom although to know be life, and joy to make mention of his name, yet our soundest knowledge is, to know that we know Him not as indeed He is, neither can know Him: and our safest eloquence concerning Him is our silence, when we confess without confession, that his glory is inexplicable, his greatness above our capacity and reach."

But not less clearly is the inscrutableness of God evinced by experience and fact.

For, to whom, we may proceed to ask,-to whom has the mystery of the Godhead ever been revealed? And the scripture answer is, to none, to no created being. "No one," says St. John, not any creature,* "has seen God at any time;" the only begotten Son, he only has beheld Him, and he only therefore can declare Him; can manifest his mind and will. And to the same effect our Lord himself: "Not that any man," any creature at all,† "hath seen the Father save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father."

And, frequent as have been the manifestations of the Divine presence and will, mark with what a holy jealousy and caution the sacred writers suppress all reference to his Person, and discountenance the supposition that Himself can be beheld: all form, figure, and similitude; every thing that could become an object of comprehension is withheld. Adam and Eve heard the voice only of the Lord God, as He walked in the garden: as He swept by them viewless as, the evening gale which cooled the air. The Israelites perceived only the lightning and the thunder, the tokens of his presence: they saw no similitude. Observe how Gen. iii. 8.

* Ουδεις.

+ Ου τις.

"And

carefully Moses reminds them of this. ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness. And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice."* Even Moses himself attained not to the vision of the Lord, but the skirts only of his glory did he see. For "the Lord said, Thou canst not see my face; for there shall no man see me and live."† And when Elijah was aroused to reverent attention by every awful symbol of the Divine presence; still it was symbols only-still a voice alone, that was vouchsafed to him. 66 Behold, the LORD passed by; and a great and strong wind rent the mountain, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in + Exod. xxxiii. 20.

* Deut. iv. 11, 12.

of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him."*-And mark, too, what a sacred indistinctness and obscurity is thrown around the manifestations of the LORD to Ezekiel by the river Chebar: there is the cloud and the flame, the brightness issuing from the awful bosom of the whirlwind, but the source itself unseen and undescribed: "I looked, and behold a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself; and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire." Nor less mysterious is the vision spread before the Apostle John, when "a door was opened to him in heaven, and he was in the Spirit." Amidst the dazzling brightness of that glory which his eye beheld, a brightness which could be compared only with the splendour of the most precious stones, there is yet no form nor similitude of Him, the Being! the mysterious One! who sat upon the throne. "Behold! a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne"-how sacredly indefinite the expression here!§—“ and he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone"

* 1 Kings xix. 11—13. Rev. iv. 2, 3.

+ Ezekiel i. 4.

§ Και επι του θρονου καθήμενος.

-the effect upon the eye* was that of dazzling jewels. O the awful splendour! O the inscrutable glory of the Lord our God! "Dark with excess of light;"-bewildering us with but the radiance of himself;-who has conceived, and still less seen, the Divine Essence, the mysterious Godhead? "Who can by searching find out God? who can find out the Almighty to perfection?"-" Behold, I go forward, but He is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive Him on the left hand, where He doth work, but I cannot behold Him; he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see Him!" The mystery of the Godhead is utterly beyond our comprehension.

And I proceed now to assert, That it is salutary, nay even necessary for us, that this should be so.

All that is said of God is said for man. All that is revealed of God is revealed for man.

Not for idle pomp does God display his glory; not as an object of perception merely does He rise in brilliant majesty upon the dazzled eye; but for our warmth and growth, our very life; to stir within our souls the seeds of holiest feel

* Όμοιος οράσει.