In Matters of Faith, no Addition to, or Subtraction from; in matters of Ceremony, no Opposition to the Written Word Members of the Church Subjects of the State, Inevitable Connexion THE CHURCH AND THE CHURCHES. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. Happiness in Man-The Character of God-The Gospel of Christ-Interesting to Angels-Intrusted to Men specially commissioned for its Proclamation and Extension. 1. HAPPINESS! True and abiding happiness for man, where and how is this to be found? "My soul, wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from him!" We are all expectants. Each of us has something in progress or in prospect upon which we are waiting, and from which we are in expectation of some advantage or enjoyment, or both. We may have been disappointed in such expectations often; still, new objects suggest themselves. The world is fertile in them. Before one project comes to a termination, another has started, and the interest excited by it has engaged the mind. Thus man is beguiled from one expectation to another, till the thread of life is suddenly snapped, and all his hopes perish. There is no hope in hell. If hope were there, hell would be no longer hell. But hope descends to his children upon earth, and they follow in the footsteps of their father. Their father's hopes have indeed perished; but he does not come back to tell of the disappointment. Stone after stone falls in the water, one with a louder noise and making a somewhat greater commotion than another, but the difference is momentary- the water 1 Psalm lxii. 5. closes over both; each is followed by another and another; and the water closes over all. The mean man and the mighty man, where are they? The learned man and the ignorant man, the rich man and the poor man, the party man and the moderate man, and the neutral man, where are they? Ah, Lord God! Thou hast taught us that "wide is the gate and broad is the road that leadeth to destruction, and many there be that go therein;" therefore "hell hath enlarged herself and opened her mouth without measure, and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth shall descend into it." 1 There is a strait gate, a narrow way, a way of escape from the common ruin. That which we have heard of the saving truth of God, that which we have seen with our eyes in the holy Scriptures, which our understandings have perceived and our affections embraced of the power of divine grace; that which we have thus known and felt, declare we unto you, that you may have fellowship with us; and truly "our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ." In the enjoyment of this fellowship happiness is found. Here man's expectation is indeed from God. This supplies an object of attraction to the soul, which, though it hinders not the man from attending to other things, does hinder him from adhering to other things. It' does not take him out of the world, but it raises him above the world; it does not become exclusive, but it does become paramount. Towards this fellowship with God some degree of right and true knowledge of God is indispensable. But no man has any real, true knowledge of God except he has received it from God Himself. Flesh and blood cannot by searching find out God. Except God Himself tell of Himself, no man can know Him. To guess at Him by inferences from His works; or, as St. Paul expresses it, "to feel after Him if haply we may find Him"-this is not to know Him; but to hear His own word concerning Himself, and to believe what we hear, this is to know Him, and this is life eternal.2 It is our high privilege-surely I may truly say our highest 1 St. Matt. vii, 13; Isa. v. 14. 2 St. John xvii. 3. privilege to possess in our own native language, no man hindering us, a faithful translation of the word which God has been graciously pleased to speak concerning Himself. Upon a careful examination of this word we find three leading features comprising all that is made known to us of the divine character. First, self-existence; second, absolute sovereignty; third, holy love. These are compressed into a few words, and these are dilated over the whole Scriptures. "Hear, O Israel" -hear, O England-for Jehovah hath spoken: "I am the Lord thy God;" and "thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart." All is here. First: I AM. Here is self-existence. Here spake the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity. His name-His descriptive name-was, is, and ever shall be, I AM. With Him "there is neither variableness nor shadow of turning." The end is before Him from the beginning; and the beginning is with Him to the end. There is no history, for there is nothing past; no prophecy, for there is nothing future; no speculation, no experiment, for there is nothing doubtful with Him. Does God reason? Think of the question before you allow your mind to answer. Reasoning implies some degree of doubtfulness and difficulty. The highest reasoning powers among men are required in matters most beset with difficulty. In proportion as the things before us are simple, they cease to demand reasoning; they are objects of intuition as distinct from reasoning. Then God does not reason: for all things are open and naked to Him. His universal knowledge is one intuitive glance. We cannot properly say of Him, "He was," for this implies something past, which is not now; we cannot properly say of Him, "He will be," for this implies something future which is now now. Our only really correct saying is, " He is ;" and thus He says Himself, "I am." Second: THOU SHALT. Here is the language of absolute sovereignty; God's rightful tone to every creature, for they are all His; and "Have I not a right," He asks, "to do what I will with my own?" He is |