sence of an almighty and wise Creator. But we may take another step; and while I am writing, I hear a fly buzzing on the window panes above my head. I have no intention to interfere with its movements. It has, however, a great advantage over the flower plant. The plant has life; but it is destitute of motion. There it is, in the soil in which my friend George placed it. But the fly can move up and down, can walk on glass, on the ceiling of the room, and perform, in fact, many wonderful feats which few of us have ever thought about. Not only does the little fly exist, but my friend Hereman informs us that he performs a very important part in the promotion of our health as a scavenger. We must not, then, despise the little fly that buzzes about our ears, or settles on our hands. He is doing his work during life's short day, and fulfilling the purpose for which he was created and made.

9. There are several grades in animal life, from the lowest type fixed to the rock, to intelligent, glorious man. All, as far as we know, possess instinct. Some (stopping short of man) show a knowledge and memory far above instinct, and truly surprising. "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib." The bird in its cage knows the hand that feeds it, and is not willing to receive food from the hand of a stranger. How soon, also, will those animals, which are called vermin, to which the great Creator has given such a wonderful amount of caution, become familiar with man. Just take the common mouse. Some two years ago, one of these made its appearance in my office at the time of my sitting down to take food. grew bolder and bolder, and would come out from its shelter to catch up the crumbs which I purposely threw down.

It

10. The dog and the horse have both become the attached friends and the faithful servants of man, evincing an uncommon degree of sagacity, amounting almost, if not quite, to reason. The more the animal creation is studied, the more do we discover of the wisdom and goodness of God.

11. To rise to the highest point, and contemplate man, the last created,

light of the setting sun, in my favourite Plato. I was seated on the grass, interwoven with golden blooms of flowers. At length I came to that startling sentence, 'God geometrises.' 'Vain reverie!' I exclaimed, as I cast the volume at my feet. It fell close by a beautiful little flower that looked fresh and bright. I broke it from its silvery stem, and began to examine its structure. Its stamens were five in number; its great calyx had five parts; its delicate coral base five, parting with rays, expanding like the rays of the Texas star. This combination of five in the same blossom appeared to me very singular. The last sentence I had just read in the page of the pupil of Socrates was ringing in my ears- God geometrises.' There was the text, written long centuries ago, and here this little flower, in the remote wilderness of the west, furnished the commentary. There suddenly passed, as it were, before my eyes a faint flash of light. I felt my heart leap in my bosom. The enigma of the universe was open. Swift as thought I calculated the chances against the production of those three equations of five in only one flower, by any principle devoid of reason to perceive number. I found that there was one hundred and twenty-five chances against such a supposition. I will not attempt to describe my feelings. My soul became a tumult of radiant thoughts; for I felt I had found a God."

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but the greatest of earth's creatures: of his body it has been said, “ Fearfully and wonderfully made." Man, glorious man, possesses a body of exquisite workmanship, and a spirit which can never die. We shall say something more about him in a future chapter.

12. We have obtained a view of God from the book of Nature; and it may be truly said, "For the invisible things of him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead." (Rom. i. 20.) But it is a matter of doubt whether man, by the effort of unaided reason, would ever reach clear views of God. Man has lost the knowledge of God, and the world's history certainly teaches that he has not recovered that which he had lost. And now we are brought to turn over the pages of another book which presents itself to us as THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

13. I enter into no proof, just now, that the Bible is a revelation from God; that subject will follow. I take the teaching of the Bible as confirming the views we have already taken of God. Not that I think nature has light enough in itself to give us anything like just views of God without the light of revelation.

14. The Bible teaches us the eternity, and consequently the self-existence of the Deity. "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God." (Psalm xc. 2.)

"Eternity thy fountain was,

Which, like thee, no beginning knew:
Thou wast ere time began its race,

Ere glowed with stars the etherial blue."

Although it confounds us to think of an eternal Being, and of eternity past; yet to deny or to disbelieve this confounds us more, and is the greatest absurdity. The more the Bible account of God is studied, the more clearly will it be seen to agree with reason and cominon sense.

15. As the Bible teaches the eternity of God and His self-existence, so it also clearly teaches HIS UNITY. "Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord." "To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him." (1 Cor. viii. 6.) "An idol is nothing in the world," says the apostle; and, "there is but one God." The more this truth is looked into the more fully it must appear that the vast universe, with its moving worlds, the earth, with its varied forms of life, must be all under the same guiding eye and fostering hand.

16. Closely allied with the self-existence and eternity of God, and in fact flowing therefrom, is His IMMENSITY OF OMNIPRESENCE. If space be illimitable, it must be filled with God. How beautiful and clear are the scriptures on this point! so simple that a child can understand them. "If I ascend into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me." (Psalm cxxxix. 8, 9, 10.)

17. A Being filling immensity cannot be corporeal, but must be spiritual. This doctrine is clearly and fully taught in the Bible. He who spake as never man spake, said to Samaria's daughter, "GOD IS A SPIRIT." As such, he cannot be seen by organs of flesh-"No man hath seen God at any time." (John i. 18.) So thought Paul when he burst forth in adoring wonder, and sang of "the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen nor can see; to whom be honour and power everlasting! Amen." (1 Tim. vi. 15, 16.)

18. Thus, by turning over the pages of revelation, we have a confirmation of those views of God which enlightened reason had gathered from His works. Let us proceed a little further, and we learn His OMNIPOTENCE. If there be one attribute of God which strikes us more forcibly than another, it is His almighty power. The more God is contemplated in His works, the more must we discover that He is almighty. What do astronomers tell us of the immensity of God's works? Without wandering into the domain of other suns (or fixed stars as we call them), let us confine ourselves to our own, or what is generally termed the solar system. The planet Neptune is the last of the large planets discovered; and although it is at such an immense distance from the sun that, if we were to take a journey from the sun, and travel at the rate of 200 miles a minute, it would take 30 years to reach it; yet it is under the sun's influence, and revolves like a faithful servant in its orbit around its governing orb. The amazing sweep of the sun's influence is seen by its extending to this far-off planet, and embracing the erratic comets. But these are only "parts of His ways," whilst the whole of the starry heavens remains still unexplored. Although light travels at the rate of 200,000 miles a second, yet so distant are some of the fixed stars that it would, it is said, take two millions of years to reach our world, though travelling at that rate.

19. On the omnipotence of God, the scriptures are express and full; but, without enumerating the texts which might be cited, I will just give Isaiah's sublime description of it. "Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with a span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing and vanity." (Isaiah xl. 12-17.)

20. God is OMNISCIENT. That he knoweth all things might be inferred from the attributes He possesses, as enumerated above; but the scriptures speak plainly on this point; and the difficulty is to make a selection of the most important texts without encumbering the subject. "Known

unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world." (Acts xv. 18.) "The Lord is a God of knowledge; and by him actions are weighed." (1 Sam. ii. 3.) "The Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all imaginations of the thoughts." (1 Chron. xxviii. 9.) "He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? He that formed the eye, shall he not see? He that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know ?" (Psalm xciv. 9, 10.) "O Lord, thou hast searched and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and my uprising. Thou understandest my thoughts afar off. Thou compassest my path, and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but lo! O Lord, thou knowest it altogether." (Psalm cxxxix. 1-4.) These texts are sufficient to show that the great Eternal whom we are contemplating is omniscient, and knoweth all things.

21. God is IMMUTABLE. All created things are liable to change. In fact, mutation and change are written on creation. In some respects this is not so much change as growth-childhood and youth give place to manhood, old age, and death. But even these changes do not impair the soul, or impede its progress in knowledge and love. God, however, is absolutely perfect: he cannot be more so to-morrow than to-day; neither can he degenerate. He is "the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." (James i. 17.) "Of old nast thou laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end." (Psalm cii. 25-27.)

22. We have enumerated what may be very properly termed the natural attributes of God, which cannot be possessed by any creature, how exalted soever in the scale of being. There is but One God, who is necessarily self-existent, Eternal, Purely Spiritual, Omnipresent, Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Immutable. These His glorious attributes, may be dimly read from the book of creation, but they are written in lines of light in the book of Revelation, so that he that runs may read.

23. There are further, what are called the moral attributes of God, of which it may be said, "of His fulness have we received." When man was created, God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." (Gen. i. 26.) There are some of the moral attributes of God which have been communicated to men: let us look at them.

24. HOLINESS is an attribute of God. This is made known by the book of Revelation alone. Moses inquired, "Who is like unto thee, O Lord, glorious in holiness?" (Exodus xv. 11.) "Be ye holy, for I am holy." (1 Pet. i. 16.) "There is none holy as the Lord." (1 Sam. ii. 2.) Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory." (Isaiah vi. 3.) Whatever partakes of moral defilement must be offensive to this holy God. Hence, when man no longer stood in the purity

of God, He banished him from his presence. Man recovers this perfection when he again becomes united to God. The holiness of God, although it may be communicated to man, seems to exist in God not merely as one of his attributes, but rather like love as his nature or essence. The glorified above, moved by this, break forth and sing, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come." (Rev. iv. 8.)

25. God is JUST. "A God of truth, and without iniquity, just and right is He." (Deut. xxxii. 4.) "Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne." (Psalm lxxxix. 14.) "The just Lord is in the midst thereof." (Zeph. iii. 5.) We may gather from the songs of the heavenly hosts not only what are their employments, but how much they admire the holiness and the justice of God. "Lord God almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints." (Rev. xv. 3.)

26. The holiness and justice of God might make us, who are sinful dust and ashes, afraid, were it not that those attributes are tempered by goodness ; for "GOD IS LOVE." So said one whose heart had been steeped in this love. In this world, whatever may be the case of the glorified above, we like to contemplate the Great Eternal as the God of Love. Not so much to look on love as an attribute of Deity, but to think of it as being the essence of God. "God is love." "The Lord is good! " exclaims the psalmist; "Good and upright is the Lord." (Psalm xxv. 8.) "Thou, Lord, art good." (Psalm lxxxvi. 5.) When the Great Teacher, who well knew the character of God, said, "There is none good but one; that is God" (Matt. xix. 17), he but declared a great and glorious truth respecting God. The psalmist, too, was so enamoured with God as good, that he called upon all the world, invitingly, "O taste and see that the Lord is good." (Psalm xxxiv. 8.) Should we, then, taking these testimonies as proofs of the Divine goodness, just apply them to objects around us? or, rather, may we not fix attention upon ourselves, upon our own bodies and souls; and, wherever we see the wisdom, there see the abounding goodness of God?

27. GOD IS WISE. The most cursory survey of His works will show this. But if there be a close and exact examination of a living plant, insect, or animal, the student must be dull indeed if he does not exclaim, "O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all." (Psalm civ. 24.) We must see not only that God is wise, but that His WISDOM IS INFINITE. "To God only wise, be glory-for ever," is the language of the great apostle (Rom. xvi. 27). Although God has imparted to His intelligent creatures a measure of wisdom, yet, the highest archangel, with His amazing fulness, would be the most ready to cry, "To God only wise." It can only be, as it respects ourselves, "A drop of that unbounded sea." This one attribute of deity may be seen everywhere; and it is a theme which, instead of being dashed off in a few lines, might furnish matter for volumes.

28. There are perfections in God, which may be regarded as emanations from those attributes already noticed. For instance, His faithfulness and