66

ages, and in those countries where reason was cultivated most, is a sufficient proof that we owe our knowledge of the unity of God to that revelation which he has given of himself. This doctrine is there not only announced as one of its fundamental truths, but it is assumed throughout. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. There is none other God but one. There is one God, and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus." The truth of these declarations is proved by the perfect uniformity of design throughout revelation-by the full accordance between the promises of God and their performance; between his predictions and their fulfilment; between his precepts and the most absolute rectitude; between his doctrines and truth. In these and in other ways the existence of one self-existing, unchangeable, and infinitely-perfect Jehovah, the creator, the preserver, and the governor of all, is proved. This unity of nature and of perfection he claims as his own, and made it known to patriarchs and prophets, and by all his inspired servants till the canon of revelation was complete. All that has being is represented as nothing in comparison with him, as being held in existence by his word, as being under the control of his power, and as formed to shew forth his glory. "I am the Lord, and there is none else; there is no God besides me. They have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a God that cannot save. There is no God else besides me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me. nations before him are as nothing; and they are

All

counted to him less than nothing and vanity.

To

whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal, saith the Holy One? Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their hast by number: he calleth them all by names, by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power, not one faileth."

Behold the one great and adorable object of your hope, and trust, and fear,-the living and the true God. He is one in his perfections, one in his nature, and one in his design; and it is only by loving him with all our heart and soul, and pursuing in our sphere the end which his government proposes, that we can rest in peace. It is by reflecting on the unity of God that we shall clearly see the important meaning of that part of Christ's intercessory prayer, which says, "That they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me; and the glory thou gavest me I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one."

In connexion with the spirituality and unity of the divine nature, I must take notice of its fulness and immensity. He fills without any vacuity or mutation the illimitable extent of space, and the endless duration of eternity. He is not only present everywhere, but he is present in the whole perfection and unity of his nature. He not only possesses everypossible perfection to an infinite extent, but he fills in the unity of this inconceivable perfection every point of space, and every moment of duration. It is a fulness of being, of perfection, and of blessedness; including all power, and knowledge, and wisdom, and goodness,

every thing that is valuable and desirable; existing by itself, and of itself, and the only cause of existence in the universe. It is a fulness to which nothing can be added, because it is already infinite, and which cannot be impaired, because it is immutable. It was the same before the creation that it is now; and if the creation were annihilated, it would remain unchanged. "He is without variableness or shadow of turning." From everlasting to everlasting thou art God."

How consoling is it for us to know, that it hath pleased the Father that in Christ all this fulness should dwell. It is with peculiar propriety that those who are united to the Saviour are said to be complete in him, since there is a fulness of life and grace, power and love, treasured up in him for their necessities. This is the fulness with which believers are to be filled, by which they are sustained and preserved through all the temptations, and conflicts, and trials which they endure, and by which they are kept through faith unto salvation. It is because this fulness dwells in Christ that he is an all-sufficient Saviour, and has spoiled principalities and powers, making a shew of them openly; and is able to save to the uttermost. It is the enjoyment of this fulness in eternity that will constitute heaven a place of unbounded and eternal happiness; a fulness of joy from whence spring up pleasures for evermore. From this subject, I remark," I. That as God is a spirit, we are bound to give him a spiritual worship. This is the inference which an infallible teacher has deduced from the spirituality of the divine nature. "God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth,"

We are not only to refrain from worshipping God in a false manner, or by means of visible representations, but we are to give him in sincerity the love and adoration of the heart, and in the way which he has required. In addressing ourselves to God, our worship must be agreeable to his nature. Would it not be absurd and irrational to act towards our fellow-creatures as if they were void of reason and of understanding? Is it not as foolish to act towards God as if his nature were not spiritual? Is it not worse than mockery to act towards him as if he were not possessed of every perfection, and as if every perfection were not in him infinite? And is it not in those who live under the gospel dispensation, which presents the most powerful and spiritual motives to obedience, and with which is connected the influence of the Holy Spirit, a sin of the most aggravated nature to withhold this worship from God? Was it not to restore our alienated hearts to the love and the worship of God that Christ became a Saviour? The sacrifice of his death and his mediatorial offices are without effect in all who refuse to give God any worship, or who rest satisfied in the outward forms of religion.

That is spiritual worship which proceeds from a spiritual nature; and our nature before it can be spiritual must be so rendered by the renewal of the Holy Spirit."That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the spirit is spirit." Before we can pass from the state of carnal-mindedness and of spiritual death, into a state of heavenly affection and of heavenly life, we must undergo that change in which "old things are said to pass away, and all things

to become new." Our worship will then be spiritual, because it proceeds from a spiritual mind; a mind in which the Holy Spirit dwells; a mind whose affections and desires are towards God and towards the remembrance of his name; a mind impressed with awe before the divine majesty, and concerned for the divine glory; a mind whose prevailing habits are formed under the influence of faith and love, of reverence and humility; and a mind that has a constant regard to Christ as the only medium through which sinful creatures can approach unto God. If all this be requisite to the acceptable worshipping of that God who is a spirit, what reason have the most spiritual, in reflecting on the frequent state of their hearts, to be deeply humbled! And how precious should he be in our estimation, who is the great High Priest with the Father, and who presents our prayers and praises with the much incense of his own merits! I observe from this subject,

II. The great depravity and apostacy of mankind. But for this depravity, the revelation which had been originally given of the spirituality and unity of the divine nature would never have been lost. There must be something wrong with the mind when it is willing to forget the most glorious and perfect object of thought and of love. And yet when we look at the history of the world, we see that this willingness to forget the living and true God, and to substitute all that an evil heart could suggest in his room, must have been powerfully and constantly felt by man. So early as the days of Abraham it had succeeded in shutting out the Creator from a great portion of the