word, if he should be a good minister, he will oblige you to be a good people.

But if he should fulfil his obligations to you, and you should violate your obligations to him, the consequence to you will be fatal. All his labors, all his self denial, all his love and compassion, will only aggravate your present guilt and future destruction. God is about to try you. And a most tremendous trial it will be, if he puts a price into your hands to get wisdom, and you have no heart to it, but prefer folly to wisdom, and darkness to light. This is a solemn day to you, and next to that day, when you must give an account how you have received and heard. Between this day and that, you will have a day of grace and space of repentance. And between this day and that, your pastor will have an opportunity of being a savor of life unto life, or of death unto death, to your souls for ever. "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation!" Hear, and your souls shall live. Refuse, and your souls shall die!

SERMON VI.

GOD INCOMPREHENSIBLE BY HIS CREATURES.

DELIVERED OCTOBER 10, 1793, AT THE ORDINATION OF REV. CALVIN CHADDOCK, TO THE PASTORAL CARE OF THE THIRD CHURCH IN ROCHESTER.

CANST thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?-JOB, xi. 7.

THAT there is a first and supreme cause, who is the Creator and Governor of the universe, is a plain and obvious truth, which forces itself upon every attentive mind; so that many have argued the existence of God, from the unanimous consent of all nations to this great and fundamental truth. But though we may easily conceive of the existence of the Deity, yet his nature and perfections surpass the comprehension of all minds but his own. Our eyes can perceive, without difficulty, the scattered rays of the sun; but if we fix them steadily upon the sun itself, we are immediately involved in darkness by a profusion of light. So our general ideas of the Deity are clear and distinct; but if we take a more steady and particular survey of the divine mind, our mental sight is confused by the greatness and brightness of the object. We commonly, therefore, rest satisfied with more general and familiar views of the Supreme Being, unless some great event, some sudden change, or some pressing calamity, rouse our attention, and excite us to dive deeper into the divine nature and counsel. This was precisely the situation of Job. A great and sudden calamity had turned away his eyes from all second causes, and fixed his whole attention upon the supreme First Cause. He was astonished that God should raise him so high, and in a moment, sink him so low. This led him to pry into the mysteries of

divine providence, and to censure the ways of Him, whose ways are past finding out. Zophar, his friend, had impatiently heard his unreasonable complaints; and at length put a question to him, which was exactly suited to silence all his objections. "Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?" This question carries in it the most strong and pointed assertion, that no created natures are able to comprehend the Supreme Being. The single point, therefore, which claims our present attention, is this:

That God is incomprehensible by his creatures.

This truth is too plain to need a labored proof. It rests upon the same evidence, upon which the truth of the divine existence depends. If God be eternal and self existent, he must be incomprehensible. Every mind revolts from the idea, that creatures should be able to comprehend their Creator, because this would imply that their powers and capacities are equal to his. I shall therefore only point out the various respects, in which

God is incomprehensible by his creatures. And here I may

observe,

1. That God is incomprehensible in respect to the ground of his existence.

Though God is the first of beings, and owes his existence to no cause out of himself, yet we are obliged to suppose there is some ground or reason of his existing, rather than not existing. We cannot conceive of any existence, which has no ground or foundation. But the foundation of God's existence is neither before, nor out of himself. For, if it were before himself, or out of himself, he could not be the first and self existent Being. The ground or reason, then, of God's existence must be wholly within himself. There must be something in the nature of the Divine Being which renders his existence absolutely necessary. But what that something is, which is wholly within himself, and which renders his existence absolutely necessary, is above the comprehension of all created beings. It is not the divine will; it is not the divine power; it is not the divine wisdom; it is not, indeed, any divine attribute, but something which lies at the foundation of all the perfections of God, and which can be comprehended only by himself.

2. God is incomprehensible in respect to many of his perfections.

In some sense, indeed, all the perfections of God are unsearchable; for they are all unbounded in respect to creatures. Most of the divine perfections, however, are in the strictest sense, incomprehensible; and these deserve particular notice.

Eternity is one. God is eternal. He is said to inhabit, that is, properly and supremely to possess, eternity. He never had

a beginning. There never was a time when he did not exist. Now we can easily conceive of a future, but not of a past eternity. We can easily conceive that God should continue to exist for ever and ever; for we can conceive the same of ourselves and other created beings. But an eternity a parte ante, as some divines call it, that is, a beginningless eternity, surpasses the comprehension of all created intelligences. They know that they had a beginning. They know that all created objects had a beginning. Of this they had a clear conception. But that a being should always exist without any beginning, is what they will never be able to fathom, either in this world, or that which is to come.

The omnipresence of God is another incomprehensible perfection. That God is present every where, both the light of nature and of divine revelation fully evince. As all creatures live, and move, and have their being in God, so it is certain to a demonstration, that his presence constantly fills all places throughout his vast dominions. But this immensity of the divine presence transcends the highest conceptions of created beings. They know with respect to themselves, that they move from place to place, that when they are in one place, they are not in another, and therefore that they cannot be in all places at once. But God is equally present with each of his creatures, and with all his creatures, at one and the same instant. This is incomprehensible on any supposition we can possibly make. If we suppose his presence is properly extended, this looks like a plain absurdity. For extension implies figure, and figure implies matter, which we cannot reconcile with our ideas of a pure and perfect spirit. Or, if we suppose the presence of the Supreme Spirit is not extended, and does not occupy space, yet this really surpasses our feeble conceptions. Though our spirits do not occupy space, yet their presence is limited; so that they are totally unable to perceive and operate equally at all places at once. Hence it is evident that the most exalted creature has nothing in his own circumscribed nature, which can give him an adequate view of the divine omnipresence.

The power of God is as incomprehensible as his presence. We know from the perfection of the divine nature, as well as from the declaration of scripture, that God can do every thing. His power can meet with no resistance or obstruction. Who can stay his hand? His power is incomprehensibly great, both in its nature and effects. The effects of divine power are astonishing. The present created system is very extensive; but were creatures able to comprehend this, yet we can easily conceive that almighty power is able to go on creating world after world, and system after system, within the bounds of unlimited

space, until the number and magnitude of created objects should rise above the conception of men and angels. So that we cannot comprehend even the effects which divine power is able to produce. But the nature of divine power is still more unsearchable. It is of such a nature as to give positive existence, or to produce something when there was nothing. Created beings have power only to move, alter, change, or new modify objects. They cannot create or produce existence, in a single instance. The production of a fly, or a worm, or the smallest insect, is as much above their power, as the creation of a world. Creative power, therefore, is utterly incomprehensible. Were it not a fact, we should be ready to say that the Almighty could not produce something out of nothing. And Dr. Cudworth, in his Intellectual System, tells us that this was the general opinion of the heathen philosophers. But the Bible gives us better information, and assures us that this and all other worlds are the production of omnipotent power. This, however, we cannot comprehend; for who can "find out the Almighty unto perfection?" Again,

No one can comprehend the knowledge of God. This is as high as heaven, and deeper than hell; the measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea. God knows the number of the stars, and can call them by their proper names. He knows the number of men, of angels, of all created objects. He knows all things that have been, that now are, that will be, or that might be. His knowledge takes in all objects within the compass of possibility. Such is the vast extent of divine knowledge; but the nature of it is still more unsearchable. For God knows all things by intuition, and of consequence knows many things which creatures never have known, and never will know. In particular, he intuitively knows how he exists, how he operates, and how all creatures live, and move, and have their being in him. Such knowledge is wonderful; it is high; we cannot attain to it.

I might now mention the moral perfections of God, whose extent and degree surpass our limited views. For the love of God, which involves all his moral attributes, has produced, and will produce such great and lasting effects, as none of his creatures will be able to comprehend to all eternity. But since the holiness of God and the holiness of the creature, the justice of God and the justice of the creature, the goodness of God and the goodness of the creature, the mercy of God and the mercy of the creature, are all of the same nature, and differ only in their extent and degree, I will not enlarge upon these divine excellences, but proceed to observe,

3. That God is incomprehensible in his great designs.