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CHAPTER THE SECOND.

Relation God sustains, what-The paternal suggested-examined -some modification necessary-The rectoral character suggestedexamined-Result-Whence the true idea of sin-and propriety of

punishment.

IN entering on the solemn subject we have undertaken, there is one question in particular which meets us at the very threshold of our inquiry, viz. What is the true nature of the relation in which we stand to God? or in other words, What is the character which God sustains toward us?

Nor is this an unimportant question. It lies at the very foundation of the notions we form, not only on our present subject, but on numerous others of thrilling and everlasting interest. From this point men go off in various directions, and the farther they proceed, each one in his own several course, the farther do they separate from each other; till men who had commenced their enquiries together, starting from some common point, find themselves eventually wide as the poles asunder. Thus we come at once, in our proposed journey, to a place where numerous cross roads branch off in all possible directions: we anxiously ask which we ought to take, for if we take a wrong path, the farther we go the more thoroughly wrong do we get. There cannot arise, in the whole course of our inquiry, a more important question than the present one; for it is not too much to say that the most momentous doctrines of religion hinge upon the question; and our own interpretation of the peculiar doctrines of christianity (so far as dogmatic rather than exegetical theology is concerned, at all events,) will depend on the answer we give to the question, What is the relationship subsisting between God and his intelligent creatures?

Thus, for example, our ideas as to the nature of sin have their essential rise here; and then, by necessary consequence, our notions as to the proper remedy, if remedy can be admitted; and then, being only one step farther, our opinion as to the result of sin, if there be no remedy, or if it be neglected.

I feel it right to state thus distinctly the fact that our subsequent views will necessarily take their color, to a very great extent, from the decision we come to on this point. Let a man decide this question, either one way or another, and then his ultimate conclusions, if he reason soundly, cannot be avoided. If the premises be false, the more accurate the reasoning, the more certainly will the conclusions be false too: so that to re-examine the argument will only confirm such a one in his error, all the while the premises are assumed to be sound. Let us therefore give our best attention to this question concerning the relation that subsists between man and his Maker.

Let me suppose myself to be thinking aloud on this all-important subject, so as to be overheard by several persons, who eagerly volunteer to satisfy my mind; each hoping to make me a proselyte, and attach me to his party. Anxious to decide, I thankfully accept the offer, and listen to the various opinions which they confidently proclaim.

The First tells me that my true relation to God is that of theclay in the hands of the potter:' that as a creature, I have no rights whatever, absolutely none; and that God may therefore do what he pleases. with me, (without regard to my character;) that as a potter may, if he please, break into a thousand shivers the vessel that he has formed, just so may God devote me to wretchedness or destruction, without injustice, for that I have no rights; and that as everything depends on the mere will of God, he may deal with me as an absolute and irresponsible master with his slave. I shudder at the picture; but the speaker draws forth a bible, and quotes chapter and verse. I think, however, to ask him whether he has quoted the book correctly; and whether those views are really exhibited there, or whether he may not have taken some few expressions in an extreme sense, and independently of the connection.

A Second assures me that the first speaker is quite correct in his assertion, but quite wrong in his conclusion⚫

for that it is in reality a most satisfactory notion altogether, and one at which I need not shudder, as the preceding speaker would have me; for that the pleasant bearing of the thing is this,-That as there is no such thing as any right belonging to any one of us, and consequently no general rights for God to be the guardian of, the notion of his treating any one of us with a view to the welfare of the whole is idle; and that therefore, seeing no general interests of the universe demand to be conserved, God can, if he chooses, make us all happy, whatever we may be: and seeing he is good, we may be sure, since there is no general good to be consulted, that he will not use his arbitrary power to make us miserable, though he might do so, but will use it to secure the happiness of the entire universe; because there is no such thing as right, indepen-* dently of his mere will; and in his thus resolving to make every creature happy, there could, therefore, be impropriety.

These two men, then, wide as the whole earth asunder in all their habits, and denouncing each other in no measured terms, agree, I perceive, in one thing (as extremes do often meet,) viz. that God may do what he pleases with us all, independently of character: but the one uses the sentiment to maintain that, however virtuous we are, God may overwhelm us in misery; the other, that however wicked, God may, with perfect propriety at any moment forgive all, and make us everlastingly happy.

But a Third claims my attention. He tells me that he belongs to the school of the second speaker, but has another method of coming to the same pleasant conclusion, viz. That God is the universal Father; that he looks on `all intelligent creatures as his children; that he is training them all up for abodes of blessedness, and though some of them are untoward in their dispositions, yet there are none that will not finally be virtuous and happy.

Now I find this a very pleasant sort of idea, and happy thoughts come into my mind, of an infinitely great and glorious parent, making all his numerous family happy, and himself exulting in the happiness he has made. If one wanted a pleasant vision, I say truly this is one: resolved not to believe a thing merely because I wish to believe it, I ask for the evidence of the theory, and determine to see if it can be substantiated. Delighted with this

but

last speaker, I am about to depart, for the sake of uninter rupted thought and calm investigation, when a Fourth says he will not now exhibit his view, seeing I am so pleased; but he would venture to suggest that it would not be safe to trust to such a theory, unless it could be well sustained; he doubts whether it be more than a very partial view, and whether the portion of truth it contains be not exaggerated; also whether analogy, whether fact be not altogether against it, if it is intended as a complete theory;-and urges me to enquire-not- what I deem most fitting, nor what would most commend itself to my imagination, but simply 'What is truth?'

Perhaps I ought not to prolong this imagined scene. Let me then proceed in the more usual way. Our question is as to the character which God sustains towards us. I have mentioned the Paternal: is this the real relation in which we stand to God, viz. as children to a Father? May every one of us, whatever we are, equally, and in the same sense, call him Father; carrying with us the idea we form concerning a kind and indulgent human parent? This is our present question; let us examine it fairly.

It is capable, we instantly feel, of being very interestingly and captivatingly presented. The idea is full of amiableness. We dwell in one of the chambers of our Father's house; we are individually dear to him; and seeing he is possessed of unlimited power, and can do all he pleases, none daring to call him to account, we may of course all of us expect uninterrupted felicity. For what father would he be, who should decline to use all the means in his power to secure the well-being of all his children? We picture then to our minds a kind and indulgent father, who can happily gratify all his parental inclinations, and whose chief delight consists in rendering each dear child perfectly happy: and we remember that God is everywhere present, and that he is possessed of unbounded power. With this idea of a father, and with this knowledge of God's omnipresence and omnipotence, we go forth to observe the beautiful indications that of course will meet the eye, wherever it wanders, of God's fatherly care and affection for all his children indiscriminately.

We certainly observe with great delight the manifold proofs of goodness, the provision evidently made for enjoyment. Tis a pleasant earth that God has placed his

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children on; a glorious sun lights them by day, and by night the fair moon with her shining sisters diffuses a softer radiance.' We mark the rich productions which he has provided for them; how there is enough, and more than enough, of the fruits of the earth poured forth as from a horn of plenty. We see the human frame constructed for enjoyment; the physical man made to derive pleasure from various sources; the mind so constituted, that a fahigher order of gratification, viz. the intellectual, is placed within his reach; while there are social propensities, which surround him with the objects of warm affection; and the various relationships of life afford some of the purest and intensest joy that man can experience. And while we watched the heightened expression in the countenance of youth, as a new world of happiness begins to open; or mark the bliss that waits on wedded love;' or gaze on the infant, that with so much of joyous repose draws the milk-stream from the mother's vein; or read the emotions that swell that mother's heart; and remember that 'love is of God,'-we respond to the assertion that God is love,' in the words that are employed, and we say emphatically, God is love.

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It cannot be doubted that God is good. The happiness that exists proves it beyond a doubt. And therefore since God is one, and his character necessarily uniform and consistent, he is always good. Even if we should find less pleasant scenes than those adverted to'; still this could not bring into question the already ascertained fact of God's goodness, and, by reason of his immutability, his unchangeable and undeviating goodness. Let this be settled, that as God cannot be both good and evil, and we see him good, he must be always good, though we may not be able to harmonize everything with this attribute, or may have formed very inadequate and puerile conceits about goodness, and what it ought to accomplish.

But assuredly we have looked a very little way as yet. It would be very premature to pause in our examination, quite satisfied from what we have seen, that the true and sole relationship between God and us is that of father and children. Let us continue our investigation.

We obtain the confidence of numerous individuals, who each tell us a melting tale of sorrow; difficulties, embarrassments, heart-rending bereavements, painful afflictions,