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). To this attribute of God, in connection with His omnipotence, there is a beautiful reference in His appeal, by the prophet Isaiah, respecting His universal providence and His minute care of His people. When we attempt to realise the fact, that at one and the same instant the Most High regards all that is passing throughout the Universe, and marks the circumstances, the feelings, the acts, of all creatures, our minds are baffled and overpowered. But to assure us of His constant care of individual men, God points us to His creative acts, and affirms that His understanding is without limit and knows no weariness. 'Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: He calleth them all by names by the greatness of His might, for that He is strong in power; not one faileth. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, my way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God? Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of His understanding' (Isa. xi. 26-28).

There is one view of the Divine omniscience which may well fill us with reverent awe, and in the attempt fully to apprehend which we feel the weakness of our powers. The Most High knows the past, the present, and the future. The fact is revealed; and here we must be content to rest. That the future is known to God is shown by the existence of prophecy, embracing the acts of voluntary agents: but it is not for us, in our present state, to grapple with every difficulty which this fact involves. We can, indeed, understand, that knowledge is not causal; that the knowledge of something as about to happen does not bring it about. But while this point is clear and obvious, there are mysteries connected with the Divine prescience the solution of which we must leave to a future state of being.

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Intimately related to the omniscience of God is His wisdom. Wisdom supposes knowledge; but it implies also its right application, so as to secure valuable and important ends by the means best fitted to attain them. Wisdom is seen, among men, in the formation of plans and arrangements, and in calling into exercise the powers and resources necessary to carry them into effect. This attribute is repeatedly ascribed to God in the Holy Scriptures. The Psalmist exclaims, 'O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! in wisdom hast Thou made them all: the earth is full of Thy riches' (Psalm civ. 24). Jeremiah writes, 'He hath made the earth by His power, He hath established the world by His wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by His discretion' (Jer. x. 12). Daniel devoutly says, 'Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are His' (Dan. ii. 20). The Apostle Paul, too, in the sublime doxology with which he closes his Epistle to the Romans, speaks of the Most High as the only wise God.' This expression is full of meaning. It implies that all wisdom centres in God, and that all wisdom emanates from Him. Nor is this all. The loftiest created intellect has only a limited range of thought, and imperfection consequently attaches to its conceptions and plans. But God is perfectly wise. His counsels, unfathomable as they are by us,—and His counsels only, are characterised by absolute wisdom. And the same Apostle, in an earlier part of that Epistle, exclaims, O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past tracing out!' (Rom. xi. 33.) The omnipotence or infinite power of God is another of His perfections. He can do all that He wills to do, His will being regulated, if we may reverently speak so, by His wisdom and His moral perfections. This attribute, too, is repeatedly set forth in Holy Scripture. Our Lord's emphatic declaration is, 'With God all things are possible' (Matt. xix. 26). The prayer of Jeremiah expresses the same sentiment: Ah, Lord God, behold, Thou hast made the heaven and the earth by

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Thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for Thee' (Jer. xxxii. 17). And every devout mind will be ready to re-echo the declaration of Nebuchadnezzar, after his reason had been restored to him :- He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?' (Dan. iv. 35.) The infinite power of God, revealed in His never-ceasing agency, sustains the Universe in being, and is the source of all the power which created beings possess. He 'upholdeth all things by the word of His power,' and giveth' to all creatures life, and breath, and all things.' On this ground, as well as on the ground of His other perfections, we should bow before Him with lowly reverence, and while we tremble to place ourselves in an attitude of antagonism to Him, we should seek His favour, protection, and blessing.

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WE

CHAPTER II.

THE PERFECTIONS OF GOD (continued).

E have now to dwell on the moral perfections of the Divine Nature. These, like all the other attributes of God, are inherent and essential; but they are developed in the government of the intelligent and moral beings whom He has called into existence.

It has been properly remarked, that the moral perfections of God may be summed up in the words HOLINESS and LOVE. Every student of the Scriptures will remember the frequency and the peculiar emphasis with which these attributes are ascribed to the Most High. In the laws which God gave to the Israelites by Moses, we find Him affirming His holiness, and on this ground calling upon His people to be holy. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy; for I the Lord your God am holy' (Lev. xix. 1, 2). The Apostle Peter firmly grasped this truth, and made it the basis of an exhortation to Christians to maintain universal rectitude of life and conduct:— 'As He which called you is holy, be ye yourselves also holy in all manner of living; because it is written, Ye shall be holy; for I am holy' (1 Peter i. 15, 16). In the vision of the Divine Majesty afforded to Isaiah, the seraphim bowed before Him, saying, 'Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory' (Isa. vi. 3). And in the visions of the Apocalypse, we find the living creatures, the representatives of creation generally, uttering the anthem of adoration, 'Holy,

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holy, holy, is the Lord God, the Almighty, which was, and which is, and which is to come' (Rev. iv. 8). So, too, the attribute of love is again and again made prominent in the representations of the Divine character found in Holy Writ. It will suffice to quote St. John's emphatic declaration, God is love,' and to mark that this is made the ground of an exhortation to believers to cultivate and develop this principle. 'Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is begotten of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love' (1 John iv. 7, 8).

The subject of the Divine holiness requires to be approached by us with reverence, and with a consciousness of the imperfection of our powers. If we may attempt to analyse the elements which it comprehends, we may, perhaps, view it as implying, first, an absolute and necessary freedom from every principle or feeling that would involve moral imperfection; secondly, the possession of every principle and affection suited to the nature of God and the relations in which He stands to His creatures; and, thirdly, an intense and unchangeable hatred to all that is morally evil, and a settled complacency in all that is pure and good. In virtue of the essential moral perfection of His nature, the Most High is opposed to all that is impure and wrong; while His character stands as the archetype of all that is morally beautiful and good.

Intimately related to the holiness of God, and forming, to some extent, our development of it, is His justice. This attribute appears in the character of the precepts which He has given to His rational creatures, and in all the acts of His moral administration. It is affirmed in Holy Scripture with the greatest distinctness and force. The Psalmist declares, 'The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works' (Psalm cxlv. 17). One of the anthems of the glorified to which the Apostle John listened in the visions of the Apocalypse, gave prominence to this attribute:- Great and marvellous are Thy works, O Lord God, the Almighty; righteous and true are