:

tion he was so manifested that his disciples could see him, and look on him, and handle him; and thus be qualified to bear witness of him, and to show unto others that eternal life that was with the Father. 3. As having opened a way in which those who believed in him were admitted to fellowship with God, and with him, and were commissioned to invite others to partake with them. I have long considered this passage as a decisive proof of the divinity of Christ, and as a summary of the gospel.

I am

Affectionately Yours

A. F.

LETTER IV.

ON THE BEING OF GOD.

My dear Brother,

HAVING, in the foregoing letters, endeavoured to show the importance of system, and of that system being the true one, and proposed the plan of what I may communicate, I shall now proceed to execute it as well as I am able. In the last letter it was stated concerning the doctrine of the cross, that every thing pertaining to Christianity was presupposed by it, included in it, or rose out of it. This threefold distribution will form the three parts into which what I write will be divided. Under the first; namely, principles presupposed by the doctrine of the cross, I begin with the being of God, to which fundamental principle this letter will be devoted. God is the first cause and last end of all things. Of him, and through him, and to him are all things; to him be glory for ever, Amen! To undertake to prove his existence seems to be almost as unnecessary as to go about to prove our own. The scriptures, at their outset, take it for granted; and he that calls it in question is not so much to be reasoned with as to be reproved. His error belongs to the heart, rather than to the understanding. His doubts are either affected, or arise from a wish to free himself from the idea of accountableness. The things that are seen in the visible creation contain so clear a manifestation of the things that are not seen, even of his eternal power and Godhead, as to leave Atheists and idolaters without excuse. Rom. i. 20.

All reasoning must proceed upon some acknowledged principles; and what can deserve to be so considered more than our own existence, and that of the great First Cause? There are truths

among men which it is indecorous to attempt to prove.

To discuss the question, whether a parent ought to be acknowledged and obeyed by his children, whatever proof might be alleged for it, would tend to agitate a subject which ought to be at rest. I question whether argumentation in favour of the existence of God has not made more sceptics than believers. An Orissa pundit, not being able to see God, required of a missionary a proof of his existence. He was asked, in answer, whether he could see his own soul; and, whether he had any doubts of his possessing one. "Certainly not," said the pundit. "Such," said the missionary, "is the living God: he is invisible to us, but he is every where present."

In the early ages of the world there appears to have been a much stronger persuasion of divine interposition in human affairs, than generally prevails in our times. Even heathens, whose gods were vanity, put their trust in them. In all their wars they not only took counsel with their wise men, but consulted their oracles. Rollin, from Xenophon, holds it up as one of the great virtues of Cyrus that he respected the gods. "In the sight of all his army," says he, "he makes mention of the gods, offers sacrifices and libations to them, addresses himself to them by prayer and invocation, and implores their succour and protection. What a shame, then, and a reproach, would it be to a Christian officer or general, if, on a day of battle, he should blush to appear as religious and deyout as a pagan prince; and if the Lord of hosts and God of armies, whom he acknowledges as such, should make a less impression on his mind, than a respect for the false deities of paganism did upon the mind of Cyrus." Yet this is the fact. Now and then, on an occasion of great success, God is acknowledged; but in general, he is disregarded. How is this to be accounted for? Cyrus' gods were according to his mind; but with the true God, the dispositions of the greater part of mankind are at perfect variReal Christians still acknowledge him in all their ways, and he directs their paths; but merely nominal Christians, having a God who is not according to their minds, think but little of him, feel ashamed to own him, and thus sink into practical Atheism. To know that there is a God is necessary, indeed, to true religion;

ance.

What is the Supreme

but if we stop there it will be of no use. Being of modern unbelievers? and of what account is their knowledge of him? As the Author of the machinery of the universe, he is admired, and magnified in such a way, as to render it beneath him to interfere with the affairs of mortals, or to call them to account.

The true knowledge of God is less speculative than practical. It is remarkable with what deep reverence the inspired writers speak of God. Moses, when relating his appearance at the bush, did not attempt to explain his name, but communicated it in the words which he heard. And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you, and they will say unto me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM : and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto you. This sublime language suggests not only his self-existence, but his incomprehensibleness. It is beyond the powers of a creature even to be taught what he is.

"As to the being of God," says Dr. Owen, "we are so far from a knowledge of it, so as to be able to instruct one another therein by words and expressions of it, as that to frame any conceptions in our own mind, with such species and impressions of things as we receive the knowledge of all other things by, is to make an idol to ourselves, and so to worship a God of our own making, and not the God that made us. We may as well and as lawfully hew him out of wood and stone, as form him a being in our minds suited to our apprehensions. The utmost of the best of our thoughts of the being of God, is that we can have no thoughts of it. Our knowledge of a being is but low, when it mounts to no higher but only to know that we know it not. There be some things of GOD which he himself hath taught us to speak of, and to regulate our expressions of them; but when we have so done, we see not the things themselves, we know them not; to believe and to admire is all that we can attain to. We profess, as we are taught, that God is infinite, omnipotent, eternal; and we know what disputes and notions there are about omnipresence, immensity, infinity, and eter