not comprehend him; as your foot treadeth on the earth, but doth not cover all the earth. The sea is not the sea, if you can hold it in a spoon. Thou canst not comprehend the sun which thou seest, and by which thou seest all things else, nor the sea, nor the earth, no nor a worm, or pile of grass; thy understanding knoweth not all that God hath put into any the least of these; thou art a stranger to thyself, and to somewhat in every part of thyself, both body and soul. And thinkest thou to comprehend God, that perfectly comprehendest nothing! Stop then thy over-bold inquiries, and remember that thou art a shallow, finite worm, and God is infinite. First reach to comprehend the heaven and earth and whole creation, before you think of comprehending him, to whom the world is nothing or vanity; or so small a dust, or drop, or point. Saith Elihu, "At this my heart trembleth, and is moved out of its place: hear attentively the noise of his voice.-God thundereth marvellously with his voice; great things doth he which we cannot comprehend." How then should we comprehend himself?

Indeed there is mentioned Ephesians iii. 11, the saints comprehending the dimensions of the love of Christ; but as the next verse saith, it passeth knowledge: so comprehending these, signifieth no more but a knowledge according to our measure; an attainment of what we are capable to attain; nay, nor all that neither, but such a prevalent knowledge of the love of Christ as is common to all the saints. As there is nothing more visible than the sun, and yet no visible being less comprehended by the sight; so is there nothing more intelligible than God, (for he is all in all things,) and yet nothing so incomprehensible to the mind that knoweth him. It satisfieth me not to be igno rant of God, nor to know so little as I know, nor to be short of the measure that I am capable of; but it satisfieth me to be incapable of comprehending him; or else I must be unsatisfied because I am not God. Oh the presumptuous arrogancy of those men, if I may call them men, that dare prate about the infinite God such things as never were revealed to them in his works or his word! and dare pretend to measure him by their shallow understandings, and question, if not deny and censure, that of God which they can not reach! and sooner suspect the word that doth reveal him than their muddy brains, that should better conceive of him! Saith Elihu, "Behold, God is great and we know

him not; neither can the number of his years be searched out." Though the knowledge of him be our life eternal, yet we know him not by any full and adequate conception. We know an infinite God, and therefore with an excellent knowledge objectively considered; but with a poor degree and kind of knowledge next to none, as to the act; and it is a thousand thousand-fold more that we know not of him, than that we know; for indeed there is no comparison to be here made.

2. The immensity of God, as it proveth him incomprehensible, so it containeth his omnipresence, and therefore should continually affect us, as men that believe that God stands by them. As we would compose our thoughts, and minds, and passions, if we saw, were it possible, the Lord stand over us, so should we now labor to compose them. As we would restrain and use our tongues, and order our behavior, if we saw his Majesty, so should we do now, when we know that he is with us. An eyeservant will work hard in his master's presence, whatever he doth behind his back. Bestir thee then, Christian, for God stands by, "In him we live, and move, and have our being." Loiter not till thou canst truly say that God is gone, or absent from thee; sin not by wilfulness or negligence, till thou canst say, thou art behind his back. Alas, that we should have no more awakened, serious souls, and no more fervent, lively prayers, and no more serious, holy speech, and no more careful, heavenly lives, when we stand before the living God, and do all in his sight, and speak all in his hearing! O why should sense so much affect us, and faith and knowledge work no more? We can be awed with the presence of a man, and would not do before a prince what most men do before the Lord. Yea, other things affect us when we see them not; and shall not God?

3. The immensity of God assureth us much of his allsufficiency. He that is everywhere, is easily able to hear all our prayers, to help us in all straits, to supply all wants, to punish all sins. A blasphemous conceit of God as finite, and as absent from us, is one of the causes of our distrust. He that doth distrust an absent friend, as thinking he may forget him, or neglect him, will trust him when he is with him: can not he hear thee, and pity thee, and help thee, that is still with thee? Oh what an awe is this to the careless! what a support to faith! what a quickener to duty! what a comfort to the afflicted, troubled soul!.

God is in thy poor cottage, Christian, and well acquainted with thy wants; God is at thy bedside when thou art sick, and nearer thee than the nearest of thy friends. What wouldst thou do in want or pain if God stood by? Wouldst thou not pray and trust him if thou sawest him? So do though thou see him not, for he is surely there.

"Great God, indulge my humble claim;

Be thou my hope, my joy, my rest;
The glories that compose thy name
Stand all engaged to make me blest.

"Thou great and good, thou just and wise,
Thou art my Father and my God;

And I am thine by sacred ties,

Thy son, thy servant bought with blood."

FEBRUARY 12.

R. WATSON.

Who of God is made unto us wisdom.-1 Cor. i. 30.

THE Gentile Corinthians boasted of their wisdom; but it was the wisdom of this world, and by it the world knew not God. They had to boast of their eloquent declaimers and subtle reasoners; but while they taught, argued, and declaimed, the population around them sunk lower and yet lower into every vice. But of what had Christian Corinthians to boast? Of a wisdom of God, which taught them God; and of a preaching of the cross, which saved from guilt, sin, and misery, all that believed. Ye are not, says he, in this or the other school of vain philosophy; ye have left the wise men after the flesh; "but of God," that is, of his mercy and power "ye are in Christ Jesus," in the fellowship of his disciples and family, "who of God is made unto us wisdom," and truly so; as well as "righteousness, sanctification, and redemption."

Christ has become to us wisdom, by the views which he has given us of the moral condition of man.

There are points in the moral condition of man which have been darkly seen in all ages, and obscurely, but substantially confessed, on which Christ has eminently become our wisdom. These are our sinfulness, helplessness, and danger; with some idea of hope, which everywhere, and in all ages, has prevailed.

The sinfulness, helplessness, and danger of mankind have all of them been acknowledged and felt; but in what new and awful views are they placed by Christ! I lead you to his last passion, and ask the reason of his sufferings; and the only reason which can be given is, that they were severe, because sin was exceeding sinful, and the soul of man exposed to a tremendous danger. The reason could not be in God. His Son was loved too much to be thus bruised, except for some most important ulterior object. The reason could not be in the malice of the Jews, or the power of the Romans; for he could have prayed his Father, and 66 a legion of angels" would have been sent to his rescue. The reason lay in the moral condition of men; and here we learn what that moral condition was. And let me remark this is a first and leading truth. Sin is no trifle. See the proof of this in the sorrows of thy Saviour. It is not in man to make an atonement for sin. Behold, the victim which God appointed was both God and man. The danger is not one that is evitable by human means; or means so strange, so peculiarly divine, would not have been employed. The punishment of sin is not light. If the substitute so suffered, what must the principal suffer, should he reject his Saviour? He must suffer pain of body, indicated by the tortures of the cross;-pain of spirit, indicated by a "soul sorrowful even unto death; "-desertion by God," Why hast thou forsaken me?"-and this, in the case of the finally lost, exasperated by the sense of guilt, which silences complaint, and by an eternity, which excludes hope.

But O the adorable mercy of our God in Christ! In proportion to this affecting and terrible display of the guilt and danger of man is the glory of that bright hope, the rays of which play around the cross, and shine to the ends of the earth. By the sufferings of Christ justice was satisfied, and God reconciled to man; and this light is thrown upon our condition that, sinful, helpless, and endangered as it is, we are all invited to obtain mercy. The blood which was shed on earth speaks in heaven. In him whom our sins crucified we have an everlasting advocate. The way into the holiest is consecrated; and whosoever draws near, with penitence and faith, deeply as his agonized heart may sigh, "Enter not into judgment with thy servant, O Lord," and, "God be merciful to me a sinner," shall go down to his house freely justified. To Christ we owe this wisdom;

and, indeed, where else could I obtain it? The wisdom of this world sends me to the book of nature. I go; but there I see contrary perfections and operations. I see light and darkness, sunshine and storm; a God who gives life and takes it away; a flow of goodness, and an infliction of severity. If I hope in one view, I am plunged into terror on the other. Pharisaism sends me to the law, and bids me obey. Ah! but " when I would do good, evil is present with me;" and should I please myself with a fancied perfection of obedience for the moment, "my past iniquities take hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up." I bless, then, the wisdom of Christ. The difficulty is removed; the debt is cancelled; justice is satisfied; I believe, accept, and rejoice in "the righteousness which is of God by faith."

How can ye believe, which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God only?-John v. 44.

evident

VAINGLORY is a powerful thing to blind even to very truths the minds of those ensnared by it, and to persuade them to dispute against what is allowed by others; nay, it instigates some who know and are persuaded of the truth to pretended ignorance and opposition. As took place in the case of the Jews, for they did not through ignorance deny the Son of God, but that they might obtain honor from the multitude; they believed," says the Evangelist, but were afraid, lest they should be put out of the synagogue. For it can not be that he that is so zealous a slave to the glory of this present world can obtain the glory which is from God. Wherefore he rebuked them, saying, How can ye believe, which receive honor of men, and seek not the honor which cometh from God?

This passion is a sort of deep intoxication, and makes him who is subdued by it hard to recover. And having detached the souls of its captives from heavenly things, it nails them to earth, and lets them not look up to the true light, but persuades them ever to wallow in the mire, giving them masters so powerful, that they have the rule over them without needing to use commands. For the man who is sick of this disease, does of his own accord, and without bidding, all that he thinks will be agreeable to his