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Theology.

MAN'S RELATION TO HIS MAKER.

You believe that there is a God. Consider what that belief involves. You admit the existence of a Being who is present everywhere, knows everything, and has all events in his power. That belief, if it does not yet rest on a more satisfactory foundation, may rest upon the convictions of common sense-upon the order, design, and beauty of the works of Nature-and upon the universal consent of mankind; reasons that are amply sufficient for the establishment of the truth. Bring, then, this idea which you have of God to bear practically on your case, and it will lead to these conclusions:-You are fearfully and wonderfully made, and it was that God in whom you believe who made you, and formed you in your mother's womb. His eye saw your substance while it was yet imperfect, and in his book all your members were written. That God who formed you is still around you. He knows your down-sitting and your up-rising. He understands your thoughts afar off. He surrounds your path and your lying down, and is acquainted with all your ways. There is not a word in your tongue but he knows it altogether. He has beset you behind and before, and laid his hand upon you; you cannot fly from his presence, or escape beyond the influence of his Spirit. If you ascend to heaven, he is there; if you make your bed in hell, he is there. If you take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall his right hand hold you. If you say, Surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light about you. Darkness hideth not from him, but the night shineth as the day; and, to the omniscient God, the darkness and the light are both alike.

All this is the plain dictate of reason; and, Oh! how immensely important must these truths appear, if you consider the influence which they must have upon your present and future circumstances. A few short years will roll over

your head, and then you will be judged by that God whose presence and power is everywhere around you, and to whom your most secret thought is intimately known. The unholy, the covetous, the angry, the envious thought, even in the very depth of your heart, is known to God; how it arose, and what is the precise measure of your guilt, in exciting or cherishing this thought—all is seen and recorded by him. What a judgment, then, will that be which you must undergo! All that God sees is recorded; nothing is forgotten: and all this you have to meet. How can you escape it? Could you take the wings of the morning, could you mount upon the sunbeam, and travel with it to where its force fails in the mists of uncreated night, the power of the Omnipresent God is there before you, and there his mighty grasp would stay your course. Whither, then, can you go from his Spirit? and whither can you flee from his presence? Let it then dwell on your mind, as a truth never to be forgotten, that you have to meet a judgment which you cannot shun-a judgment which will proceed upon an examination of every thought, word, and deed, in the course of your life, and even of those things which you have forgotten or attempted to conceal. If, therefore, you admit your guilt-if you feel that you cannot answer to God for one of your numberless transgressions, you must seriously and speedily seek some better ground of hope than your own doings, lest, unprotected as you are, death should suddenly call you to judgment.

Mark, also, what influence these views of the nature of God ought to have upon you with reference to your present conduct. Yourself, and all that you have, are in the hands of God; all things that you see around you are under

his immediate control-are his obedient creatures, fulfilling his word. The heaven above, the waters that are above the heavens, the sun and moon, the stars of light, the world, and all that dwell therein, are his, and obey his voice. He commanded, and they were created. They know no will but his. When he speaks, the stars withdraw their shining, or fight in their courses against his enemies. When he commands, the fire, the hail, the snow and vapour, the stormy wind, fulfil his word. These, and an infinite variety of agents, in the providential government of God, are in constant activity around you, and around every individual upon the face of the earth, which government is carried on expressly by his appointment, and for his glory. If, then, you are still God's enemy, are ignorant of him, or forgetful of the obligations under which you lie to him, see in what a fearful situation your sinfulness places you. You are opposing the authority and rule of God in a world of his creation, every atom of which is implicitly subservient to his will; where even your own evil passions are under his control, and are accomplishing in you their own punishment, to the glory of his justice. Impenitent sinners cannot stand before God with acceptance. He is " angry with the wicked every day." "Who hath hardened himself against God, and prospered?" It is true your plans may appear to prosper for a time; you may be allowed to gain the little ends which you propose to yourself; but if he who governs all things is not your God and Father in Christ, you have no true blessing. Even your lawful comforts and gratifications are visited with a curse-a curse which follows thee when thou comest in and when thou goest out. All the combined foresight and wisdom of the world cannot insure to you the attainment of one object to which God is opposed, nor blunt the deadly shaft with which he chooses to strike you. If he will it, your friends and acquaintance shall be put far away out of your sight; your bread and your water shall fail, and your own clothes shall abhor you. Or, if he please, although you shall hasten to the fulfilment of your wishes, although you prosper in the world, add house to house, and field to field, and fare sumptuously every day, your very fulness shall add to your ultimate ruin; and thus to obtain the desire of your own heart shall in the end be more bitter than disappointment.

Such is the dreadful relation which every man in his natural condition bears to his Maker; and while he remains impenitent and unbelieving, the God who meted out the heavens with a span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, with whom the nations are as a drop in a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance,-that God is his enemy; by the weakest and minutest of his creatures he can thwart, or punish, or confound him; and even when he permits their prosperity in sin, this only adds to their guilt: the miser becomes more avaricious by his wealth, the proud man more haughty by his elevation, the unclean person becomes more filthy and depraved by the secret and full indulgence of his lusts, and the blasphemer hastens on to still more daring blasphemy, because the lightnings of the God he has insulted do not instantly blast him. All such are adding daily to the certain security of their future sufferings; for every act of disobedience committed by a mere creature of the dust against Omniscient and Omnipotent Justice, must inevitably return, in all the fulness of a just vengeance, on the head of the transgressor. The very nature of God requires that this should be the case. cannot be otherwise. What, then, can you expect if you continue to live in disobedience to God? Every avenue of escape is closed by his power; every ray of light is shrouded by his indignation, or reddened by his wrath; every drop of water and every bit of bread is poisoned by the curse of his law. You are God's enemy, avowedly his enemy by your wilful transgressions, convicted as his enemy in the secret chamber of conscience; and, if you continue such, the whole concourse of his happy creatures shall forsake or despise you; and

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you shall be declared to be his enemy before an assembled world, when he cometh "in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:"

But although this is the relation to God in which we all are by nature, let us rejoice that we are not left without hope: "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" but "God is in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." "He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." When there was no eye to pity, and no hand to save us, God's eye pitied, and his almighty arm wrought out our salvation. He laid our help upon one that was mighty; and, to meet our ruined case, exalted for us one chosen out of the people-even the Son of his love-the partaker of his nature—the God-man Christ Jesus; and now, in the word of the truth of the gospel, he is inviting us to be reconciled unto himself to throw down the weapons of our rebellion-to accept of his mercy, and to obtain eternal salvation through the blood of a crucified Redeemer. And to convince us that he is in earnest, he has made this most solemn declaration: "As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way, and live:" and, in all the ardour of Divine affection, he has added, "Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?"

Reader! are you still an enemy to God in your heart and by wicked works? Are all the threatenings of his law and all the invitations of his mercy lost upon you? Do you acknowledge his existence and infinite power, his unchangeable veracity and inflexible justice? Do you feel that he is the author of your being the source of your every enjoyment? that you are fed by his bounty, clothed from his storehouse, and delighted by the beauty, harmony, and riches of the unbounded scene around you? and will you still neglect or despise the offers of his mercy manifested to our race in the obedience, substitution, sufferings, and death of his well-beloved Son, and freely offered to every one who hears the gospel, in the well-accredited pages of a Divine revelationa revelation which was first made known to ancient patriarchs and prophets, which received additional evidence and illustration under the Old Testament economy, and which was completed and sealed when Jesus the Saviour bowed his head and gave up the ghost-a revelation which received the highest testimony of heaven, when its author and finisher arose from the dead, and ascended to the right hand of Almighty power; which has been confirmed by all the events that have happened during the last eighteen hundred years; and which is daily receiving confirmation in the spread of the gospel, the progress civilization, and the fulfilment of the predictions which refer to the universality and glory of Messiah's reign?

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Surely the relation in which man stands to the God who made him demands that this revelation be carefully examined, deeply pondered, and, when sufficiently attested, cordially received: "If he that despised Moses' law died without mercy, of how much severer punishment shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under feet the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?"

Reader! are you now the friend of God by faith in Christ Jesus? and have you seriously and conscientiously devoted yourself to his service? and are you daily seeking the influences of his Spirit and grace to subdue your corruptions, and assimilate you to the Divine image? Then in what a different situation do you stand, and how widely opposite are the prospects which present themselves before you, from the train of thought with which this paper commenced. God's omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence, are or may be to you

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sources of the highest encouragement, support, hope, and joy. It is an unquestionable truth, grounded upon every just idea of God, that while the rebel is even now as near the arm of God's vengeance as if he stood trembling at his bar, the saint is as safe in the floods of affliction and temptation as if he were already in his Father's bosom: "All things shall work together for good to them that love God." You may be at this moment in a state of affliction, poverty, or bereavement; things may to you appear dark and trying, because you cannot see the end from the beginning; but you are in the hands of one who upholds all things by the word of his power-who knows precisely what you need-who calculates accurately what will be the effect of each afflictive or prosperous event upon your disposition and character; and who, in the exercise of infinite wisdom and compassion, metes out to you the portion of trial you endure. He has corrected you, because he saw you needed it; he has scourged you, because he loves you; but you are safe under the special care of his providence. No real evil will befall you. All subordinate agents are in his hands, and subject to his control. Not only so, but all things around you are tending directly, under the gracious superintendence of your heavenly Father, to prepare you for that brighter and better world which is yet to come. All the incidents of life have for you a blessing in them, and are hastening on the consummation of the will of God in you, that you may be fitted for the inheritance of the saints in light. Your earthly comforts are helps, not hindrances to your progress. Affliction shall work out the peaceable fruits of righteousness; pain and suffering shall cause patience to have her perfect work; bereavements and disappointments shall wean you from the world; and the progress of disease shall gradually make more and more desirable the approach of that eternal world,

"Where pain and sickness never come,
And grief no more complains;
Health triumphs in immortal bloom,
And endless pleasure reigns."

From these considerations, reader, whoever you are, and whatever be your present character, it must be evident that it is your interest to cherish those ideas which you admit and approve, when you avow the belief of a God. To disregard them is to be wilfully and criminally ignorant of your highest interests; it is to neutralize or resist the influence which this belief is calculated and intended to have upon your relation to God, your conduct and your hopes; it is to close your eyes and your heart against convictions which are calculated to produce the most salutary effects upon your temper, character, and prospects for the future. The two great truths that lie at the foundation of all religion are, that God is, and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Unless these abstract principles become matter of practical and affectionate influence with you, you must ultimately be shut out from the love and service of God. But even if you are a sincere worshipper and servant of the living God, by neglecting to ponder and improve such truths, you shut yourself out from much real satisfaction and peace which you might otherwise enjoy. Rather, then, let it be your endeavour daily to acquire a stronger and more influential sense of the being and continual presence of God. The fathers of the Jewish church had very powerful impressions of these great truths; but we, in the plain and clear declarations of a completed revelation, have, if possible, more satisfactory ground for our belief and confidence. They only heard of a Mighty One who was to effect the deliverance of our race by means then imperfectly revealed; to us has been made known the "mystery of godliness, God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.' Let, therefore, the being and gracious dispositions of God towards us in Christ

Jesus be the subject of our faith, our hope, and joy. Let us wait upon the means of grace, that this may become more and more the case. Let us, by humble but earnest supplications, implore the Father of mercies to work in us to will and to do of his good pleasure: "Give unto the Lord, ye kindreds of the people, give unto the Lord glory and strength." Believe that he who made the eye can see,—that he who made the ear can hear,—that the God of the spirits of all flesh has them all under his dominion,—that the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth: and, believing this, as you value your immortal hope, dread to do a single act, to utter a single word, or to indulge or sanction even a thought which his holy eye would detect, and his infinite justice condemn; and, Oh! tremble to neglect an instant and diligent application to that salvation which his grace has provided, through the obedience and death of his well-beloved Son; tremble to practise deceitfully with him who knows what is in man, and needeth not that any one should testify of him.

MAN DIGNIFIED ABOVE ANGELS.