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CONCLUSION,

When we contemplate on the revealed character of the ever living and ever true God; and when in our most serious meditation on the divine excellence & glory of Jehovah's name, as made manifest in his works of heavenly grandeur above, and in his works, no less of inatchless skill below; I think we must be convinced that all narrow minded, little contracted and selfish notions concerning his final will and purpose in the intellectual creation, are at once derogatory to his blessed nature whom we are all bound to acknowledge to be the God and Father of all spirits, and to be the glorious Creator, preserver and upholder of all things: and on this ground to be the only proper object of all worship, praise and adoration. However, I am persuaded that among men, the plainly revealed character of God is too much neglected, in forming their systems of doctrine, and also in their metaphysical notions of divine service in the use of forms and vain ceremonies.

I shall therefore, in the conclusion of this work show forth the character of God as revealed in the holy scriptures, and as also exhibited in the book of nature; leaving the subject of determining whether I have or have not measured my theological writings by that invariable rule the revealed character of God. God said let

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there be light, and there was light." Yes there was light in the works which God performed in creating all things, even a true light of revelation, which serves as a lamp to our feet, in our early sitting out to form proper notions of the adorable character of God. There is true light in the holy scriptures, which are written by divine inspiration, and serve us as the faithful man of our counsel to aid the mind in ascertaining a proper knowledge of the true and living God. There is divine light in the spirit of grace, that true light which lighteth every

man that cometh into the world, and teaches all, more or less he knowledge of God. There is light in all the providential dealings of the Lord which tend to show us a measure of his true character of divine goodness. There is light in the unadulterated gospel of Jesus. Christ, when faithfully preached in the world; for in it, we by faith behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus. There is light in the starry concave of heaven above and in the ponderous rolling earth and seas beneath; which all combine to teach us the grand sublimity and majesty of that being who has set the sun in his place, ordained the course of the moon, martials every twinkling and blazing star, and balances this dusty fruitful orb we inhabit in the midst of boundless space, orders her continual rolling to the east the way of splendid light; while on her verdant flowery bosom her millions of sons recline by night, while in their soft slumbers they are gently borne from the west to the east, there to meet the morning light and glory of nature's sun. In this whole stupendous order of nature, we are taught the boundless wisdom and matchless skill of the sublime architect of the wide spread universe. No wonder then that the royal Psalmist when contemplating the works of nature should break forth in rapturous strains, as is recorded Ps. 19-1, 2, 3, 5, 5, 6. 66 The heavens declare the glory of God: and the firmament sheweth his handy work. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them bath he set a tabernacle for the sun; which is as a bridegroom coming out of the chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof." The regulating law of nature is fect and instructive, therefore he says in the next verse, "The law of the LORD is perfect converting the soul. The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple." Thus we discover that both the book of divine

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inspiration and the book of nature teach us the adorable character of God our heavenly Father. That being who could create all things both which are celestial and te restrial, heavenly and earthly; and then order and regulate the stupendous whole, inust be infinite in the whole of his sublime nature, i. e. in all his perfections which constitute his one undivided personality and substance. Such a being the holy scriptures reveal God to be in every property attributed to his nature as Crea tor, preserver, and Saviour, as I shall now proceed to show, by the use of the most positive testimony.

1. God is not a material substance, as was supposed by the heathen who worshipped the sun and other material substances, for the true God is one undivided substantial spirit i e. one spiritual substance, agreeable to the testimony of the only begotten son of the true and living God St. John 4-24. "God is a spirit and they that worship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth." A spirit, can never be made to mean three spirits, any more than spirit means matter; hence that God whom we are to worship in spirit and in truth, is but one God being one spirit, and of course, but one personality, for one undivided spirit can be but one person. In Isa. 43-15. The Lord says "I am the LORD, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your king." Mark the words; the Creator does not say, 1 am your Holy three, but "Holy One." Therefore, the Creator is but one personality, as he can be but one God, a spirit to be worshipped. All other spirits are his offspring, he is the father of our spirits. See Heb. 12-9. Compared with 1 Cor. 8-6. and with Acts 17-28, to which might be added many other scriptures. Of course all spirits must remain forever under the fatherly care of that God who is one spirit, the father of all subordinate spirits.

2. God is not limited to one particular time or place, therefore we may attribute to him the faculty of Omnipresence: he is always present in every part of boundless space. Hence the sweet Psalmist of Israel, Psa, 139-7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, says, " Whither shall I go from

thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence ! If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the utmost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.' Truly God who is a spirit, is always present in all parts of the universe, dwelling in his own rich fulness of all his glorious attributes. Hence none of his creatures can ever be placed out of the reach of his holy attributes; no door can be closed against his justice and mercy: Their power and efficacy must yet be known in every solitary place, by the dweller therein, for if we ascend up into heaven, God is there to show his justice as well as his mercy; and if we descend into hell, he is there to exercise the power of his mercy as well as his justice. For wherever God is, there must of course be all those attributes which constitute his Godhead. And if Israel's God neither slumbers nor sleeps they cannot lie in the bosom of his own glory, inactive towards his intellectual creation, hence must one day produce all their fruits it. every place, even throughout the whole creation.

3. God is not unjust, in any of his ways, whether in creation preservation or redemption. For pure justice is one of the properties of his divine nature Isa. 45-21 "and there is no God beside me; a just God and a Saviour."-Zech. 9-9-" he is just, and having salvation. Justice and judgment are the habitation of his throne." God can as well cease to hold his throne as to cease to exercise justice accompanied with salvation in his judg ments, for it is the nature of pure justice to make an entire end of sin, and to bring in everlasting righteousness; and thus to save us from our sins, as we read. Isa. 26. 9-"for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness." And again Isa. 13-11, 12. " And I will punish the world for

their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. Į will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir." This is the way God executes his justice.

4. God never was so unjust as to create any to remain finally sinful and unjust to be punished, and of course his justice never inflicts unmerciful purishment, for this would be to deny himself, as one of his attributes in infinite mercy. But to punish the offender without end would be infinite cruelty, for any punishment which cannot produce the fruits of holiness is unmerciful, and derogatory to God. Psalm 145. 9. "The LOPD is good to all; and his tender mercies are over all his works." 136. 1. "O GIVE thanks unto the LORD. for he is good for his mercy endureth forevGod's mercy is equal to his justice, so that where ever his justice extends the chastening rud, the hand of mercy unites and guides the salutary blow to save from sin and misery, both smile to see the cure of man's rebellion, to see him saved from sin and woe: those two attributes of God agree in the infinite mind of God.

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5. Jehovah never created any being with a positive design that the creature made, should be a looser by existence through having more misery on the whole than happiness; for in such design, God's attributes, justice, mercy and especially his goodness, could never be concerned; and I am persuaded that the wisdom of God, never could design any event without the free and voluntary co-operation of all the divine attributes so as to amount to a full counsel of God's holy will. To say that God voluntarily willed the final sin and misery of a part of his creatures, to secure the happiness of another part and show his own glory, would make God ở slave to necessity, who of two evils had to choose the least in making his power known. Hear O! heavens and be astonished O! earth. What is the rich fountain of divine goodness supposed by some bewildered men, to be so scanty, that some of its streams of life

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