be afforded us for acquiring knowledge, that there will probably be fome things, the entire comprehension of which will be reserved for God alone; as it is reasonable to fuppofe that the creature, however perfect, can never acquire compleat ideas of every thing relative to the Deity; and, in that cafe, that we may feel our curiofity ftrongly excited, without being poffeffed of the means to fatisfy it. But I believe, that when we shall have attained to fuch an exalted understanding, we shall have all the discernment requisite to distinguish between what is to be known to the creature, and what to the Supreme Being alone; and, always able to regulate appetites which might corrupt us, we fhall, without difficulty, prescribe to our curiofity the fame limits, which will neceffarily, from the nature of things, be prescribed to our know ledge. ledge. The most noble ambition would be extravagant, if it engaged a created being to defire to ufurp the place of the greatest, the first of beings: this therefore will not happen: the most ardent imagination will not afpire fo high. The moft vehement curiofity will be repreft, the moment we shall perceive, that to attempt to penetrate further, would be to encroach upon the privileges of the Moft High; to wish to be what He is, what He alone can be. Always humble and grateful, always joyfully fubmitting our own will to that of the great GOD, whom we shall love with all our foul, we shall no fooner arrive at those unfathomable depths, than retreating with refpect, and acknowledging our dependance on him, we fhall, without regret, turn all our attention and enquiries towards that multitude of objects, E 3 objects, upon which we may innocently and fuccefsfully indulge our curiofity. If then we are in the smallest degree fufceptible of thofe pleasures which are the moft worthy of a thinking being, the idea of feeing GOD as he is muft excite very ftrong defires; and how natural is it to feek inceffantly the means to fulfil thofe defires, and to employ thofe means without delay! They are all comprehended in this word, holinefs. Thofe alone will be admitted into the adorable prefence of GOD, who labour fincerely and affiduoufly in the work of their fanctification. "Without holinefs no man 66 fhall fee the Lord:"m" depart from me, ye that work iniquity." To meditate on GOD as foon as we are capable of reafoning, to apply afterwards m Heb. xii. 14. ם Matth. vii. 23. to to that meditation more and more, is a fure path to holiness, and a moft powerful incentive to exert every poffible effort to practise it with diligence. Even an indistinct and limited knowledge of the wifdom and goodnefs of the Almighty, fuch a knowledge as we may acquire here below, must fill our hearts with comfort and joy. GOD, in the glories of the gospel difpenfation, is the God of mercy, the God of peace. What measures of benignity! What effufions of grace! He is amiable, adorable, beyond all expreffion, all conception: our language has no terms, our hearts have no fentiments, adequate to this fublime subject. We may reasonably fuppofe, that all the endeavours which we employ upon earth to know God, fhall not be loft to us in heaven; and that those who in this world fhall acquire the the best knowledge of Him, will have, at their entrance into the habitations of glory, the qualities most requifite for seeing Him as he is. Every man, who has not been bewildered by false information; who has ftedfastly followed, through the interpofing mists of error, those rays of light which God has diffused through the univerfe; and above all, he, who favoured with that shining light difplayed in the gofpel, fhall conftantly have employed it as a guide to direct him into the paths of truth: in a word, every man who, uninfluenced by prejudice, fhall not have adopted any of those systems which give us false notions of our great GOD, notions injurious to the divine majefty, will have nothing to correct in the copy, which, faint as it is, now fo much delights him. He fees GOD |