LECTURE VI.

ON THE UNITY OF GOD".

LECT.

VI. 2 Cor. 1, 3.

ISAIAH xlv. 16, 17.

They shall go to confusion together that are partakers of idols; but Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation, ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.

1. BLESSED be God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; and blessed also be His only-begotten Son. For in the idea of God, let the idea of Father be included; that glory may be ascribed indivisibly to Father and Son with the Holy Ghost. For there is not one glory to Father, and another to Son, but one and the same with the Holy Ghost. Since the Son is the Only-begotten of the Father, and when the Father receives, the Son shares the glory; for the Son's glory is from His Father's honour: and again, when the Son is glorified, the Father of that infinitely good Gift is honoured mightily.

2. Now, though the motions of the intellect are most rapid, yet the tongue requires words, and the medium of discussion drawn out at full length. For the eye takes in at once a great company of stars; but if one wishes to tell of each in particular, which is the morning star, and which the evening, and so of each single star, there is need of many words. In like manner, the mind in the shortest moment of time compasses earth and sea, and all the bounds of the world; but that which is thought of in an instant, takes many words to express. Yet forcible as is the instance I have given, still it is after all weak and inadequate. For we speak, not what we ought concerning God, (for to Him only is this known,) but what man's nature can, and our weakness is equal to. For we explain not what God is; but we honestly confess that ence, power, authority, &c.

a Пigi souμovagxias, i. e. that God is the sole principle of all things, of exist

Immensity of God contrasted with man's littleness.

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we have no exact knowledge of Him; for on the subject of God, it is great knowledge to confess our want of knowledge". Magnify, then, the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name Ps. 34, together. All of us jointly; for one is unequal to it; yea rather, though all of us united, we should not even then do it adequately; not only not you who are present, but not even if all the nurslings of all the universal Church, present and to come, should meet together, could they, worthily, sing the praises of the Shepherd.

(2.)

3. Abraham was great and honourable,—but great in comparison of men; but when he drew nigh to God, then honestly avowing the truth, he saith, I am earth and ashes. He said Gen. 18, not, "Earth" only, and then was silent, lest he should call 27. himself by the name of that mighty element: but he added, "and ashes;" that he might represent his mouldering and frail nature. "Is there, saith he, any thing smaller or lighter than ashes?" Take, he saith, the comparison of ashes with a house, of a house with a city, of a city with a province, of a province with the Roman empire, of the Roman empire with all the earth, and all its bounds; then compare all the earth with the embosoming heaven, the earth, which holds such proportion to the heaven, as the centre of the wheel to all its circumference, (for such is the proportion between earth and heaven;)—think then that this first heaven which we see, is smaller than the second, and the second than the third, (for thus far hath Scripture named them, not that they are so many only, but so many only was it expedient for us to know,)—and when thou hast in thought surveyed all the heavens, yet not even shall the heavens be able to praise God according to what He is, no, not though they should resound with a voice louder than thunder. But if the spheres of heaven, being so many, cannot worthily sing God's praise, how shall earth and ashes, that least and smallest of things existing, succeed in sending up a worthy song to God, or worthily to speak of God, that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and Is. 40, the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers.

4. If any take in hand to speak concerning God, first let him declare the bounds of the earth. Thou dwellest on the

b Vid. Hooker, Eccles. Pol. i. 2. §. 2. of man," &c. "Dangerous it were for the feeble brain

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(3.)

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VI.

LECT. earth, and knowest not the limit of the earth which is thy dwelling; how then wilt thou be able worthily to think of its Creator? Thou beholdest the stars, but their Maker thou beholdest not count the stars, which are seen, and then set Ps. 147, forth Him who is not seen; Who telleth the number of the stars, and calleth them all by their names! The pouring rains, which lately came down on us, well nigh destroyed us: number the drops which fell in this city only: nay, on thine own house in one hour, if thou canst; but thou canst not. Know thou thine own weakness; and thence know the power Job 36, of God; for by Him are numbered the drops of rain, which 27.Sept. have been poured down on the whole earth, not only now,

but ever. The sun is the workmanship of God, great indeed, yet but a spot in comparison of the whole of heaven; first gaze stedfastly on the sun, and then curiously scan his Lord. Ecclus, Seek not that which is deeper than thou, and that which is 3,21.22. stronger than thou search not out; but what is appointed thee, that consider.

(4.)

5. But some one will say, If the Divine Nature is incomprehensible, why then dost thou discourse concerning these things? Shall I then, since I cannot drink up all the river, not take in due measure even what is expedient for me? Because I cannot sustain with these eyes of mine the whole sun, shall I not behold even as much of him as suffices for my wants? or, when I have entered into a great park, because I cannot eat all the fruits, wouldest thou have me depart actually hungry? I praise and glorify Him who hath made Ps. 150, us: for it is a Divine call which says, Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. I am attempting now to glorify the Lord, not to declare Him; knowing indeed right well that I must fall short of worthily glorifying Him, but deeming it a work of godliness even to attempt it at all. For the Lord John 1, Jesus encourages my infirmity, saying, No one hath seen God at any time.

6.

18.

10.

6. What then, some one will say, means the text, The Mat. 18, Angels of the little ones always behold the face of My Father which is in heaven. Yes, but the Angels behold, not according to what God is, but as they are able. For it is Jesus John 6, Himself who saith, Not that any hath seen the Father, save He which is of God: He hath seen the Father. The Angels

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then behold as they can bear, and the Archangels as they are able; and Thrones and Dominions, though more fully than these, yet less than God's excellency. But only the Holy Ghost, together with the Son, can behold Him worthily: for the Spirit searcheth all things, and knoweth even the deep 1 Cor. things of God. For as the Only-begotten Son, together with 2, 10. the Holy Ghost, fully knoweth the Father, (for neither Mat.11, knoweth any one the Father, saith He, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him,) so while He beholdeth fully, He, with and through the Holy Ghost, revealeth God, according as each can bear: since the Only-begotten Son together with the Holy Ghost is a partaker of the Father's Godhead. He, who without passion was begotten yo θεὶς ἀπα before the world began, knoweth Him who begat; and He whos. begat knoweth Him who was begotten. When even Angels 2Tim. 1, then are ignorant, (for to each according to his own capacity doth the Only-begotten reveal Him through and with the Holy Ghost, as we have said,) let none of men be ashamed to own his ignorance. I am now speaking, as all do in place: but how we speak, we cannot tell: how then can I declare Him who hath given us the gift of speech? I who have a soul, yet cannot tell its lineaments; how then shall I be equal to describe its Giver?

9.

στασιν.

7. It suffices us for devotion, to know that we have a (5.) God; a God who is One, a God who is, is always; always like unto Himself; and has no Father, none mightier than Himself, no successor to dispossess Him of His kingdom: manifold in name, all-powerful, in substance uniform. For povodn though He is called Good, and Just, and Almighty, and óSabaoth, He is not therefore distinct and various; but being Himself one and the same, He dispenses the countless operations of the Godhead, not abounding here and deficient there, but being in all things like unto Himself. Not great in loving-kindness only, and little in wisdom, but with wisdom and loving-kindness in equal measure; not seeing here, and not seeing there; but being all eye, and all ear, and all mind; not as we, perceiving here, and ignorant there; for c This is sometimes taken in antiquity Apoth. v.837. Est impossibile spectare absolutely as a name of God, considered profunda Sabaoth, i. e. Dei. Ed. Beas Lord of Angels. Vid. Prudentius, ned.

VI. ὑποστά Oras.

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God is a Spirit, and all in all.

LECT. this is blasphemy, and unworthy of the Divine substance. He foreknows events; He is Holy, and Almighty, and kinder, greater, and wiser than all; and is unspeakable as to His John 5, beginning, and form, and nature. Ye have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His shape, says holy Scripture; Deut. 4, and therefore Moses says to the Israelites, Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude: for if His outward appearance is utterly incapable of úvorrá- delineation, much less is His substance unimaginable. σεως. 8. Many and by many have been the delineations, but all (6.) have failed. Some men have thought that God is fire; others that He is like a man, but winged, because of a true text, ill Ps.17,8. understood, Hide me under the shadow of Thy wings. They forget that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten, said Mat. 23, likewise concerning Himself to Jerusalem, How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not. For His guardian power being taken as wings, these men, not understanding, and grovelling among human things, conceived of the Unsearchable in a human way. And others have dared to say, that He has seven eyes, because it is written, Zech. 4, The seven eyes of the Lord which run to and fro through the whole earth. For if He has but seven eyes round about Him, here and there, then His sight too is here and there, and not all-perfect: which is blasphemy. God is to be accounted perfect in all things, according to the Saviour's saying, Matt. 5, Your Father which is in heaven is perfect: perfect in sight, perfect in power, perfect in greatness, perfect in foreknowledge, perfect in goodness, perfect in righteousness, perfect in loving-kindness. Not limited by place, but the Maker of all place who is in all, and is circumscribed by none. Is. 66, 1. Heaven is His throne, but He who is seated on it reaches far above it: Earth is His footstool, but His power extends to the realms beneath the earth.

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9. One there is, all-present, all-seeing, all-understanding, John 1, creating all through Christ: for all things were made by Him, and without Him was not a thing made; a fount of all good, a fount immense and inexhaustible, a river of blessings, Light eternal beaming inexhaustibly, Power irresistible, condescending to our infirmities: whose very Name