SERMONS.

I.

THE SPIRITUALITY OF THE DIVINE NATURE.

Isaiah xxxi. 3.—The Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit.*

[PREACHED AT CAMBRIDGE, APRIL 14, 1822, AND AT BRISTOL IN AUGUST, 1824.]

AMONG the sins to which the ancient Israelites were addicted, one of the most prevailing was, a disposition, in seasons of invasion or calamity, to place confidence in the power of surrounding nations, and to seek the assistance of their sovereigns, instead of trusting in the living God. By this they frequently incurred Divine chastisement, and in some instances even Divine dereliction. Egypt, being the largest monarchy in their immediate neighbourhood, was frequently their refuge in times of distress and difficulty. Their guilt in thus departing from God was greatly aggravated, on account of the intimate relation to them which he sustained as their king and sovereign, by virtue of which he had engaged to protect them by his mighty power so long as they adhered to his service and allegiance; while the frequent manifestation of his uncontrollable dominion over the natural world displayed in the signal deliverances he had wrought for them, rendered the transfer of their confidence from him to "an arm of flesh" equally criminal and foolish. "Wo to them," saith the prophet, "that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the Lord!" Then in a strain of pointed irony he severely reproves their preference, by reminding them that God possessed those qualities of foresight and force which justified entire dependence; and that whatever grounds for confidence they fancied to exist in the character of the Egyptian potentate, were found in a degree infinitely greater in that of the Almighty-" Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil, and

* Printed from the notes of Joshua Wilson, Esq. See p. 16-19, for Mr. Hall's brief notes of

the same sermon.

↑ Isaiah xxxi. 1.

will not call back his words" (alluding to the conduct of Pharaoh, who had often broken the promises and violated the engagements he had made): "but will arise against the house of the evil-doers, and against the help of them that work iniquity." He will not only arise against the workers of iniquity, but against their helpers also; and will cause them all to fail together; " for the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit." In these words we are reminded of an important and infinite disparity between God and man; arising from a great peculiarity in the character of the former, which rendered the Egyptian monarch and his cavalry infinitely inferior to Him in power, and all those other qualities which entitle the possessor of them to confidence and trust.

It is my design to suggest to you some of those views of the character of the Supreme Being, inseparably connected with the spirituality of his nature, wherein he stands contrasted with all other beings whatever.

I. The spirituality of the Deity is intimately connected with the possession of that infinite unlimited power which renders him the proper object of entire confidence.

There is a vulgar prejudice in favour of matter and against spirit, as if the former were possessed of great force, while the latter is only invested with a feeble degree of energy. Hence, in contemplating the operations of the elements of nature producing great and important changes, we are apt to think of matter, and of matter in its most gross and palpable form. This prejudice arises from our mistaking secondary and remote effects for causes, allowing them therefore to terminate our view, instead of ascending from those laws of nature which God has established, to himself the supreme cause. These changes certainly indicate the existence of great power, which, at the first view, we are apt to connect with the material part of the system. We are also acquainted in a measure with the mechanical forces, and, seeing that these are exerted through the medium of matter, we are thence led to suppose that to be the source of power. We find that we are incapable of operating on matter, of moving even an atom by a mere act of our will; a material medium is necessary to enable us to produce the slightest change on the objects of nature; and if a material substance is brought to bear upon them, the most important effects are produced. We have no power of operating on the objects immediately around us, but by means of our bodies; and the changes that take place are always connected with certain motions in them, which enable us to come into contact with the visible world. Hence we are apt to terminate our ideas of power in matter. But in these cases it is mind, and mind alone, which is the seat of power. The influence which our bodies have upon other bodies, whereby their relative position is changed, is merely a secondary effect-an effect of that act of will which produces the motion of our bodies. The power by which all changes are effected through the instrumentality of the body resides immediately in the mind. It is that mysterious principle, called Will, which the Divine Being has invested with a control over the various

parts of our bodies; nor have we power to alter the state of a single external thing, in the least degree, except by means of volition, which is a mental power, operating immediately upon the body. No other account can be given of this capacity, but that the Divine Being has endowed us with instantaneous control over the muscular parts of our bodies. We can conceive nothing intermediate between the act of the will and the movement of the muscles. So complete indeed is the dominion of mind over matter, that the moment we will a certain motion in the body, it takes place, and thus only are we enabled to effect changes in the system of surrounding nature. We probably derive our idea of power from the changes we see effected in this manner; but all these changes resolve themselves into acts of the will. It is therefore plain that power resides in the mind, and that matter is in these respects only the instrument of mind, which in the first instance acts, which alone properly acts, and becomes the author of all the subsequent changes. Mind, indeed, to a certain extent, and within a certain sphere, is absolute power; and whatever motions it wills instantly take place. Though we are far from supposing for a moment that the Divine Being is the soul of the universe, or that he bears the same relation to the visible world as the soul does to the body-a notion replete with absurdity and impiety; yet the power which the mind exerts over the whole of our corporeal system may afford an apt illustration of that control which the Deity exercises over the universe. We will a certain motion in the muscles of our body, and immediately it takes place; nothing is perceived to intervene between the act of the will and the subsequent motion. By the mysterious constitution of our nature, we are capable, from a very early period of life, of putting into instantaneous motion the right set of muscles for producing a certain change; but nothing intervenes between the volition and the change. In vain do we inquire how this takes place, because we can find nothing which comes between the operation of the will and the change produced in our corporeal frame.

Conceive the Divine Being as a spirit, having the same dominion over the invisible universe, in every part of space, as that which our minds possess over every portion of our bodies; and then you will perceive, faintly at least, the origin of that power the indications of which are so visible throughout the universe. He has only to will the most important changes, and they are instantly accomplished. "He speaks, and it is done; he commands, and it stands fast." "He said, Let there be light, and there was light." No causes intervene between the volition and the change which ensues, for the will of the Deity is itself the effect. Being an infinite Spirit, and coming into immediate contact with all parts of the universe, he is capable, by a mere act of will, of effecting all possible changes in the same manner, but in an infinitely higher degree, as we are capable, by an act of our will, of causing certain motions in the muscular parts of our body, and thus producing changes in the external objects around us.

We shall find it impossible to give any account of innumerable changes which are continually taking place in the visible world, with

out tracing them up to mind. There cannot be a clearer proof of a Deity than the existence of motion. This evidently appears not to be essential to matter, because we see a very great portion of the material universe without it. Not being therefore an original state of matter, but merely an incident, it must be an effect. But since matter, not being intelligent, cannot be the cause of its own motion, and yet we cannot conceive of any atom beginning to move without a cause, that cause must be found out of itself. Whatever may be the nearest cause, or the number of secondary causes, though innumerable portions of matter may be reciprocally moved,-though the series of links in the chain through which motion is propagated may be indefinitely multiplied,—we must, in order to arrive at the origin of these various phenomena, ascend to mind, terminate our inquiries in spirit; nor can we account for the beginning, much less for the continuance and extension of motion, unless we trace it to the will of that Being who is the cause of all causes-the great original mover in the universe. Power is, therefore, the attribute of mind; instrumentality that of body. When we read in the Old Testament of the most exalted achievements ascribed to angelic spirits, we cannot suppose that it is owing to any gross materialism which they possess; on the contrary, they have no bodies capable of being investigated by our senses; and in proportion as they are more attenuated do they possess greater power. We have reason to believe that all finite minds are under the direction of the Supreme Power, who, without destroying their accountability or interfering with their free agency, makes all their operations subservient to the accomplishment of his counsels. Hence all opposition to the Deity is beautifully represented by Isaiah, as if the instrument should rebel against him that wields it, as if "the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up;" or "the staff should lift up itself against him that is no wood.”* All created beings, in this respect, are but instruments in the hand of the Deity, whose will is sovereign over them.

The Divine Being, as the great Father of Spirits, combines within himself all the separate energies found in the universe. He is the source, origin, and fountain of all power diffused through creation. The very minds which he has formed are kept in mysterious subordination, and can never overstep the bounds he has assigned them. "Once have I heard this, that power belongs unto God."

II. The spirituality of God stands in close and intimate connexion with his invisibility, or that property by which he is completely removed from the notice of our senses, especially that of sight.

This is one of the perfections claimed by him in sacred writ, one of the attributes which the Scriptures perpetually ascribe to him. He is styled by the apostle Paul, the "King eternal, immortal, invisible,” "the blessed and only Potentate," "whom no man hath seen, nor can see."t "No man," said our Saviour, "hath seen the Father at any time." He is the invisible God. Were he the object of sight, he

Isaiah x. 15; Bishop Lowth's translation.

† 1 Tim. vi. 15, 16.

must be limited. Whatever manifestations he may make of himself, it is utterly impossible that his essence, or He himself, should ever be the object of our corporeal sensations; for these extend only to visible and sensible objects. He cannot therefore be represented to the human imagination, or be figured out by any art or skill of man, agreeably to the sublime discourse of the apostle to the Athenians. He was pleased, indeed, in former times, to afford to his ancient people in the wilderness, and afterward in the tabernacle and the temple, some outward tokens of his presence; but these were not any display of his essence. Moses, when warning the people against forming any graven image, or picture of the Deity, expressly declares that they "saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto them in Horeb." The third commandment contains an express injunction against exhibiting any representation of the Deity to the eyes of mankind. Hence we may perceive the great impiety of those sects of Christians in different parts of the world, especially of the Church of Rome, who have attempted to paint and figure out the persons of the Trinity, in express contradiction to this divine edict, "Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image,"‡ &c.

The worship of that erroneous and idolatrous church consists very much in acts of homage paid to these external representations; and, though her advocates profess that they are offered to God through them as media, are too often, we cannot but fear, terminated upon them, and thus supplant that spiritual worship which the Divine Being claims in consequence of his being a spirit. We need not wonder, therefore, at the pains taken by that church to suppress the second commandment; entirely omitting that precept in some of her formularies, and dividing another commandment into two, to make up the number ten. The necessary effect of any attempt to exhibit the Deity to the human senses by pictures or images, must be to degrade, to an incalculable degree, our conceptions of him; partly as it circumscribes what is unlimited, and partly as it is adapted to mingle the passions and affections of the human nature with our conception of the Divine. The notion of an Infinite Being is utterly inconsistent with any outward figure or shape, which would confine, to a certain determinate portion of space, Him who declares of himself, "Do not I fill heaven and earth?" and thus limit the infinite presence and majesty of the great Eternal. No sooner do men attempt to make the Deity an object of their senses, than they begin to think him altogether such a one as themselves. Descending from the high and holy place where the Divine Being dwells, the mind, accustomed to contemplate him under a visible form, gradually sinks lower and lower in approximation to its own level, till at last men come to conceive of him as compassed with infirmities like themselves. Hence, where such representations of Deity have prevailed, images of other beings, more suited to their gross taste, have been introduced: at first angels; but at length, by a natural process, the chief place in their religious affections has Exod. xx. 4, 5.

Acts xvii. 24-29.

† Deut. iv. 15.