Deut. xxix. 29. The secret things belong unto the Lord our God : but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this Law.
NEVER were mercies granted to any people, so rich as those which were vouchsafed to Israel : nor were there ever judgments so signally, through suc- cessive ages, inflicted on any other nation, as on them. And all this was in accordance with prophecy, even with the prophecies which Moses himself deli- vered to them previous to their entrance into Canaan. All was foreseen by God ; and was foretold also, with sufficient clearness, if they would but learn to act in obedience to the divine warnings. To inquire into the reasons of God's dealings with them, and espe- cially to sit in judgment upon God as though he dealt hardly with them, would be to no purpose. The reasons of his determinations were hid in his own bosom: and his determinations themselves were made known to them for their benefit : and God expected that they should make a suitable improve- ment of all the information which he had given them. This seems to be the general import of our text; from whence I shall take occasion to shew, I. The proper limit for our inquiries into the things of God —
God has been pleased to reveal much to us respect- ing his nature, his dispensations, his purposes : but there is infinitely more which he has not seen fit to communicate; and which, if communicated, we should be no more able to comprehend, than a child could comprehend the deepest discoveries of philosophy. Even what we do know, we know only in part: in fact, our knowledge of every thing is so superficial, that it scarcely deserves to be called knowledge : and, therefore, in relation to every thing the utmost possible diffidence becomes us. For, after all, what know we,
1. Of God's nature?
[We are informed that " He is a Spirit;" that he is, from all eternity, a self-existent Being : that " the heaven of heavens cannot contain him." But what idea have we of a Spirit? What notion can we form of eternity and omnipresence ? The greatest philosopher in the universe has not a whit more ade- quate conceptions of these tilings, than a little infant. Nor do