we, in reality, know any thing more of the moral perfections of the Deity, than we do of those which we call natural. We speak of his holiness, and justice, and mercy, and truth : but our knowledge of these things is altogether negative : we merely know that he is not unholy, or unjust, or unmerciful, or untrue ; and that is all.
And what shall I say to his subsistence in Three Persons, each possessing all the attributes of Deity, whilst yet there is but One God ? We know that the Father is spoken of as the Fountain from whence all proceeds ; that the Son also is spoken of as executing all which the Father had ordained for the redemption of the world ; and that the Holy Ghost also is spoken of as applying to the sons of men all that the Son has purchased, or the Father ordained. But of these things we know nothing beyond what God has told us in his word : and if we attempt to descant upon them, " we only darken counsel by words without knowledge." In the contemplation of such mysteries, it becomes us to bear in mind the pointed inter- rogations of Zophar ; " Canst thou by searching find out God ? canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection ? it is high as heaven ; what canst thou do ? deeper than hell ; what canst thou knowa?"]
2. Of his dispensations ? [We know that God ordereth every thing both in heaven and earth ; and that without him " not a sparrow falls to the ground," nor " an hair from the head of one of his servants." But will any one inform us how God overrules the minds of voluntary agents, so as infallibly to accomplish his own will and yet not participate in the evils which they commit ? Our blessed Lord was put to death " by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God :" and yet, throughout the whole of that scene, the agents followed altogether the dictates of their own hearts, and " with wicked hands crucified and slew him." And will any one inform us how this was done ? And if we know so little of God's Providence, who shall declare to us the wonders of his Grace ? Will any one tell us why the world was left four thousand years before the Saviour was sent to redeem it ? or why Abraham was chosen in preference to all other persons upon earth, that the Saviour should descend from him, and that it should be in the line of Isaac and Jacob, rather than through the line of Ishmael and Esau ? Will any one tell us how the Spirit of God acts upon the souls of some, to quicken, sanctify, and save them ; whilst others never expe- rience these operations ; or experience his influence only in such a degree as ultimately to aggravate their eternal con- demnation ? Let any one only tell us how mind operates upon
a Job xi. 7, 8.