admits of nothing that is foolish or extravagant in any respect. Prudence, sobriety, soundness of judgment, and true discretion, are inseparable from it: and if we would adorn our profession, or be accepted of our God, we must " walk wisely before him in a perfect way d."]
d Ps. ci. 2.
Ps. cxiii. 5 — 8. Who is like unto the Lord our God, ivho dwell- eth on high, who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth ! He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill ; that he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people.
VERILY, God is to be praised: "from the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, his name" should be glorious: "He is above all bless- ing and praise." Whether we consider what he is in himself, or what he is to us, we cannot but ex- claim, "Who is like unto the Lord ?" If men be not filled with admiring and adoring thoughts of him, it is because they know him not, neither contemplate him : but we can scarcely fail of being in some mea- sure suitably impressed with his excellency, if we consider those perfections of his which are set before us in our text :
I. His greatness —
[But how shall we convey any idea of this? If we speak of created things, however great, we can give some kind of state- ment, which, though very inadequate, will convey a slight notion at least of the subject. However great the disparity between a monarch and a worm, or between the globe and a grain of sand, there is something whereon we may ground a comparison be- tween them, and something to which we may affix tolerably definite ideas. But between the Creator and the creature there is no point of contact. If we attempt to declare his immensity, and say, that in all the boundless regions of space God is every where, and as entirely present in every different spot as if he were no where in the universe besides, what are we the nearer to any just apprehension of him ? Our intellect is not capable of conceiving of him aright. Were a peasant told respecting the motions and distances and mutual dependence of the heavenly bodies, how much of it would he understand? It would be far
%m PSALMS, CX1II. 5—8. [687.
above his comprehension : he could, not embrace any part of the system. So, if we presume to speak of the greatness and incomprehensibility of Jehovah, we oidy " darken counsel by words without knowledge:" " it is a knowledge too wonderful for us ; we cannot attain unto it." The sentiments of Zophar on this subject are well worthy of our attention : " Canst thou by searching find out God ? canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection? It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell ; what canst thou know? The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the seaa." And Elihu, another of Job's friends, exactly to the same purpose says, " Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out V Sometimes indeed God is pleased to give us some little glimpse of his majesty; light enough, if we may so speak, to make our darkness visible. Thus by the Prophet Isaiah he asks, " Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance ? Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance ; he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. All nations before him are as nothing, and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity." He then adds, " To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto himc?" The Psalmist also, with exquisite beauty, thus sets forth the glory of his majesty: " O Lord my God, thou art very great: thou art clothed with honour and majesty: who coverest thyself with light as with a garment ; who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain ; who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters ; who maketh the clouds his chariot; who walketh upon the wings of the wind ; who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fired." But, after all, what idea does this description give us of Him, who " filleth all things," " whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain ? " We are altogether at a loss on so mysterious a subject; which therefore we close with that decla- ration of the Psalmist, " His greatness is unsearchable e."]