SECTION XXVII.

The Omnipresence of God a Doctrine universally allowed; but how is God every where present but by his Spirit, which is the Holy Ghost?

Ουδεν θεων κενον.—MARC. ANTONIN.

THEY who maintain, if there be any such, that God, having, about eighteen hundred years ago, signified his will to mankind, has ever since that time withdrawn his agency from the human mind, do, in effect, deny the omnipresence, and with it the omniscience, providence, and goodness of the Deity. But what say the Scriptures?

He is not far from every one of us; for in him we live, and move, and have our being.'

2

But is it to be believed, that when he is thus intimately present with us, he either cannot, or will not, influence our sentiments? Why is he thus present? or why should he confine his agency over us to a little book, in a foreign and dead language, which many never see at all, which more cannot read, and which few can perfectly understand; and concerning the literal meaning of the most important doctrinal parts of which, the most learned and judicious are to this hour divided in opinion?

The heathens3 had more enlarged and worthier

3 Ipse Deus humano generi ministrat; ubique et omnibus

ideas of the divine nature. They indeed believed in supernatural agency on the mind of man; though they disgraced their belief by the absurdities of polytheism. Every part of the universe was peopled by them with supernatural agents, and the most distinguished among them believed their virtuous sentiments inspired, and their good actions directed by a tutelar deity. I dwell not upon the instance of Socrates's demon;'

præsto est.-" God himself administers to the human race; he is present every where, and to every man. Seneca Epist. Quocunque te flexeris, ibi illum videbis occurrentem tibi. Nihil ab illo vacat. Opus suum ipse implet.-" Whichever Way you turn, you will meet God. Nothing is without him. He fills his own work completely." Senec. de Benefic. lib. iv. cap. 8.

* It is worth while, however, to insert the following fine passage from Plato, in which Socrates asserts the necessity of supernatural agency, in removing a dark cloud from the human mind, previously to its being able to learn how to regulate conduct, either towards gods or men. Reason, till this dark cloud should be removed by divine Providence, he thought incapable of discovering either moral or divine truth with certainty.

5. ̓Αναγκαῖον ἐν ἐτι περιμένειν ἕως αν τις μάθη ὡς δει πρὸς θεὸς καὶ πρὸς ἀνθρωπες διακείσθαι. Α. Πότε ν παρέται ο χρόνος ἔτος, ὦ Σώκρατες ; καὶ τίς ὁ παιδέυσων ;ΣΩΚΡ. Οὗτός ἐσιν ὦ μέλει περῖ σᾶ. ἀλλὰ δοκει μοι, ὥσπερ τῷ Διομήδει φησὶ τὴν ̓Αθηνᾶν Ομηρος ἀπὸ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ἀφελειν τὴν ̓ΑΚΛΥΝ,

Οφ ̓ ἐν γιγνώσκοι ἠμὲν θεὸν ἠδὲ καὶ ἄνδρα, ὕτω καὶ σε δεῖν ἀπὸ τῆς ψυχῆς πρῶτον ἀφελόντα τὴν ̓ΑΚΛΥΝ, ἢ νῦν παρᾶσα τυγχάνει, τηνικαῦτ ̓ ἤδη προστ φέρειν δι ὧν μέλλεις γνώσεσθαι ἠμὲν “ κακὸν ἠδὲ καὶ ἐσθλὸν νῦν μὲν γὰρ εκ εν μοι δοκῆς δυνηθεῖναι. Platonis Alcibiades II. prope finem. -(Socrates and Alcibiades discourse.)

"S. It is necessary then to wait till one is informed how one ought to behave, both in religious and social duties, to God and to men.-A. Oh! Socrates, when will that time come, and who shall teach me ?-S. Even he who careth for you; but it appears to me, as Homer represents Minerva removing a dark cloud from the eyes of Diomed, that he might distinguish gods from men in the battle, so he who careth for you must first remove the dark cloud from your mind, which now hangs over it,

and I only mention the topic, to prove that the doctrine is not likely to be very unreasonable, since it was maintained by men who are acknowledged to have been singularly endowed with the rational faculty.

The omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience of God were strenuously maintained, not only by the wisest of the heathens, but the most learned and rational Christian divines; among whom was Dr. Samuel Clarke, a man by constitution and studies, as far removed from enthusiasm as it is possible to conceive. But the omnipresence of God being allowed as a true doctrine, it will not be difficult to believe his agency on the human mind by supernatural impression. The difficulty would be to believe that the divine Spirit could be present always and every where with us, and yet never act upon us, but leave the moral world, after the writing of the New Testament, to depend on the fidelity of translations, the interpretations of fallible men, the preaching and teaching of scholars, deriving all they know from dictionaries, and differing continually even on such doctrines as constitute the very corner-stones of the whole fabric.

The doctrine of God's total inaction, in the moral and intellectual world, is irreligious and unphilosophical. The wisest heathens exploded it. Fortunately it is refuted in the strongest language of Scripture. For after our Saviour's ascension, the Holy Spirit was expressly promised, and the ministration of the Spirit co-operating on

and then you will use those means by which you may know the good from ill, which, in your present state, you seem to me unable to distinguish."

The philosopher seems to have seen the necessity of divine revelation, and to have predicted the illumination of the Spirit of God.

the heart of man with the written word, is to continue its energy, as it does at this hour, to the end of time.

The Spirit of God is every where present, like the air which we inhale. It is no less necessary to intellectual life, than the air to animal. There is a remarkable passage, apposite to the present subject, in the meditations of Antoninus, which I shall give in the translation of Collier, and as it is quoted by Delany.

"Let your soul," says the philosopher, "receive the Deity as your blood does the air; for the influences of the one are no less vital than the other. This correspondence is very practicable; for there is an ambient omnipresent Spirit, which lies as open and pervious to your mind, as the air you breathe does to your lungs. But then you must remember to be disposed to draw it."

"If," continues Dr. Delany, "this gracious gift of Heaven should be denied, because it is not found to dwell with the wicked, I answer, that men may as well deny the existence of the dew, because it is not often found upon clods and filth, nor even upon grass, trampled with polluted feet.

"Let the grace of God be considered as having some analogy, some resemblance, to the dew of Heaven; the dew of Heaven, which falls alike upon all objects below it, as the grace of God doth upon all mankind, but resteth not upon things defiled. Purity abideth not with pollution."

There is an elemental fire, the electrical fluid, diffused through all nature. Though unseen its energy is mighty. So also the Divine Spirit actuates the intellectual world, omnipresent, irresistible, invisible.

SECTION XXVIII.

The Want of Faith could not be criminal, if it depended only on the understanding; but Faith is a Virtue, because it originates from virtuous Dispositions favoured by the Holy Spirit.

FAITH is always required and represented in the gospel as a moral virtue. This alone establishes the doctrine of this book, that faith, or the evidence of the Christian religion, arises from obedience to its laws. There could be no virtue in faith, if it were produced in the mind by demonstrative proofs, such as many apologists for Christianity have endeavoured to display. But there is great virtue in obedience to the moral precepts of the gospel. The heart must be well inclined that endeavours to learn and perform its duty from the dictates of the gospel, notwithstanding the doubts or disbelief which may occasionally arise in the understanding concerning the divine original of so excellent a rule of morality. Such an inclination draws down upon it the favour of God, and consequently the illumination of the Holy Ghost. The doubts and disbelief are gradually removed. A life of piety and good morals is the never-failing result. And thus faith both begins and ends in virtue.

"The reason," says Dr. Clarke, "why faith (which is generally looked upon as an act of understanding, and so not in our power) in the New Testament is always insisted upon as a moral vir