matter we are no more ignorant of a spiritual than of a material substance. Spirit is that which thinks, which reasons, which judges, which deliberately approves or disapproves. These certainly are not among the known properties of matter, let materialists reason as they may; but they are the known and acknowledged properties of what we denominate mind or spirit. Now, in regard to our Creator-in speaking of whom we ought ever to be filled with the profoundest reverence-when we say that he is a Spirit, we do not presume to say that his essence is of the same nature with that of our own minds, or even with that of angelick minds. It may be greatly different from that of any created spirit; as we know that he is in all respects infinitely superior to the highest orders of his creatures. Still we do say, and are warranted by his revelation to say, that "God is a spirit." He is infinitely intelligent, as well as the source of all intelligence to every creature possessing the powers of intellect God is not matter but the purest of spirits. You will observe that the answer under consideration, after teaching us that God is a Spirit, goes on to state, that both in his being and in all the attributes afterwards enumerated, he is infinite, eternal and unchangeable these terms are to be connected with each of the words which follows them in the answer. 2. God is infinite in his Being, The infinitude of the being of God is often called his omnipresence, and sometimes his immensity, and it is closely connected with his omniscience. He is present in every part of his wide dominions; so that no point can be assumed or imagined in unlimited space, of which it can be said that God is not there. He is there in the strictest sense; there by his essential presence, as well as by his perfect knowledge of whatever else is there. This is inmitably described in the 159th Psalm-" Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there; if I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me: yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee." The Deity being thus every where present, not only surrounding and embracing, but most intimately pervading every created being, perfectly knows all things-His omniscience, as it relates to a knowledge of all that passes in the universe, is, as already intimated, closely connected with his immensity or ubiquity. No occurrence, no change, can possibly take place in creation unperceived by him. Nay, not only all visible events, but all the most secret thoughts and designs of his intelligent creatures, whether good or bad, the moment they are formed, are more perfectly known to him than to the creatures who form them. "The Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts-I am he that searcheth the reins and hearts." The omnipresence or infinite being of God, is also connected with his preservation, providential care, and perfect control and government, of all the works of his hands. As they all exist in him, and are upheld by him, they cannot act but by his permission. He limits and bounds all their actions; he directs and orders all things according to his good pleasure; and "he openeth his hand and satisfieth the desires of every living thing." The incomprehensibility of God by his creatures, follows necessarily from his infinity. He is fully known only to Himself. A finite being cannot comprehend that which is infinite. "Who by searching can find out God, who can find out the Almighty to perfection ?-Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, it is high, I cannot attain unto it." The most enlarged capacity of men or of angels, will never be able fully to understand the being or the perfections of God. Hence their capacities may be, and it seems probable to me that they will be, forever enlarging, and rendering them more noble, and such of them as are holy, more happy; and yet, although this be so, there will forever remain an infinite distance between them and their Creator. 3. God is eternal. He exists from eternity to eternity. There is an eternity which is past, and an eternity which is to come an eternity before time began, and an eternity when time shall be no more. Time is measured by a constant succession of its parts or portions; and every moment as it passes is taken from the eternity to come, and added to the eternity which is passed. Suppose a line strictly infinite, that is, without beginning or end. This may represent the whole of eternity. Suppose a point taken in this line, and moved forward a very small distance, say an inch, and there terminated. This small distance on the infinite line, may represent time. The Divine existence is commensurate with the whole line. But all the events of time, from the formation to the dissolution of the universe, lie within the measured inch: and as there is no proportion between this inch and the whole line, inasmuch as there can be no proportion between that which is finite and that which is infinite, so there is no proportion whatever between time and eternity. In the Divine existence, represented by the whole line, there is no succession or progression of parts; for the supposition is that it is complete at once, and without beginning or end. Hence it has been said with truth, that the existence of the Supreme Being is one eternal Now. We conceive of Him as having existed an endless duration, before the point was assumed from which the inch of time begins. Through this whole duration he existed without creatures-perfectly happy in himself alone. Men and angels will exist through an endless duration, represented by the line which goes forward from the termination of the measured inch: that is, their future existence, awful thought! will be commensurate with the existence of God. But you will be careful to observe, that this eternal future existence of intelligent creatures is not a necessary existence, like that of the Creator-It depends entirely on his will and appointment. He could terminate it in a moment, if such were his pleasure; but it will continue eternally, because it is his unchanging determination that it shall so continue. But his existence, from eternity to eternity, is from his very nature-It is a necessary indestructible existence. Here, again, my dear youth, we have another view of the incomprehensible nature of God. I have endeavoured to give your thoughts a right direction for meditating on the subject, and to illustrate it a little. But eternal duration is a subject that soon swallows up all our thoughts-Sometimes when we speak of the distinctions or persons in the Godhead, we are told that we speak of what is incomprehensible. We admit it fully; but we remark that there is nothing which relates to the Deity that is not incomprehensible: and for myself, I know of nothing in theology that is more mysterious, nothing that more immediately baffles and overwhelms all our powers of comprehension and distinct conception, than this very first principle, which all but atheists admit, that God is eternal. An eternal uncaused existence, bewilders and absorbs the mind, the moment the attempt is made to grasp it, or closely to investigate it. Yet this is the most indisputable and fundamental truth in all theology, natural or revealed. Verily, when the being and attributes of God are the subject of our investigations, our feeble beam of intellect can guide us but a little distance. We must soon exchange reasoning for humble and adoring admiration. 4. God is unchangeable. This we must believe, if we hold the perfection of the Deity; because change necessarily implies imperfection as all change must be either for the better, or the worse, and perfection excludes both. Having a perfect foresight of all events, possible as well as actual, and the arrangement and ordering of all secondary causes and agents from first to last, we cannot conceive of any reason why there should be a change, in any of the purposes of the Deity. When God, in some passages of scripture, is said "to repent," it is always to be understood as spoken in accommodation to human perceptions; that is, the visible procedure in the divine dispensations is such as when men repent, and change one course for another. But such expressions are not intended to intimate that there is any change in the purpose, mind or will of God: the scripture assures us of the contrary-that "he is of one mind, and none can turn him," and that "with him there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." The remainder of this answer of the catechism must be reserved for a future lecture. Let us endeavour to derive, from what has now been said, a few practical and useful in ferences. 1. We should learn always to speak of that great and glorious Being, of whom I have been discoursing, with holy awe; and always to treat whatever relates to him with the deepest reverence. It is told of the celebrated Mr. Boyle -equally distinguished by his learning and his piety-that he never mentioned the name of his Maker, without a sensible pause, both before and after he pronounced the word. I do not notice this as an example to be exactly imitated; but I am well assured, that just in proportion as any man advances in holiness or true piety, in that proportion will there be deep solemnity upon his spirit, whenever his thoughts turn on God; whenever he addresses him in prayer; or whenever he speaks of his Maker to others. How inexpressibly shocking is it, then, to hear that great and glorious name, which angels and seraphs repeat with profoundest veneration, taken lightly and irreverently-nay in the profanest forms of expression imaginableon the lips of thoughtless wretched mortals. My dear youth, never repeat your Maker's name with lightness, in common discourse. Never use it but with sensible reverence. Dread also to treat any thing that is connected with the divine Majesty with disrespect, or with levity. I am satisfied that real reverence for the Deity-his name, his word, his worship, his day, his house, his institutions,is most closely and intimately connected with every thing that leads to true piety, with every thing that is hopeful in regard to the salvation of the soul. 2. Is God every where present? Are we continually surrounded, embraced and pervaded by the Deity? Are all the actions of our lives, all the words of our lips, all the thoughts, and feelings, and secrets of our souls, naked before his eye? How solemn is thought! The wicked are often afraid and ashamed that men should witness their vileness. But what are worms of the dust, in comparison with the infinite God, who is always the witness of what they think, and do, and say-however concealed in darkness; however kept from human knowledge P Yes, and he will, at last, bring the whole into judgment, and disclose it to the assembled universe. Oh let us ever remember the presence of God, and our responsibility to him! This will prove the most powerful and effectual guard that we can place, not only on all that we do or say, but on all that we imagine, or wish, or think. He who is duly sensible that his soul is continually open to his Maker's inspection, will be careful of all his thoughts, and all his desires-of all that passes in his bosom, as well as of all that meets the observation of the world. But the omnipresence and omniscience of the Deity are, to the truly pious and devout mind, a subject of the most pleasing contemplation, and the source of high and holy pleasure and delight. To the friend, the child of God, what can be more gratifying than to recollect that his heavenly Father, the Almighty God, is ever with him; to protect him in danger; to comfort him in affliction; to support him in distress; to enlighten him in doubt and darkness; to be a very present help in every time of trouble; to be communed with in the closet, or on the bed, as well as in every act of social worship; to witness every sigh, and every groan, and every tear; to hear the very desires of the soul; to listen to every prayer or petition, which is ejaculated from the heart when no words are uttered; to support and comfort in the hour of death, and to receive the departing spirit to the mansions of eternal peace and rest and joy-to a knowledge and an enjoyment of Himself, of which on earth we can form no adequate conception. My dear children! make God your friend. There is a happiness in having him for your friend and father, that cannot be described. It fills, and was intended to fill, the whole soul. It is not to be compared with any earthly enjoyments. They never fully sa tisfy; and they are fleeting at the best. Soon you must leave them, or they be taken from you. But in the friendship, and favour, and enjoyment, of the almighty and eternal God, there is a pleasure, a holy, a serene, and sometimes an ecstatick joy, that satisfies every desire of the soul-of which accidents cannot deprive you, of which death itself cannot rob you.-Rob you, did I say?-Death will only shake off those incumbrances of flesh and sense, which hinder and debase, and circumscribe this heavenly delight; and will render it pure, perfect and eternal, in the bosom of our God and Saviour. It is to this that true religion seeks to lead you. Will you not listen to her voice? Will you not yield to her solicitations? Will you prefer the dust and dross of time before this heavenly treasure? Say, in the strength of God, that you will not. Say that from this hour, let others do as they will, you will seek, till you find "the pearl of great price-the good part which shall not be taken away from you." Father of mercies!may this be the resolution of every hearer; and may thine own blessed Spirit render the resolve effective. We ask it in the name and for the sake of Christ our Saviour-Amen. FOR THE CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE. A BRIEF VIEW OF THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF DR. BARROW, WITH EXTRACTS FROM HIS SERMONS. DR. ISAAC BARROW was born in London, October, 1630. "His first schooling, (says his biographer,) was at the Charter-house for two or three years, when his greatest recreation was in such sports as brought on fighting among the boys; in his after-time a very great courage remained, whereof many instances might be set down; yet he had perfectly subdued all inclination to quarrelling; but a negli gence of his clothes did always continue with him. For his book he minded it not, and his father had little hope of success in the profession of a scholar, to which he had designed him. Nay, there was then so little appearance of that comfort which his father after received from him, that he often solemnly wished, that if it pleased God to take away any of his children, it might be his son Isaac; so vain a thing is man's judgment, and our providence unfit to guide our own affairs." This strange wish of Dr. Barrow's father, deserved, surely, a far severer censure than is here passed upon it. But we have in this record a most encouraging example, to show that Christian parents ought not entirely to despair of the reformation, nor even of the eminence, of children who are idle and profligate in their early years. The next school at which young Barrow was placed, which was in the country, witnessed his diligence; and such a rapid progress in learning "and all things praiseworthy, that his master appointed him a little tutor to the Lord Viscount Fairfax." At about the age of fifteen, he entered Trinity college, in the University of Cambridge. Here, on account of the poverty of his father, who lost most of his property by adhering to the royal cause, he was supported by the charity of the celebrated Dr. Hammond; and he now became eminently distinguish ed for diligence, learning, and piety. Barrow continued a stedfast, but moderate royalist, and would never take the covenant. Some of the fellows of the college were provoked to move for his expulsion; "but the Master silenced them with this, Barrow is a better man than any of us." He now read with great care, the works of Lord Verulam, Des Cartes, and Galileo; and by sheer merit, in opposition to party prejudice, obtained, in 1649, a fellowship in his college. The fellowships of the English Universities have long been, and are still, the nurseries of those men of genius who, in every department of science, mainly contribute to raise that nation to an unrivalled eminence of intellectual distinction. Barrow first studied physick, as the state of the times was unfavourable to his entering the Church, according to his views of propriety. But he afterwards thought that this profession was not consistent with his fellow's oath, which, it seems, obliged him "to make divinity the end of his studies." He therefore never practised medicine, but devoted himself to the study of Theology. In literature he soon took rank among the first men of his age. He was familiarly versed in the ancient mathematicians, and translated Euclid from the Greek, "in a less form and clearer method than any one had done before him. At the end of his demonstration of Apollonius, he has writ, April 14th-May 16th, Intra hæc temporis intervella peractum hoc opus.' He was a candidate for the chair of Greek professor; but though recommended by his predecessor, he at this time lost it, "being thought inclined to Arminianism." He now determined to travel. To provide for his voyage he sold his books; and went first to France, visited Paris, gave his college an account of his voyage, and then went to Italy. He made some stay at Florence, "perusing many books in the Great Duke's library, and ten thousand of his medals." He was prevented from visiting Rome, by the prevalence of the plague in that city. He took ship for Smyrna. "In this voyage they were attacked by a pirate; and though he had never seen any thing like a seafight, he stood to the gun appointed him with great courage, for he was not so much afraid of death as of slavery." After some stay at Smyrna, he went to Constantinople. Here," at the See of St. Chrysostom, |