Whatever is the object of sight must be perceived under some determinate shape or figure; it must be, consequently, bounded by an outline, and occupy a determinate portion of space, and no more; attributes utterly incompatible with the conception of an infinite being. He was pleased formerly, indeed, to signalize his presence with his worshippers by visible symbols, by an admixture of clouds and fire, of darkness and splendour; but that these were never intended to exhibit his power, but merely to afford a sensible attestation of his special presence, is evident, from the care he took to prevent his worshippers from entertaining degrading conceptions of his character, by the solemn prohibition of attempting to represent him by an image or picture. And after he had appeared to the congregation of Israel on the mount, Moses is commanded to remind them that they saw no similitude.

(Here speak of the impiety of the church of Rome, as to these points.)

of

The only visible representation of the Deity, which revelation sanctions, is found in his Son incarnate, in " Emmanuel, God with us;" "who is the image of the invisible God."§ The picturing of the Deity tends to produce degrading conceptions of the divine nature, partly as it

circumscribes what is unlimited, and partly since the human form will generally be selected, by leading men to mingle, with the idea of God, the imperfections and passions of human nature.

III. That God is spirit, and not flesh, is a view of his character closely connected with his omnipresence. "Whither shall I go from thy spirit, and 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."*

Matter is subjected to a local circumscription; God, as a spirit, is capable of coexisting with every other order of being.

IV. Because God is a spirit, and not flesh, he is possessed of infinite wisdom and intelligence. Thought and perception are the attributes of mind, not of matter; of spirit, and not of flesh; and for this reason, the original and great Spirit possesses them in an infinite degree. They cannot belong to matter, because matter is divisible into an infinite number of parts; so that, if the power of

*Ps. cxxxix. 7-12.

thinking subsists in these, there are, in reality, as many distinct thinking principles as there are parts, and the mind of every individual must be a congeries, or assemblage of an infinite number of minds. But if thought subsists in none of the parts separately taken, it cannot subsist in the whole; because a whole is nothing more or less than all the parts considered together, and nothing can be found in the whole but what previously exists in the several parts.

During the union between the soul and the body, the organs of the latter become the instruments of perception; but it is the mind alone which thinks, which alone is conscious, which sees in the eye, hears in the ear, feels in the touch. The Infinite Spirit is, consequently, all eye, all ear, all intelligence, perception, and.............

V. The spirituality of the Divine Nature lays a foundation for the most intimate relation between the intelligent part of the creation and himself. He is emphatically "the Father of Spirits." The relation of the parent to the child is very intimate and close, because the parent is the instrument of his being; but God is the AUTHOR. The earthly parent is our father after the flesh, the heavenly is our father after the spirit; and in proportion as the mind constitutes the most important portion of our nature, the relation subsisting between us and God is the most interesting and the most essential. "He is not far from any of us, seeing we are his offspring: in him we live, and move,

and have our being.' "'* The body connects us with the external universe; the soul connects us with God. The flesh is his production; the spirit is his image and, as the former separates us from him by a dissimilarity of nature, so the latter assimilates us to him by the possession of principles and laws congenial with his own.

VI. The spirituality of the Divine Nature fits him for becoming our eternal portion and supreme good. That which constitutes and secures our felicity, must be something out of ourselves; since we find ourselves utterly inadequate to be the source of our own enjoyment, we find that, without allying ourselves to an object distinct from our own nature, we are desolate and miserable. retire within our own nature in quest of happiness, is an idle and fruitless attempt. The mind feels itself fettered and imprisoned until it is allowed to go forth, and unite itself to some foreign object.

To

Again, to form the happiness of a mind must be the prerogative of something superior to itself; nor is there any greater superiority conceivable than that of being the source of enjoyment, the bestower of happiness on another. But while it is superior, it must be congenial in its nature. A spiritual being must possess spiritual happiness; the proper enjoyment of the mind must consist in something mental.

*Acts xvii. 27, 28.

III.

OUTLINE OF THE ARGUMENT OF TWELVE LECTURES ON THE SOCINIAN CONTROVERSY.*

INTRODUCTORY LECTURE.

Jude 3.—It was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you, that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered to the saints.

LECTURE II.

ON THE PRE-EXISTENCE OF CHRIST.

Matt. xxii. 41, 42.-While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he?

FOUR classes of passages adduced in proof of this.

I. Those passages which speak of the origin of Jesus Christ, and which accompany this by a specification of "the flesh" in such a formula that the flesh is never employed in a similar manner in the history of men.

II. Those passages in which it is affirmed by Jesus Christ and by his disciples, that he did come down from heaven to the earth, and that by virtue of his name.

III. Those passages which, though they do not exactly assert that Jesus Christ existed before he came into our world, yet this is the necessary conclusion from them.

*Delivered at Leicester in 1823.