though it may be thought that this conception of God, is necessitated by the limitations of that nature, yet it is very safe for us to conclude that what is so clearly revealed in the very make-up of the human soul is the absolute truth. God, then, is a person, for thus is He revealed in human nature. The two great revelations of God in man, therefore, are the revelations of His existence and of His personality.

2. We come to the revelations of God in physical nature. What does the great world of things reveal of God? "The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead." What, then, are the "invisible things" of God made known in creation? What of God does Nature reveal?

First of all, as the Scripture indicates, stands undoubtedly His "eternal power." Power is the first thing that strikes our attention as we look into nature. On every hand we see manifestations of it. After power comes the impression of wisdom. There is not only force in nature, but there is design, method, purpose in her operations. Intelligence is stamped on everything she does. There are no cross-purposes or random movements. Everything moves according to plan, and is directed to the designed end. The wisdom of God is made known in all things that are made.

Next comes His goodness. In physical nature we see not only power and wisdom, but also, at least, a general benevolence, a goodness that, as a rule, seeks the happiness and welfare of His creatures. In special cases, it is possible that this goodness may not be clearly seen, but in the general course of nature, we most assuredly do see one great force at work, producing happiness and not misery. The thousand and one contrivances for the production of happiness, which everywhere meet our gaze, convince us that the power in creation is not only wise, but good. And in cases where we do not see this, where this power does not seem to work for the happiness of the creature, we are led to regard it only as apparent, not real; as resulting from the limitation of our vision, and

not from the fact that happiness is not the end sought. These three great attributes of God, power, wisdom and goodness, these that constitute the Divine Supremacy, the Godhead, we may set down as most surely revealed in the physical creation.

But there are at least two other attributes of God, or attributes of these attributes, revealed in nature, that are very worthy of notice. First is the attribute of continuity, uniformity, orderliness. When we study nature with any degree of earnestness, we discover that the God of nature is a God of order, a God of law. The power at work there works by method, according to a prescribed plan. It does not work by chance. It does not build up with one hand and tear down with the other. Neither does it make any mistakes; it never has to repair damages. There are no accidents in nature. Everything is done according to law. Surely the God of nature is a God of law and order. "The things that are made" clearly reveal this attribute of God. Indeed, so clearly does this revelation appear in nature, that there is a tendency in science to deify Law, and make it constitute the whole substance of the Divine Being, and all the ways of His Spirit. Law, in this view, is all there is of God. This, of course, is an exag geration, but it shows most clearly how very patent this attribute is to the student of nature.

Again, nature reveals the Infinitude of God. The God of nature is absolutely without limitations. His power, wisdom, and goodness have no bounds. The study of the material creation makes us conscious of the Infinite. This, perhaps, is the most valuable contribution which nature makes to our knowledge of Deity. Certainly from no other source does this knowledge come to us with such clearness and power. The infinitude of the Creator is revealed no where as it is in the physical universe. The God that comes to us from any other source, is more or less a God of limitations. When we see God in human nature, history or character, He appears to us as limited in a greater or less degree.

Man is a finite being, and all he does is stamped with his

finiteness. He is limited on all sides, and so when we see God through anything that He is or does, our Deity is colored by this human finiteness. The limitation of the medium limits the object of our vision. To us God is colored by our own glasses. But when we turn to nature all this disappears. The finite, then, is swallowed up in the Infinite. The boundlessness of the universe, the vast and measureless sweep of her laws and the invincible might of her forces, cause us to fcel that He who created and controls all this is no less than the Infinite God. To such a God we can set no bounds. The impression of His infinitude He forces upon us by His works. So nature reveals God as the Infinite. These, then, are the great revelations of God in nature. Nature's God is a God of wisdom, power, and greatness, and not only so, but His wisdom, power, and goodness are lawful and orderly, and absolutely without limitations.

3. The revelation of God in human history. "A man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps." This more than intimates that in some way God makes Himself known in human history. He directs the steps of humanity. If so, man must feel His hand, and recognize His presBut how? What are the revelations of God in history? God in history appears as a guiding and overruling Providence. No student of history fails to detect this. Matthew Arnold recognizes this great fact, when he describes the God of the Hebrew Scriptures as "The Eternal, not ourselves, that makes for righteousness.

ence.

History everywhere testifies to the existence of this power, that makes for righteousness. In the affairs of men and nations, there is a constant outcropping of an element not human, of a power that does not regard nor obey the will of man, but that has purposes of its own to which it makes the purposes of man subservient; that works for righteousness in spite of all the wickedness of man. This is the revelation of God in history. He appears there as a providential power, overruling the acts of men, and causing the whole course of events to move towards the righteous ends He has in view.

4. The revelation of God in human character, in the life of great and noble men, of the inspired sons of God. These characters have appeared all through the world's history. Men have arisen who have acted out the great principles of the Divine government, lived in some measure the mind of God. Prominent among these, high above all others, is Jesus Christ. He was the "image" of the invisible God. In him the spirit dwelt without measure. He is the final, living word of God to man. Other men had lived this word to a greater or less. degree, but Jesus lived it in all its fulness and power, put it into actual flesh and blood, organized it into a pure and spotless life, and so gave to man such an image of the Infinite that the world has been bowing to it for more than eighteen centuries.

And the preciousness and peculiarity of this revelation are that in it we see the very heart of God. The inwardness of the Almighty shines out in the face of Jesus Christ. In him is revealed the long suffering, the patient, sacrificing spirit; the tenderness, the sympathy, the all-forgiving love of God. This revelation of the Highest, so needful to the faith, hope, and progress of man, and which no course of nature or of history can make, comes to us in the Divinely beautiful, grandly simple, and perfectly human life of Jesus of Nazareth.

So we have before us the four great revelations of God: that in the constitution of the human soul, that in physical nature, that in human history, and that in human character. Now the thought which we desire to emphasize, and for which all that we have said is but a preparation, is that no conception of God is perfect, that does not combine and harmonize all these revelations,- that all of them must unite to form anything like a perfect idea of God. If we attempt to make our God out of any one of them, it will be only a fragment. If we find our God in nature, in history, in the soul of man, or in the life of Jesus only, He is but a piece of God. What we do see may be true, but it is not the whole truth. This point we would make clear. We desire to show the importance of putting all these revelations together in order to get any adequate conception of Deity; and to show, too,

that the attempt to see God in some one of these directions only, is the great source of the narrowness and fragmentary character of our theology.

To do this it is needful that we observe the fact, that in each of these departments of Divine revelation there is a thought of God not found in any other, or not found so clearly and fully in any other. God says something to us in our na tures that He does not say, or say so fully, anywhere else. He says something in the physical universe that He does not say, or not, at least, so distinctly anywhere else. History reveals something of God not to be found elsewhere. And God speaks to us in Jesus Christ, as he does not in human nature, physical creation or human history.

If, therefore, we attempt to find out God by looking in only one of these directions, our idea of Him will be very imperfect; and if we do not look in every one of them, there will be something wanting in that idea. Let us take some illustrations, that we may see this point very clearly.

Take first the revelation of God in history. We have seen what this is. It is the revelation of God as a guiding and overruling Providence. No one can study history carefully and candidly, without being impressed, as we have already said, with the fact that there is something at work in human affairs beside the will of man. This something is what Matthew Arnold calls the "Eternal, not ourselves, that maketh for righteousness." Studying the Hebrew history critically, he discovered the existence of this something that makes for the right, that overrules the affairs of men, and causes them to bend to the furtherance of its own righteous purposes. So far he is undoubtedly correct.

But he attempts to go farther than this. He not only argues that this much of God he sees, but also that what his little telescope discovers of Deity is all that can be seen. So his God is only a fragment of Deity, for there is nothing more irrational than to suppose that this power which works for righteousness is all that we can know of God, or that the soul of man can be satisfied with any such Deity. The heart of