ments, are also faid to have been written with the finger of God. Exod. xxxi. 18.

An audible voice is certainly calculated to give us the idea of a locally prefent being, and this is frequently,represented as proceeding immediately from God, when he reveals his will to the prophets. It was not only to Mofes that he thus fpake face to face, but to Samuel when he was a child. 1 Sam. iii. 4, And the Lord called Samuel, and he answered, Here am I.

In the New Teftament, alfo, an audible voice proceeded three feveral times from the Divine Majefty, to bear teftimony to the miffion of Chrift. The first time at his baptifm, Matt. iii. 17, And lo a voice from heaven, faying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleafed. Again, on the mount of transfiguration, Matt. xvii. 5, Behold a white cloud overshadowed them, and behold a voice from the cloud, which faid, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; Hear ye bim. And laftly, in the temple, in the week of crucifixion. John xii. 28, Jefus fays, Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, faying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.

The Ifraelites juftly confidered the true God as ftanding in a peculiar relation to themselves, and as the Divine Being had promised to dwell among them, it was natural for them to take it in too literal a fenfe. Exod. xxix. 45, And I will dwell among the children of Ifrael, and will

be

be their God, and they shall know that I am the Lord their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I dwell may

among On this ac

them. I am the Lord their God. count Jonah might imagine that he could flee from the presence of God by leaving the land of Canaan, in which he dwelt. Jonah i. 3, And Jonah rofe up to flee unto Tarshish, from the prefence of the Lord. But the fubfequent events in the hiftory of that prophet convinced him that God was equally present in all places.

Seeing God, in vifion, is by no means uncommon with the ancient prophets. If. vi. 1, In the year that king Uzziah died, I faw alfo the Lord [] fitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple, &c. Then faid I, Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have feen the king, the Lord of hofts. Then flew one of the feraphim unto mefaid unto me, Lo thine iniquity is taken away, and thy fin purged. And I heard the voice of the Lord, faying, Whom fhall I fend, and who will go for us. Then faid I, Here am I, fend

me.

-and

Micaiah fays, 1 Kings xxii. 19, I faw the Lord [m] fitting on his throne, and all the hoft of heaven ftanding by him, on his right hand and on his left. And the Lord faid, Who fhall perfuade Ahab, &c.

Dan.

Dan. vii. 9, I beheld till the thrones were caft down, and the ancient of days did fit, whofe garment was as white as fnow, and the hair of bis head like pure wool. His throne was like a

fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery ftream iffued out, and came forth from before him. Thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand flood before him I faw in the night vifions, and behold one like the fon of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him, &c. Amos ix. 1, I faw the Lord [] standing upon the altar, and he faid, &c.

Heb. iii. 2, O Lord I have heard thy speech and was afraid-God came from Teman, and the holy one from mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praife, and his brightness was as the light. He had horns (or bright beams, as it is rendered in the margin) coming out of his handsHe flood and measured the earth.

This language is not unknown to the New Teftament. Rev. iv. 2, Immediately I was in the fpirit, and behold a throne was fet in heaven, and one fat on the throne; and he that fat was, to look upon, like a jafper, and a fardine ftone; and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in fight like unto an emerald- -And

the four living creatures reft not day or night, Saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come. And when thofe living creatures give glory, and honour,

and

and thanks, to him that fat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, the four and twenty elders fall down before him that fat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and caft their crowns before the throne; faying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power; for thou baft created all things, and for thy pleafure they were and are created.

Many paffages in the books of scripture, and especially in the Pfalms, give us the most exalted ideas of the univerfal power and prefence of God. But ftill this is fo far from fuggefting the idea of proper immateriality, which bears no relation to fpace, that they naturally give us the idea of a Being that is locally prefent every where, but invifible, and penetrating all things.

Solomon fays, in his prayer at the dedication of the temple, 1 Kings viii. 27, But will God indeed dwell on earth? Rehold heaven, and the heaven of heavens, cannot contain thee, how much less this houfe that I have built. If. lxvi. 1, Thus faith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my foot-ftool. Where is the house that ye build unto me, and where is the place of my reft? Jer. xxiii. 23, Am I a God at hand, fays the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in fecret places that I fhall not jee him? Do not I fill heaven and earth, fays the Lord? To the fame. purpofe is that fublime paffage in Pfalm cxxxix. 7, Whither shall I go from thy Spirit, or whi

ther

ther shall I flee from thy prefence. If I afcend up into heaven thou art there. If I make my bed in the grave, behold thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the fea, even there fhall thine hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold

me.

Job fays, ch. xxiii. 3, Oh that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his feat. Behold I go forward, but he is not there, and backward but I cannot perceive him; on the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him. He bideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot fee him..

When the Divine Being is exprefsly faid to be invifible, no words are ever added to fuggeft to us that it is because he is immaterial; but we are rather given to understand, that we cannot fee God on account of the Splendour that furrounds him. This will be seen in fome of the paffages quoted above; and the idea fuits very well with the following paffage of St. Paul, 1 Tim. vi. 15, The King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, who only bath immortality, dwelling in light which no man can approach unto, whom no man bath feen, nor can fee; to whom be honour and power everlasting, Amen. The apostle John also says, John i. 18, No man hath feen God at any time; but he fays nothing of the reafon of it.

When our Saviour fays, John iv. 24, God is a fpirit, and they that worship him muft worfhip him in fpirit and in truth; there is no reference

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