ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 201 



(Job xxxviii. xxxix.) These are queries calculated 

 to abase and humble proud man. There are thousands 

 of effects which we perceive, but of which all our phi- 

 losophy fails to discover the cause ; so that we must 

 continually say with Agur, " There be three things 

 which are too wonderful for me; yea, four which I know 

 not" (Prov. XXX. 18.) "As thou knowest not the 

 way of the spirit, nor how the bones do gi'ow in the 

 womb of her that is with child ; even so thou knowest 

 not the works of God who maketh all." (Eccl. xi. 5.) 

 Here then, at the outset, our much ignorance ought to 

 humble that pride and self-sufficiency which is too apt 

 to be the accompaniment of a little acquaintance with 

 natm-al science. While the contemplation of the per- 

 fection with which everything is ordained and governed, 

 ought to make us satisfied with the Divine Wisdom, 

 and to check our repinings when its ordinances do not 

 agi-ee with our inclinations. An humble, teachable, 

 child-like spirit, ready to receive every revelation of 

 God, becomes one wdio looks on the Divine handiwork. 

 Still we can trace much in the created world, w^hich 

 we are able to understand, much of which we can 

 perceive the reasons, and discern the fitness. And 

 several of the perfections of God may clearly be 

 inferred from these, being reflected by his works as 

 by a mirror. These his perfections, "his eternal 

 power and Godhead," have been manifested in the 

 things that are made, as He himself informs us ; for 

 " He hath shewed them unto us," (Rom. i. 19, 20.) 

 So that we are without excuse, if we see Him not in 

 them. Thus, the greatness and power of God are 

 insisted on in the passage already alluded to (Job 



