80 



THE EEV. H. J. R. MARSTON_, ON 



It is remote from all stoic indifierence to human nature's rights, 

 and to all the brutal socialism of the Prussian war-school. It is 

 sovereign might arrayed on the side of the meek and the kind. 

 But it is sovereignty. 



Two ultimate rights then disclose themselves to the reverent 

 student of the Divine Sovereignty, as ^^ortrayed in the Bible 

 and imaged in the human heart. The first is the right of mystery ; 

 the second is the right of disposal. Under the former right we 

 see how God withholds from us certain elements in His acting 

 and governing. This does not mean that we are to distrust the 

 findings of reason or of conscience where we are able to exercise 

 these faculties. It does mean that there are situations in which 

 these faculties are not able to pronounce a final verdict. This 

 appears to be the meaning of the noble saying of the Apostle : 

 " Making his home in the light that no man can have access to.'' 

 The right of mystery is, so to speak, natural to God's Omniscience, 

 and is not a decree morally imposed. 



The effect of recognising this right of mystery should be to 

 stimulate inquiry, not to check it, and at the same time to save 

 us from disappointment when we reach the end of our mental 

 tether. He whom we know truly, and who knows all things 

 perfectly, though He has not made us consorts of his omniscience, 

 yet approves all true science, and does not disdain our inevitable 

 nescience. 



I close this section with the words of Vinet : — 



" If there were no obscurities, the heart would leave all to be 



done by the mind. To know that we cannot know, is already 



knowledge." 



The saying of our Lord, near the close of the beautiful parable 

 of the Labourers in the Vineyard, most perfectly expresses the 

 right of the Divine disposal. The disposing power, which I have 

 outlined and vindicated, is not an arbitrary decree irrespective 

 of human considerations. It is an absolute prerogative, indeed ; 

 but a prerogative always exercised with the fulness of the 

 Divine Philanthropy. Is it not lawful for Me to do what I 

 will with Mine own ? " is an expression of Christ's will to deal 

 largely and sweetly with the least meritorious or fortunate of His 

 labourers. It furnishes the key to the dark saying that there 

 are "first that shall be last, and last that shall be first." 



Nothing can divest the Sovereign Will of its proprietary rights. 

 The lowest and meanest of its possessions is under the keeping 

 care of the Supreme Disposer ; it remains His ovm for ever. 



