No. 1 A Discourse On the Glory resulting to God, and the benefit resulting to man from the Mystery of His Nature 97th Psalm 2nd verse

No. 1 80807
A Discourse
On the Glory resulting to God, and the benefit resulting to man from the Mystery of His Nature.
From the Text:
"Clouds and darkness are round about Him; righteousness and judgement are the habitation of His throne."
97th Psalm and 2nd verse
Read as a preparatory Lesson the 97th Psalm.
Hymns for worship:
1. 32nd Hymn L. Ml.
2. 31st Hymn b. Ml.
3. 33rd Hymn b ml.
Doxology "Let God the Father & the Son"

97th Psalm 2nd Verse
The foregone conclusion, and preconceived notions which are formed in reference to the Divine character, are sufficiently indicative of man's feebleness of capacity to investigate this truly awful subject. And there seems to be no exercise in which the human mind can engage, so well calculated to rebuke the prose of his intellect, or reduce him to the state of humility which befits his comparative insignificance, as the attempt to "find out the Almighty unto perfection." To this study let the profoundest thinker bring the powers of his mind, and
he will scarcely have begun the mighty task when he will discover that it is an ever expanding and exhaustless theme; And the few and faint glimpses which he may catch reflects from Nature & from Nature & from Revelation will be as [?] held out upon midnight gloom, and which only serve to make manifest the infinite obscure which lies undiscovered beyond his feeble vision. And his will be the conclusion reached by the friend of Job, with regard to this matter: "[?] is high as Heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than Hell; what canst though know? The measure there of is longer

than the Earth, and broader than the Sea." And yet as this same Scripture character informs us "Vain man would be wise though man be born like a wild ass's calf," and still are found those who having rejected the only source of proper information on the subject of God's character, - His own revealed Word, - have framed for themselves theories in deference to Him, which "destroy the personality of God, make him the automaton of an irresistible Fatalism, subject him entirely to the comprehension of man, resent him as self-developed in History and making God the Universe, destroy the idea of Sin, as there can be no sin where there is no Law [?] and no Law giver when God is in the Universe, subvert all the foundations of revealed religion, make the reason the highest conceivable authority and pervert the doctrines of [?] into mere philosophical pigments. "Such is the result of the modern System of German Philosophy, which has been set forth in more attractive and delusive garb, but with no less disastrous consequences to truth, in the Psychology of Victor Cousin. And this will ever be the result when men becoming

wise above what is written cut loose from the safe moorings of revealed Truth, and launch into the broad ocean of speculation, with no Pilot but human reason; - they will drift to a returnless distance from all that is sound in Truth and Righteousness. Nor is there any maximum more safe or reliable as a postulate starting point in Theology than this; that God is incomprehensible by a necessity of his nature so far as out capacities are concerned. This one belief fully impressed upon our minds at the very threshold of our inquiries will check presumption, will humble us to that point of docility which will open our minds to the gentle ingress of Divine instruction, and in this way we shall experience the blessed realization of the precious promise, "The meek will He guide in judgement and the meek will he teach His way." To those who submit thus meekly to the guidance of the Holy Spirit according to the teachings of the Word of God, The true idea of God so far

as He has been set forth to us, is that He is a Being possessed of the Attributes of Personality and Unity, of independent self existence, omniscience omnipotence, Holiness, Justice, Goodness, and Truth, and that in all these Attributes He is Infinite. Eternal and unchangeable. This is the very best definition of the Nature and character of God, which has ever been extracted from teh Word of God, by the wisdom of Man. You will find it substantially in the answer to the 4th question of your shorter Catechism. And so complete and entirely satisfactory is it to the mind, that although we designate it as the result of human wisdom, we cannot but believe that the individual Author of the answer to that question [?] inspired in the sense of scripture must in framing it have been under the guidance of the spirit of Heavenly wisdom. The tradition read by us in reference to this subject is as follows: The vulnerable Assembly of Divine, who were [?] in Westminster in 1643 by order of the British Parliament and who in conjunction with so Lay assessors

and some Commissioners from Scotland sat 5 years, succeeded in preparing this shorter catechism, which according to some "as [comp????] judges as the world has seen since the apostolic age is among the sounder and best expressed compendiums of Christian faith and practice that were ever formed by uninspired men." Each question was deliberately and [p????fully] considered, and every one was heard calmly and patiently and every word in the answers given was carefully weighed before it was adopted. Accordingly

when the great fundamental question "What is God?" came up for consideration, its magnitude and mystery was such that all seemed baffled and confounded in the attempt to gave it a correct answer. And it was only after adjourning for more solemn deliberation, that on re-assembling and resuming their labors, while all were awaiting the presentation of the expected definition by some member of the Assembly, at length there of the junior members arose and read forth distinctively the answer as we now have it, and which has been familiar to our ears from infancy; "God is a Spirit, infinite eternal, and unchangeable in His Being, Wisdom, Power, Holiness, Justice, Goodness and Truth": This was adopted instantly and regarded as the most complete and unexceptionable solution of the great question that could be attained. We profess ourselves perfectly satisfied with it. We do not seek to go beyond it. We feel that in it is comprehended all that we can ask in regard

to God, and that it is not in the power of the most exalted human mind to convey us anything more clear and definite in this imperfect State of Existence. And for obvious reasons; this definition includes all that the Bible has furnished us. And God is only comprehensible as He is there revealed.
The wisdom of God appears in this as in every other of His dispensations that the manifestations He has made of Himself are only partial. It is by this means he has preserved

His own Glory, and consulted the true interests of Man. For had He made everything plain to our minds in regard to himself, the result would have been by a familiarity thus engendered, to banish from the heart that reverence for His [?] without which there can be no religion. We should thus by having God brought down to the level of out poor capacities, have been insensibly betrayed into the fatal creed that God "was altogether such as one as ourselves." If on the contrary, He

had allowed us no light at all as to His character, we should simply from ignorance have had no sentiments of reverence toward Him, in our hearts, nor should we have had reference to His approval or disapprobation in any of our actions [simply from ignorance]. So that an excess of concealment on the one hand, and an extreme of plainness on the other would alike have resulted in depriving Him of the Glory which is His due, and which is the great end of HIs Existence. And then the interests

of the Creator and the creature are so intimately identified, that the advancement of out happiness is inseparable from the promotion of God's Glory. The consequence then in either of the cases supposed would have been alike disastrous to both [the two parties alike] God & man. It is therefore a proof of the Infinite Wisdom of God, that He has so attempted the combination of discovery & mystery in His communications with man as to avoid the alternative of ignorance on the one hand, or contemptuous familiarity and irreverence

irreverence on the other. And hence no serious student of Divine Truth can fail to attain as the conclusion of his investigations, that God has assuredly revealed to us much that is of most pressing importance and priceless value to us, and that He has concealed from us infinitely more in reference to Himself. And yet while he may see that, in the words of out text, "Clouds & darkness are round about Him" - still the revelations we have, suffice to satisfy him, that "righteousness

and judgement are the habituation of His throne!" In other words the great truth embraced in our text is that the mystery in which it has pleased God to enshroud Himself is full of Glory to Him and blessing to us. The two points we shall consider separately. Let us illustrate by some obvious considerations the [?] fact, that God conceals Himself from us, that "Clouds and darkness are round about Him."
1st I remark, His own nature is to us the greatest of mysteries. True He has declared Himself as possessed of certain

certain attributes which belong to Him alone and which can be predicated of Him alone and which can be predicated of Him alone, such as independent and Eternal Existence, & Infinite Wisdom, Power, Holiness, Justice, Goodness, and Truth; but these are really inconceivable by the human mind in their full and essential force.
Let us take us His Being - Who of the race of Man can fully grasp the idea of Spiritual existence? There is something about it so subtle, so ethereal, so unearthly that we can comprehend it only as it is connected with a bodily form. And hence, the

Numberless efforts that have been made by various classes of our race to think of God as a Being possessed of form and substance such as man, has given rise to the various and infinitely diversified representations of idol Gods, of all the Departments of nature. Thus the Pagan had his hideous monster God the workmanship of man's hand and the pious Papist - (pagans in a higher stage) has his pictures of the Father Son & Holy Spirit and the blessed virgin, where with he may lend aid to his [?] devotion. We can form no adequate idea of

of Spirit. We may agree with a modern Divine that the operations and manifestations of Spirit are just as clear and certain as those of matter, and we are obliged by a law of our nature to believe in the existence of Spirit with as much earnestness as we do in matter. But after all this, when we come to ask, "What is the essence of Spirit?" There is no man who can answer the question. Such is God. He is a Spirit. And it is idolatry to conceive of Him as possessed of a bodily shape. With a confessed inability to conceive of Spirit, and

the full acknowledgement that He is a Spirit, we are met at the outset of this subject with amazing mystery in the Being of God. And furthermore, the attempt to grasp the idea of Self-Existence, is equally beyond the powers of our minds. You look around you and observe innumerable instances of organized beings, of complicated physical structure, of wonderful mechanism, and nice adaptation in all their various departments to the purpose for which they seem to have been created. And although all of them seem to the

superficial view to perform their functions of nature in regular order by a selfmoving impulse, and there appears to be no being to whom their creation and organization can be assigned, yet no man has ever failed to discover on investigation the most obvious proofs of a superior Being to whose creative Power the whole must be assigned. Yet here at the Being of God we have arrived at a point in our inquiry which shows no one who had no Creator. No higher Power exists or ever did exist. He is self Existent. He was not created at all.

He exists by some inherent Power of His own nature. It never was communicated to Him by another. Now where is the mind competent to the task of understanding this great truth in the nature of God's existence? "Clouds & darkness are round about Him." Nor can you more successfully unravel the mystery of His Eternity. Mount the wing of imagination and ascend to the most remote sources of the past duration. Go back to the period when the morning starts sand together and all the Sons of God shouted for joy;" and

there you arrive at the beginning of Time, but not of God. And if you [?] an adventurous flight into the dark bosom of the preceding period, & fearlessly plunge into the abyss of a past Eternity, & measuring it as you must do by the denominations of years & centuries, you would still find God existing in the solitude of His unapproachable grandeur and the awful Eternity of His Being. And you would not have made any approach whatever to the beginning of His Existence. There never was a

Time when God did not exist - tho' there was a time when He existed alone. Says Harris: "The discoveries of Science lead back our imagination to a period incalculably remote, but even if each of the countless stars had been formed in succession, and the time which elapsed between the formation of each had equaled that entire period, the mind which could span the whole, - which could dart back a thought to the moment in which the first Star beamed on the regions of Space would feel that it had only reached

the starting point for a preceding eternity. For if then it should ask "Where dwelt the Deity before that?" The answer of the Oracle is - "He inhabiteth Eternity," and that star of which it had caught a glimpse, could only be regarded as the first lamp that was lighted up to guide the way back to His dread abode." Will any mind undertake an Enterprise so full of dread mystery and fearful peril as that of penetrating the meaning of God's Eternity? It is conceivable indeed that one might so amaze and confound the mind by the simple study

of this dreadful subject, as to destroy its integrity forever, and send it back upon itself sickened and impotent from having attempted an achievement so utterly beyond its mightiest capabilities. Akin to this we may enumerate His Immensity. And here is an attribute of the Divine [?] which is just as inconceivable as any other assigned to Hom. "Oh Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down sitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.

Thou compassest my path and my lying down and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue but lo! oh Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend into Heaven thou art there: if I make my bed in Hell thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the outermost parts of the sea,

Even there shall thy hand lead me, & thy right hand shall hold me. If I lay 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." Here then we have declared to us that God fills immensity - with His presence. He is everywhere present and at all times - "present" at the same moment in every part of illimitable space" - and yet offering no interference with the space occupied by

by any of His creatures - that He knows all our secret thoughts - His eye pierces by its irresistible power down into the profoundest depths of the human mind - "unseen, unfelt by all He maintains a pervading and intimate acquaintance and contact with all parts & portions of the universe - "He sees all things, hears all things, is present with all things, is the energetic cause of all motion & Power," and yet interferes with none of the perceptions & [powers] actions of his creatures," Now here is a mystery which defies the skill of the mighty as well as the feeble intellect, to unfold

Indeed such is [the] our entire [impossibility of] inability to conceive of the nature and essence of God's Being, that its credibility would be impossible also, were it not that it is a truth essential to the being of ourselves and all things else in the Universe. The matter is contracted into this compass; The existence of objects around us cannot be accounted for without supposing the existence of some Cause, which Cause must have been itself without a Cause. And altho' this is a matter of which we cannot conceive, yet since to choose any other solution of the difficulty would lead to the supposition of an impossibility we decide that "mystery is preferable to absurdity."

So true it is that in respect to God's nature & essence, "Clouds and darkness are round about Him." But not only in this point is it illustrated, but also,
2ndly, In His material Universe. It is perfectly consistent with the most just and [?] appreciation of the ground modern discoveries in Astronomy, Geology and Kindred Sciences, to assume the position that, "the mysteries of Nature, with regard to the essences of things; and indeed in regard to a multitude of subtle operations, are kept in a kind of sacred reserve, and elude the utmost efforts of Philosophy to surprise them in their concealments, and bring them to Light."

What is discovered serves only to convince men of the immense [a???] that remains still undiscovered. Surface skimmers may please themselves with the conceit that they have done much toward unlocking the mysteries of Nature, but the truly Scientific & profound are always the most willing to acknowledge themselves as having only entered the threshold of the great Temple of the Material Universe. The Sophist may claim to know all that can be known and by this very name he may show his vanity and self conceit. But the truly wise modesty choose to be called Philosophers

Philosophers - lovers of learning. Hence when the oracle at Delphi pronounced Socrates who is acknowledged to have been "the chief luminary of the ancient world," the wisest of men, he disclaimed all right & title to the exalted - praise, and professed himself utterly unable to conceive any reason why the declaration was made in regard to him except that being conscious of his own ignorance, he was willing to confess that he knew nothing." Newton was regarded in his day the pride and wonder of the Scientific world this will ever be regarded as she of the great "names that were not born to die;"

yet we have high authority ([Rob?] Hall) for the statement that when a young man, who was a distinguished contemporary. [?] died in early life, after having shown indubitable evidences of great Genius, Newton remarked," if that young man had lived we should have known something." Such was Newton's modest estimate of his own prodigious acquaintance with the arcana of Nature. The utmost reach of human knowledge attained in this imperfect state seems indeed to be, only a familiarity with some of the most obvious and sensible appearances and laws which regulate the operations

of Nature. The substantial essence, the [?] nature of the various manifestations with which matter meets our view, are veiled from us, and lie too deep for the short line of human reason to sound. Let not the mind be discouraged by this humiliating fact from proceeding in the career of knowledge, and in the study of Nature. We never shall probably penetrate very far beyond present discoveries, at any rate it is not to be anticipated that our knowledge shall be very greatly extended with regard to the nature of essence of things around us. But no

matter for that. The ground object of study will assuredly be attained, - the discipline of the mind. For when the opening fields of discovery shall have revealed to us that every object in Nature, from the flower that blooms at our feet and the atom floating in air, "to the Star of [?] magnitude that adorns & illuminates some distant unexplored system, & the most exalted Seraph that burns around God's throne of Glory, is replete with the mystery, then will our minds be brought down to the true and befitting attitude of humility. We shall find the just position we are designed to occupy

in the magnificent scale of Being. And we shall realize in some good degree the Glory of God, not only revealing so much but also in concealing so much from us, when we find that even in regard to the material Universe it is true of God that "Clouds and darkness are round about Him!" But this is true of God
3rdly In the dispensations of Providence. There is perhaps a very vague and ill defined idea entertained by many in reference to God's Providence. It is true & unexceptionable definition "that Series of actions which the Divine Being is continually

continually carrying on in the Government of the World which He has made." In other words it is "His most Holy Wise, and powerful preserving and governing all His creatures and all their actions." No man can study the aspect of the world as it is presented to his view, or read the records of the past on the page of History without being struck with two facts in regard to this whole subject. The one is that throughout the whole there are indubitable marks of wisdom and design, and the other is that there is a

deep obscurity resting upon much that transpires. The marks of design are so palpable everywhere that even without the aid of Holy Scripture one may very readily arrive at the conclusion that there is a God who designed all things. But when we come to [?] the design which was had in view by the Divine mind in the permission of many events that are daily taking place in the world we find ourselves entirely arrested in our progress. We cannot understand why, in a world controlled and governed by a Being of Infinite Goodness and Justice, there

should everywhere be found [?] apparent confounding of the plan and order of His Empire. Why is it that value is found with rare exceptions trampled down in the conflict with Vice - why is it that Truth is driven often from the field before the beleaguering hosts of Falsehood, - why is it that the good man heads the lowly vale of poverty and obscurity struggling with trials and sorrows, while the wicked are so often prospered, and riding upon the high places of the Earth - why have martyrs been burned at the stake or impaled or crucified while bloody murderers have triumphed over them & their holy cause,

why have the great Truths of Christianity been so long making the limited headway which they have attained, while Satan's Kingdom has prevailed in all its odious and abhorrent forms of idolatry & outbreaking wickedness over so large a majority of the race of men? These are mysteries in Providence which have amazed and perplexed the wisest and best of all ages. It was this which troubled Jeremiah when he exclaimed "Righteous art thou, O Lord, yet let me talk with thee; where fore do the wicked prosper?" It was this which awakened in the hear of David that bitter

feeling when he said "I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay-tree." It was this that aroused the unbelieving thoughts of [?] when, seeing the prosperity of the wicked he envied them - he saw that there were no [?] in their death," that they were not in trouble as other men neither were they plagued like other" - when he saw that the ungodly prospered in the world, & increased in riches & then in this view exclaimed "Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency." And many an unsolved mystery still meets

us in the dealings of Divine Providence. And while the devout child of God is ever willing to acquiesce in the doctrine that the Will of God is the best exposition of all His course of Rule, and while the language of [?] is that which we should all adopt; "Even so Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight" still there can be no doubt that the reasons of these proceedings of Divine Providence will remain inscrutable to our minds to the very end of time. Thus it is that in the designs of His dealings "Clouds and darkness are round about Him." And

we have no more impressive lesson read to us on this subject than we gather from our acknowledged and admitted ignorance of [?]. The declaration of James is "Ye know not what shall be on the morrow." True, nor know we what shall be in the next moment. Our minds are so limited that we are not permitted to gaze beyond the circumscribed space embraced by the present moment. This is all we call known, nor even when we have been permitted to enter upon it can we assume ourselves that we shall see its close, or be permitted to begin another. The sagacity of the wise &

observant student of passing events through a long life may have enabled him to say with some degree of probability what may be the issue of a certain combination of events that are transpiring around him. But there are a thousand things which are to him contingencies, but which are the most fixed and predetermined matters of absolute certainty to God, and which may be mingled in the ordinary course of events, which shall utterly defeat the best laid schemes, and most wisely conceived Enterprises. The obscurity which veils the future to us is a portion of the "clouds and darkness

that are round about Him." The period of our deaths is as unknown to us, as it is to the irrational beast of the forest. Life assurance companies are based upon calculations made in regard to the average duration of Life in a large number of individuals taken together, and drawn from bills of mortality observed during a long series of years. And these are now carried to such a point of exactness as it is sufficient for all practical purposes. But this will do only for the purposes of business. It is no guide to you or to me as to how long we shall live, or how soon we shall die.

All, every particular however minute, all are shrouded in the "clouds and darkness" in which it has pleased God to envelope Himself. But He Thus conceals himself from us also,
5thly In many of the matters connected with the plan of Salvation. On the first presentation of this idea, it would strike a superficial observer as inconsistent with the character of God, to profess to make a revelation to man of a scheme of Redemption designed expressly for his benefit & yet conceal much of that scheme in an impenetrable veil of mystery.

Yet it is unquestionably the case that in the word of God there are many things declare, and the language in which they are declared, is plain and intelligible. We cannot fail to have a clear idea of the fact that is declared in every instance. But it is to be remarked that these are only facts, they are not reasonings and explanations. It is not the practice of the Sacred writers to propose a theory and then argue it out fully before the reader, as is the custom of ordinary uninspired writers. But whatever is set forth comes to us based upon

the authority of its Divine Author, & demands of us out unquestioning assent. It does not deny to us the privilege nor does it imply our inability to satisfy our minds of the entire fitness & reasonableness of every doctrine it presents, but then it does not conceal the fact that while it contains nothing. That is contrary to human reason, it does proclaim doctrines that are far above its grasp. I mention (a) The doctrine of the Trinity as marvelous mystery, revealed in the Word of God and yet one of the great practical importance

to us. We learn that there is "one only - the living and true God," and yet we learn also that "there are three persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, & that these three are one God, the same in substance equal in power and glory." New who can comprehend this doctrine? Who can connect with the revealed truth the reasons of its existence as a truth, as they are connected with it in the Divine Mind? It is an utter impossibility. No minds can do it. It is not that one man's mind is less vigorous and grasping in its power than

another's that he finds it a thing "hard to be understood." But the difficulty is inherent in the subject itself, and the hard points are intrinsic to it, aside from any weakness of mind in him that attempts and fail, to unravel it. They are such difficulties, as will yield to no powers of intellect however mighty, nor to any persevering pursuit or study however long-continued. It was never intended by God that man should fully comprehend this deeply mysterious doctrine. This is part of the plan of Redemption however. It is essential that there should be a Father

to represent the Majesty of God's Government and by His Wisdom to devise the Scheme. It was essential that a God should execute the plan, and yet God the Father must not descend from the Throne of Empire, & execute the plan which His Wisdom had devised. Hence God the Son must perform that part in the plan. And yet, while the application of the benefits of the plan could only be made efficaciously by a Divine Being, there is a clear unfitness in supposing that the Son of God should apply His own blood to the sinner - it were enough that He should shed that blood. Hence the necessity

for the existence of the Holy Spirit, whose part it is
--- "to cleanse the heart,
To purify the Soul,
To pour fresh life in every part
And new create the whole!"
But now although we may see the fitness and propriety of the arrangement whereby the Deity exists One in Three, yet have we advanced a single step towards the solution of this mystery? Can see how these can be? Can you tell how God can be one and yet three? Not at all. It is wrapped in "clouds and darkness which are round about Him."

But this is not the only mystery. Observe (b) The Incarnation. "Without controversy" says Paul, "great is the mystery of Godliness -" God was manifest in the flesh. "Angels desire to look into it. It is beyond their reach. We may reason about it and arrive at some conclusions which are undoubtedly correct about the necessity, propriety, and exact fitness, of this union of God & Man, but this is all we can do. It will be manifest on a diligent survey of the subject that the atonement to be sufficient must be infinitely valuable hence it must be made by none lower

than a Divine nature. It is equally obvious that death must be endured as this was the penalty of the Law. It was necessary therefore that this must be endured by Humanity, as God cannot die. And as sinless obedience was also demanded a Divine Being must perform it, as He only is sinless. And yet there would be a manifest inconsistency in making Him who was the Author of the Law and above all Law, submit to come under its control. Accordingly it was requisite that He should combine with His Divine the Human nature, so as to be made under the Law. In this way

we can see some of the beauties of the Plan. But can any of us explain how these two distinct natures co-exist in one person? Can we see how it is possible that these two natures remain together without being identified, or communicating their properties to each other? By no means . It is a high and unsolvable mystery. We may never unravel it. But a true Christian does not desire to solve it. He prefers to have it remain just as it is, beyond his grasp. The very mysteriousness of the whole subject invests it with an unapproachable grandeur, which excites

in his soul adoring wonder, and silent and solemn amazement & awe. And if it were stripped of this obscurity & reduced to the humble sphere of our comprehension, it could only be done at the expense "of contracting its dimensions and debasing its native grandeur." Let it then remain just where God Himself has placed it - in profound mystery!
"I love the Incarnate Mystery
And there I fix my trust!"
But if we look further we shall find mystery (c) in the doctrine of Regeneration. Sciolists in Theology presume

to comprehend this doctrine without any difficulty. But when we remember that out Savior in setting forth used the emblem of "the Wind;" we may learn from this very fact, that we can only know its effects and have some impression of its renovating power upon the soul. We see the effects of the wind in the waving free-tops, the floating thistle the flying vessel over the deep, or the prostrate [?], or shattered fabric yielding to the Hurricane's breath. But whence came the Wind, whither tends its viewless pathway, or where does it sink into calm repose, when its

rage is spent, and its violence exhausted. These are questions which proud Philosophy fails to solve. What mind then is so deep and penetrating as to tell us the nature of the work of Regeneration when the wind which emblematizes it is incomprehensible? Nor are we more successful in our investigations (d) in reference to the Resurrection. Paul again calls this "a Mystery." "Behold" says he "I show you a mystery we shall not all sleep; but we shall all be changed, in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last [?] for the trumpet shall sound, and