The question then occurs, in what part of the creation do we find this manifestation of those attributes of the eternal Godhead, on which the Apostle thus argues? It cannot be in the mere world of matter, or even of irrational life. Stones and trees speak not to us of the righteousness of their Artificer. Brutes, as well as man, are wonderfully made; and show forth the wisdom and skill of Him who framed them; but they suggest nothing as to a moral author of the world. He has not left himself without witness of his kindness, since, as St Paul reminded the Lycaonians, he gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness *; but where has he placed the testimony of his justice and truth? where are we to find, among created things, any work which discloses to us a holy as well as a wise Creator, such as the Apostle's reasoning implies?

If we pursue our way along his argument, we have not far to seek for that which we thus require. As we advance in the next chapter, we find him telling us clearly † that the heathen, which have not the revealed law of God, have a corresponding law written on their hearts;—that they are created

*Acts xiv. 17.

+ Rom. ii. 14.

with a conscience which bears witness to this law; -that their thoughts accuse or excuse them in conformity with it;-and therefore it is, that he concludes (in the third chapter of this Epistle *) that all, Gentile and Jew, are under sin. They have within them a voice which accuses and condemns them. God has established in their bosoms a power which tries, judges, punishes and rewards their most secret actions. There is a world within the heart of man, which the Creator of all things has made, as well as a world without. There are in the mind internal powers, a natural bearing of parts, a fixed constitution, which are most important works of our Maker's hand, and which demand our most serious consideration.

And when we look at this internal world of impelling and regulating principles, this mental constitution of man, this law written on his heart, -are we not led to a nobler view of the creation and of the Creator, than any aspect of the mere material world can offer? It is not only true, that God rules the raging waves, and sets bounds to the ocean which it cannot pass: he has also established himself a dominion among the stormy impulses and wild affections of the human heart;

Rom. iii. 9.

It

and has laid down, among them, a boundary line which they may roll over, but can never obliterate. It is not only that the lions roaring for their prey seek their meat from God, and that man walks forth to his work to earn his share of the divine bounty; but that, while the lions rush headlong to their object, without control or restraint, man has an internal monitor, which tells him that his actions are good or bad, and which can often even chain and guide the brute within the bosom. is not only that the sunshine of God beautifies the flower, and His heaven reflects itself in the quiet lake; but even the better part of heaven finds a reflexion, though faint and dim, in a tranquil conscience; and the cheering sunshine of His approval, everywhere felt, gilds all the better impulses of our nature;-so that whatsoever is just, whatsoever is true, whatsoever is pure, whatsoever is lovely, is also of good report among men ;-so that if there be any virtue, there is also an accompanying praise.

Surely God appears in far greater majesty when we view him as the ruler and lawgiver of the moral world, than when we contemplate the earth as his footstool and the sky as his canopy. He

* Psalm civ.

sits enthroned, not only among clouds and lightnings, stars and planets; but also in the wider and deeper world of thought and will, of passion and action, his government is felt, his strength and wisdom are seen. There, he has not only a throne, but a sanctuary. He has erected a tribunal in the human heart, so that though man may do evil, he cannot knowingly approve it. On this tribunal, on this sanctuary, we may well look with admiration and reverence; and as we read the sublime lesson of a great and wise God in the wide page of the external world, we decypher, in the moral constitution of man, a testimony no less significant, and even more touching and solemn, of his holiness and righteousness, his love of good and hatred of iniquity.

This is indeed the lesson which has constantly offered itself to the minds of those, even among the heathen, who have, in seriousness and sincerity, looked at the constitution of man, and of nature, and endeavoured to raise and purify themselves by the contemplation. They have in all cases, though often without being able to render reasons which should convince more vulgar and turbid minds, advanced, not only to the persuasion of a Maker of the universe, but also of a just and righteous Master and Ruler, on whose approval

the good man may rest in trust and hope. This was the conclusion, as you well know, to which the wisest and best of those were led, who reasoned and enquired before the light was sent to lighten the Gentiles. This belief, a wavering and feeble' conviction no doubt, yet still the constant prompting of their better nature, dawned upon some minds, even among those Greeks who by their wisdom knew not God for any effectual purpose of salvation. The same persuasion too took root among the reasoners of that city, to whom the Epistle now under consideration is addressed, and mingled with the injunctions of the sternest code of morality *, a soothing recognition of a divine power to which we owe all that we have of good. And what shall we say of the meditations of those who worshipped the true God? Can it have escaped the notice of any reader of the Bible, that the Jewish Psalmist, always delighted to trace the greatness and goodness of the Creator in the things which are seen, never concludes such a train of reflections without recurring to the superior beauty and majesty of God's moral attributes. Thus in that beautiful hymn, the hundred and fourth psalm, the divine poet

The Stoical philosophy.