Page images
PDF
EPUB

SERMON II.

THE GREATNESS OF GOD.

O Lord, my God, thou art very great.-PSALM civ. 1.

ONE reason why many persons habitually and fearlessly indulge in sin, is, that they know not God. "Thou thoughtest," says he, "that I was altogether such an one as thyself." Psalm 1. 21. This being the case, it is immensely important that we seek to know God-that we seek to have some proper conception of his true character and dignity-of his exceeding greatness and majesty. But here, the words of Zophar are brought to our recollection: "Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection? It is high as heaven, what canst thou do? It is deeper than hell, what canst thou know? The measure thereof is longer than the earth; it is broader than the sea." Job xi. 7, 8, 9. We admit it; we know full well that it is beyond a mortal's mind, beyond - an angel's power, "to cast a thought half-way to God." Yet it is right and proper to push our inquiries here, for what though we cannot

"rise to the height of this great argument," nor grasp the boundless theme, the effort may at least serve to expand the mind, and give us views of our Maker's grandeur which we never had before.

The man who stands upon the shore of some vast ocean, and casts his eye over the immeasurable deep before him, sees, it is true, no bounds; yet the contemplation of this sublime and magnificent scene greatly elevates his mind, and gives him conceptions of the immensity of the ocean, both new and grand! Who can grasp the amplitude of creation? who can cast his thoughts over all the works of God? who can measure the great temple of universal nature, and tell its height and its depth, its length and its breadth? Not a human being upon the face of the earth; yet, certainly, he who has studied the subject has more enlarged and correct ideas of it, than he who has not. Even so, what though after all our researches, we cannot "find out the Almighty unto perfection," the effort may, in some measure, elevate and expand the mind, and enable us with feelings of more profound veneration and awe, to utter the language of our text: "O Lord, my God, thou art very great." The greatness of God appears in several things:

1. In comparison with the kings of the earth; and to this the Psalmist has special re

ference in the words connected with our text. The kings of the earth are sometimes termed great; thus we read of Alexander the Great, of Constantine the Great, and Frederick the Great, but, verily, in comparison with the God of heaven, their greatness dwindles into insignificance-dwindles into nothing! Have they thrones? Their thrones are upon the earth; God's throne is in the heavens, "high above all height." Have they robes? God's robes are robes of light and majesty. Have they pavilions? He stretcheth forth the heavens as his pavilions, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in. Have they chariots? He maketh the clouds his chariot-he walketh upon the wings of the wind. Have they kingdoms? The whole universe is God's kingdom, and literally he ruleth over all. And whereas the mightiest

potentates of the

earth are mortal, and must die, God is in his own nature immortal, and never dies, but lifts his hand to heaven and says, I live for ever! Comparing, then, the God of heaven with the monarch of the earth, as the Psalmist has done, we may say with great emphasis, "O Lord, my God, thou art very great." The greatness of God also appears,

2. In certain passages of Scripture which speak sublimely of him. Thus, Habakkuk, the prophet, says, "God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran, Selah.

His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet! He stood and measured the earth; he beheld and drove asunder the nations; the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways are everlasting!" Hab. iii. 3-6. "In my distress," says the Psalmist, "I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice out of his temple. Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth. He bowed the heavens also, and came down, and darkness was under his feet: and he rode upon a cherub, and did fly; yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind. He made darkness his secret place, his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hailstones and coals of fire. Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings and discomfited them. Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered; at thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils." Psalm xviii. 6-15. And what an idea of the exceeding greatness of God does Isaiah give, when speaking of him he says: "Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand; and meted out heaven with the

span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Behold the nations are as a drop of the bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance; behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burntoffering. All nations before him are as nothing, and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity." Isaiah xl. 12. 15, 16, 17. Once more: What a sublime idea of the greatness of God does the Apostle John give in these words: "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the heaven and the earth fled away, and there was no place found for them: and I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God." Rev. xx. 11, 12. Here you will observe we have described the appearing of the great God, as final Judge, and as an effect of his appearance, the vanishing away of the heavens and the earth. As the sun, rising in full splendor, with its effulgent beams scatters the shades of night and the mists of the morning, even so, at the coming of the great God as final Judge, the heavens and the earth, substantial as they are, shall be only as the shades of the night, and the mists of the morning. Smitten by the living and insufferable effulgence of his glory, the heavens and the earth shall pass away as

« PreviousContinue »