THE ETERNITY OF GOD.

REV. J. M. RODWELL, A.M.

ST. PETER'S CHURCH, SAFFRON HILL, NOVEMBER 23, 1834.

"The high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity."-ISAIAH, lvii. 15.

THE great object of all our preaching, and of all our assemblings here together, Sabbath after Sabbath, is, that your ministers may be made the instruments, in the hands of God, of raising you above yourselves, and lifting you from earth to heaven, from time to eternity, through the preaching of his Word, blessed to your souls, by the aid of his ever-present Spirit. This we are to do by contrasting to you your own actual state with that which God expects and demands of his creatures: this we are to effect by setting before you the comparative value of earth and heaven, the nothingness of the one, and the allsufficiency of the other-the unsanctified and deluding joys which earth, at its best, is able to put into your hands, with those blessed realities of truth, and love, and holiness, which heaven can give you foretastes of, even in the prospect, in the blessed and sure earnest of that "fulness of joy" which hereafter awaits those in whose bosoms, on earth, is sown the blessed seed of immortality and holiness. We are to set before you man as a sinner, and God as holy; man as short-lived, brief, and passing-God as eternal and unchangeable. We are to set before you man as a creature crushed before the moth, whose days are even as a span, in comparison of that immense eternity in which the Almighty dwells. We are to set before you this earthly tenement of clay, which now shackles, fetters, and clogs the immortal spirit; and to compare it with that pure, that spiritual, and that glorious body with which the saints of God shall be clothed upon, when the Judge shall come to award to each their final, their eternal doom. We are to set before you man, not merely as consisting of this wretched body in which he is now clothed, but as consisting of an immortal spirit. We are to tell you that man is not all dust; but that there is a spirit within him, forming part of himself. What that spirit is, none but the living God can tell: it is that strange something within us which no human eye has ever seen; but without which we can do nothing, and are nothing. We are to speak to you of those souls which dwell in our bodies, and animate and rule them, but are not confined to them: for we know that, spurning the limits of time and space, the soul can rove among things that are past, as though it had lived in them; that it flies to the utmost limits of the earth, and ranges among the orbs of heaven, and goes beyond them. We know that our soul has that power in it, by which, when guided by the light from heaven, it can rise to the great God of heaven, and penetrate into that invisible eternity in which he dwells; that it can elevate,

transforn, and expand itself, when it is led to dwell in the exercise of truths which emanate alone from him. We are to set before you the spiritual nature of man's soul; in order that by looking upon the power of man, of man as a spirit, we may also see how infinitely greater must be the power of God, who is a spirit.

If the soul of man, bowed down, and clogged, and fettered as it is with sin, can at times soar above all that is visible; if the soul of man, in its present weak and abject state, can investigate all science, bring the elements down at its bidding, and grasp immortal truths; how great must be the power of that holy God, in whom dwells all that is awful in power, all that is venerable in wisdom, and all that is holy in purity: and if the joys which our souls can at times feel, in the light of the Gospel, and the knowledge of God, be now so great; if there be a peace and joy in believing, which at times steals into our bosoms, and fills the parched wilderness of this life with wells of water; how great must be that river of joy which the soul shall realize when the great God himself shall pour the full stream of grace, and love, and truth, into the sinner's heart; when we shall see him face to face, and, in clear and open vision, know him even as we are known!

And, most of all, we are to set before you THE ETERNITY OF THE Soul, AND THE ETERNITY OF GOD, as being inseparably connected the one with the other, and the one a result from the other. We are to consider the import

ance, the nearness, and the influence of eternity, and of eternal things; of eternity as an attribute of God-of eternity as the home in which God dwells—of eternity as the state to which he calls us. We are sure that no thoughtful and no reflecting mind can ever divest itself of the notion of eternity. The man may indeed refuse to think, as many are wont to do, on any serious subject at all; but he who thinks to any purpose, cannot refuse to admit the truth before us-that God is an eternal God, though he know little or nothing of the powers of the world to come. Our souls are gifted with powers which enable them to look back over the ages that are past. You may imagine a period before the heavens and the earth were made, ere yet the sun was a light by day, and the moon and the stars for a light by night; you may travel back myriads of ages, till you get beyond the boundary of creation, and arrive at the time (if time it may be called,) ere God had formed one of those blessed spirits which are around his throne-ere one note of praise was breathed forth to Him whose mercy endureth for ever. But stretch imagination as you will, you cannot imagine a period at which God was not, at which he was not "the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity," because it is clear, that had such a period ever existed, nothing ever could have been brought into existence. And it is by bringing our minds to dwell on this point, the eternal nature of the holy God, that we may gain some glimpses of the past eternity, and learn to bow with reverence before His throne, who exists from everlasting to everlasting; in whose sight thousands and millions of ages are but as a passing day; whose existence will continue as now it is, and has been from the beginning, ere the earth was formed on which we tread, and as it will be even after this world shall be blotted out of the book of existence, and be found no more.

Brethren, these things are no. barren speculation. Perhaps there is not a more holy and a more sanctifying employment, than that of considering the

eternity of God; because, if God through everlasting ages can alone continue the same, if he alone is the anchor of our hope, he alone is worthy the confidence of sinful and dying men. The sacred writers all knew the value of this truth: they knew and felt the importance of the declaration, that the eternal God was their refuge and inasmuch as before the mountains were brought forth, or ever the earth and the waters were framed, from everlasting to everlasting he was God, they knew that he, and he alone, was their dwelling-place in all generations. Here is the great distinction between the creature and the Creator. Angels and archangels, and all the powers and principalities of heaven, are indeed immortal, and do not die: but they do not, as God does, inhabit eternity ; and though they will never cease to exist, yet there was a time when they did not exist. They are, as we are, the workmanship of the hand of God: he is for ever independent, but they are for ever dependent: and whether it be men on earth, or whether it be the race of creatures, if such there be, who people far-off worlds; or whether it be angels who are vast in might, brilliant in purity, strong in glowing love, and awful in celestial vigour-upon him our all depends; from him, the Great Eternal, does all existence flow; whatever is good ordained, whatever is evil permitted; whatever is present, being of his performance, whatever is future, being of his appointment: to this eternal, to this "high and holy One," whose temple is all space-who alone can never change-who actuates, at the same moment, all the machinery of the universe-who guides the motions of every planet, and the dashings of every cataract; to Him, who deals out existence to every breathing thing-to Him, in whom we live, and move, and have our being-to Him, the holy, and the just, and the good, it is our object to lead your thoughts: on Him, the fountain of your existence, and the Author of your being, it is our object to fix your thoughts. And we would take that as a withered and blighted heart which can feel no interest in the inquiry excited, no sympathy with this mighty theme.

But we need not enter into any lengthened argument to prove, in order to awaken men to this important truth, that every one of us has to do with an eternal God. We not merely gather from the temptations, and the trials, and the adversities of life, that this present state is preparatory to the future judg ment, and a school for the future world; neither for this need we go to that volume which shows how life and immortality are brought to light for there is an echo still lingering in our bosoms, dark and sinful as they are, of an eternal world. We feel that we have in us capacities for happiness and for misery: we know that we have within us desires, if not fears, which breathe of immortality, which nothing of an earthly nature can ever satisfy. And while some, through a realizing faith in the Saviour, have that holy joy, a real foretaste of eternal blessedness, sinners have also felt that dread remorse which seems the very prelude of eternal despair. And hence we find, in all ages of the world, among savage as well as civilized nations, the prevalent belief of this truth, that there is an eternal God, and that there is another state. And it seems to me one of those truths which the finger of God has written on the heart of man, which sin and ignorance, though they may for a time darken, overcloud, and almost smother, yet never can extinguish or blot it out altogether. That man amongst us who at this moment is farthest from his God and Saviour that man who has experienced least of the powers of the world to

come-that man who is unable to look into eternity with aught of hope, and with aught of joy and peace in believing—even he, dark and sinful as his heart may be, cannot help feeling there is something in him which whispers of another state he cannot but feel something of a foreboding, as he looks forward to another state. God has provided each of us with a conscience: and that conscience, if we do but allow it to do its work, will break out, sooner or later, like the plague, and will fill our hours of affliction with ten-fold anguish; will fill our beds of death with the darkness of despair; will fill eternity itself with unavailing regret and anguish. Yes-we have immortal spirits, and we must have an interest in immortal things. Before our immortal spirits can have peace we must know our God; ere the aching void in the immortal heart can be possibly filled up, we must come to the Saviour, who will build a bridge for us to pass from time to eternity, before we can ever look on eternity with peace, with comfort, and with joy.

But consider, secondly, THE NEARNESS OF THIS ETERNITY-The NearNESS OF THAT High and Holy ONE THAT INHABITS ETERNITY. In regard to its moral influence, eternity is a thing neither distant nor obscure. Nothing but the breath in our bodies separates us from that boundless ocean into which the stream of time is carrying the race of men. Death is the gate of eternity; and the moment we enter into it, the secrets of the invisible world open upon us; our connexion with things visible will then be for ever gone; we shall be the inhabitants of another world, and converse with other beings. Death does this; it beats down the prison wall, and then the soul, like a captive exile, takes its flight to its native element. The return of the spirit to God is in Scripture always represented as an immediate occurrence, and takes place at the very moment when the silver cord is loosed, and when the wheel of life is stopped. Superstition, or vanity, or it may be affection, may for a time detain the body; but the soul, when God says to it, "Return," in a moment stands naked and trembling before his throne. My brethren, we are too apt to look upon the realities of eternity as distant. We are apt to think, that between us and the awful scenes we hear of, many hundreds of years of insensibility and nothingness will intervene, and that our souls will sleep in some unknown land, until the close of all things. The Word of God asserts the very contrary. What was the word of Jesus to the dying malefactor? " To-day," said he, "shalt thou be with me in Paradise :" and was he to be there senseless and lifeless? No; but alive to his glories, and transported to the blessedness of heaven. And when Paul thought of being absent from the body, what did he connect with this as its immediate and necessary consequence? That he should be 'present with the Lord." Brethren, you are living just as near to eternity as you are living to your graves; the hour of your entering into heaven, or being cast into hell, is not one moment farther off than the hour of your own death. Your spirit, when called from the body, will not be hovering over its departed clay; not mingling unseen, as poetry would tell us, with your children and your friends, to soothe itself with their sorrow for your loss: no, it will be instantly among eternal joys or eternal sorrows, far from the abodes of men, in the midst of the perfected and justified, or among the condemned and lost-sharing in bitter wailings and awful gnashings, or else bathing in those

fountains of eternal blessedness which flow from the throne of God and the Lamb, joining in their songs of triumph in their everlasting victory over sin and sorrow.

This reflection on the nearness of eternity, will make way for the most important consideration of all, namely, THE INFLUENCE WHICH ETERNITY SHOULD HAVE ON US. You will readily perceive, that the subject we are considering, imparts infinite value to everything to which it extends its influence. If we speak of peace, of joy, or of hope, whose heart does not bound at the prospect, and who is not seeking for these very things? We speak to you of eternal peace, of eternal life, and of eternal joy; we set these things before you in such an infinite importance, that no skill of man can estimate them as they deserve. We tell you that Jehovah is an eternal God, and that obedience is due to him: but when we say that Jehovah is an eternal God, then we bring before you eternal love, eternal justice, eternal truth, mercy, power, and wisdom, and all the perfections of his eternal nature; attributes which remain the same for ever; justice which never diminishes, truth which never fails, love which never changes therefore the children of men are to put their trust in him, and to abide under the shadow of the eternal God.

The question, therefore, is, Are the attributes of the eternal God engaged on our behalf, or are they against us? They are for us if we are united with his Son, and reconciled in the person and work of Jesus Christ. The name whereby he shall be called, the only name by which peace can be spoken to our souls when we look upon God, is " Jehovah our Righteousness." God out of Christ (O we have nothing to do with him) God out of Christ is a consuming fire; his every attribute engaged in punishing, and bent upon the destruction of sin; and alas! we are all sinners. But God in Christ is love. Mercy-which cannot go forth until the justice of God has been satisfied-righteousness, peace, and truth, have met together, and are held in happy embrace in the person of Jesus Christ, for the salvation of sinners. "Behold the days come," saith the Lord, speaking, by the prophet Jeremiah, of Gospel times, "that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel" (that is, the Israel of God, the true people of God in all ages of the world)" shall dwell safely; and this is the name whereby he shall be called, Jehovah our Righteousness. Therefore behold the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, The Lord liveth which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;" the Israel of God are now to tune their harps to a nobler song, and to lift up their voices in gratitude for another and nobler deliverance; "but, The Lord liveth, which brought up and who led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country"-out of the cold, and frozen, and chilly regions of sin whither it had driven them; "and they shall dwell in their own land"-even in the Gospel vineyard which the Saviour had purchased for them.

O consider, then, what is involved in the redemption by the Eternal One, even the redemption of our souls by the blood and righteousness of Christ from infinite and eternal misery; and not only this, but its exaltation to infinite and eternal happiness. This is an event of such importance as no mortal can