In nearly a direct line east, I had Bergen, in Norway, on my right hand; and farther on, north, Spitsbergen; on my left, west, were the Faroe Isles; and onward, north-west, Iceland, and then Old Greenland:-between these, from Lamba Ness, the uttermost point north of the Island of Unst, not one foot of land, nor consequently one human inhabitant, is to be found on to the north pole :-so that I was literally preaching on one of the ends of the earth, beyond which, in that direction, the sound of the gospel can never be heard.

As I had a plain people to address, I endeavoured to make use of the plainest terms, yet still without bringing down Divine things below the standard of their own dignity; and I believe the discourse was made a blessing to many that heard it.

Of the inhabitants of this Island, I can say the same as of all the Isles in Zetland: they are a people with good understanding and good sense; and in kindness and hospitality to strangers, without parallel. If, in outward circumstances and geographical situation, they have generally but two talentsif any people on the globe, from the south to the north pole, have made ten out of the two, it is the Zetlanders: nor have I ever met a people who more richly deserve the truth of the gospel-nor a people who more carefully keep, nor more correctly adorn it.

I know you rejoice in their prosperity, and will bless God for their profiting. You have served them as the Treasurer of that fund which is employed to build them places of worship; and you have never suffered the work to stand still, even when the Bank was, for a time, exhausted. May your shadow be extended for ever, and may the sun of your prosperity never withdraw its shining! For the sake of Zetland, as well as on many other accounts,

I am, my dear Sir,

Your much obliged, very grateful and affectionate servant,

Heydon Hall, Middlesex,

Aug. 23, 1828.

ADAM CLARKE.

VOL. II.

18

M 2

SERMON XXII.

ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD;

AND THE

BENEFITS WHICH RESULT FROM IT.

A DISCOURSE DELIVERED

IN THE ISLAND OF UNST,

IN

ZETLAND,

THE FARTHEST NORTHERN POSSESSION OF THE BRITISH CROWN,

Sunday Morning, July 6th, 1828.

JOB xxii. ver. 21-23

21. Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.

22. Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart. 23. If thou return to the Almighty thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles, &c.

MORE important advice than this, was never given to man: nor can any be more necessary at all times, nor be urged with more powerful motives; nor is it possible that the terms of the advice can be explained by clearer directions: I. The Advice. 66 Acquaint now thyself with Him."

II. The Motives. "Thereby good shall come unto thee, and thou shalt be built up."

III. The Directions. "1. Receive the law from His mouth. 2. Lay up His words in thy heart. 3. Put away iniquity from thy tabernacles," &c.

The general meaning is this:-By getting an interest in the Divine favour, and in having the soul brought into a state of peace with Him:—thereby, that is, in these two things, good will come unto thee. First, from an interest in His favour, thou mayest expect all necessary blessings. Second, from His peace, in thy conscience, thou will feel unutterable happiness. But we must enter more particularly into a discussion of the important subjects contained in these verses, and examine the foundation and principles on which they rest. They require the deepest attention of the head, and the strongest affections of the heart.

Here we have to do with GoD and MAN: the perfections of the one; the imperfections and necessities of the other. Let us consider both.

1. With whom are we exhorted to acquaint ourselves? With GOD. Who is HE? This is the most difficult of all subjects;—the most sublime of all knowledge;-but supposed to be, in a certain way, level to the apprehensions of

men.

1. The Apostle, speaking to the Corinthians, says, Awake to righteousness and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God; I speak this to your shame.

It appears, therefore, that they might have acquired knowledge, or their ignorance could not have been their reproach. There were many advantages which the heathen Greeks possessed; and by them, through His works, the eternal power and Godhead of the Creator might be known.

2. It is easy to speak about or of God:-but to shew what He is, how difficult! We can trace up every being to others of its own kind;-there is a concatenation of causes and effects. We can trace an acorn to an oak,—and that to another acorn, till we come to the first plant. We can trace a child to its parents,-can conceive that these parents were once infants, whom we can trace to their parents, and so on, till we come to a first human pair;-but, to what can we trace these? They did not produce themselves. St. Luke,

in displaying a genealogy, begins at his own times, and goes from son to father, whom he finds to be the son of another father, and so on, till he comes to the last father, in the ascending line, who could not be the author of his own being, and therefore, he properly says, Adam, who was the son of God. This Being, therefore, is the Father of the spirits of all flesh. 1. In reference to man, He is the cause of all human existence.-2. And when we examine all other beings, we shall find that He is equally the cause of their existence. 3. But who is He? If He be the Cause of all being,-He is necessarily before all being, and Himself uncaused: this leads us at once into His eternity.

4. In ratiocination, the human spirit can go to God, and when it reaches Him, it is lost in eternity, not the idea of eternity, for of this it can form no idea. Nor can conjecture or fancy, form any idea of any thing when it arrives at God, but God Himself, and certain attributes, necessarily inherent in him.

5. Here then we see God in His eternity, and no excursion of fancy can go beyond this :--and what is the doctrine derivable from this? Has any of those who have written and spoken on the Being and Attributes of God, made any use of this grand fact? I think not. But has it not an obvious meaning, and is it not this,--In God, human spirits are de▾ signed eternally to rest,-they cannot go beyond Him; they can ascend by reasoning to Him, and this is their intended place, the end of their destination,--their final abode.

6. But does the idea of God, in His eternity, and the knowledge that He is the centre where intelligent spirits can rest, necessarily shew that these spirits must find happiness there? No, not simply.

7. But as we find God to be the Cause of all being; and find an infinity of Being endowed with various degrees of various perfections, and know that nothing can give what it does not possess: hence we learn that God must possess various perfections; and as He Himself is infinite and eternal, all His perfection must be such:

1. He must be wise, and that wisdom infinite.

2. He must be powerful, and that power unlimited.
3. He must be good, and that goodness unbounded.
4. He must be happy, and that happiness infinitely perfect.

Every intelligent nature must be happy in proportion to the degree of its purity and goodness. God being pure and good, is infinitely so, and therefore infinitely happy.

5. Benevolence is a necessary quality of goodness; and a desire to communicate itself, necessarily belongs to intelligent goodness. 1. Hence God's creation of man, and intelligent natures. He made them like Himself, that they might derive endless happiness from Himself. 2. Man, therefore, may be made a partaker of the Divine nature. It is the will of God that it should be so; but man must acquaint himself with God that it may be so.

II. Let us look into MAN, and see his state. He is not at peace; he has not good.

As

1. He has various powers and faculties,―mighty and extensive; but they are in disorder and ruin. As he has not peace, men are in a state of hostility among themselves. he is sinful, he has no good. He is, therefore, unhappy. He is torn by inward factions,-conflicting passions :-judgement and conscience at variance with passion and appetite. He suffers in himself what nations do who are in a state of warfare. In the latter case all confidence is destroyed ;-security of person and property uncertain;—the apprehension of evil takes the place of hope ;-treasure is exhausted, and the best blood of the land drained out for its defence. Issue as the contest may, there must be long misery and national distress.

Man is at war with his fellows often ;—and ever with and in himself;-condemning himself in the thing that he alloweth.

2. Yet he has what is called the hunger of the soul,-an insatiable desire after peace and happiness. GOOD, substantial good, is the object of his desire; he seeks it early and late, he pursues it under various forms and various names :-but in order to get it he minds earthly things-animal pleasures, secular good, and worldly honours ;-these when attained do not gratify, not only, 1. because they are not of the nature of the soul; but, 2. because they are not eternal.

In the pursuit of these, life generally is spent; and vanity and vexation of spirit are written upon the whole.

Is the Father of the spirits of all flesh, unmindful of all this? No-His eye affects His heart,-He sees it with concern, because He wills the happiness of His intelligent offspring,