Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1882-05-04
&tadiua fur the Sabbath,
CONDUCTED BY
REV. ROBERT LATH AN.
IOriginal.]
NATURE OF GOD.

1t is taken for granted that there is a God.
Only fools deny this. The light of nature
teaches this fact, and he who questions it,
doubts the testimony of his own senses, and
presents an awful spectacle of moral dilaplda-
tion. The light of nature, however, gives us
no certain knowledge of the nature of God.
For this knowledge we are wholly dependent
upon the revelation which God has given OF
himself in his word. The works of creation
and providence teach us important lessons,
but they are insufficient to give us, in our fall
en- state, a clear and distinct knowledge of the
maker and governor of all things.
No subject is so worthy of our careful study
as the Nature of God. The notions which we
entertain concerning the nature of the Su-
preme Being determines the character of our
religion. In this matter, wrong beginning
is sure to be followed by nothing but wrong
wrong articles of belief and wrong modes OF
worship, wrong hopes and wrong fears. How
important, then, that we all endeavor to OBJ
tain correct knowledge of the nature of God.
''Let him that glorieth, glory in this, that he
understandeth and knoweth me, that 1 am the
Lord" Glorying in any other knowledge will
profit us but little. We may glory in our
knowledge of the natural sciences, but what
will it avail US after a few transient years ?
Nothing. We must, like our fathers, die, and
all our merely earthly attainments must perish
with us but our knowledge of the nature of
God determines, to great extent, our destiny
for an endless eternity.
From the Scriptures, our only authority on
this subject, we learn, 1st. That in his nature
God is a spirit. This is the definition which
Jesus Christ gives Of God Matthew, II: 27.
If it be asked, "What is spirit % We
frankly reply that we do not know. We do
not know what matter, with which we come
in contact every moment, is, and how can we
tell what spirit is since it is not discernible by
our senses? When we say that a spirit is an
immaterial, personal and intelligent substance,
we have said all that we know about the sub
ject. Besides God, there are other spirits.
Angels and souls of men are spirits. These,
however, are created spirits, but God is self
existent and uncreated spirit ; consequently,
the difference between God and these is as
great as possible. They are finite, God is in
finite; they were created, God is self-existent :
they are changeable, God is Interchangeable.
End. Another thing which we learn from the
Scriptures respecting God, is that he is infinite
To be infinite is more than to be ubiquitous or
omnipresent. To be omnipresent or ubiquit-
Gus is to be in every place where there is any
thing else, but to be infinite means to be pres
ent throughout unlimited extension.
The word immensely seems to give proper
idea of what is meant by infinite when applied
to God. Solomon referred to the infnity of
God, when he said, 1.-The heaven of heavens
cannot contain them.' 1st Kings, S:27.
The Scriptures further teach us that God in
his infnity or immensely, is and always was
present throughout space OF unlimited extern
sion, not in the sense that he is now here and
again there or at this point at this moment,
and at another point at another moment, but
''that his fullness flleth all in ALL. James As
This is the feature of the Divine nature which
as much, if not more than any other, distin-
guishes him from the Gods of Pagan nations.
They were not OmniScient, neither were they
ubiquitous, much less were they infinite or
possessed of immensity. There were gods of
the heavens, gods of the earth, gods of the sea
and gods of the Internal regions ; but even the
morbid imagination of their worshipers, from
which they received their existence, did not
and could not impart to the gods of heather
nations, immensely.
The God that reveals himself in the Bible is
not only in every place at the same moment,
but is where there is nothing but himself. He
is immense, without parts and indivisble
We further learn from the Scriptures, that
in his nat ure, God is Interchangeable. Immen-
sity and unchangeableness seem to be insepa-
rably connected. Whatever is immense or
possessed of immensely is Interchangeable, and
whatever is Interchangeable must, from the very
nature of things, be infinite. A finite being
is changeable, and changeable because it is
finite. God alone lie tbs same to-day, yester-
day and forever. He is the only being in the
universe which is without "variableness or
shadow of turning" he is ''from all mutation
free'
His knowledge is Interchangeable. Men and
even angels learn by experience and ObserYa-
tion, but God cannot learn anything new from
either of these sources. Nothing exists at
present, existed in the past or will exist in the
future, which he did not always know.
In his purposes God is Interchangeable. "He
is of one mind, and who can turn him." All
finite beings that are capable of planning,
change their plans, but the ''counsel of the
Lord standeth forever" A correct knowledge
of the nature Of God, as it is revealed to us in
his word, is eminently calculated to inspire us
with profound reverence while unScriptural
notions respecting the nature of God lie at
the base of all false religion, and has direct
tendency to lead to Paganism. If every false
religion is closely examined by the light of
Gods word, it will be found that it's germ is
mistaken notions respecting the nature of
God. The God who is revealed in the Scrip
lures, is the God of the true Christian, but he
is not the God that is worshiped and adoredDy
all who profess Christianity. There is trace
of Paganism in us all. Aaron made golden
calf for the children of Israel. 1t was model
ed after the gods Of Egypt. Gods chosen
people chad mingled with the heather and
learned of them their way" Paganism is
contagious. However revolving it may appear
at first, it's hideousness is soon converted, by
our benighted minds, into source of adora-
ton.
1t is the bounden duty of us all, to sit down
and prayerfully examine how much of our re-
ligon, both in theory and practice, we have
learned from the Bible If the investigation
was made in a spirit of candor, no doubt,
some of us would be astOunded how little we
believe and practice that is taught in the Bible,
and how much we believe and practice that is
only shade better than Paganism.