Year: 1863

I


but the work of his fngers) nothing can


escape his knowledge, for he is present


in it all. "If / ascend up into heaven,


he is there; if make my bed in hell, he


is there; if | take the wings of the NOR


ming and dwell in the uttermost part oi


the sea, even there his hand shall lead


me, and his right hand shall hold me-


On the dizzy mountain top, where bird


hath never scared; in the caverns of the


deep, where sounding line hath never


gone on the desert, where nothing lives


in the city, where all is life; in the hid


den dell, where the insect huns, and be-


fore the throne where the archangel


kneels-everywhere is God. retire


within myself, listening to my own heart,


beating its steady march to the grave, and


God is there. gaze with telescope eye,


up to the distant star, whose light has


been ages on its way to the earth and


God is there. Aye, and farther on in
those wide fields of space, where star
hath never shone, or wing of angel ever
there God is, and there he has
always been, a sheer spirit, creating by
his thought, upholding by his word, ana
striking bis steady pulses from age to age,
keeping the time of eternity. And be
has been there, everywhere, not in idle
ness, not to slumber, but to see and to
know all that is, all that is felt or thought,
or done. The past is known TO him, for
he has kept its record. The present is
known to him, for its unfinished web is
yet in his loom. The future is known TO
him, for be has mapped out its plan
All history is known to him, for he is the
of the universe. All law is
known to him, for he is the lawgiver of
the universe. All art is known to him,
for he is the great artist, shaping the
mountains with his chisel, coloring the
earth with his pencil, laying the green on
the meadow, and the blue on the sky.
and painting the flowers leaf and the
insects wing, as no painter ever painted
yet. But why pursue the thought? We
cannot "by searching find out the AL
mighty unto perfection" We can only
say with the Psalmist, +" Such knowledge
- -,~- ''~-..a,--H-i Cos a.e." II is high.
cannot attain unto it.


But our text lays stress not only upon
the vastness of Gods knowledge. but its
mInuteneSS, its capacity to descend to
small affairs, to take in not only the grand
1utliues of events, but their little insie-
lificant details as well. Let us return to
he language of the text: Are not two


parrows sold for a farthing? and not
me of them shall fall on the ground
without your Father" The sparrow of
Palestine was a little brown bird, with
/ black throat, sometimes used as food by
he poorest class o! the people. Ttco of
hem brought only farthing, or cent
md half of our money, and sometimes
heir value was even less. The parallel
passage in Luke, which was spoken a.
rear later than the iext, reads care not
IRE sparrows sold for ta0o farthings ?
which is one-ffth cheaper than the valu.
ion of the text. The idea is, that which
5 least, of smallest value, attracts Gods
ttention. His knowledge condescends
0 triAes. He is very observant of petty
etails. While he governs and guides all
be universe, system above system, not a


irdling wings the air, not a fly creeps
he window pane, without his knowledge !
nd his care. 1t astonishes all thought
0 examine the exquisite mechanism
which he has given to every insect, the


elicate processes of growth by which he
natures every plant. The mote that
ances in the sunbeam is finished with as
areful finish as the planet rolling in


S orbit. The same delicacy that bal
need the rings of Saturn, marks the
tructure of every human eye. The
anne wonderful exactness that " "telleth
ne number of the stars" counts even


the hairs of our heads" This une-
ualed attention to little matters it is that
ives their finish and perfection to Gods
'orks. He might sweep meteors across
he sky every night, if he chose, but it


ould be less to his glory than to feed
le grass every night with dew. He
light shake the world with perpetual
yet it would be far less a
ling than to maintain the steady beat
lg Of the million hearts of his sleeping
hildren. 1t would be little to us that be
an reach the highest heights of Infniiy,


be could not at the same time bend
own to our every day affairs-little that
e knows the secrets of eternity, if ne
Duld not know the sorrows Ct the strick-
D, mourning heart.