THE ETERNITY OF GOD. 59 lapse of time of no possible moment as to the certainty of their execution. They are all as certain of being performed if a thousand or ten thousand years intervene between the revelation and the deed, as if they were performed on the very day they were made known. No power can control him; no unforeseen event or circumstance can change his purpose or his plans, or prevent their being carried into effect. Hence God has himself said, "My purpose shall stand, I will do all my pleasure." years are as nothing, so the difference, with his endless duration, renders the between a thousand years and a day is of no great significance. It sinks into nothingness when both are contrasted with eternity. As an illustration of this idea, take the following. There is a class of insects called the Ephemera or May Fly, which is said to exist in a perfect state only a few hours in a single day. Let our imagination endow the short-lived creatures with intelligence, and let us suppose them acquainted with the life of man. 66 What a wonderful being," one might exclaim, "is man! His life is ten times ten thousand times longer than ours. To us an hour is a large portion of our life, and even a minute, the sixtieth part, important; but to him a minute is as an hour, and an hour as a minute. He lives so long that the difference to him is inconsiderable, and often scarcely noticed." On the same principle it is that the language of our text is uttered; a day and a thousand years are alike inconsiderable periods in comparison with the duration of God. This illustration, however, is necessarily defective. only approximates toward an idea of the apostle's meaning. For there is a proportion between the life of this insect and that of man, between an hour and his whole life, however long; but there is no proportion between any finite period and the infinite duration of the Almighty. A day is as really a definite portion of eternity as a thousand years, and is equally incomparable with it. In this sense, therefore, "One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." The sublime truth thus asserted is applicable to every declared purpose of God, in connection with which a lengthened period intervenes between its announcement and its execution. God has revealed in his word some of the purposes he has formed in reference to this present world. His own infinite and perfect nature, combined Besides, with God there can be nothing new. The period when he makes known any purpose to his creatures, is not to be taken as the commencement of the purpose; this was formed from eternity; and hence the space that may elapse between its announcement and its execution, whether one century or ten, or a hundred, is as nothing in comparison with that of its existence in the divine mind. In this respect, therefore, we may say, "One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." These words may be viewed in connection with the promises and the threatenings of Jehovah. Take, for example, the promise given to Abraham, that his seed should possess the land of Canaan. He was, when it was given, and for many years after, without a son. Isaac, the child of promise lived and died. Jacob his son, and his sons all died in a strange land. Their rapidly increasing posterity were enslaved, and for hundreds of years all things seemed against them. How easily might cavilling infidelity have said, "Where is the promise given to our father Abraham ?" But some five hundred years after the word was spoken, it was literally accomplished. Take another and a more remarkable example. The first promise made to man of a deliverance in "the seed of the woman." This was not only not fulfilled in the lifetime of Adam, but after the lapse of thousands of years, the event did not take place. Scoffers might then have said, "Where is the promise of his coming, for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation?" But when more than four thousand years had expired, "when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." Let us "not be ignorant of this one thing," that we may have unshaken confidence in his Word. Every service and sacrifice done for him will be rewarded. "Be not, therefore, weary in well doing." Let us labour and pray for the extension of his kingdom, for as he See too, how the threatenings of has promised, it will yet "come." The God have been accomplished. He glorious prospects which are presented warned the wicked by Noah, and to the church of God as to her earthly "while the ark was preparing," a triumphs, in the page of prophecy, will hundred and twenty years, gave them all be realized. The kingdoms of space to repent. They did not be- this world" will yet become "the lieve. They disregarded the preach- kingdoms of our Lord, and of h s ing of Noah. They did eat, they Christ, and he shall reign for ever and drank, they married and were given ever." God has also revealed the in marriage, until the day that Noah coming of a day when he will put an entered into the ark, and the flood end to the present dispensation, concame and destroyed them all." How sume and change the earth by fire, marvellously has God fulfilled his raise and glorify his people, and punish threatenings on the disobedient He- all his foes. All this will surely be brews! I refer not to the captivity, accomplished. The day of the Lord nor to any minor punishment, but to will come," though thousands of years their dispersion among the nations, may intervene. Let us be therefore and the contempt they receive every-diligent, holy, and look with confidence where to the present day. The for the fulfilment of all his word. words uttered by Moses some 1450 We partake, in some sense, of years before Christ, for the last 1800 years or nearly, have been and are every where fulfilled. They are a proverb and a bye-word among all nations." The entire of the threatenings as well as of the promises of God, are certain of being performed. Time, which often prevents the performance of the promises of men, has no influence on God. He, ever lives and is always the same. How many important practical uses are suggested by this truth. ́ ́ ́It requires that we call to mind the grandeur of God's duration and being. How mean, insignificant and shortlived are we before Him! What is God's eternity. Endless duration is ON RECREATIONS. OUR aim in the following remarks will be, to shew that there may be cheerfulness without excessive frivolity; and that, as christianity ought to reign over the pursuits of business, so it should regulate the methods by which an exhausted mind seeks to recruit its vigour. We wish also to notice some of the maxims of christian prudence with respect to them, and to glance at the higher order of recreations. Christianity is caricatured, when it is represented as unfriendly to rational enjoyment. It is genial, not ascetic in its spirit. The "Son of Man came eating and drinking," and presented himself occasionally at a public feast though he always appeared in character as the Holy One, and always took occasion to drop the maxims of heavenly wisdom. It is certain that our heavenly Father, who has decked the flowers of the field with so many lovely tints. and hues, and made them breathe forth so many delicious odours; who has taught the birds to sing to us in the branches, and the sun to cause a charming variety of colours to meet our eye, has consulted not merely the necessities of our present existence, but our capacity for high and varied enjoyment. But there are two errors which we wish to prevent. One is, that of supposing there can be true happiness without true religion. There is no peace to the wicked, and none to those who are seeking acceptance with God on delusive grounds. To expect felicity in a sinful course is like expecting cold in fire, light in darkness, and a comfortable bed on pricking thorns, beneath which broods of venomous serpents lie concealed. The term recreate, when its first syllable consists of two letters only, and is detached by a hyphen, means, to create a second time or again, and is often used to denote that change of princi ples and disposition which is necessary to the enjoyment of solid bliss. Will health bloom on the countenance while the heart is the seat of an evil disease? No more likely, dear reader, is your immortal spirit to enjoy vigour, if it be wrongly disposed toward God, and devoid of sympathy for the immortal interests of man. Will the shattered unstrung harp give forth melodious sounds? No more likely will your heart be to make spiritual melody, without the re-creation of which we speak. Were you in heaven itself, it would not be the pearly gates, the golden streets, the costly foundations, or the splendid society of cherubim and seraphim that would produce heavenly blessedness; but it would be that sympathy with infinite purity, which would enable you to say with truth, "I will go unto God my exceeding joy." Say The other mistake is that of imagining that even the true christian may choose any kind of recreation, and enjoy it without prudence or discretion. This also is a dangerous error. that there are no express precepts or prohibitions with regard to them, and that they are, therefore, to be considered as things indifferent. For this very reason, they furnish a finer opportunity for evincing the sincerity, earnestness, and depth of our piety, by the selection which we make of them, and the manner in which they are enjoyed; since it is abundantly obvious that there are amusements which are offensive to decency, productive of bad passions, repugnant to common sense, and displeasing to God. We will venture a remark or two on the choice of recreations, on the time for enjoying them, and on the company with which they are to be shared. The writer entreats candour, because the theme is rather delicate; and also because it is of so indefinite a character as to be only capable of treatment in a general way. 1. In choosing recreations, it will be the concern of a wise man to select those only which are consistent with true religion. It is not necessary to confine ourselves to those which are found in religious services; or to make a parade of devotional sentiment, in conjunction with exercises which are intended to act on the animal spirits only. But neither is it right to join in irreligious entertainments. There may be a high degree of cheerfulness, of sportive hilarity, and even of vigorous bodily exercise, without one tinc ture of impiety, or one offence against the purest social intercourse. 2. The studious may recreate their spirits by variety in the subjects of study. It is not continuity so much as uniformity of mental action, which produces exhaustion. The mind is capable of finding refreshment in new modes of employing itself, and it even exults in those enquiries which, though apparently diverse from its ordinary trains of thought, conduct to principles which underlie remote conclusions, and give a unity to diversified conceptions. Health, buoyancy, elasticity of nerve, may be sought in this way. We would not, however, insinuate that there is to be no intermission of mental toil. Very far are we from this opinion. The mind, like a bow, will act with more vigour by occasional relaxation. A man of studious habits will do well to take strong corporeal exercise. Instances may be cited of ministers of the gospel who, through neglecting these precautions, have become the victims of dyspepsia, and nervous disorders, which have rendered them miserable through life. 3. Reading is a fine recreation. It ought to be pursued as a study by those who wish, in any degree, to guide public opinion; but it may also be used as a source of delightful entertainment. The Ephesians, indeed, who had used "curious arts," when they had received the pure light of heavenly truth, "brought their books together and burned them before all men; and they counted the price of them, and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver." Many are the novels which deserve no better treatment. By giving false views of human life, by painting fictitious scenes of [woe, and imaginary incitements to action, they produce a sort of moral intoxication: and what is worse, by dressing out wicked characters in false colours, and garnishing their crimes by the use of laudatory terms, they nourish bad passions, and offer temptations to sinful courses of action. One of the most mournful features of the present age is the infatuated longing for these trashy productions. We would not condemn all works of fiction; but we would earnestly suggest the necessity of a very careful and discreet selection. The very best of them should be read only as an occasional recreation: nor ought they, even for this purpose, to exclude the more valuable works of history, biography, travels, and scientific detail, the whole of which record facts of more thrilling interest, and more racy entertainment, than the brain of the novelist ever invented. 4. To speak of social converse with a chosen friend as a highly commendable source of recreation, is almost an impertinence: the truth is so obvious. "Tis friendship gives the flower of life its bloom and beauty; And we are weeds without it." This fellowship of kindred minds, when based on the love of the truth, is a union which cannot be dissolved by change of place, or of circumstances, or even by the ravages of mortality. When enjoyed, however, in the same sphere of action, it is at once a means of enlarging knowledge and recreating the mind. 5. Parties of friends, or acquaintances, sometimes take a ramble for botanical or geological research: others having no taste that way, will walk together for the sake of interchanging thought, and enjoying each other's society, while obtaining exercise, and ON RECREATIONS. the refreshing effect of a pure atmosphere. How praiseworthy are these modes of seeking recreation! How much more commendable than the clubs in which even distinguished poets and literary men, have too often fallen into the sin of intemperance! People who thus turn out for a sober refreshment may, without any great fund of knowledge, give each other a most delightful entertainment. By anecdotes, by quotations from favourite poets, by friendly discussion, and even by adverting to the beauties of external creation, a feast may be supplied to reason or imagination, and an additional impulse imparted to the flow of the animal spirits. But it would be a vain and foolish attempt to try to advert to all the sources of recreation; vain, because they are almost innumerable, and foolish, because each special kind will be modified by the judgment and taste of those who seek to enjoy it. It is not so requisite to state what may be enjoyed as to throw out a hint against those which are inconsistent with our profession as christians, and our condition, as liable to the stroke of affliction or death. In these times, when exhibitions are made of the fine arts; when lectures are incessantly delivered on different branches of natural philosophy; when the march of events, and the decisions of government are canvassed at public meetings, and when there are so many assemblages of the people for philanthropic objects, there can be no lack of entertainments. The difficulty is in selection, and the danger that of their occasioning a waste of time, and producing dissipation of thought. There are sweet recreations within the precincts of home. There the intellectual and hopeful young man, by reading and thought, builds on the foundation of knowledge which he laid at school; or, if his spirits be exhausted by business, he endeavours to recreate them by exercising his vocal powers, and using his favourite 63 instrument of music. In this scene also, the affectionate father finds amusement in giving instructions to his children, in performing little scientific experiments before them, or even in playing with them; which last act is far better than appearing as a despot, in whose presence a smile is not to be expressed, or a gladsome word uttered. A passing remark may be sufficient on the time suitable for recreations. The proportion of it is of course to be regulated by considerations of justice, and by a regard to the claims of duty. But we refer more particularly to the selection of right portions of time. The hour of midnight is not, we apprehend, a suitable season. It is not good, either for the body or the soul, to extend amusements to so late a period, or even longer, as is often the fact. Do not these prolonged convivialities give the world ample reason for exclaiming, "If professors of religion may keep their routs till early in the morning, why may not we keep up ours in ball-rooms and theatres." Neither are Sabbath days seasons for secular recreation. The honest artizan does well to refresh his spirit by cultivating his plot of ground on the evening of the week-day, or on the Monday morning but we would entreat him not to employ himself in this way on the Lord's-day, which has been vouchsafed to him as a rest from toil, and a period for seeking moral and religious improvement. The Sabbath was, indeed, intended to be a season of holy joy-"This is the day which the Lord hath made: we will rejoice and be glad in it." But let our joy arise from elevated devotion, from glorious hopes of immortality, from public worship, and generous acts of holy love. Lord's-days were designed to be seasons of hallowed recrea tion. They secure for the poor man an exemption from that continuity of toil, which, but for them, the hard hand of covetousness would surely exact from him. May they be enjoy |