nature as it exists in the world around us and within us. There is a revelation of God in the universe which he has made. The Psalmist expressed it for all time when he said, "The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handy work." This revelation of the power and the wisdom of God is so marked that the apostle Paul says that even the heathen may know sufficient of God to make them without excuse. Heathen philosophers are here in agreement with the apostle. Aristotle said, "Although invisible to every mortal nature, God is yet manifested in his works." Cicero said, "Thou seest not God and yet thou knowest him from his works." The two elements of the divine character, which are specially revealed in the universe, and which we can see and study, are his wisdom and his power. Surely only infinite wisdom could construct such a marvelous system which runs on its course through all the ages in perfect harmony. Here are worlds upon worlds, systems upon systems, filling this whole heaven as far as the eye of man, aided with the most powerful telescopes, can reach, and yet all moving on in perfect harmony. It is no wonder that the ancients sang of "the music of the spheres." For, while there is no audible voice, they all declare in their continuous circuits the wisdom of the Creator. And what shall we say of the power that is here manifested? Have you ever stood before the mammoth Corliss engine and witnessed the mighty revolutions of its ponderous wheels? If so, you have been impressed with the idea of power. But what is the power of the mightiest engine when compared with the power which swings these mighty worlds through space with such absolute accuracy that astronomers can predict to the fraction of a minute where each one will begin its circuit ten years hence! Talk about power! Why, this world of ours,

vast as it is, is but a fraction, indeed a small fraction, of the myriad worlds which constitute the universe. While it accomplishes its daily rotations and yearly revolution and so fulfils the divine purpose of years and seasons and months and days, yet this is but an insignificant item of the vast machinery which makes up this material universe. He must be singularly dull who can look out upon this vast array of worlds and not be impressed with the wisdom and the power herein displayed.

A second method of divine revelation is within us. It is through that faculty of our inner being which we call the conscience. This is well expressed by Paul in his letter to the Romans, (Chap. 2:14-15.) Conscience is a matter of experience. It approves, it condemns. Cicero said that conscience is the arrows of the gods penetrating the heart of the ungodly. Now the difficulty here is that while the fact of conscience points to a revelation of law, a law of God which binds, yet it has been greatly obscured and confused by sin. These are the two sources of revelation through what we may call natural means. Now the question arises, are these sufficient? Notice what they have given us. They have given us wisdom, power and the fact of moral law and moral obligation. Now the question is simply this, are these sufficient to guide sinful man back to his Father's house? We cannot do better than to let history answer. What, according to its testimony, have conscience and nature accomplished for true theology apart from revelation? We have to admit the fact as we read history that the heathen, "notwithstanding all their listening to the voice of conscience, as it spoke in the very noblest spirits among them, did not attain to the knowledge of God as the personal, absolutely Holy One, but changed the glory of the unchangeable God into an image like to perishable man and beasts."

Take a glance at the heathen world and note what their conscience has done for them along the line of getting rid of sin. "One man aims at deliverance from sin by means of a bath; another (e. g., the North American Indian) thinks to purify his heart by means of an emetic; here another sets prayer mills in motion at the caprice of the wind; another pours out libations of wine or tea, sheds human blood, or offers his only child as the most acceptable sacrifice." These are all samples of a conscience, indeed, but of an erring conscience; a conscience strong enough to insist upon sacrifice or expiation, but still too dark to apprehend the true means of expiation.

The other method of revelation, which is needed to rectify and supplement the revelation given in nature and the conscience. is the supernatural. This super

natural revelation is given to us in the word of God. In the record of God's manifestations to patriarchs and prophets, in the record of his dealings with his chosen people through whom he was working out his purposes of redemption, and finally in the record of the life and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have the full, clear revelation of God to mankind. This is the supernatural revelation. It breaks in upon the world from without. It does not come in the ordinary course of nature. It is extraordinary and so we call it supernatural. Into the discussion of the nature of this revelation and of its various parts it is not my purpose to enter.

There are just three things about this revelation, which are emphasized in the text, to which I desire to call your attention. "The things that are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever; that we may do all the words of this law." The three things distinctly emphasized here are, the personality of the revelation, "unto us and to our children"; the permanence

man.

of the revelation, "forever"; and the purpose of it "that we may do all the words of this law." To these three features of the revelation I can call attention only briefly. The revelation of God's character and redemption plan was intended for the children of men. It was not necessary for the maintenance of the divine existence or government that God should reveal himself to fallen But it was necessary for fallen man to lift him up into the fellowship with his Creator. And so from beginning to end, the whole revelation of God, as contained in his word, moves among living persons. Through persons of like passions with ourselves he communicated his will. For ages this was the special method of his revelation. Then in the fulness of the time he sent forth his son, and he came also in the likeness of sinful man. Through a human personality there came the highest revelation of God to the world. It was through persons to persons.

The second characteristic is its permanence. This is a feature frequently emphasized. "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away," said Christ. This was not a revelation for a particular generation or for a particular period of the divine administration. It was to all generations forever. It is complete and it is final.

The third characteristic is its purpose, to bring men into harmony with the divine law. All the disclosures which God has made of himself were not to gratify human curiosity. They were not to awaken admiration and wonder. Their purpose was rather to bring men back from the paths of sin into the way of righteousness, into the divine likeness, and so into the divine favor. This is the high aim of all the divine manifestations. The history of divine redemption is to end in the recognition that God is all and in all.