Text.—And I will walk at liberty, for I s'eek thy^ precepts.—Psalm cxix. 45.
OD is the Governor o f this world. Some one may say, that is a: very elementary truth. Even so; there have been long ages in the history o f our race when that truth
to make men understand this truth, simple and elementary as it seems to you and to me. When we say that God governs the globe, we do not« mean the mere earthly, solid structure on which we dwell. We mean that He governs the inhabitants o f it, the communities and the individuals. “ The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice.” “The Lord reigneth, let the nations tremble.” “ He raiseth u p , kings and he putteth ' them down.” He calls into being Pharaohs that He may show His power and His glory in relation to them. His providence is most holy and wise and powerful, and it is not general merely, it is particular, extending > to all the creatures and to all their actions. These things we have to keep in mind in relation to Jehovah. COMMON SENSE Now, it would seem, surely, that if a man believed this, his common sense would dictate to him that, living in a world that God had made and God rules in every ^detail, if he wishes to be happy in it, he must have respect to the law o f Him who has made and- who rules. Common sense indicates that if we live in a house it is desirable to be on good terms with the head o f the house if we wish to be comfortable. Com-
was not accepted and when the most intel ligent 6f our race believed* something directly opposed. There have been multi tudes o f men, for example, who believed, like Aristotle,, that matter is eternal. There are multitudes still who believe that in some way or other nature governs itself. There is a large class o f thinkers who, without taking the name to themselves, are practically pantheists, and, like Spinoza and Fichte and Hegel, persuade themselves that all is God, as they express it, and that (God is all. You do not need to be told that the earlier portion o f the Old Testa ment Scriptures God has given to us that we might have these illusions banished, and that we might be made to know that, God is the Creator and the Ruler of all things, that ' He is not nature, and nature is not God; that He is not to be confounded with the works o f His hands ; that He is :a distinct, personal and holy Being, who has created all, and who has a right, on the groûrid o f creation, even if there were no other, to be the Ruler of all. It took long
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