III. The whole material universe is "His cloud." Truly "a great cloud and a fire infolding itself," and in the midst of the fire, a purer fire,

as the colour of amber;" within the same, fourfold life in its too-wondrous unity, and within all, and through all, and over all, the One, Whom no word can express, no thought conceive. But forasmuch as man is himself a cloud-involved mystery, an endless spirit, with the fire of eternity and the four-fold life burning and living in him, it is his privilege to pierce the universe-cloud, and to commune with the Hidden One. God is in the midst of him, as on Mount Sinai. In His Light he sees light. "We see through a glass darkly;" let us be grateful that we can see through at all. Do beasts as well as men see through the glass? No, they are subject to their five senses, poor brutes. Their end fulfils itself on this side eternity. There are men who profess to be, ("as brute beasts,") incapable of seeing any thing but husk. For all the world, I would not say it of them, if they did not claim this degradation for themselves. man is destined to play his chief part, not in this outer scene, but in a kingdom, hidden from his senses, it is only right and proper, that he should

If

* Not that the kingdom of Heaven is hidden from Sense, but only from man's present brute-senses, which are not strictly his senses. The kingdom of God is eternally objective to incorrupt and eternal senses.

have some apprehension of the glory, which God has defended by the cloud of nature. To be human, and not to enjoy the revelation of God in nature, God in Scripture, and God in ourselves, is to be lost.

IV. The Bush of Moses is no solitary wonder, but a small specimen of a universe of wonders. To the man whose eyes are open, as well as to the Seraphim, the whole creation is a Bush full of glory. It gloweth and burneth with God's Presence-God in the Bush, the Bush in God. There is some contrast between the outer paradise, which so fascinates the myriads of the great worldplain, (even righteous Lot among them,) and True Paradise. The world-paradise having the Dead Sea, the awful Asphaltic lake, lying under: the True Paradise having the Eternal Sea of Living Glory, lying under. God hath founded His Paradise upon such a Sea, and established it upon such floods.

The Scriptures are another Bush full of glory. Open Thou mine eyes," &c. Blessed is that traveller, who when he cometh to the back places of this desert-life, sees Holy Scripture, to be really Holy Scripture, that is, all on fire with "Spirit and Life" from God. The man who ceases to be captivated with the face of this desert-world, comes

to the back of it; and, if he be an heir of glorious eternity, he sees more in "the backside of the desert,” than he ever saw in its front.

When the Burning Bush of Holy Scripture, and the burning bush of a man's life meet together, thenceforward he is a seer of the invisible, and his life transcends the world. He becomes a Mount

Horeb man, he makes excursions into eternity, he talks with God. The fiery Bush is for man, and yet he stands in awe before the Bush. It is his own, high, august life, that he stands in awe of It may open upon him suddenly, but he cannot suddenly get used to it. The day will come, when even in Heaven, which is God's Bush-full of glory in the highest, he will feel like a child at home. For the Lord of Glory will change him from glory to glory, until perfect congeniality is brought about between him and the Eternal Glory.

V. The process by which this is brought about may sometimes make you afraid :-the fiery trial, namely, which is to try you; and death, which is to kill you. But if by faith you can look, not on the trial, nor on death, but on God, Who is in them, courage will take the place of fear. The Bush may be ugly; but hear the voice out of the midst of the Bush: "It is I, be not afraid."

Is

:

it your own change, your own death, that you dread? You, poor timid Bush, though you be killed, you shall not be consumed. It is the way to Paradise. "Have faith in God," fall asleep in the arms of Jesus; and, after death has killed you, you will only find yourself a more beautiful Bush, capable of carrying a great deal more of the Fire of the Divine Glory. Now, the Bush prevails over the glory then, the glory will prevail over the Bush. It is not the will of God to bring upon you the flood of His glory, to consume you, nor even to terrify you. He will bring upon you from time to time, as much as you can bear. He could easily overpower you with His glory, but He will not. He will purify you therewith, strengthen and comfort you therewith, and as you can bear more, He will give you more and more. The degree of glory which an angel can carry, would wither and consume a man. And the glory in which one angel finds his rest and heaven, would oppress and confound another. God fills each creature with as much glory as he can enjoy. It is with the creatures of God, much the same as with the vegetable kingdom and the sun. The grass, the flowers, the trees, grow and thrive, and become glorious under a certain degree of the sun's glory; but too high a

degree of the same, would consume the whole vegetable world. Moses could bear more of God than any other Israelite. But an angel's glory would have consumed Moses. And perhaps a Seraph's glory would consume an angel.

VI. The universe, which is the House of God, and therefore a House-full of fiery Energy, must be arranged according to perfect order, and every thing in it be subject to a wonderful law of measure. Perhaps an insight into this profound law, led Pythagoras to affirm, that the doctrine of numbers involved all wisdom.

Thy Heavens, and Thy earth, and all Thy works, praise Thee, O God; but each according to its sphere of nearness to Thee, or remoteness from Thee. According to Thy glory in each sphere, such is Thy praise, and according to Thy praise, is the joy of Thy creatures.

VII.-Behold, and wonder with great admiration, that though God is not to be confounded with the creature, nor the creature with God, yet God is very near to the creature, and the creature very near to God. Very near. Nothing so near.

He

is near to those who are farthest from Him. And, in another sense, He is far from those who are