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purpose now is, to direct men in the manner of worshipping the true God: to forbid, first, that any image should be made to represent the Almighty; and secondly, that any image should be made, or set up, under any pretence whatever of receiving divine honours.

"God is a Spirit." His nature, his being is infinite and incomprehensible. He is invisible, "whom no man hath seen, or can see." He is present every where; and cannot therefore be circumscribed by form, or represented by figure. He fills all space; and to set up an image, or what makes pretence of being an image of him and his divine attributes, is to debase and degrade him in the eyes of men. It is to prompt conceptions, that drag him down from his throne of supreme majesty, and make his creatures blind to the supreme wisdom and power of their creator. It is to fill the ignorant with grosser superstitions, and to suggest to

1 1 Timothy, vi. 16.

the more intelligent ridicule of the religion into which they have been adopted.

Seeing is, perhaps, more than any other, the sense that exercises an influence upon the understanding and heart. From it, so far as we can judge, first ideas are conveyed to the opening intelligence of infancy. From it assuredly, in after years, both youth and mature manhood most readily receive imagery into the mind, and conceptions are prompted in accordance with what is presented to the eye, and willing credence is granted, not only to what is seen, but also to what seems to be a result and portion of the view. It is the most prompt of all instructors, so that example is better than precept, and what words cannot convey sight embraces at a glance. We have affection, too, for that which is beautiful, and when pleasing images are presented, vision fills us with enjoyment and delight: it loves to sport beneath the shadows, and revel in the recesses of distance: it lights up the mind with a cheerful prospect, and dispels

the sadness that confinement had entailed. "Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun," says the Preacher. A gloomy prospect, fraught with suffering and pale affliction, fills the soul with sadness; and a picture of horrors provokes the shudder of abhorrence or alarm. That which is pure and true, presents pure and real subjects of meditation: it corrects the thoughts, and summons up chaste and true images for the mind's eye to dwell upon. That which is inconsistent with truth, prompts what is untrue, and perverted representations impart perverted ideas and notions. It has been well said, that truth is life, not of the body only, but also of the soul: and if fictitious images are continually presented to the sight, fictitious imaginations and false sentiments will debase and degrade the nobler faculties of the inner man, and fill him with gloom and superstition. "The light of the body is the

1 Eccles. ii. 7.

eye: but if thine eye is evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness." And, "if the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!"1

What can be more affecting than a just representation of the Saviour crucified! The Son of God, Jesus Christ, the second person in the Trinity, having vouchsafed to take upon him our nature, his body may be portrayed by an image, and without sin, if that image is not to receive divine honours. But in this case also it is remarkable, that we have no traces of his bodily likeness or features: and he himself has appointed a very different memorial of himself, the holy sacrament of his body and blood. And to represent the divine essence by a material substance, to frame a figure of the invisible Godhead, or paint the Father and the Holy Spirit, is absurd, as it is impious and profane.

Hence the Apostle preaches at Athens:

1 Matt. vi. 22.

"We ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device." Hence the Prophet; "To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him? The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold. He that is impoverished, chooseth a tree that will not rot. It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in." Hence the injunction: "Thou shalt not make with me gods of silver and if thou make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not make it of hewn stone." Hence Moses reminds the Israelites: "Ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake to you out of Horeb."" Hence Solomon exclaims: "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, the

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