Acts 17:27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: This is the leading thought which the gospel presses home upon us in various ways. 1. In His Son Jesus Christ God has drawn near to the world. 2. The Holy Spirit's abode in the heart of the Christian brings God near. 3. But Paul speaks of God's presence in nature. I. DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE REVELATION OR GOD THROUGH NATURE AND IN THE SCRIPTURES. 1. The revelation in nature is the elder and more direct, that in Scripture the later and more mediate. 2. God speaks to us by nature in an inarticulate; by Scripture in an articulate voice. "Nature is very beautiful, but she is so unresponsive." 3. Nature speaks more to our feelings and imagination. Scripture more to our understanding. II. NOTE SOME OF THE TOKENS IN NATURE OF GOD. 1. Its effect upon the senses as an evidence of Divine goodness. 2. Its effect upon the emotions giving exquisite pleasure and evoking gratitude towards the unseen worker. 3. Its effect upon the imagination producing the consciousness of the presence of a mind sympathetic with our own. 4. Its effect upon the reason revealing besides God immortality, and creating a sense of sin. III. BUT NATURE CAN ONLY SUGGEST TO US THOSE TRUTHS WHICH WE NEED FOR OUR PEACE AND SALVATION, FOR THEIR FULL EXHIBITION WE MUST TURN TO THE BIBLE. (E. Johnson, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: |
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