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Our religion is true, deep, high, and broad in proportion as it grasps the fact that God is a Spirit, and as it recognizes that that which gives life and force to natural and historical religion is spirituality.

I. This aspect of the Divine nature CLEARS AWAY MANY PERPLEXITIES AND DIFFICULTIES WHICH GATHER ROUND THE DOCTRINE OF GOD. The same is true regarding man considered as a spirit.

1. The forms of expression borrowed from nature which describe God — rock, fortress, shield, etc. — will mislead us if taken literally.

2. The same is true with regard to the anthropomorphic expressions of the ancient covenant — hands, feet, husband, king, father.

3. And yet again with reference to the metaphysical words of a later time — procession, generation, substance, person. Each of these taken literally leads us away from the spiritual, essential nature of God. But —

4. There are three supreme. Biblical definitions which are all of a spiritual character: God is "Spirit," "Light," "Love." Let us hold fast to these; they express the moral nature of God and the very essence of the Christian faith.

II. This same aspect tells us how GOD WILLS THAT THE WORLD SHOULD BE BROUGHT TO HIM.

1. Not by compulsion.

2. Not by the external decrees of authority.

3. Not by reproaches and curses.

4. Not by mere miracles and signs of outward power, which, although secondary means of persuasion, are not the main instruments.

5. But by the internal evidence of the spirit of Christianity, which was the earliest method.

III. IT IS THROUGH THE INWARD SPIRIT OF THINGS, AND NOT THROUGH THE OUTWARD FORM, THAT GOD IS APPROACHED.

1. It is not the letter of any creed or ordinance, or even of the Bible, but the meaning and inner spirit which vivifies and explains everything. "The letter killeth, the Spirit giveth life."

2. The signs and ordinances of religion derive all their force from the directness with which they address our reason, conscience, and affections. The outward form may vary, but if the inward meaning is the same the essential grace is there.

3. God can be worshipped on heath or mountain side or upper room as well as in the most splendid cathedral; but also in the cathedral as well as on the heath, etc. And that is the more spiritual aspect of religion which recognizes the possibility of both; which comprehends the highest manifestations of the human spirit in architecture, music, painting, poetry, and yet steadily subordinates them to the moral purposes of truth, justice, and purity.

4. It is not the sublime and the grand, but the mean, ugly, and barbarous which binds itself to idolatrous usages; not the vast aisles of a venerable abbey, hut the narrow cell; not the awe-inspiring figures wrought by Raphael or Michael Angelo, but the hideous block picture. Luther said, "Do not listen to those who open their mouths and call out 'Spirit, Spirit, Spirit!' and then break down all the bridges by which the Spirit can enter." No! Make the best of all the gifts of God. They are all bridges, but only bridges.

(Dean Stanley.)

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KJV: God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

WEB: God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."