Psalms 139:14

Psalms 139:14

Let us observe some of the mysteries which are involved in our own nature.

I. We are made up of soul and body. Now if we did not know this so that we cannot deny it, what notion could our minds ever form of such a mixture of natures; and how should we ever succeed in making those who go only by abstract reason take in what we meant?

II. The soul is not only one, and without parts, but moreover, as if by a great contradiction even in terms, it is in every part of the body. It is nowhere, yet everywhere.

III. Consider what a strange state we are in when we dream, and how difficult it would be to convey to a person who had never dreamed what was meant by dreaming. These are a few out of the many remarks which might be made concerning our own mysterious state, but this is a very large subject. Let a man consider how hardly he is able and how circuitously he is forced to describe the commonest objects of nature, when he attempts to substitute reason for sight how difficult it is to define things, and he will not wonder at the impossibility of duly delineating in earthly words the First Cause of all thought, the Father of spirits, the one eternal Mind, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who only hath immortality, dwelling in light unapproachable, whom no man hath seen or can see, the incomprehensible, infinite God.

J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons,vol. iv., p. 282.

References: Psalms 139:14. J. Baldwin Brown, Christian World Pulpit,vol. vi., p. 321; E. A. Abbott, Sermons in Cambridge,Philippians 1:23,49, Psalms 139:17. Spurgeon, Evening by Evening,p. 121.Psalms 139:17; Psalms 139:18. A. C. Price, Christian World Pulpit,vol. vi., p. 171.