Page:Worksofrightrevb00strauoft.djvu/45

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

to come, even the most secret thoughts of the heart of man, and all things that possibly can be.

Q. 8. How is this proved?

A. His holy Word declares that " there is no creature invisible in His sight; for all things are naked and open in the eyes of Him with whom we speak," Heb. iv. 13. "The works of all flesh are before Him, and there is nothing hid from his eyes; He sees from eternity to eternity, and there is nothing wonderful before Him," Ecclus. xxxix. 24. "For the eyes of the Lord are far brighter than the sun, beholding round about all the ways of men, and the bottom of the deep, and looking into the hearts of men, into the most secret parts; for all things were known to the Lord God before they were created; so also after they were perfected, He beholdeth all things," Ecclus., xxiii. 28. " The heart is perverse above all things, and unsearchable, who can know it? I am the Lord who search the heart and prove the reins," Jer. xvii. 10.

Q. 9. What do you mean by infinitely good?

A. I mean that as God is infinitely perfect and infinitely happy in Himself, so He has the most earnest desire of communicating Himself and His happiness to His creatures, and, in consequence of this, is continually bestowing good things upon them, according as they are capable of receiving them; for "every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights," James, i. 17. And God "giveth to all abundantly, and upbraideth not," James, i. 5. All the creatures by whose means we receive any benefit are but the instruments God makes use of to communicate good things to us; for "there is none good but God alone," Luke, xviii. 19.

Q. 10. What do you mean by infinitely just?

A. I mean that God gives to all men the necessary means of saving their souls, and will never require any