Verse 7. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit?] Surely ruach
in this sense must be taken personally, it certainly cannot mean
either breath or wind; to render it so would make the passage
ridiculous.
From thy presence?] mippaneycha, "from thy faces." Why
do we meet with this word so frequently in the plural number, when
applied to God? And why have we his Spirit, and his appearances or
faces, both here? A Trinitarian would at once say, "The plurality
of persons in the Godhead is intended;" and who can prove that he
is mistaken?
Verse 8. If I ascend] Thou art in heaven, in thy glory; in hell,
in thy vindictive justice; and in all parts of earth, water,
space, place, or vacuity, by thy omnipresence. Wherever I am,
there art thou; and where I cannot be, thou art there. Thou
fillest the heavens and the earth.
Verse 11. Surely the darkness shall cover me] Should I suppose
that this would serve to screen me, immediately this darkness is
turned into light.
Verse 12. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee] Darkness and
light, ignorance and knowledge, are things that stand in relation
to us; God sees equally in darkness as in light; and knows as
perfectly, however man is enveloped in ignorance, as if all were
intellectual brightness. What is to us hidden by darkness, or
unknown through ignorance, is perfectly seen and known by
God; because he is all sight, all hearing, all feeling, all soul,
all spirit-all in ALL, and infinite in himself. He lends to every
thing; receives nothing from any thing. Though his essence be
unimpartible, yet his influence is diffusible through time and
through eternity. Thus God makes himself known, seen, heard, felt;
yet, in the infinity of his essence, neither angel, nor spirit,
nor man can see him; nor can any creature comprehend him, or form
any idea of the mode of his existence. And yet vain man would be
wise, and ascertain his foreknowledge, eternal purposes, infinite
decrees, with all operations of infinite love and infinite hatred,
and their objects specifically and nominally, from all eternity,
as if himself had possessed a being and powers co-extensive with
the Deity! O ye wise fools! Jehovah, the fountain of eternal
perfection and love, is as unlike your creeds, as he is unlike
yourselves, forgers of doctrines to prove that the source of
infinite benevolence is a streamlet of capricious love to
thousands, while he is an overflowing, eternal, and irresistible
tide of hatred to millions of millions both of angels and men!
The antiproof of such doctrines is this: he bears with such
blasphemies, and does not consume their abettors. "But nobody
holds these doctrines." Then I have written against nobody; and
have only to add the prayer, May no such doctrines ever disgrace
the page of history; or farther dishonour, as they have done, the
annals of the Church!
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