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my frame. If I say surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light about me; yea, the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day; the darkness and light are both alike to thee.

The scripture having thus forcibly described the presence of God, with all things actually existing, exalts his glory still higher, by teaching us that his immensity reaches beyond the bounds of the creation. We are commanded to say, with holy admiration, to the God of our lives, Behold, the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee! 1 Kings viii.

The omnipresent God is almighty. Every created agent can only fashion his work from materials already prepared, which he cannot make. The glorious God commands things into being. He is not beholden to matter for its existence, as of service to him in the formation of the world; for had this been self-existent, it must have been immutable too. On the contrary, all things, whether material or spiritual, stood up before the mighty God at his call, and were created at his pleasure. The heavens and all the host of them, the earth. and all things which are therein. are the work of his hands; by the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. I the Lord have made the earth, and created men upon it. I have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.

The same almighty power of God, to which the whole creation owes its birth, is manifested by the disposition and preservation of the world in order and harmony. He watereth the earth, and blesseth the increase of it. He covereth the heavens with clouds and prepareth rain for the earth. He giveth snow like wool and scattereth the hoar frost like ashes.

He divideth the sea with his power, and lay

eth up the depths in storehouses: fire and hail, storm and tempest fulfil his word.

The steady course of nature, which profane men consider as the effect of necessity, is the unerring agency of his almighty power. It is he alone who makes the day-spring know its place. and stretches out the shadow of the evening. He commands the sun to shine by day and the moon by night; he prepares a place for the rain, and a way for the lightning and thunder. He makes the herbs to grow upon the earth. The hand of the Lord doth all these things.

The scripture teaches us to conceive what is the infinite power of God, by declaring that in a moment he can dissolve the whole frame of nature. Human force must labour hard to demolish what cost it severe toil to erect; but with greater ease than we can utter a word, the Most High changes the face of the creation, and destroys what seemed to be of endless duration. He removes the mountains, and they know it not; he overturneth them in his anger. He commandeth the sun. and it riseth not, and sealeth up the stars. He shaketh the earth out of its place, and the pillars thereof tremble. The pillars of heaven tremble, and are astonished at his reproof. The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burnt at his presence.

But in the attribute of irresistible power, considered by itself, there is no loveliness. To contemplate it with pleasure as the object of adoration and trust, we must behold it in union with other perfections. In such union it subsists in God for his knowledge and wisdom are equal to his power. More clearly does he comprehend his own eternity, than we our temporary existence; more perfectly his own immensity, than we our limited condition of being; more certainly his own extent of wisdom and

power, than we the thoughts which pass through our minds. His understanding, therefore, is properly said to be infinite.

But if he knows himself, he must know also the work of his own hands; for the meanest artificer, though imperfectly acquainted with the nature of the materials he works on, knows every effect depending on his own voluntary operation. Since, therefore, from the greatest to the least, in heaven or earth, the hand of God has formed, and his providence preserves them all, the whole must be thoroughly known to him, and, wherever his power works, his understanding must discern. The vast fabric, therefore, of the universe, all its laws and furniture, with every event from first to last, are known unto him. The countless hosts of sinless angels, and the world of apostate ones; the long progeny of mankind, with all the designs, desires, and thoughts which have been in the mind of each individual, and all the words which have ever fled from their lips, fall under his notice. With infallible comprehension, he knows all the active principles of the spirits he has formed; how they will be moved by the presence of every object which can come before them; how they will act upon every temptation that can try them, and in every circumstance in which they can be placed. These ideas of the blessed God, his own oracles command us to conceive. "The ways of man are before the Lord, and he pondereth all his goings. The eyes of the Lord. are in every place. He looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven. The Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all imaginations of the thoughts. He knoweth the things

All

that come into our mind, every one of them. things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do."

Joined with this absolute perfection of knowledge in God, is wisdom, or the best exercise and improvement of knowledge. In wisdom he superintends and adjusts all parts of the universe; so that, whatever changes any of them undergo, their usefulness and connexion with each other are uniformly preserved. He accomplishes his purposes, through means to human apprehension most unlikely. He founds the highest manifestation of his glory on what depraved men despise and deride, and in the glaring weakness of his agents, displays the excellency of his own power. He entangles the rulers of darkness in their own net; and by their own stratagems ruins all their laboured designs. The greatest cruelty of Satan and his instruments, he makes subservient to a scheme of eternal mercy, and over-rules the apostacy of Adam to display his manifold wisdom to men and angels. "For he has established the world in wisdom, and stretched out the heavens by his discretion. He is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working. The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that they cannot perform their enterprizes. His counsels stand for ever, and the thoughts of his heart from generation to generation,"

The several perfections of God, which have been placed before you, are called, by way of distinction, his natural perfections. The more we consider them, the higher must our admiration and our astonishment rise. For who can meditate on eternity, omnipresence, omniscience, almighty power, and infinite wisdom, without feeling they are subjects too big for any created understanding to take in? But his moral perfections we can comprehend with great clearness. And it is as possessing these in union with his natural, that God claims all possible rever

ence, fear, love, trust, and obedience. On these perfections we shall treat in the next chapter.

SUNDAY V.

CHAP. V.

The Scripture Character of God.

THE first of God's moral perfections, which we shall consider, is his goodness. By this we mean the exercise of his almighty power in freely communicating excellency and happiness to his creatures, as seemeth right to his own infinite understanding. "The Lord is good unto all, and his tender mercies are over all his works. He openeth his hand, and satisfieth every living thing. He is the father of mercies, and the God of all consolation: the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord."

So strong in its propensity is his goodness, and so wide in its extent, as to bless even rebels against his government, and enemies to his truth. "He Icauseth his sun to shine, and his rain to fall on the evil and on the good, on the just and on the unjust. He endures, with much long-suffering, the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction." He encourages, he commands them to return to him. "Let the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. Come now, and let us rea

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