hope of gain to betray his Lord: and incited holy David, through ambition, to number the people. Sometimes the devil feizes mankind in an unguarded moment, and tempts them to commit a fin to which they are generally averfe. By the influence they have over the animal fpirits, they are always ready to fill our minds with wicked and base thoughts; and to raise in our fancies foolish and finful ideas, in the contemplation of which if we indulge ourselves, we shall be ensnared in a labyrinth of fin and forrow.

They enflame giddy youth and debauched age with luftful concupifcence, and tempt them to the commiffion of irreparable injuries: they ftir up the ambitious and covetous, and keep them in a constant purfuit of unfatisfactory joys, until declining age, or the approach of death, bring to their recollection former fins and follies; and they, with forrow and remorfe, look upon the retrospect of a life marked with fraud, oppreffion, and every fpecies of wickedness. Satan's power in this respect cannot be doubted, for he goes about as a roaring lion feeking whom he may devour, and narrowly observes our foibles and failings.

Let us keep ourselves guarded against the blandishments of the evil spirits, who, from their antient malice, darken our minds,

hide the deformity of fin, and paint it in the most inviting colours. Like a deceitful enemy, with the flattery of pretended friendfhip, they tempt us to comply with their folicitations, and having feduced and betrayed us, they leave us to reap the fruits of mifery and ruin. Let not the external charms of fin, though ever fo alluring and fraught with the most promifing delights, prevail with you to forfake your duty to that beneficent God who is every day conferring fome new gift, or repeating fome former bleffing: who has endued us with faculties whereby we may enjoy this life to a great degree, and, by a confcientious obedience, we may form hopeful expectations of futurity; until the commiffion of fin vitiates the fenfe of every innocent enjoyment, deprives us of happiness, and makes our nights fleepless and irksome without the draughts of intemperance and luxury. So true is the remark of Solomon, The fpirit of a man will sustain his infirmity, but a wounded spirit who can bear? Put on, therefore, the whole armour of God, and manfully fight under Chrift's banner, againft fin, the world, and the devil: and when maturity of years fhall have brought you to a fenfe of duty, and an unfeigned forrow for paft fins produced true repentance, and you fhall have arrived to the happiness

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happiness of a new, regenerate state, then beware that a compliance with fin does not deprive you of the hope of a heavenly inheritance. Remember, when you are inclined to commit fin, that it is the devil who tempts you, in order to deprive you of immortal happiness, and make you partake with him in mifery. Refift the devil, fays St. James, and he will flee from you. May God give us fuch a portion of divine grace as will enable us to finish the warfare of this life with peace and comfort, that, by a stedfast perfeverance in holiness, we may be partakers of the kingdom of heaven, through Jefus Chrift our Saviour and Redeemer. Amen.

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CHAPTER IX.

Of Providence.

OLY David comforted himself with the confideration of God's omniscience, when his enemies falfly accused him of hypocrify, as one who pretended to religion only for the fake of promoting his own ambitious defigns against Saul, whofe crown he fought to take away: he therefore appeals to God as the proper judge of the integrity of his heart, and an efpecial witnefs of the fincerity of his mind, in pro

feffing

feffing him a lover and defender of the true fervants of God, and an hater of his enemies. And in the conclufion, after an application to have his conduct inspected and fcrutinized, he invokes the Almighty to become his leader and guide to all eternity. If his thoughts and intentions had been contrary to his great profeffions of the love of God, he was certain that the fraud could not be concealed; but being touched with the false reproaches of his enemies, he justifies himself in the fight of God, whom he knew was a conftant witness of all his actions, and to whom he confeffes the very purposes of his heart to be difcernable. Wherefore, in the 139th Pfalm, he says, O Lord, thou haft fearched me out, and known me. There is not a word in my tongue, but thou, O Lord, knoweft it altogether. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Whither fhall I go from thy fpirit, or whither fhall I flee from thy presence? If I afcend up into heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermoft parts of the fea, even there fhall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness I 2 and

and light to thee are both alike. This Pfalm contains an emphatical and joyful acknowledgment of God's immenfity and providence, both which I will at this time confider.

The immenfity of God is fuch, that he can neither be contained in any place nor yet excluded from any, but is every where prefent after an ineffable and imperceptible manner; infomuch that it is impoffible to conceive any place where God is not. this fenfe God fpeaks by his prophet Isaiah, Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my foot-stool. And by the prophet Jeremiah, Do I not fill heaven and earth? faith the Lord.

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That God is infinite, and every where prefent, is very evident: but the opinions of divines are various as to the particular manner of his infinity and omniprefence. It is impoffible for our finite and limited capacities to understand, comprehend, or conceive it. Yet that the thing is true, that he is actually omniprefent, we are as certain as we are that there must be something infinite, which no man of confideration attempts to deny. But whether this infinity or immenfity of God is to be attributed to his effence, power, or providence, is a doubt. Some think that this is not to be attributed to his effence, but to his power or providence. For they conceive that God dwells

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