tenor of conduct, from an abfolute perfec- SERM, tion of knowledge, and an unalterable rec- VI. titude of will? From hence arifes an indif penfible and perpetual obligation on us, and all intelligent creatures, of worship and homage to the Deity. If the glory and perfection of his nature can fuffer no diminution, and in confequence of that, the meafures of his government are through all ages the fame, the foundations of our duty to him are unmoveable. Here is an effential difference between the true God of the univerfe, and idols, fictitious Deities which either have no real being, but are only the creatures of deluded human imagination, or at least have no divinity, no dominion over the world, or authority over men; Upstart gods, whofe honour, raised on no just foundation, fhall quickly perish; but the God of the universe thus defcribes himself, Isa. xliii. 10. I am be, before me there was no God formed, neither fhall there be any after me.

3dly, The eternity of God ought to be confidered in conjunction with all his other attributes, it is the character of every one of them. His power and wisdom, his righteoufnefs, goodness and truth are eternal and unchangeable as his being; and by this confideration all our religious duties are greatly

SERM. enforced. He is the proper object of our VI. fear, because his dominion reaches to the utmoft limits of our existence. A tempo

rary power can only claim a temporary obedience, and indeed not an abfolute obedience, even while it fubfifts; for as the relation between human governors and subjects may be diffolv'd, and the fervant becomes free from his master (which will foon be the case in fact of all fuperiors and inferiors among men, whom death will put upon a level, tho' it does not extinguish their being;) fo the expectation of that change diminishes the prefent respect which a fhort-liv'd authority claims. But the Ruler, whose power extends to all futurity, and who, as he lives and reigns for ever, has the difpofal of our condition in ages at the remoteft distance, as well as the present, is intitled to our unlimited fubjection and perpetual fear. Our Saviour's direction is therefore very juft, ‡ Be not afraid of them which kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do ; but I will forewarn you whom you shall fear, fear him who after he hath killed, hath power to faft into hell.

Again, the grounds of our hope and confidence in God are firm and ftable. As the Goodness

‡ Luke xii. 4, 5,

Goodness to which we owe our being, and SERM. all the happiness we enjoy, is eternal, (God VI. loves his creatures with an everlafting love,) fo, because he is the Lord and changes not, they are not confumed. He can provide against all future dangers as well as the prefent, and however the appearances of things may vary, they are none of them without his forefight, and the direction of his wife and powerful providence. Therefore the objections of men against the Divine adminiftration, when things fall out otherwise than they expected, are vain and groundlefs, and their conclufion extremely rash, that his promises are not to be trufted. If fcoffing infidels fay, ‡Where is the promise of his coming to judge the world, and render recompences to men, for fince the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were? the answer in which his fervants reft contented, still humbly confident in his mercy and faithfulness, is, a thousand years are with the Lord as one day, all times are equally in his power, and fooner or later he will fulfil all the reasonable and just defires of them that fear him.

+ 2 Pet. iii.

SERM.
VII.

SERMON VII.

The Doctrine of God's Omniprefence explain'd and vindicated.

Pfal. cxxxix. 7, 8, 9, 10.

Whither shall I go from thy Spirit, or whither
fhall I fice from thy prefence? 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 uttermost parts of the fea, even there
fball thy hand lead me, and thy right hand
fball hold me.

I

is evident to any one who attentively confiders the conftitution of the human mind, that it was not made for a full comprehenfion of things and a thorough understanding of their natures, but that all the intellectual capacities and modes of perception with which it is indued, were intended by the wife contrivance of its Maker, to anfwer other particular purposes. Our sensa

tions do not at all let us into the knowledgeSER M. of the effence of those material objects which VII. produce them in us; indeed not directly and' immediately into the knowledge of their existence itself. And tho' we have an inward consciousness of our own perceptions and volitions, our perceiving and self-determining powers, and of our own existence, yet what the intimate nature is of that confcious felf, we do not understand. The Father of our fpirits and of lights, from whom every good gift cometh down, has given us fuch knowledge as is fufficient, and was defign'd for directing our practice, and for communicating fuch enjoyment as he intended for us; not for our comprehending fully the nature of any thing, which does not feem requifite to the ends of our being.

But leaft of all can we form any adequate notion of the fupreme Being himself. Not only the abfolute perfections of his nature cannot be thoroughly understood by us, but we have no immediate perception of them, as we have of other objects. We have distinct ideas of fenfible qualities, fuch as the figure and magnitude of bodies, and a direct intuitive knowledge of our own rational faculties and operations; we have alfo very clear apprehenfions of moral qualities, as of good.