fier, who has said, My rod and my staff shall comfort thee; and when thy heart and thy flesh faileth, I am the strength of thy heart, and thy portion for ever. Brethren, be assured that the Christian's highest solace here, will also be his highest joy throughout the ages of eternity, the abiding presence of his God, for it is this, which alone can constitute heaven. "I go to prepare a place for you; that WHERE I AM, there ye may be also."

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LECTURE VI.

2 KINGS vi. 17.

" AND ELISHA PRAYED, AND SAID, LORD, I PRAY THEE, OPEN HIS EYES, THAT HE MAY SEE. AND THE LORD OPENED THE EYES OF THE YOUNG MAN; AND HE SAW, AND, BEHOLD, THE MOUNTAIN WAS FULL OF HORSES AND CHARIOTS OF FIRE ROUND ABOUT ELISHA."

IN the last incident that formed a portion of the history we are reviewing, we were led, by the astonishing power vouchsafed to Elisha, to dwell upon that most wonderful attribute of the Almighty which it so strikingly illustrated—the omnipresence of God. The narrative which is this day to occupy our attention, will convey to our minds an equally convincing evidence of another attribute of the great Jehovah, in which we are, as

individuals, as deeply and feelingly interested-the omniscience of the Almighty. May the conviction of this great truth take full possession of our minds, that remembering that "all things are naked, and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do," we may learn. to live, and speak, and think, as continually within the ken of His all-seeing eye, and the hearing of His all-hearing

ear.

Commencing with the eighth verse of the sixth chapter, we read, "Then the king of Syria warred against Israel, and took counsel with his servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be my camp. And the man of God sent unto the king of Israel, saying, Beware that thou pass not such a place; for thither the Syrians are come down. And the king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned him of, and saved himself there, not once

1 Heb. iv. 13.

or twice. Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing; and he called his servants, and said unto them, Will ye not shew me which of us is for the king of Israel? And one of his servants said, None, my lord, O king: but Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber."

What an astonishing power was this which the Almighty communicated to His prophet! The words spoken in the innermost recesses of the Syrian palace, were made known to a resident in a foreign land, to enable him to frustrate the evil designs of him who spake them. And this, says the narrative, "Not once or twice;" to mark that it was no accident, no mere coincidence, but that all the words, and every word, spoken by the king of Syria, were divulged by the Spirit of God unto Elisha.

It is merciful, brethren, that God has

been pleased to give us such plain illustrations of some of the most awful, and, at the same time, the most incomprehensible attributes of Deity.

There is, perhaps, no characteristic of the Almighty, so absolutely necessary to our right conception of a God, yet so difficult to understand, and, at the same time, so powerfully influential when justly apprehended, as His omniscience. It is upon the practical effect of this attribute on our own hearts and lives, that I desire to address you this morning. Let me illustrate what that effect ought to be, and what, if this attribute is rightly received, it really will be, by an example from the history of our Church. It is related of Bishop Latimer, that when called up for private examination before his Popish persecutors, he was at first not very particular as to the expressions he made use of, in his replies, "But," added that holy martyr, when narrating the circumstance, "I