features which are given to it in the Scriptures. "God is an infinite eye,” is a fine saying, attributed to Orpheus. In the autobiography of Nana Farnewis, a Mahratta nobleman, who was in the battle of Paniput, 1761, the same sentiment is expressed, a votary, as he was, of the Hindoo Paganism:"It is He who in the plenitude of his power displays himself in every thing. He is every where present at the same moment; moving without feet; seeing without eyes; touching without hands; hearing without ears; pervading all space."* Nobly does the Jewish king, in one of his odes, expound this truth" Whither shall I go from thy spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy presence?" Wherever his imagination conducts him,-to the centre of heaven, or to the bed of hell,-he recognises an allpervading, universal Deity: an idea which overwhelms his intellectual apprehension, and leads him to say, "It is high; I cannot attain to it."

This view of the Divine existence does not exclude the idea of a local visible manifestation of himself, which, in innumerable passages, the Scriptures teach. Though the Supreme Mind is universally diffused, yet there is a part of his wide dominion where he pre-eminently dwells-where there is an unveiling of his presence-and where the beatific vision is contemplated by his unfallen, redeemed, and glorified creatures. We read of a "high and holy place," where He dwells who "inhabits eternity"—

• Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, ii. p. 96.

of a holy habitation, from which he looks down upon all the inhabitants of the earth—of a throne, upon which he sits-of a pavilion, within the folds of which his glory permanently abides. “Our Father, which art in heaven," is the language which the Saviour teaches the devout to employ. Similar representations occur :—

"The Lord is in his holy temple;
The Lord's throne is in heaven."*
"Our God is in the heavens ;

He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.”+

"Look down from thy holy habitation, from heaven,
And bless thy people, Israel."

Yet still is the Deity as vitally present in every part of his mighty empire, as in what may be called the metropolis of his dominions, where he holds his court, and exhibits his regal state: the only difference is, that in heaven he shows himself to his worshippers-on earth he is hid by the symbols of his "eternal power and Godhead."

What facility does this great doctrine give to prayer? Does want overtake me in any particular place, or at any given point of time? I need not travel to find Him who can supply it. I am already in His temple-not, indeed, in the "holy of holies," but at its threshold. "My Father's house" is around me; and though not in the state apartment, yet one of its "many mansions" I am already occupying. It was the devout exclamation of Jacob, "Surely the Lord is in this place," when far distant from the encampment of his kindred, with the lonely wilder

• Psalm xi. 4.

+ Psalm cxv. 3.

Deut. xxvi. 15.

ness around him, gazing upon the rich canopy of an eastern sky. We may visit oceans where a sail has never been unfurled, or a vessel wafted-we may roam in deserts which have never echoed with the melody of human converse-but there is His open ear, His unclosed eye, His untiring handman is distant, but God is near."

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But highly encouraging is it to the devout mind to reflect, that prayer is not an exercise, the issue of which is totally uncertain: an efficacy is assigned to it in the most emphatic manner in Scripture: the Almighty Agent, before whom we bow, has promised to hear it, and to grant its request, when it takes cognizance of things that are agreeable to his will. Such passages as the following clearly indicate this "While they are yet speaking I will hear"-" Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered"—" He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry"--" Every one that asketh receiveth." The Jehovah of the Old Testament is frequently distinguished from the gods of the heathen by this very quality, that, whereas they are unmoved by the addresses of their votaries, He never fails to "give good things to them that ask him." The Psalmist notices the vanity of idols in this respect, and draws from it an argument for Israel to trust in the Lord.

"Their idols are silver and gold,

The work of men's hands.

They have mouths, but they speak not;

Eyes have they, but they see not;

They have ears, but they hear not;

Noses have they, but they smell not;
They have hands, but they handle not;
Feet have they, but they walk not;
Neither speak they through their throat.
They that make them, are like unto them;
So is every one that trusteth in them.

O, Israel, trust in the Lord!

He is thy help and shield!"*

Olympian Jove was often rallied by the more clearsighted of his partisans, for his apathy to their supplications:

"Audis,

Jupiter, hec? nec labra moves, cum mittere vocem
Debueras, vel marmorens vel aheneus? aut cur

In carbone tuo chasta pia thura soluta

Ponimus, et sectum vituli jecur, albaque porci

O menta? ut video, nullum discrimen habendum est
Effigies inter vestras, statuamque Bathylli."+

"Dost thou hear, O Jupiter, these things? nor move thy lips when thou oughtest to speak out, whether thou art of marble or of bronze? Or why do we put the sacred incense on thy altar from the opened paper, and the extracted liver of a calf, and the white caul of a hog? As far as I can discover, there is no difference between thy statue and that of Bathyllus."+

In striking contrast with the gods of silver and of gold, the workmanship of men's hands, is the God of the Bible: "his eye is over the righteous for good, and his ear is open to their cry:" to him the heart overcharged with sorrow, the spirit oppressed with guilt, may repair, in the confident

* Psalm cxv. 4-9.

↑ Juvenal, Sat. xiii. v. 113. A fiddler, whose image was placed in the temple of Juno, at Samos, by the command of Polycrates.

expectation of obtaining all needful relief. This is not a human speculation, but a Divine testimony, upon the truth of which we may safely depend. "God is not man, that he should lie"-he makes no asseveration which he does not mean to accomplish; -he enacts no law-exhibits no blessing-records no promise, for the purpose of idle parade. He has magnified his word above all his name:" in all his revelations to man, he stands forth eminently as the God of truth. Did he say to Adam, in the scene of his revolt and crime, "dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return?" The statement has been fulfilled with reference to all the families of his racethe Divine faithfulness is here exhibited in striking manifestation-go where we will, travel where we may, we find death the law of all human life, and the grave the "house appointed for all living." Was it declared, when the flood of waters retired from the deluged earth, that day and night, seedtime and harvest, should not cease? We see here another impressive instance of the Divine faithfulness, still, after the lapse of forty centuries, fulfilling the appointment, making the outgoings of the morning and the evening to rejoice, giving seed to the sower, and bread to the eater.

ALMIGHTY Power-UnivERSAL PRESENCE— and INFALLIBLE TRUTH, give to prayer the loftiest sanctions and the most impressive encouragements. We apply to no inadequate source, to no incompetent agent, when we apply to God. There is in the mysterious depths of his nature a capacity to