repose. Immutability of character, and the immutability of purpose and conduct resulting from it, are undoubtedly the only objects, in which rational beings can ultimately confide. A Being possessing these attributes must, if he loves holiness at all, love it invariably and for ever. That which he loves he will bless, of course. All his designs to reward those who possess it, must be unchangeable; all his declarations true; and all his promises exactly fulfilled. That faithfulness, by which they are fulfilled, is no other than the Moral Immutability of God, and an essential part of his infinite glory. On this character every virtuous being places an entire and safe reliance; a hope, which can never make him ashamed. However vast, however rich, however incredible in appearance, the promises of future happiness may seem to such minds as ours; we know, that they are the promises of Him, who can neither deceive, nor change; and that, therefore, every one of them will be carried into complete execution. According to these observations, the Immutability of God is directly asserted in the Scriptures to be the only foundation of safety to righteous men. I am Jehovah, says God in the passage already quoted from Malachi; 1 change not; therefore, ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. The backslidings and provocations even of the best men in this World are, in all probability, great enough to shake any purposes of kindness in any mind, which is not absolutely incapable of change. The eternal God is the true and final refuge of his children, only because he cannot change. Amid all their wanderings, their unbelief, their hardness of heart, and their multiplied transgressions, they have hope and security, because his truth is as the great mountains, steadfast and immovable; and his promises endure for ever. Were God, contrary to this glorious character, to begin to change, what a mighty difference would be introduced into his being, his attributes, and his conduct! As he is possessed of all power, knowledge, and goodness, it is intuitively certain, that he cannot have more. Of course, any change must be a diminution of one or other of these attributes; and God must, in the case supposed, become less powerful, less knowing, or less good. How fearful to all virtuous beings in the Universe, must such a change be! How plain is it, that it might, for ought that appears, be the beginning of a course of mutability, endless in its progress! that God would ever after exist, as a successive changeable being; have no fixed purposes; and be devested of that unalterable faithfulness, on which, now, his Intelligent creatures rest with confidence and safety! What might not in this case be dreaded, in the everlasting change of his administrations, by all who love good, either in the Creator, or in his creatures!

5thly. How great encouragements do these attributes to God fur nish to Prayer!

All encouragement to Prayer is derived from these two considerations; that God has required it of us as a duty, and that he hus

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promised blessings in answer to our prayers. Were he a mutable God, it would be impossible for us to know, that what was his pleasure yesterday, would be his pleasure to-day; that what he had required yesterday, he would not prohibit to-day; or that what he promised yesterday, he would be willing to perform at any future period.

It is impossible to determine, that a mutable God would not alter, not his conduct only, but his views, his principles of action, and the rules by which he governed his Creation. What he now loved, he might hereafter hate: what he now approved, he might hereaf ter condemn what he now rewarded, he might hereafter punish. Of course, virtuous beings, now loved, approved, and rewarded, by Him, might one day be hated, condemned, and punished. Wicked beings, on the contrary, now the objects of his hatred, and declared to be hereafter the objects of his punishment, might one day become the objects of his friendship and favour; and triumph over the good in a manner equally unreasonable and dreadful.

Of these changes we could gain no possible knowledge, unless he should choose to communicate them to us by an immediate Revelation. From his mode of being, so diverse from ours, we could learn and conjecture nothing. From his past designs and administrations we could never argue, at all, to those which were future. Equally barren of instruction would be the Nature of things: for we could never be assured, that he would, or would not, regard this subject; or in what manner he would regard it at any period to come. Even if he should reveal his designs, and his pleasure; we could never be certain, that he had revealed them truly; and if we were assured of this fact, the Revelation could be of no material use, except for the moment. What is disclosed he might at any time revoke and nothing could be known to be acceptable to him any longer, than during the moment, in which the disclosure was made. In the mean time, his power and his knowledge would still be such, that no hope could be indulged of either resistance or escape. Existence would in this case be, therefore, a dreadful succession of suspense; and immortal being, so far as we can discern, undeserving of a wish.

In such a situation of things, what encouragement would remain for prayer? The humble and faithful suppliant, coming to God with a firm belief, that he is, and that he is the Rewarder of them that diligently seek him, might find the manner of his praying, the spirit with which he prayed, and his prayers themselves, unacceptable and odious. The things heretofore most proper to be urged, might hereafter be the least proper. The considerations, which once ensured success, might at another time ensure rejection. The prime, the only, motives to prayer would, therefore, be taken away.

In the same manner the whole use of this duty, as it is intended to affect advantageously the character of the suppliant, would be

finally removed. The great use of prayer, in this view, is to establish in the heart a humble dependence on God, and a firm confidence in him. Confidence, as I have already observed, would, in the case supposed, be shaken and destroyed: and, without confidence, dependence would possess neither use nor worth. In the present state of things, these attributes constitute the proper, and the only proper, temper of the soul for the reception of blessings; the spirit which is eminently beautiful and lovely in the sight of God, and which is accordingly chosen by him as the proper object of his unchangeable favour. In the case supposed, these attributes could not be united; because Confidence could not exist : since the mind could not but perceive, that a changing God might, and probably would, in the infinite progress of things, become the subject of infinite change. If, therefore, it could feel satisfied, or safe, for a hundred or a thousand years, it would still rationally fear, that at some unknown and more distant period of Eternity, the order of all things would be inverted; and its former obedience and former prayers rise up at this dreaded season in the character of crimes, and prove the cause of its future suffering. Dependence, therefore, existing solitarily, would degenerate into anxiety and alarm; and, instead of being the means of union between the soul and its Maker, would become a wall of dreadful separation.

The Immutability of God has often, but erroneously, been imagined to involve Inexorability in his character. The Scriptura! Account of this great Being is, on the contrary, that he is immutably exorable; or, in other words, that he is immutably disposed to hear and answer Prayer. His own words are, Every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. This and this only, is his true character, agreeably to which the system of his dispensations is immutably established. In this system, infinite encouragement is holden out to every suppliant, and to every fait' ful Prayer. Here the petitioner knows, that what is once acceptable to God will always be acceptable; and that the things, which he has once required, he will require for ever. His faith, therefore, is built on the Rock of Ages; and, with whatever violence the rains may descend, the winds drive, or the floods beat, their rage and fury will assault him in

vain.

SERMON VI.

OMNIPRESEnce and OMNISCIENCE OF GOD.

PSALM CXXXIX. 1-12 ....O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me.

Thou knowest my down-silling, and my up-rising; thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path, and my lying down; and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend 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 sea; Even there shall 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 hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

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IN my last discourse, I considered the Eternity and Immutability of God. As motivity, or active power, the power by which all motion and action are originated, cannot be conceived to reside in any other than an intelligent being; the Knowledge of God be-. comes naturally the next subject of investigation. As his Presence is most intimately connected with his Knowledge; it will be advantageously united with it in a discourse of this nature. Accord ingly these attributes are frequently joined together by the divine

writers.

In the text, the Knowledge and Presence of God, usually termed, from their extent, his Omniscience and Omnipresence, are in the fullest manner declared. The Psalm, of which the text is a part, is one of the most remarkable Poetical compositions, ever seen in this World; and, did the time permit, would richly repay the labour of an extensive, critical investigation. In comparison with it, the most admired odes of heathen antiquity are the mere effusions of children.

My audience cannot but have observed, that the manner, in which these perfections are attributed to God, is not that of plain, logical discussion. The subject is assumed as a thing granted and acknowledged; as a thing equally removed beyond debate and doubt. The writer, animated with the most enthusiastic ardour, of which a sublime imagination is capable, seizes these great themes of his attention; and, amid his enraptured contemplation of them, pours out a succession of the boldest and loftiest conceptions, that were ever uttered concerning these subjects. Himself, his thoughts, his words, his actions, he declares, with a mixture of awe and exltation, to be all perfectly known to God. From this knowledge, he at the same time informs us, there is no possible escape. Should he ascend into Heaven, or make his bed in Hell; should he, borne

on the sun-beams, hurry, with their celerity, into the distant regions of the West; still God would be present in all these and all other places alike. Were he still further to place his hope of a secure retreat in the darkness of night; he perceives the night to shine in the presence of God as the day, and the darkness and the light to be both alike unto him.

With these views of the Psalmist, those of every other divine. writer on this subject exactly conspire; and all, with a single voice, attribute these perfections to Jehovah. Thus Jeremiah, xxiii. 23, 24: Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off?

Can any hide himself in secret places, that I shall not see him? Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord?

The heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee. Great is the Lord, his understanding is infinite.

In accordance with this doctrine only, is all our obedience, particularly our worship, prescribed in the Scriptures. We worship and obey God every where; and are commanded thus to do; because God is every where present, to see, and know, and accept our services, to protect our persons, and to supply our wants. It ought to be here observed, that these attributes are directly ascribed to all the persons of the Trinity. Thus CHRIST says of himself, Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them. Again, Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Peter says to him, John xxi. 17, Lord, thou knowest all things. Christ says of himself, And all the churches shall know, that I am he, who searcheth the reins and the hearts, Rev. ii. 23. And again, Mat. xi. 27, No one knoweth the Son, but the Father, neither knoweth any one the Father, save the Son, and he, to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.

The Omnipresence of the Spirit of Grace is emphatically asserted in the question, contained in the seventh verse of the text; Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? especially, as connected with the answers following. The Spirit of Glory and of God resteth upon you, that is, Christians universally, saith St. Peter, 1. Epist. iv. 14. body, saith St. Paul to Christians, is the temple of the Holy Ghost, 1 Cor. vi. 19; and, The Spirit searcheth all things, even the deep things of God, 1 Cor. ii. 10.

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These attributes of God are also demonstrated, and holden out continually to our inspection, by Reason and Experience.

In every part of the Universe, to which we turn our eyes, we discern in the inanimate, animated, and intelligent, worlds, most evident proofs of an agency, which it is impossible rationally to attribute to any other being but God. In the motions and powers of the Elements; in the growth. structure, and qualities, of Vegetables and Animals; and in the thoughts, volitions, and actions, of Minds, we perceive a casual influence, and efficiency, totally distinguished from every other; as distant from that of man, as the