destiny of his descendants, throughout time and eternity. Such defects may, unless prevented by him, continually take place in every part of his vast kingdom. It is therefore indispensably necessary that he should be present to every being, at every moment, to perceive and regulate every event; to farther every part of his infinite designs, and to prevent every obstruction and failure. An exact, unremitted attention on his part, is necessary to the greatest and to the least alike; a knowledge intimate, entire and perfect, of all their relations, changes and circumstances.

Of this attention, this consummate knowledge, the presence of God is the real foundation. In consequence of his presence in all places, he sees that every thing is contained in its own proper sphere of being and action, and discerns every approach towards exposure, and towards defect. Hence his great work is always guarded, advanced, and prospered. In this world, his presence, attention, and knowledge, are indispensable, to renew, refine, and strengthen in virtue, the souls of his children; to guide them in the path of duty, to relieve their distresses, to supply their wants, and to brighten their hopes of a blessed immortality.

Equally indispensable is it, to advance the general cause of truth and righteousness, to befriend his church in all its interests; to prevent the gates of hell from prevailing against it, to confine rebellion within the destined bounds, and to inflict the proper judgments on the workers of iniquity. In a word, his presence is indispensable here, to bring light out of darkness, order out of confusion, and good out of evil.

In theworld of punishment his presence is equally necessary, to confine the prisoners of his wrath; to render to every impenitent sinner the reward due to his crimes, to teach the abominable nature and the deplorable consequences of sin, and to show his unchangeable hatred of iniquity.

In the various worlds where virtue and happiness reside, he is necessarily present to inspire, invigorate, and quicken the obedience of their inhabitants; to distribute the innumerable and diversified rewards which he has annexed to obedience, and cause to arise and shine the endless varieties of beauty and loveliness, of which their happy spirits are capable

In heaven, the brightest and best of those worlds, he is indispensably present, to perfect that glorious system of virtue and

happiness, which he has ordained through the mediation of his Son, and promised to all the redeemed. There he has instituted a perfect scheme of dispensations, which is the consummation and the crown of all his works. There every inhabitant receives, and loves, and keeps his own place, duties, and enjoyments; and consecrates with all his heart, without weariness and without end, his exalted faculties and immortal life, to the sublime purposes of glorifying his Maker, and advancing the universal good. To this end, God there lives in every being, in a manner wholly peculiar; and diffuses a peculiarly, quickening influence through every object. Hence the river' which proceeds from his throne' is styled the water of life;' and the trees' which grow on its banks, bearing twelve manner of fruits,' are named trees of life.' The body he animates with vigour, youth and beauty, which cannot decay: the mind he informs with a divine and supernatural quickening, which empowers it to advance without intermission, and with incomprehensible celerity, in knowledge, virtue, and enjoyment. In that world, God unfolds himself in infinite diversities of beauty, glory, and majesty; enables them to see eye to eye, and to behold his face in righteousness.' In that world he exhibits, with clear and unalterable conviction, that the great work which he has made, the system of dispensations which he has chosen, is a perfect work, a system of perfect wisdom and goodness, in which no real good is wanting, and into which nothing which upon the whole is evil is admitted. Particularly, he manifests the transcendant wonders of forgiving, redeeming, and sanctifying love; and the supreme desirableness of restoring, through the Redeemer, apostate sinners to the character and privileges of the children of God. Here also he unfolds in a perfect manner the inherent tendency of virtue to make intelligent minds wiser, better, and happier for ever.

It is hardly necessary to remark, that unless God were present in heaven, all these divine purposes must necessarily fail of being accomplished.

(2) The presence of God is equally indispensable, to supply the innumerable wants of his creatures. In every other world, as well as in this, every creature is dependent on God 'for life, and breath, and all things. Here, as we well know, all creatures wait upon God, that they may receive their sup

plies in due season. That which he giveth them they gather: he openeth his hand, and satisfieth the wants of every living thing. He hideth his face; they die, and return to their dust.' These wants are endless in number, kind, and degree; exist every moment in every creature, are natural and spiritual, and respect alike both time and eternity. When God gives, creatures receive: when he withholds, they are destitute. Where he is not, where he gives not, there good is never found. But if these wants are to be supplied, they must be known; and to know them, he must be present. Hence he must exist in every place, and in every being.

These

(3) His presence is indispensable, that he may know the moral characters of his intelligent creatures. The actions of intelligent beings are of a moral nature; or in other words, deserving of praise or blame, reward or punishment. are originated in the soul; and in the soul receive their whole moral character. Hence in order to know the true nature of the conduct of such beings, God must continually reside in every soul, to discern the rising motives, the commencing affections, and the infant designs; to trace them through their progress, and to witness their completion. In this manner' he searches the hearts, and tries the reins;' and discerns, intuitively, the moral nature of all the conduct. All words he is present to hear, and all actions to behold. In this manner is he perfectly qualified to perform those great acts of governing the universe, and judging and rewarding his intelligent creatures according to their works.'

3. From the Omniscience and Omnipresence of God it is evident, that all things must come to pass either by his choice or permission.

As God is thus ever present in all places, and to all things, it is impossible that he should not know whatever comes to pass, or is about to come to pass. But of every possible thing it is truly said, that its existence is, upon the whole, either desirable or undesirable. If it be desirable, or undesirable, God cannot but be perfectly acquainted with its true nature, in either case, because he cannot fail to see every thing as it is. If he sees any thing to be, upon the whole, desirable, it is impossible that he should not choose its existence; if he sees it to be undesirable, he cannot but choose that it should not

exist. If there is in the nature of things a foundation for preferring the existence of any thing to its non-existence, he cannot fail to discern this fact, and choose accordingly that it and thus, vice versa. Whatever he chooses

should exist
should not exist, cannot.
must exist of course.

Whatever he chooses should exist,

The same things are equally true of the time and place, modes and circumstances, events and attributes, in connection with which beings exist, as of the beings themselves; for there is nothing, beside his choice, which could originally give these or any of them birth. If, for example, it has appeared to him good to endue creatures in any case with such powers as constitute an efficiency properly their own, and permit them afterwards to accomplish by this efficiency whatever will result from the nature and tendency of such powers, then this will be the mode in which such creatures will exist and act; and in this manner all those things which result from their existence and action will take place. Should he at the same time see it to be desirable, that himself should exert a controlling, regulating, coinciding, or assisting influence, with regard to the agency of such beings, then this influence will for the same reason he exerted.

But whatever be the manner in which events are introduced into existence, whether by his single immediate agency, or by the instrumentality of created beings, nothing can take place which is contrary to, or aside from, his choice or permission: unless something can escape his knowledge, or overcome his power.

4. It is evident from what has been said, that God attends to every Individual being and his concerns, as perfectly as if there were no other being.

Not a small number of men, and among them many Philosophers, and what is more strange, many professed Christians, have believed and taught, that God cannot be supposed to attend to the concerns of Individuals; but that he regards only the greatest affairs of empires, worlds, and systems.

This opinion springs, not improbably, from three sources: first, Want of examination: second, An apprehension, that it is beneath the dignity of God to regard things of such minuteness: thirdly, 4 dread in the mind of such attention,

on the part of God, to its own concerns, because they will not bear divine inspection.

The first and third of these articles need no comment. The second appears to have arisen from the strong propensity in man to think God almost, if not altogether, such an one as himself;' and is fraught with the rankest absurdities. If it is beneath the dignity of the Godhead to regard individuals; how much more was it beneath his dignity to make them. The end for which they were made, is unquestionably more important than themselves, who were only means to it; and claims proportionally a higher regard. Individuals also compose empires, and worlds, and systems. If then, God do not attend to the concerns of individuals, he must cease of course to attend to those of empires, worlds, and systems; since the affairs of these great collections of rational beings are only aggregates, made up of the affairs of individuals.

The concerns of one individual often constitute the hinge, on which all the great concerns of empires are turned. Thus the concerns of Cyrus, Alexander, and Cæsar, changed in a great measure the situation of those states, of which they were sovereigns, and put a new face on a great part of the habitable world. Even the conduct of Ravillac altered in a great measure the state, not only of France, but of Europe. Nay, from an early period of their Republic, the state of the whole Roman Empire, and consequently of a great part of mankind down to the present day, was essentially changed by the cackling of a goose.

Again, God created all individuals for certain ends, in themselves good and desirable, and of course designed by him to be accomplished. But these ends cannot be accomplished, unless his Providence supply the powers and faculties, and regulate all the actions and events, necessary to their accomplishment; and would therefore be frustrated, were he not always present, and always attentive to them, for these purposes.

Every individual also is a part, and exactly a desirable, proper and necessary part, of the great work which God has begun. If then one should fail, the whole would be disordered and consequences would be produced, the extent and mischiefs of which, no mind less than infinite could comprehend.