We ought not furely to be a moment off our guard, when we confider what frail and tranfitory beings we are, when we confider that this day, this night, this very hour, our fouls may be required of us; fhould we not then be careful to have our lamp ready trimmed when the bridegroom cometh? We know not the time when the Lord fhall appear: of that day and hour, knoweth no man; as a fare it fhall come on all them that are on the face of the whole

earth.

ye

Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that may be accounted worthy to escape all things that Shall come to pass, and to stand before the son of

man.

ON THE OMNISCIENCE OF GO D.

SERMON

PSALM CXXXIX, 2.

XLVI.

Thou art about my path, and about my bed, and Spieft out all my ways.

THE holy pfalmift, in the words of my text, hath with his ufual elegance and propriety, pointed out to us, in one fhort fentence, two of the greatest and most distinguishing attributes of God, his Omniprefence and Omniscience; the ferious and devout confideGg 2.

ration

ration of which united and infeparable perfections, cannot but confpire to raise in us the moft noble, worthy, and exalted idea of the Supreme Being.

It must indeed be confeffed, (the beft, though poor excufe for inattention to a truth fo important) that confined as we are within the fmall compafs of this fublunary world, and encircled by the narrow bounds of human knowledge, we are too apt to measure the powers of the Almighty by the unequal fcale, of our own limited capacities. Our horizon is quickly terminated, and because we cannot fee for ourselves, we think it beyond the power of Omnipotence itfelf to enlarge the profpect. We cannot eafily conceive a being extending itself through all space, yet whole and undivided; prefent at every period of time in every place; operating in every mode and form without change, diminution, or decay; comprehending at one view, all the various parts of the vast and boundless universe, and whilst it remains itfelf invifible, diffufing its influence, operating, enlivening and invigorating the whole vifible creation.

It is, notwithstanding, at the fame time, indifputable, that if there is a God, he muft be both omnipresent and omnifcient; he must fee all things, or he cannot poffibly be bale to rule over, to govern, and to direct them.

Amongst all thofe abfurd and pernicious notions, which were fo warmly embraced and propagated in the heathen world, there is not perhaps one fo ridiculous, and withal fo dero

gatory

gatory of the divine honour, as the doctrine attributed to Epicurus and his followers, who were weak enough to believe, or wicked enough to endeavour to make others believe, that the fuperiority of the divine nature, confifted merely in an exemption from care and folicitude; in reft, flothfulness, and a total inactivity in purfuance of this ftrange opinion, they reprefented their Gods as utterly unconcerned about the happiness or mifery of mankind, not in the leaft interefted or folicitous in regard to their prefervation; enjoying themselves (if fuch could be deemed enjoyment) in uninterrupted peace, in a cold and lifeless tranquillity, leaving at the fame time every thing here below to the guidance of chance, fate, or they know not what invifible power which prefided over human affairs, and kindly relieved them of the cares of mortality.

That deities thus idle and unworthy of the ftation affigned them, fhould meet with votsries as idle and as unworthy as themfelves, will scarcely afford matter of furprise or admiration to us; nor can we therefore wonder to find the heathen world at that time funk in indolence and luxury, careless of their condu& and behaviour; the flaves, in fhort, of every vice and folly that could degrade and debafe human nature.

But that the children of the Cod of Ifrael, that the enlightened followers of a crucified Saviour and Redeemer, thofe who acknowledge their steadfast belief in one unchangeable, active, beneficent power, in whom, and through

whom,

whom, they move and live, and have their being, who every day and every hour experience his goodness, and may if they will be confcious that he is ever prefent with them: that they also should forget that he is omniprefent and omnifcient, may well indeed raise our wonder and astonishment: that they should adopt as fo many do, thefe Epicurean principles, that they should imagine that their God alfo doth not concern himself in the conduct of human affairs; that he is not about their path and about their bed, and spying out all their ways, is, we must own, what cannot easily be accounted for.

Our God, we know, is a God who neither flumbers nor fleeps, a Being who doth not leave the work of his hands to the fuperintendance of chance or fate, but prefides over, and protects that world which he hath made; a Being to whom all hearts are open, all defires known, and from whom no fecrets are hidden; who therefore, whatever vain fuggeftions pride may infpire us with, can never be impofed on, deceived, or deluded by us: is it not firange then, that whilft we bufy ourselves. in trifles, the meanest and most inconfiderable, and turn our eyes on every little fpectacle which may amufe or divert us, an object fo noble, and a fpectacle fo glorious as our Creator, and our God, fhould fo frequently as it doth, efcape our obfervation?

To what fhall we attribute fuch a perverse inattention to that which is of the utmoft concern to us? To what can we attribute it, but

to

to that pride and felf-fufficiency, which is the corruption and disgrace of human nature? As man is a moft proud, and most infolent being, as he doth himself look down with fcorn, contempt, and infenfibility, on the inferior part of the creation; it is not impoffible but that he may judge of the Almighty from his own weak and imperfect nature; he may imagine that God is too great and too exalted to look down upon us, or take into his hands the guidance of human affairs; that therefore he is fafe in the commiffion of his crimes, for the Lord will not fee them, neither fhall the God of Ifrael regard them.

But it will highly become him to confider, that a judgment fo rafh will greatly heighten his guilt, and enflame his punishment: it will become him to confider, that God is a juft, merciful, and beneficent being; that he thinks nothing beneath his notice, whatever we may think beneath our own; and that though he is exalted above the heaven of heavens, he doth, notwithstanding, humble himself to behold the things which are done among the children of men.

To forget that God is ever prefent with us, is a certain and infallible fign that we have no regard or esteem for him. When the affections are strongly attached to any thing, the idea of that darling object is perpetually offering itfelf to the imagination, infomuch, that how far foever it may be removed from our corporeal view, no diftance of time or place can feparate, or difunite it from the mind, which

dwells