we must also believe that throughout all His designs, all His appointments with respect to man, "He is a rewarder of them "that diligently seek Him."-His justice and goodness are not to be separated even in thought. But man, composed of ignorance and error, adds to those weaknesses this presumption of erecting in his own bosom a tribunal, before which he dares to arraign every act and every purpose of his Maker.-Present ease and sensual gratifications, the unreal honours of this life, and worldly prosperity, are for the most part the motives which lurk in our breasts when we thus complain of the Almighty. He, on the other hand, hath made this life preparatory to a state infinitely better and more durable; and the wide difference which exists between these two states, is the sole cause that man's wishes are often so totally opposite to the wise dispensations of his God.

Upon the whole, therefore, it is evident, that the immense distance between a God of infinite wisdom, power, and goodness,

and us His miserable weak creatures, must ever occasion great difficulties if we attempt to fathom the depth of His secret counsels, and account for all His ways. Yet can no difficulties arise able to weaken our faith, if we put a full trust in His justice, and His goodness towards the sons of men. To suppose Him false or unjust to His creatures is a thought, the boldness and impiety of which must strike every heart with horror. Let not such presumptuous imaginations take possession of our souls: on the contrary, being assured of this great truth, that our Creator and Judge cannot but be perfect Wisdom, let this be our guide to lead us through the stormy tempests of this world of error-an anchor to our souls both sure and stedfast.

But should we still desire to know more of Him, and of His dealings with mankind, for the confirmation of our faith and obedience, a very few years will open to every one of us a new scene of things, even a new world,-in which, if our former lives have entitled us to God's favour and

acceptance, we shall see and know Him even as He is, and be enabled to look back upon all the various events of this life with endless admiration, praise, and gratitude to that God who alone disposeth all things in heaven and in earth.

SERMON II.

HEBREWS iv. 13.

Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.

OUR gracious Creator hath in His holy word vouchsafed to reveal to us much of His perfections. This He hath doubtless done with a view to preserve alive in us a proper sense of Him. Thus He hath informed us that He is Almighty, in order that we might look up to Him with reverence and awe;-that He is most good, in order that we might love Him and delight in His commands;—and that He is most just, to make us dread Him, and in the fear of His displeasure subdue our turbulent and sinful passions.

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Thus also He hath further revealed that, though unseen by mortal eyes, He is present through all His creation; that He beholdeth all our actions, and is privy to our inmost thoughts and designs; "neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight but all things are naked and opened unto His eyes." -The benefit intended for us, in giving us this information of our Maker's presence and knowledge at all times and in all places, is of the most important kind: for it tends in the 1. First place to heighten our peace, and comfort, and happiness, through our lives here:

2. And, in the second place, it will contribute in the strongest manner to raise up and preserve in our souls the purest principles of piety and virtue.

The Scriptures give us, and they alone can give, a true and clear knowledge of Him who dwelleth on high, "in the light

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which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen or can see ;"'* and those Scriptures in numberless passages speak of

* 1 Tim. vi. 16.