8. And as the information which we receive from our senses, does not extend to the invisible world, so neither does it extend to (what is nearly related thereto) the eternal world. In spite of all the instruction which either the sight or any of the senses can afford, "The vast, the unbounded prospect lies before us; Sense does not let in one ray of light, to discover "the secrets of the illimitable deep." This, the eternal world, commences at death, the death of every individual person. The moment the breath of man goeth forth, he is an inhabitant of eternity. Just then, time vanishes away, "like as a dream when one awaketh." And here again, faith supplies the place of sense, and gives us a view of things to come: at once it draws aside the veil which hangs between mortal and immortal beings. Faith discovers to us the souls of the righteous, immediately received by the holy angels, and carried by those ministering spirits into Abraham's bosom; into the delights of paradise, the garden of God, where the light of his countenance perpetually shines; where he converses, not only with his former relations, friends, and fellow soldiers, but with the saints of all nations and all ages, with the glorious dead of ancient days, with the noble army of martyrs, the apostles, the prophets, the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: yea, above all this, he shall be with Christ, in a manner that he could not be while he remained in the body. 9. It discovers, likewise, the souls of unholy men; seized the moment they depart from the quivering lips, by those ministers of vengeance, the evil angels, and dragged away to their own place. It is true, this is not the nethermost hell: they are not to be tormented there "before the time;" before the end of the world, when every one will receive his just recompense of reward. Till then they will probably be employed by their bad master, in advancing his infernal kingdom, and in doing all the mischief that lies in their power, to the poor, feeble children of men. But still, wherever they seek rest, they will find none. They carry with them their own hell, in the worm that never dieth; in a consciousness of guilt, and of the wrath of God, which continually drinks up their spirits; in diabolical, infernal tempers, which are essential misery; and in what they cannot shake off, no, not for an hour, any more than they can shake off their own being,--that "fearful look ing for of fiery indignation, which will devour God's adversaries." 10. Moreover, faith opens another scene in the eternal world; namely, the coming of our Lord in the clouds of heaven, to "judge both the quick and the dead." It enables us to see the "great white throne coming down from heaven, and him that sitteth thereon, from whose face the heavens and the earth flee away, and there is found no place for them." We see "" the dead, small and great, stand before God." We see "the books opened, and the dead judged, according to the things that are written in the books." We see the earth and the sea giving up their dead, and hell (that is, the invisible world) giving up the dead that were therein, and every one judged according to his works. 11. By faith we are also shown the immediate consequences of the general judgment. We see the execution of that happy sentence pronounced upon those on the right hand, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." After which the holy angels tune their harps, and sing, "Lift up your heads, oh ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, that the heirs of glory may come in!" And then shall they drink of the rivers of pleasure that are at God's right hand for evermore. We see, likewise, the execution of that dreadful sentence, pronounced upon those on the left hand, "Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.' And then shall the ministers of divine vengeance plunge them into "the lake of fire burning with brimstone; where they have no rest day or night, but the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever." 12. But besides the invisible and the eternal world, which are not seen, which are discoverable only by faith, there is a whole system of things which are not seen, which cannot be discerned by any of our outward senses. I mean, the spiritual world, understanding thereby the kingdom of God in the soul of man. "Eye hath not seen, nor car heard this; neither can it enter into the heart of man to conceive the things of" this interior kingdom, unless God revealed them by his Spirit. The Holy Spirit prepares us for his inward kingdom, by removing the veil from our heart, and enabling us to know ourselves as we are known of him; by "convincing us of sin," of our evil nature, our evil tempers, and our evil words and actions; all of which cannot but partake of the corruption of the heart from which they spring. He then convinces us of the desert of our sins; so that our mouth is stopped, and we are constrained to plead guilty before God. At the same time, we "receive the spirit of bondage unto fear;" fear of the wrath of God, fear of the punishment which we have deserved; and, above all, fear of death, lest it should consign us over to eternal death. Souls that are thus convinced, feel they are so fast in prison, that they cannot get forth. They feel themselves at once altogether sinful, altogether guilty, and altogether helpless. But all this conviction implies a species of faith; being an evidence of things not seen." Nor indeed possible to be seen or known, till God reveals them unto us. 13. But still let it be carefully observed, (for it is a point of no small importance,) that this faith is only the faith of a servant, and not the faith of a son. Because this is a point which many do not clearly under stand, I will endeavour to make it a little plainer. The faith of a servant implies a divine evidence of the invisible and the eternal world; yea, and an evidence of the spiritual world, so far as it can exist without liv ing experience. Whoever has attained this, the faith of a servant, "feareth God, and escheweth evil;" or, as it is expressed by St. Peter, "feareth God, and worketh righteousness." In consequence of which, he is, in a degree, as the apostle observes, "accepted with him." Elsewhere he is described in those words: "He that feareth God, and keepeth his commandments." Even one who has gone thus far in religion, who obeys God out of fear, is not in any wise to be despised; seeing "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Nevertheless, he should be exhorted not to stop there; not to rest till he attains the adoption of sons; till he obeys him out of love, which is the privilege of all the children of God. 14. Exhort him to press on, by all possible means, till he passes 'from faith to faith;" from the faith of a servant to the faith of a son; from the spirit of bondage unto fear, to the spirit of childlike love: he will then have "Christ revealed in his heart," enabling him to testify, "The life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me:" the proper voice of a child of God. He will then be "born of God;" inwardly changed by the mighty power of God, from " an earthly, sensual, devilish mind, to the mind which was in Christ Jesus." He will experience what St. Paul means, by those remarkable words to the Galatians: "Ye are the sons of God by faith; and because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." "He that believeth,” as a son, (as St. John observes,)" hath the witness in himself." "The Spirit itself witnesses with his spirit, that he is a child of God." " "The love of God is shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost which is given unto him." 15. But many doubts and fears may still remain, even in a child of God, while he is weak in faith; while he is in the number of those whom St. Paul terms "babes in Christ." But when his faith is strengthened, when he receives faith's abiding impression, realizing things to come; when he has received the abiding witness of the Spirit, doubts and fears vanish away. He then enjoys the plerophory, or " full assurance of faith;" excluding all doubt, and all "fear that hath torment." To those whom he styles young men, St. John says, "I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.' These, the apostle observes in the other verse, had "the word of God abiding in them." It may not improbably mean, the pardoning word; the word which spake all their sins forgiven: in consequence of which, they have the consciousness of the Divine favour, without any intermission. 16. To these more especially we may apply the exhortation of the apostle Paul," Leaving the first principles of the doctrine of Christ," (namely, repentance and faith,) "let us go on unto perfection." But in what sense are we to leave those principles? Not absolutely; for we to retain both one and the other, the knowledge of ourselves, and knowledge of God, unto our lives' end; but only comparatively: not fixing, as we did at first, our whole attention upon them; thinking and talking perpetually of nothing else, but either repentance or faith. But what is the perfection here spoken of? It is not only a deliverance from doubts and fears, but from sin; from all inward, as well as outward sin from evil desires, and evil tempers, as well as from evil words and works. Yea, and it is not only a negative blessing, a deliverance from all evil dispositions, implied in that expression, "I will circumcise thy heart;" but a positive one likewise; even the planting all good dispositions in their place; clearly implied in that other expression; "To love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul." 17. These are they to whom the apostle John gives the venerable title of fathers, who "have known him that is from the beginning;" the eternal three-one God. One of these expresses himself thus: "I bear about with me an experimental verity and a plenitude of the presence of the ever blessed Trinity." And those who are fathers in Christ, generally, though I believe, not always, enjoy the plerophory or "full assurance of hope:" having no more doubt of reigning with him in glory, than if they already saw him coming in the clouds of heaven. But this does not prevent their continually increasing in the knowledge and love of God. While they "rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, and in every thing give thanks;" they pray in particular, that they may never cease to watch, to deny themselves, to take up their cross daily, to fight the good fight of faith, and against the world, the devil, and their own manifold infirmities; till they are "able to comprehend with all saints, what is the length, and breadth, and height, and depth, and to know that love of Christ which passeth knowledge;" yea, to be" filled with all the fulness of God." Yarm, June 11, 1788. SERMON CXVI.-On the Omnipresence of God. "Do I not fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord," Jer. xxiii, 24. 1. How strongly and beautifully do these words express the omnipresence of God! And can there be, in the whole compass of nature, a more sublime subject? Can there be any more worthy the consideration of every rational creature? Is there any more necessary to be considered, and to be understood, so far as our poor faculties will admit? How many excellent purposes may it answer? What deep instruction may it convey to all the children of men? And more directly to the children of God? 2. How is it then, that so little has been wrote on so sublime and useful a subject? It is true, that some of our most eminent writers have occasionally touched upon it; and have several strong and beautiful reflections, which were naturally suggested by it. But which of them has published a regular treatise, or so much as a sermon, upon the head? Perhaps many were conscious of their inability to do justice to so vast a subject. It is possible, there may some such lie hid, in the voluminous writings of the last century. But if they are hid, even in their own country, if they are buried in oblivion, it is the same, for any use they are of, as if they had never been wrote. 3. What seems to be wanting still, for general use, is a plain discourse on the omnipresence, or ubiquity of God. First, in some manner explaining and proving that glorious truth, God is in this, and every place; and then applying it to the consciences of all thinking men, in a few practical inferences. I. 1. Accordingly, I will endeavour, by the assistance of his Spirit, first, a little to explain the omnipresence of God; to show how we are to understand this glorious truth, God is in this, and every place. The psalmist, you may remember, speaks strongly and beautifully upon it, in the hundred and thirty-ninth psalm; observing, in the most exact order, first, God is in this place; and then, God is in every place. He observes, first, "Thou art about my bed, and about my path, and spiest out all my ways," verse 3. "Thou hast fashioned me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me," verse 5: although the manner thereof he could not explain; how it was he could not tell. "Such knowledge," says he, "is too wonderful for me: I cannot attain unto it," verse 6. He next observes, in the most lively and affecting manner, that God is in every place. "Whither shall I go then from thy Spirit, or whither shall I go from thy presence? If I climb up into heaven, thou art there: if I go down to hell, thou art there also," verses 7, 8. If I could ascend, speaking after the manner of men, to the highest part of the universe, or could I descend to the lowest point, thou art alike present both in one and the other. "If I should take the wings of the morning, and remain in the uttermost parts of the sea: even there thy hand would lead me;" thy power and thy presence would be before me, "and thy right hand would hold me;" seeing thou art equally in the length and breadth, and in the height and depth of the universe. Indeed, thy presence and knowledge not only reach the utmost bounds of creation; but "Thine omnipresent sight, Even to the pathless realms extends In a word, there is no point of space, whether within or without the bounds of creation, where God is not. 2. Indeed, this subject is far too vast to be comprehended by the narrow limits of human understanding. We can only say, the great God, the eternal, the almighty Spirit, is as unbounded in his presence, as in his duration and power. In condescension, indeed, to our weak understanding, he is said to dwell in heaven: but, strictly speaking, the heaven of heavens cannot contain him; but he is in every part of his dominion. The universal God dwelleth in universal space: so that we may say, “Hail, Father! whose creating call, Unnumber'd worlds attend! Jehovah, comprehending all, Whom none can comprehend!" 3. If we may dare attempt the illustrating this a little farther: what 18 the space occupied by a grain of sand, compared to that space which is occupied by the starry heavens? It is as a cipher; it is nothing; it vanishes away in the comparison. What is it then to the whole expanse of space, to which the whole creation is infinitely less than a grain of sand! And yet this space, to which the whole creation bears no proportion at all, is infinitely less in comparison of the great God, than a grain of sand, yea, a millionth part of it, is to that whole space. II. 1. This seems to be the plain meaning of those solemn words, which God speaks of himself: "Do not I fill heaven and earth?" And these sufficiently prove his omnipresence: which may be farther proved from this consideration: God acts every where; and, therefore, is every where for it is an utter impossibility that any being, created or uncreated should work where it is not. God acts in heaven, in earth, and under the earth, throughout the whole compass of his creation; by sustaining all things, without which every thing would in an instant sink into its primitive nothing; by governing all, every moment superintending every thing that he has made; strongly and sweetly influencing all, and yet without destroying the liberty of his rational creatures. The very heathens acknowledged, that the great God governs the large and conspicuous parts of the universe; that he regulates the motions of the heavenly bodies, of the sun, moon, and stars; that he is |