can scarce be faid to be at all. What the Prophet faith concerning all the Nations of the Earth, may be faid concerning the whole Compass of created Beings, that in the Sight of God, and as compared with him they are as Nothing, yea even less than Nothing, and Vanity, as it is moft emphatically expreffed, Ifa. xl. 17. How justly is he therefore the Object of our profoundeft Reverence! When we fet ourselves to contemplate him, we foon find our Thoughts fwallowed up in a bottomlefs Abyss, which no created Understanding can found or fathom. This may teach us what an humble Modesty becometh us in our Enquiries concerning the Deity. How foon are we loft in the amazing Depths of Eternity and Self-existence! How can temporary, fucceffive, contingent Beings, that are but of Yesterday, form a just and adequate Notion of that infinite, eternal, and unchangeable Being, who always exifteth neceffarily of himfelf, by the fingular Prerogative of his own most perfect Nature. It is useful for us frequently to turn our Thoughts this Way, the better to affect our Hearts with a Senfe of the infinite Distance between him and us. We should be even as nothing in our own Eyes, and fhould fink into the very Duft before him with the moft awful and

proftrate

proftrate Veneration. His Eternity and Self-existence, (which includeth, as hath been fhewn, Self-fufficiency, Independency, and Immutability,) lieth at the Foundation of all his other Attributes, and giveth them infinite Force. Hence the Apoftle fpeaketh here of his eternal Power and Godhead. His Power, his Wifdom, his Goodness, all his Perfections, in a Word, his Godhead is eternal. And this rendereth him the proper Object both of our humbleft Adoration, and of our fteady Truft and Dependence.

And accordingly the holy Scriptures in this, at well as other Instances, teach us to form the moft worthy Conceptions of the supreme Being. He is there represented as describing himself by that glorious Character, I am, and I am that I am; which is generally and justly fupposed to have a particular Reference to his neceffary eternal Existence and Unchangeableness. Exod. iii. 14. God faid unto Mofes, I am that I am: And be faid, Thus fhalt thou fay unto the Children of Ifrael, I am bath fent me unto you.

The Septuagint render it, 'I

am he that is, or exifteth.' And again in the latter Part of the Verfe, He that is hath sent me unto you.' The fame Thing is generally supposed to be fignified by the facred Name Jehovah, God's most glorious D 3

and

peculiar Title. That fublime Paffage in
the Prayer of Mofes giveth a noble Idea of
God's Eternity and Immutability. Before
the Mountains were brought forth, or ever
thou hadst formed the Earth and the World;
even from everlasting to everlasting thou art
God. Pfal. xc. 2. To the fame Purpose
that admirable Addrefs of the Pfalmift,
Pfal. cii. 25, 26, 27. Of old haft thou laid
the Foundation of the Earth, and the Hea-
vens are the Work of thine Hands. They
hall perish, but thou shalt endure; yea, all of
them fhall wax old as a Garment; as a Vef-
ture shalt thou change them, and they shall be
changed. But thou art the fame, and thy Years
fhall have no End. He is defcribed, Rev. i.
4.
under the Character of him which is, and
which was, and which is to come; as com-
prehending all the Differences of Time in
his own permanent and boundless Dura-
tion. We are taught to afcribe Glory to
him, as the King eternal, immortal, invifi-
ble. 1 Tim. i. 17. Yea, we are told, that
he only bath Immortality, 1 Tim. vi. 16.
i. e. he only hath it originally and neceffari-
ly, and independently in himfelf, so that
it is impoffible for him ever not to have
been, or ever to cease to be, which cannot
be faid of any other Being whatsoever.
And it is declared, that with him is no
Variableness, neither Shadow of Turning.
Jam. i. 17.

Secondly, Another Thing that we are to believe concerning God the great Author of the Universe, is, that he is immense and omniprefent. Indeed this feemeth to have an inseparable Connection with Eternity and neceffary Existence, For, as hath been already obferved, that which exifteth neceffarily of itself, and hath no Dependence on any external Caufe, cannot have any Bounds or Limits of its Effence.

It

may therefore be justly argued, that by the fame Neceffity by which God existeth any where, he exifteth every where; and as there is no Time in which he doth not exift, fo there is no Space in which he is not prefent. But that which giveth us the moft fatisfying Conviction and Affurance of the Immenfity of the divine Effence, and tendeth to imprefs our Minds with the most affecting Senfe of it, is the amazing Greatness of the vast Universe which he hath made. The unlimited Amplitude of his Effence, as well as the Extent of his Power, may be fairly concluded from the Creation of the World. Hence St. Paul, in his admirable Difcourfe to the Athenians, reprefenteth it as a Truth obvious to the common Senfe of Mankind, that God that made the World, and all Things that are therein,-is not far from every one of us-for in him we live, and move, and D 4 bave

bave our Being. Acts xvii. 24, 27, 28, There cannot be a more natural Thought than this. If the World which we behold be of fuch a wonderful Extent, so that we are not able to affign its Bounds, how great and immenfe muft that glorious Being be who at first made, and who still preferveth and upholdeth this univerfal Syftem! It is not reasonable to fuppofe, that any Corner of the Creation is deftitute of the Presence of the great Author of it, who keepeth together the whole ftupendous Frame, and whofe Influence extendeth to every Part of it. What we commonly call the Courfe of Nature, is, in Reality, owing to the conftant Influence of the Almighty, acting upon this wonderful System, and upon all the Parts of Matter, according to a fettled Order which his own Wisdom hath established. And fince he operateth every where, he must be present every where. And indeed a Senfe of this feemeth to be fo natural to the human Mind, that it is no easy Thing to shake it off. Not to produce the Testimonies of the beft of the ancient heathen Philofophers, who were very express in their Acknowledgments to this Purpose, the Prayers that are offered, the Oaths for Confirmation, and for putting an End to Strife, fo ufual among all Nations, and

all