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that he will do us complete justice, or not suffer us to be wronged, in any thing. In our relation to God this maxim is of eminent weight, because to him it appertains to dispose of us with absolute authority, and as it seemeth him good. If we think we have no reason to distrust the righteous intentions of a fellow-creature, with whom we have to do; yet his ability to do as well by us as we might reasonably desire, may be so evidently deficient, that we ought, in justice to ourselves, not to place much dependence upon him. If God may be trusted, with more wisdom and safety, it is because his purposes are good, and he is fully able to accomplish them. Both these articles are necessary to constitute him such a being, as will certainly do right, Should his character fail in one part, this would destroy the usefulness and value of the other. What it is for God to do right, we have, heretofore, inquired, and found that it is to do that, to which he is under obligations. But he is under obligations, primarily, to none hut himself. Doing right, is, therefore, in him, a seeking of his own glory in the best and most perfect This will involve the most equitable and faultless conduct towards all his creatures; as his own character cannot appear unblemished in any other way, and, consequently, his glory be secured to the highest degree of perfection. As God is supreme and eternal, the best desire he can have is to honour his own name; and the method, which is best

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adapted to this end, his own unbounded rectitude will point out to him. Another point demanding inquiry here is, whether the Deity has all the attributes, needful to furnish him to the work of effectually establishing his own kingdom, and promoting his own glory to the greatest perfection. In order to this he must have infinite knowledge, infinite power, be unchangeable, and subject to no influence out of himself. That these are necessary attributes of the Deity, has, I think, appeared undeniably evident, in some former discourses. Finding the great Sovereign of the world able to do his will to the greatest possible extent, or to effect whatever can be to his own glory, we are next to attend to the practical part of his government, and see how this great affair is conducted. Is God, and, has he been from eternity, regulating things in a happy subserviency to that good end, to which the government of an infinitely wise and beneficient being must be suited? It is not for any creature, nor for the collective wisdom of all creatures, to pretend to strike out a path for God to pursue, so as to display the best character possible. If we had nothing, but what we ourselves can see, of wisdom in the whole chain of divine provi dence, by which to determine whether the great governor of the world is, in all things, doing right, we should inevitably be at a loss for a conclusion. Is our wisdom competent to decide, whether, in a scheme of moral government, which is absolutely perfect, there

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can be any evil mixed with the good, or any misery to stand over against the happiness, which is produced by the sovereign hand of him who reigns? So partial are our feelings, and narrow our views, that if we were call. ed upon to say what plan of things is wisest and best, we should, most surely, declare in favour of that, which knows of neither sin, nor misery. We should be apt to say, God would display his wisdom and goodness to the best advantage, if he were so to govern, as effectually to exclude from the system all possible kinds and degrees of evil. But such a decision would be directly against what appears to be fact. We know that evil exists; and yet that God governs, doing whatsoever pleaseth him; and hence we infer, that the wisdom of God is unspeakably great.. er than ours; that he can devise a method for glorifying himself, which infinitely sur.. passes and baffles our acutest discernment. Whatever God does we are convinced must be for the best; because he is the Judge of all the earth, and will do right. We are not, therefore, to inquire, whether the course of divine providence is agreeable to infinite and eternal rectitude, as if Deity might possibly be found to have erred; but we have only, to attend to his ways and dealings, and in them to observe the refulgence of his Godhead. Our inability to run the whole length. of God's counsels, and span the whole body of his works, is no argument against the symmetry and perfection of his government.

If we are perplexed, and even confounded, this does not imply, that Deity is in a mistake, or that he does not adjust his matters in the best manner possible. One thing we must admit, as a certain fact, viz. that he is over all God blessed for ever. And that he is over all, implies the complete subjection of all things to his will; not, indeed, that one thing, and another, and another, and so on to the greatest proportion of the whole, is, under his absolute control and direction ; but that every being and incident is his, to answer some valuable purpose in his kingdom. If the glory of God is the great ultimate end to be obtained, in order that existence itself may be rendered valuable; there is occasion for Deity to be, continually, exerting himself to bring about this good. He cannot hold the place of an idle and indif ferent spectator; or stand by, merely to give directions to subordinate agents, as if he were only to lay out the work, and they to execute it. Whenever any thing is done to purpose, in the advancement of God's kingdom, we have scripture warrant for saying, "This is the Lord's doing ;" and, as such, "it is marvellous in our eyes.". There is no agency concerned in the great work of bringing glory to God, in any such sense, as to take from God the sole honour of effecting the end by his own wisdom and power. And as this very important business rests upon the most High, and the good fruits of it are to result solely from the labour of his ov

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hand, it becomes a seasonable and pertinent inquiry with us; How is this interesting affair conducted? Is it by the use of means and instruments, known to us? Or is the work, in every respect, mysterious and unseen? We can have no doubt, that God is able to produce very wonderful effects, without having recourse to means, such as are observable to creatures. There is an instance of this in every miracle, that was ever wrought by the finger of God. But in many things, considered as the work of God, there is an evident use of what we term means, or instruments; as when, in the days of the judges, God subdued and overcome the Midianites before Israel, he did it by means of Gideon's army, consisting of three hundred men, armed with trumpets and lamps. Does God, in working out his own glory, make use of any kind of means, that in them we may see his wisdom displayed, in making one creature subservient to another, and one event useful to usher in another, until the whole order of things issues in the fulfilment of his eternal counsels of goodness and grace? Our text furnishes a doctrine, which will yield an answer to this inquiry. It states,

that God "created all things by Jesus Christ: to the intent that now, unto the principalities, and powers in heavenly places, might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God." This is laying down, in plain terms, that all things which have been created, were made to be instrumental in making

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