tipon account of their Unbelief or Diể obedience; we Christians ought to take more especial Heed, left after the fame Example of Unbelief or Disobedience, we also fall short of the Promise of a more glorious Rest, even of the heavenly Canaan; and to give this Motive its full Force, he does by a beautiful and expressive Allufion recommend to us the Attainment of Christian Purity, the Neceffity of presenting ourselves an holy Sacrifice without Spot or Blemish to that God, who is of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity. The Word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged Sword, piercing even to the dividing afunder of Soul and Spirit, and of the Joints and Marrow, and is a Difcerner of the Thoughts and Intents of the Heart: Neither is there any Creature, that is not manifest in his Sight; but all things are naked and open unto the Eyes of him with whom we have to do. The Terms which we translate naked and opened, are Metaphors taken from the Custom of the Priests in flaying and opening the Bodies of Beasts designed for Sacrifices, in order

to

to view with Exactness every Part of their Inside, and to examine narrowly whether they came up to the Standard of legal Soundness; taking therefore along with us the Confideration of this Metaphor, the Passage of Holy Scripture now before us will evidently make up this Argument, Vain is the Presumption of finning secretly against a God who knoweth our most hidden Thoughts and Intentions; for the Word of God, by which we are to be judged, is far more quick in penetrating and difcerning, far more exact in difcriminating the inmost Recesses of the Heart, than the sharpest Instruments which the Priests make use of for diffecting the Bodies, for separating and exploring the Entrails of their devoted Sacrifices. There is not any Man whose whole Conduct is not manifest in his all-fearching Sight; but all things, tho' of never so close and recondite a Nature, are like the Inside of the Sacrifices before the Priests, made bare and laid open in the Eyes of him with whom we have to do. Which Words, as they 13

contain a full and plain Afsertion of God's Omniscience, will lead us,

I. To a distinct Confideration of that
Attribute, and then,

II. IT will be obvious to reflect what Influence fuch a Confideration ought to have upon our Behaviour.

I. THEN, We are distinctly to consider this Attribute of God: All things are naked and open unto the Eyes of Him with whom we have to do: All things are naked and open to his Eyes; i. e. He knoweth, He feeth all things. The Immensity of the Divine Existence whereby He filleth all in all, and the Intelligence of his Nature, whereby He understandeth the Whole of every Accident, past, present, and future, are Circumstances which place us in the Fulness of God's Prefence, and fubject us to his continual Notice.

As to the Ubiquity of the Divine Prefence, the Suffrages of Reason, but much more the Voice of Revelation, will inform us, that that vast Being, which only has Immortality, which is at once diffused thro' all Duration, is at once extended tended likewise thro' the wide Abyss of Space ; Whither, says the Royal Pfalmist, shall I go from thy Spirit ? or whither shall I flee from thy Prefence ? If I ascend up into Heaven, thou are there, if I make my Bed in Hell, behold thou art there. If I take the Wings of the Morning, and dwell in the uttermost Parts of the Sea, even there shall thy Hand lead me, and thy Right-hand hold me. Thus we see no Place is so high, none so low, none so remote, none so obscure, where the Divine Prefence does not pervade where his Providence is not exercised. Am I a God at hand, fays the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in fecret Places, that I should not fee Him? faith the Lord? Do not I fill Heaven and Earth?

LET then the Mind of Man, in the Strength and Quickness of Imagination, dart forth like the Light, and extend itself through the whole Sphere of the Universe; yet farther, let it convey itself far beyond the Limits of the material World, and diffuse itself through the widest Expanfion, that any Conceffions

can reach; yet infinitely short will all this fall of the Divine Immensity; for God, who is all in all, is present at the same Time in every Part; and in the Fulness of his Existence, He takes up the infinite Tracts of Space. We are apt in our Conceptions to confine the Almighty to the highest Heavens, to esteem that the proper Seat of his Residence, and to imagine Him present in other Places only by his Power and Influence; but this is a partial Account of the Divine Ubiquity: The blissful Mansions of Eternity are indeed enriched with the open Splendor of his glorious Prefence; but with respect to his Effence, He equally fills his Throne, and his Footstool is equally present in every Place.

BUT God is likewise an infinitely intelligent Being, and his Inspection over us is as universal as his Presence with us. God fearcheth us out, and knoweth us ; He knoweth our down-fitting and our uprifing: He counteth our Steps, and spieth out all our Ways. There is not a Word in our Tongue, nor an Imagination in our Soul, but He knoweth it altogether: No Action,