and of these countries, no, all the benevolence of these hearts, and all the friendship of these minds; no, all the happiness of this temper, and all the sublimity of this genius; no, all the secrets of the sciences, and all the discoveries of the fine arts; all the attractions of these societies, and all the pleasures of the passions, have nothing, I do not say which exhausts the love of God in Jesus Christ, I do not say which answers, I venture to say which approaches it. To accomplish this love, there must be another world; there must be new heavens and a new earth; there must be objects far more grand. great nouse it is the dissolution of elements; it is the entire conflagration of the world, and of the works which are therein. Yet vanity has invented refuges against this storm. The hope of an imaginary immortality has been able to support some men against the fear of a real death. The idea of existing in the minds of those who exist after them, has, in some sort, comforted them under the miserable thought of being no more. Hence pompous buildings, and stately edifices; hence rich monuments, and superb mausoleums; hence proud incriptions and vain-glorious titles, inscribed on marble and brass. But behold the dissolution of all those bonds. The destruction of the world deprives us of our imaginary being, as death deprives us of our real existence. Ye will not only be shortly stretched in your tombs, and cease to use the houses, and fields, and palaces, which ye inhabit; but these houses, these palaces, these fields, will be consumed, and the memory of all that is fastened to the world, will vanish with the world. Since, then, this is the condition of all sensible things, since all these sensible things must perish; immortal man, in-out suspicion, rising fearless above all the cafinite spirit, eternal soul, dost thou fasten thyself to vanity and instability? Dost thou not seek for a good more suitabic to thy nature and duration? 66 Seeing all these things must be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness?" Finally, the destruction of the universe displays the excellence of piety. O that I could represent the believer amidst fires, flames, winds, tempests, the confusion of all nature, content, peaceable, unalterable! O that I could represent the heavens passing away, the elements dissolving with fervent heat, the earth and the things which are in it burning up, and the believer, that man, that inconsiderable man, little by his nature, but great by the privileges with which piety endows him, with tastrophes of the universe, and surviving its ruins! O that I could describe the believer, while all the "tribes of the earth mourn and smite their breasts," Matt. xxiv. 30.; while the wicked shall be "as if they were giving up the ghost," Luke xxi. 26.; while their despair exhales in these dreadful howlings, "Mountains fall on us, hills cover us from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the face of the Lamb!" Rev. vi. 16. O that I could de scribe the believer assured, triumphant, foundhasting unto the coming of the day of God," 2 Pet. iii. 12, as our apostle expresses it; aiming with transports of joy which we cannot express, (O may we one day experience these transports!) aiming to approach the presence of Jesus Christ, as his tenderest friend and deliverer, literally proving the truth of this promise, "when thou passest through the waters they shall not overflow thee, when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt," Isa. xliii. 2. O that I could represent him crying, "Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly," Rev. xxii. 20.; come, re ceive a creature once defiled with sin; sometimes even rebellious, yet always having at the bottom of his heart principles of love to thee; but now ravished with transports of joy, because he is entering an economy, in which he shall be always submissive, and always faithful. 4. The conflagration of the universe furnishes a description of the world to come. Ye often hear us declaim on the nothingness of earthly things, we frequently diminish the worth of all that is great and glorious; we frequently cry with Solomon, "Vanity of vani-ed on the rock of ages, ties, all is vanity," vanity in pleasures, vanity in grandeurs, vanity in riches, vanity in sciences, vanity in all. But yet, my brethren, how substantial would this vanity be, how amiable would this nothingness appear, if by a happy assemblage of all that the world has of the beautiful, we could acquire the reality of a life, of which it is easy to form to one's self the idea! Could I extract the choicest dignities and fortunes; could I inhabit the most temperate clime, and the most pleasant country; could I choose the most benevolent hearts, and the wisest minds; could I take the most happy temper, and the most sublime genius; could I cultivate the sciences, and make the fine arts flourish; could I collect and unite all that could please the passions, and banish all that could give pain: a life formed on this plan, how likely to please us! How is it that God, who What shall I say to you, my dear brethren, has resolved to render us one day happy, does to incline you to piety, if all these grand monot allow us to continue in this world, and con- tives be without success? If the words of my tent himself with uniting all these happy cir- text, if the voice of an apostle-what do I say, cumstances in our favour? "It is good to be the voice of an apostle?" if the sun darkenhere," Matt. xvii. 4. O that he would allow used, if the moon changed into blood, if the here to build our tabernacles. Ah! my brethren, a life formed on this plan might indeed answer the ideas of happiness which feeble and finite geniuses form, but such a plan cannot even approach the designs of an infinite God. A life formed on this plan might indeed exhaust a terrestrial love, but it could never reach the love of an infinite God. No, all the charms of this society, of this fortune, and of this life; no, all the softness of these climates, stars fallen from heaven, if the powers of hea ven shaken, if the heavens passing away with a great noise, if the elements dissolving with fervent heat, if the earth consumed with all that is therein," if the universal destruction of nature and elements be incapable of loosening and detaching you from the present world? It is said, that some days before the destruction of Jerusalem, a voice was heard proceed ing from the holy place and crying, "Let us go hence, let us go hence."* My brethren, | such a voice addresses you. We ground our exhortations to-day, not on the destruction of one people only; we preach (if I may be allowed to say so) in the sight of the ruins of this whole universe: yes, from the centre of the trembling world and crashing elements, a voice sounds, Let us go hence; let us quit the world; give our hopes more solid bases than enkindled worlds, which will shortly be burnt up. And then, pass away heavens with a great noise, consume elements, burn earth with all thy works, perish universe, perish nature, our felicity is above all such catastrophes, we cleave to the God of ages, to God who is the source of existence and duration, to God before whom "a thousand years are as one day, and one day as a thousand years." "O Lord, of old hast thou laid the foundation i the earth, and the heavens are the work of thine hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end. The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee," Ps. cii. 26, &c. God grant we may experience these great promises! To him be honour and glory. Amen. SERMON III. THE OMNIPRESENCE OF GOD. PSALM CXXXix. 7-12. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art 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 shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. COULD I have one wish, to answer my proposed end of preaching to-day with efficacy, Christians, it should be to show you God in this assembly. Moses had such an advantage, no man, therefore, ever spoke with greater success. He gave the law to the people in God the legislator's presence. He could say, This law which I give you proceeds from God; here is his throne, there is his lightning, yonder is his thunder. Accordingly, never were people more struck with a legislator's voice. Moses had hardly begun to speak, but at least for that moment, all hearts were united, and all Sinai echoed with one voice, crying, "All hat thou hast spoken we will do," Exod. xix. 8. But in vain are our sermons drawn from the sacred sources; in vain do we say to you, "Thus saith the Lord:" ye see only a man; ve hear only a mortal voice in this pulpit; Jose hus de Bell. Jud. lib. vi. cap. 31. God hath put his "treasure into earthen vessels," 2 Cor. iv. 7.; and our auditors, estimat ing the treasure by the meanness of the vessel, instead of supporting the meanness of the vessel for the sake of the treasure, hear us without respect, and generally, derive no ad vantage from the ministry. But were God present in this assembly, could we show you the Deity amongst you, authorizing our voice by his approbation and presence, and examining with what disposi tions ye hear his word, which of you, which of you, my brethren, could resist so eminent and so noble a motive? Christians, this idea is not destitute of reality: God is every where; he is in this church. Veils of flesh and blood prevent your sight of him; these must fall, and ye must open the eyes of your spirits, if ye would see a God who is a spirit, John iv. 24. Hear our prophet; hear his magnificent description of the immensity and omnipresence of God. "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art 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 shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee." In a text less abundant in riches, we might make some remarks on the terms Spirit and presence; but we will content ourselves at present with indicating what ideas we affix to them, by observing, that by the Spirit and presence of God, we understand God himself. I know, some divines discover great mysteries in these terms, and tell us that there are some passages in Scripture where the word presence means the second person in the most holy Trinity, and where the term Spirit is certainly to be understood of the third. But as there are some passages where these terms have not this, which we are explaining, is precisely of this signification, it is beyond all doubt, that the latter kind. But however, if any disputo our comment, we shall leave them to dispute it; for it would be unjust to consume that time which is dedicated to the edification of a whole congregation, in refuting a particular opinion. The other expressions in our text, heaven, hell; the wings of the morning, a figurative expression denoting the rapidity of the light in communicating itself from one end of the world to the other; these expressions, I say, need no comment. The presence of God, the Spirit of God, signify then the divine essence: and this assemblage of ideas, "whither shall I go from thy Spirit? whither shall I flee from thy presence?" means, that God is immense, and that he is present in every place. But wherein consists this immensity and omnipresence? If ever a question required developing, this certainly does; not only because it presents to the mind an abstract subject, which does not fall under the observation of the senses, but because many who have treated this matter, (pardon an ounion which does not proceed from a desire of opposing any in- | dividual, but only from a love to the truth,) nany who have handled the subject, have Contributed more to perplex than to explain it. We may observe in general, that unless we be wholly unacquainted with the history of the sciences, it is impossible not to acknowledge, that all questions about the nature of spirits, all that are any way related to metaphysics, were very little understood before the time of that celebrated philosopher, whom God seems to have bestowed on the world to purify reason, as he had some time before raised up others to purify religion.* how should it be the subject of those attributes which make the essence of God himself? But perhaps God, who is spiritual in one part of his essence, may be corporeal in another part, like man, who, although he hath a spiritual soul, is yet united to a portion of matter? No; for however admirable in man that union of spiritual and sensible may be, and those laws which unite his soul to his body, nothing more fully marks his weakness and dependence, and consequently nothing can less agree with the divine essence. Is it not a mark of the dependence of an immortal and intelligent soul, to be enveloped in a little What heaps of crude and indigested notions flesh and blood, which, according to their difdo we find among the schoolmen of the im- ferent notions, determine his joy or sorrow, his mensity of God! One said that God was a happiness or misery? Is it not a mark of the point, indivisible indeed, but a point, however, weakness of our spirits to have the power of that had the peculiar property of occupying acting only on that little matter to which we every part of the universe. Another, that are united, and to have no power over more? God was the place of all beings, the immense Who can imagine that God hath such limits? extent in which his power had placed them. He hath no body; he is united to none; yet he Another, that his essence was really in heaven, is united to all. That celebrated philosopher, but yet, repletively, as they express it, in every shall I call him? or atheist,* who said, that the part of the universe. In short, this truth has assemblage of all existence constituted the dibeen obscured by the grossest ignorance. vine essence, who would have us consider all Whatever aversion we have to the deci- corporeal beings as the body of the Divinity, sive tone, we will venture to affirm, that peo-published a great extravagance, if he meant ple who talked in this manner of God, had no ideas themselves of what they advanced. Do not be afraid of our conducting you into these wild mazes; do not imagine that we will busy ourselves in exposing all these notions for the sake of labouring to refute them. We will content ourselves with giving you some light into the omnipresence of God: I. By removing those false ideas, which at first seem to present themselves to the imagination; II. By assigning the true. I. Let us remove the false ideas, which at first present themselves to the imagination; as if, when we say that God is present in any place, we mean that he is actually contained there; as if, when we say that God is in every place, we mean to assign to him a real and proper extension. Neither of these is designed; and to remove these ideas, my brethren, two reflections are sufficient. God is a Spirit.. A spirit cannot be in a place, at least in the manner in which we conceive of place. 1. God is a Spirit. What relation can ye find between wisdom, power, mercy, and all the other attributes which enter into your notion of the Divinity, and the nature of bodies? Pulverize matter, give it all the different forms of which it is susceptible, elevate it to its highest degree of attainment, make it vast, and immense; moderate, or small; luminous, or obscure; opake, or transparent; there will never result any thing but figures, and never will ye be able, by all these combinations, or divisions, to produce one single sentiment, one single thought, like that of the meanest and most contracted of all mankind. If matter then cannot be the subject of one single operation of the soul of a mechanic, that the divine essence consisted of this assemblage. But there is a very just sense in which it may be said, that the whole universe is the body of the Deity. In effect, as I call this portion of matter my body, which I move, act, and direct as I please, so God actuates by his will every part of the universe: he obscures the sun, he calms the winds, he commands the sea. But this very notion excludes all corporiety from God, and proves that God is a spirit. If God sometimes represents himself with feet, with hands, with eyes, he means, in these portraits, rather to give us emblems of his attributes, than images (properly speaking) of any parts which he possesseth. Therefore, when he attributes these to himself, he gives them so vast an extent, that we easily perceive, they are not to be grossly understood. Has he hands? they are hands which "weigh the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance, which measure the waters in the hollow of his hand, and mete out the heavens with a span," Isa. xl. 12. Has he eyes? they are eyes that penetrate the most unmeasurable distances. Has he feet? they are feet which reach from heaven to earth, for the "heaven is his throne, and the earth is his footstool," Isa. lxvi. 1. Has he a voice? it is as "the sound of many waters, breaking the cedars of Lebanon, making mount Sirion skip like a unicorn, and the hinds to calve," Ps. xxix. 3. 5, 6. 9. This reminds me of a beautiful passage in Plato. He says that the gods, particularly the chief good, the ineffable beauty, as he calls him, cannot be conceived of but by the understanding only, and by quitting sensible objects; that in order to contemplate the divinity, terrestial ideas must be surmounted; that the eyes cannot see him; that the ears cannot hear him. A thought which Julian the apostate, a *Mr. S. means, I should suppose, Spinoza: whose system of atheism, says a sensible writer, is more gross, and, therefore, less dangerous, than others; his poison arrying its antidote with it. great admirer of that philosopher, so nobly expresses in his satire on the Cesars. Thus every thing serves to establish our first principle, that God is a Spirit. 2. But to prove that God is a Spirit, and to prove that he occupies no place, at least as our imagination conceives, is, in our opinion, to establish the same thesis. I know how difficult it is to make this consequence intelligible and clear, not only to those who have never been accustomed to meditation, and who are therefore more excusable for having confused ideas; but even to such as, having cultivated the sciences, are most intent on refining their ideas. I freely acknowledge, that after we have used our utmost efforts to rise above sense and matter, it will be extremely difficult to conceive the existence of a spirit, without conceiving it in a certain place. Yet, I think, whatever difficulty there may be in the system of those who maintain that an immaterial being cannot be in a place, properly so called, there are greater difficulties still in the opposite opinion: for what is immaterial hath no parts; what hath no parts hath no form; what hath no form hath no extension; what hath no extension can have no situation in place, properly so called. For what is it to be in place? is it not to fill space? is it not to be adjusted with surrounding bodies? how adjust with surrounding bodies without parts? how consist of parts without being corporeal? But if ye ascribe a real and proper extension to a spirit, every thought of that spirit would be a separate portion of that extension, as every part of the body is a separate portion of the whole body; every operation of spirit would be a modification of that extension, as every operation of body is a modification of body; and, were this the case, there would be no absurdity in saying, that a thought is round, or square, or cubic, which is nothing less than the confounding of spirit with matter. Thus the idea which our imagination forms of the omnipresence of God, when it represents the essence of the Supreme Being filling infinite spaces, as we are lodged in our houses, is a false idea that ought to be carefully avoided. II. What notions then must we form of the immensity of God; in what sense do we conceive that the infinite Spirit is every where present? My brethren, the bounds of our knowledge are so straight, our sphere is so contracted, we have such imperfect ideas of spirits, even of our own spirits, and for a much stronger reason, of the Father of spirits, that no genius in the world, however exalted ye may suppose him, after his greatest efforts of meditation, can say to you, Thus far extend the attributes of God; behold a complete idea of his immensity and omnipresence. Yet, by the help of sound reason, above all, by the aid of revelation, we may give you, if not complete, at least distinct, ideas of the subject: it is possible, if not to indicate all the senses in which God is immense, at least to point out some; it is possible, if not to show you all the truth, at least to discover it in part. Let us not conceive the omnipresence of God as a particular attribute (if I may venture to say so) of the Deity, as goodness or wisdom, but as the extent or infinity of many others. The omnipresence of God is that universal property by which he communicates himself to all, diffuses himself through all, is the great director of all, or, to confine ourselves to more distinct ideas still, the infinite Spirit is present in every place. 1. By a boundless knowledge. God is every where, because he seeth all, because he influenceth all, because he directeth all. This we must prove and establish. But if ye would judge rightly of what ye have heard, and of what ye may still hear, ye must remember that this subject has no relation to your pleasure, nor to your policy, nor to any of those objects which occupy and fill your whole souls; and consequently, that if would follow us, ye must stretch your meditation, and go, as it were, out of yourselves. ye 1. The first idea of God's omnipresence is his omniscience. God is every where present, because he seeth all. This the prophet had principally in view. "O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising, thou understandest my thoughts afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it," ver. 1-3, &c. Then follow the words of our text: "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit?" and so on. Let us then not consider the Deity, after the example of the schoolmen, as a point fixed in the universality of beings. Let us consider the universality of beings as a point, and the Deity as an immense eye, which sees all that passes in that point, all that can possibly pass there; and which, by an all-animating intelligence, makes an exact combination of all the effects of matter, and of all the dispositions of spirit. 1. God knows all the effects of matter. An expert workman takes a parcel of matter proportioned to a work which he meditates, he makes divers wheels, disposes them properly, and sees, by the rules of his art, what must result from their assemblage. Suppose a sublime, exact genius, knowing how to go from principle to principle, and from consequence to consequence, after foreseeing what must result from two wheels joined together, should imagine a third, he will as certainly know what must result from a third, as from a first and second; after imagining a third, he may imagine a fourth, and properly arrange it with the rest in his imagination; after a fourth, a fifth, and so on to an endless number. Such a man could mathematically demonstrate, in an exact and infallible manner, what must result from a work composed of all these different wheels. Suppose further, that this workman, having accurately considered the effects which would be produced on these wheels, by that subtile matter which in their whirlings continually surrounds them, and which, by its perpetual action and motion, chafes, wears, and dissolves all bodies; this workman would tell you, with the same exactness, how long each of these wheels would wear, and when the whole work would be consumed. Give this workman life and industry proportional to his imagination, furnish him with materials proportional to his ideas, and he will produce a vast, immense work, all the different motions of which he can exactly combine; all the different effects of which he can evidently foresee. He will see, in what time motion will be communicated from the first of these wheels to the second, at what time the second will move the third, and so of the rest: he will foretell all their different motions, and all the effects which must result from their different combinations. Hitherto this is only supposition, my brethren, but it is a supposition that conducts us to the most certain of all facts. This workman is God. God is this sublime, exact, infinite genius. He calls into being matter, without motion, and, in some sense, without form. He gives this matter form and motion. He makes a certain number of wheels, or rather he makes them without number. He disposes them as he thinks proper. He communicates a certain degree of motion agreeable to the laws of his wisdom. Thence arises the world which strikes our eyes. By the forementioned example, I conceive, that God, by his own intelligence, saw what must result from the arrangement of all the wheels that compose this world, and knew, with the utmost exactness, all their combinations. He saw that a certain degree of motion, imparted to a certain portion of matter, would produce water; that another degree of motion, communicated to another portion of matter, would produce fire; that another would produce earth, and so of the rest. He foresaw, with the utmost precision, what would result from this water, from this fire, from this earth, when joined together, and agitated by such a degree of motion as he should communicate. By the bare inspection of the laws of motion, he foresaw fires, he foresaw shipwrecks, he foresaw earthquakes, he foresaw all the vicissitudes of time, he foresaw those which must put a period to time, when "the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, when the elements shall melt with fervent heat, when the earth, with all the works that are in it, shall be burnt up," 2 Pet. iii. 10. 2. But, if God could combine all that would result from the laws of motion communicated to matter, he could also combine all that would result from intelligence, freedom of will, and all the faculties which make the essence of spirits; and, before he had formed all those spiritual beings which compose the intelligible world, he knew what all their ideas, all their projects, all their deliberations, would for ever be. I am aware, that a particular consequence, which follows this doctrine, has made some divines exclaim against this thesis, and, under the specious pretence of exculpating the Deity from the entrance of sin into this world, they have affirmed that God could not foresee the determinations of a free agent; for, say they, had he foreseer the abuse which man would have nade of his liberty, in resolving to sin, his love to holiness would have engaged him to prevent it. But to reason in this manner is, in attempting to solve a difficulty, to leave that difficulty in all its force. All that they say on this article proceeds from this principle, that a God, infinitely just, and infinitely powerful, ought to display (if it be allowable to say so) all the infinity of his attributes to prevent sin. But this principle is notoriously false. Witness that very permission of sin which is objected to us. Ye will not acknowledge that God foresaw man's fall into sin; acknowledge, at least, that he foresaw the possibility of men's falling, and that, in forming a creature free, he knew that such a creature might choose virtue or vice; acknowledge, at least, that God could have created man with so much knowledge, and could have afforded him so many succours; he could have presented such powerful motives to holiness incessantly, and discovered to him the dreadful consequences of his rebellion so effectually; he could have united obedience to his commands with so many delights, and the most distant thought of disobedience with so many disgusts; he could have banished from man every temptation to sín, so that he would never have been a sinner. Yet God created man in another manner; consequently it is not true, even in your system. that God hath exerted all the power he could to prevent sin's entrance into the world. Consequently it is false, that a being, who perfectly loves holi ness, ought to display the whole extent of his attributes to prevent sin, and to establish virtue. Consequently, the principle on which ye ground your denial of God's comprehension of all the dispositions of spirits, is an unwarrantable principle, and to attempt to solve the difficulty, in this manner, is to leave it in all its force. But, if ye consult revelation, ye will find that God claims a universal knowledge of spirits: He says, that he "searcheth and knoweth them," Jer. xvii. 10.; Rev. ii. 23.; Gen. xv. 13.; Exod. iii. 19. He foresaw, he foretold, the afflictions which Abraham's posterity would endure in Egypt, the hardening of Pha raoh, the infidelity of the Jews, the faith of the Gentiles, the crucifixion of the Messiah, the coming of the prince or leader, that is of Vespasian, or Titus, who would " destroy the city and the sanctuary," Dan. ix. 25, 26. And consequently, we have a right to affirm, that God knows all the thoughts of the mind, and all the sentiments of the heart, as well as that he knows all the motions of matter. Perhaps ye wish, my brethren, that our speculations were carried further; perhaps ye would have us disentangle the subject from ail its difficulties; perhaps ye wish we could make you comprehend, in a clear and distinct man Iner, how it is possible that such immense ob jects can be always present to the Supreme Intelligence? but what mortal mouth can express such sublime truths, or what capacity is able to conceive them! On this article, we are obliged with our prophet to exclaim, "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, it is high: I cannot attain unto it!" ver. 6. In general, we conceive that the sphere of divine know |