viz. That God is the Judge of the world: for as he is to decide the final state of men, and diftri. : bute rewards and punishments according to the ftricteft equity, fo that every mouth fhall be ftop ped, and none fhall be able to charge him with rigour or undue feverity; the trial must be fair and open, and the proof abfolutely clear, upon which a fentence, fo effentially connected with the honour of the Judge, is to be founded. But how fhall this proof be obtained? fhall men be adduced as witneffes against each other?-This scheme is encumbered with two objections; neither of which, I think, can be easily removed.If all are guilty would there not be ground to fufpect, that every one's private interest might bring them to a general combination and agreement to conceal each other's faults?-Or, if fome are innocent, which for once we fhall fuppofe, yet even these may, or rather muft, be ignorant of many things: they can atteft no more than they have feen; and their teftimony, at the utmoft, can only relate to outward actions; the temper with which they are done, and the prin ciples from whence they flow, are beyond their knowledge; fo that no judgment can pafs upon the heart in confequence of any human evidence. --Where then fhall we go next? Perhaps you will fay, that every man's own confcience fhall witness against him in that day. But what should oblige confcience to do this? will mere authority compel a man to become his own accufer, when he knows that no other evidence can be brought against him? This, I think, is harder to be believed than any thing. In fhort, I fee no way by which we can extricate ourselves from thefe

preffing

preffing difficulties, but by afcribing to God that perfect and univerfal knowledge, which my text, and fundry other fcriptures, attribute to him. Reafon muft have recourfe to this at laft, or deny that God fhall judge the world. It is his omnifci ence that fupplies the room of foreign witnesses, or makes their teftimony valid: it is his omnifcience that overawes confcience, and conftrains it to be faithful: he alone can tell a man what is in his heart, fo that he dare not refufe the charge: and it is this infallible teftimony of the Judge himfelf, who scans all actions, who weighs all thoughts, whose right hand doth ever hold us, and whose eye is conftantly upon us, that will ftop every mouth in the great day of decifion, and convince the whole world, that his judgment is true and righteous.

Thus have I endeavoured to establish your faith of this important truth, that the eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. I have argued the caufe at the bar of Reafon; and have fhewed you the intimate connection of this doctrine with the most ac knowledged dictates of natural religion, to wit, That God is the Creator, the Preferver, the Governor, and the Judge of the world.--It is poffible that fome may afk, Why beftow fo much time and labour in proving a point which nobody is difpofed to deny ?Let this be my apology:I cannot recollect the time when I feriously queftioned the truth of this doctrine; but I can well remember a time, when it had no more influence upon my own foul, than if I had been fure it was falfe; And if your belief

be

it

be of the fame kind, as I fear with too many is, be affured you have heard no more than was needful; nay, if an infinitely greater Teacher do not preach the subject over again to your hearts with power, your present belief fhall only heighten your guilt; and the fewer your doubts are, the greater fhall your condemnation be. If your hearts do not feel the conftant prefence of God, your verbal acknowledgments and fpeculative belief of it, fhall only render your cafe fomething worfe than the infidels. Satan can spare this tribute to God: fo long as your faith dwells in the brain, or in the tongue, he doth not grudge you the poffeffion of it; and if what you have been hearing fink no deeper, I fhall readily admit that you have heard too much. In that cafe, I have no doubt loft my labour, whether it hath been acceptable to you or not. But I fhall not close the fubject till I have pointed out the practical use we ought to make of it.

And, It, Let us take occafion from this doctrine to admire, with humble gratitude, the longfuffering patience and tender compaffions of our God. Is he the immediate witnefs of all our fins? doth he fee the rebellious thought rifing in our minds, and doth he ftill look on, and fpare, till it be fully formed and executed? How incomprehenfible then muft his patience be! We find it no easy matter to forgive our fellow. men, even when they are penitent; with what difficulty do we fupprefs our refentment, though the injury hath been committed at a great dif tance of time, and our offending brother him

felf

felf was perhaps the first who informed us of it, by a free and forrowful confeffion? What then can we think of the divine mercy and forbear, ance? It were much in God to forgive the tranfgreffions of fuch creatures as we are, though he had not feen them done, and knew nothing about them, till he heard them from ourfelves, in penitent confeffions, and petitions for pardon : but to bear with us till luft had conceived and brought forth; to fee the whole progrefs of the mind, its plots and contrivances, till the wicked deed be done; to behold the heart full of enmity, without one relenting thought; to fpare a creature thus determined to affront him, when by one word he could difarm it of all its powers, and render it completely miferable! it is this which fets the patience of God above all human, above all created understanding. O! my brethren, think of this. Should an earthly prince behold one of his fubjects, who lived within his palace, and was fupported by his bounty, treasonably confpiring against him with his moft inveterate enemies: fhould he, instead of treating him with the feverity he deferved, condefcend to expoftulate with him; and, in the most affectionate manner, intreat him to confult his own fafety by returning to his duty, and not to wreft a punishment from him which he was unwilling to inflict; what do you think would be the ftate of the traitor's mind in fuch circumftances as these? how would it confound him to know, that his much injured fovereign had all along been privy to his bafenefs, but, like the most tender father, inftead of punishing,

had only pitied his folly ?We may partly conceive this, but are unable to exprefs it. The most artful description could give but a faint representation of the various feelings of an ingenuous heart, upon fuch an affecting occafion. And shall not the tender mercy of our God have the fame influence upon us? He neither wants power to inflict, nor provocation to juftify, the fevereft punishment our natures are capable of enduring. -What fhall we fay then? He is God, and not man; and therefore it is that we are not confumed. O let his patience, to which we are fo infinitely indebted, work upon our ingenuity, that we may not unworthily burden it any more! and particularly let us watch over our hearts at this time, when the subject we are upon neceffarily obliges us to fet the Lord more immediately before us, as the witnefs and judge of our prefent temper and conduct; for furely his eyes are in this place, beholding the evil and the good.

2dly, This doctrine hath an obvious tendency to cherish fimplicity and godly fincerity, and to banish all diffimulation and artifice from our hearts. He who realizeth the divine prefence, will not dare to be an hypocrite; for he knows that his triumphing can be but short, and his joy only for a moment. Man he may deceive, who fees no farther than the outfide; but he cannot deceive God, whofe eyes are in every place; who "fearcheth the hearts, and trieth the reins "of the children of men." And to what purpofe should he labour for the applause of poor dying creatures, if he expofe himself to the con

tempt