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accomplished. But these ends cannot be accomplished, unless his Providence supply the powers and faculties, and regulate all the actions and events, necessary to their accomplishment; and would, therefore, be frustrated, were he not always present, and always attentive to them, for these purposes.

Every individual, also, is a part, and exactly a desirable, proper, and necessary part, of the great work, which God has begun. If then one should fail, the whole would be disordered ; and consequences would be produced, the extent, and mischiefs of which, no mind, less than infinite, could comprehend.

Each of these arguments refutes this doctrine. But we need not recur to them, or to any of them, for this refutation. The nature of God proves the doctrine to be false. He is every where present; and is all eye, all ear, all consciousness. Of course he cannot but attend to every thing, and know every thing. This is essentially, and unchangeably, his character. He can no more fail of regarding an insect, than an angel; an atom, than a world. As we, when our ears are open, cannot but hear; when our eyes are open, cannot but see; when our minds are directed to any object, cannot but perceive; so God, who is all mind, all perception, cannot but perceive all things. Among all things he cannot but perceive whatever is preferable, or upon the whole desirable, in the least, as well as in the greatest; and cannot, without denying his nature, fail to choose its existence, rather than that, to which it is thus preferable. The least, also, is as truly necessary and indispensable to the whole, as the greatest; and cannot, therefore, fail to be chosen, and accomplished.

Besides, Experience unanswerably proves the doctrine, which I have asserted. None but God can form, or preserve, direct, or regulate, an atom, a leaf, a mite, or an insect, any more than an angel, a world, or the Universe. We see his power, wisdom, presence, and agency, in these least things, as truly, and as constantly, as in the greatest; and so clearly discern it to be the agency of an infinite hand, as to be incapable, when we open our eyes, of mistaking it for any other. In perfect harmony with these observations, the Scriptures declare, that God clothes the grass of the field; continues the life, and directs the death of

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sparrows; and numbers the hairs of our heads. What employment can, according to the opinions of those who contend against this doctrine, be less suitable than these, to the dignity of God? Yet these, he has been pleased to declare, are things, about which he is employed. The truth is, this universal attention to the several parts of the Universe is infinitely glorious to his character. To be able to attend to the infinite multitude of beings and events, at the same, and at all times; to render an entire regard to the least, without lessening at all the attention due to the greatest; to be able to see, that every individual continues in his proper place and circumstances, answering the proper end of his being; to secure in this manner the well-being of the whole; and to do all this without weariness, or confusion; is to possess the highest state of being, of dignity, and of glory.

5thly. From the above considerations how solemn, how affecting, does our own existence appear?

This use of the doctrines, contained in the text, is made particularly, and in the most illustrious manner, by David, throughout the Psalm, from which it is taken. It cannot, therefore, fail to be profitably made by ourselves.

From the observations contained in the preceding part of this discourse, it is evident, that we are, at all times, and in all places and circumstances, surrounded by God. In our walks, amusements, and business, at home and abroad, when we are asleep and when we are awake, God is with us as really, and as evidently, as we are with each other. Every thought in our minds, every word on our tongues, every action of our hands, is perfectly naked to his all-seeing eye. Of what amazing importance is it, then, that these thoughts, words, and actions, be acceptable in his sight? be such, as we should be willing to have him witness? such, as he can approve, justify, and reward? Those certainly are the only wise, the only prudent, human beings, who continually remember this great truth; and who at all times, in their amusements as well as in their serious business, say in their hearts, Thou God seest me. No consideration is so solemn, so affecting, so useful, as this. None possesses the same influence to restrain the hands, or the heart, from sin; to produce, preserve, or quicken, obedience; or to awaken, unceas

ingly, the most profitable attention of the soul to its everlasting welfare, or its remembrance of that awful judgment, where all its thoughts, words, and actions, will be displayed in the light of God's countenance, and become the reason, and the measure, of its final reward.

On the contrary, how imprudent, how sottish, how delirious, is the conduct of him, who habitually forgets the presence of God; of whom it is truly said that God is not in all his thoughts; and who, settled upon his lees, quietly persuades himself, that the Lord will not do good, neither will the Lord do evil. This man has either negligently, or intentionally, removed from his mind the chief source of virtuous conduct, the well-spring of hope, the great security against temptation, the prime preventive of sin. He is left unguarded, therefore, in circumstances infinitely dangerous; and voluntarily exposes himself to evils of infinite magnitude. Compared with this man, the prodigal, who causelessly squanders a throne and an empire, is a miser, and the soldier, who, when the enemy surrounds the citadel, sleeps at his post, is a faithful watchman.

6thly. Let every sinner remember, that God is present at the commission of all his crimes.

When thoughts of rebellion, profaneness, and ingratitude, arise in the soul; when thoughts of pride, envy, malice, deceit, injustice, and cruelty deform; and when thoughts of intemperance, levity, and lewdness, debase it; then God is in the polluted, guilty mind, searching its secret chambers, and laying open to the full sun-shine all the hiding places of iniquity.

When the sinners, who are in this house, rise up in rebellion against their Maker; when you murmur against his government, lay your sins to his charge, impeach his justice, mercy, and truth, and wish that he were to exist, and rule, no more: When you form impure, unjust, and fraudulent designs; proceed to actions of violence and cruelty; and become stout-hearted, and therefore eminently far from righteousness: when you devise false doctrines and systems, to lead yourselves, and others, astray; deceive yourselves, with arguments formed to justify sin, and flatter conscience into quiet and security: when you oppose the truth of God; dishonour his Name; revile his Son; grieve his Spirit; and profane his Sabbath and Sanctuary, his commands and ordinances: when, finally, you ensnare, pollute, and destroy, others as well as yourselves, by carrying all your evil designs into a guilty and dreadful execution: then, however you may imagine yourselves concealed by the shades of solitude, or the curtains of midnight, from the view of every eye, God is present, sees, hears, and takes an account of all your thoughts, words, and actions. Then His eyé, as a flame of fire, lights up a clear and searching day in your souls, and around your steps; and shows in sun-beams the iniquities, which you devise, utter, and perpetrate.

7thly. Let every Child of God remember, also, that his Creator is equally present with all his conduct.

The Christian may be in his own view; he may be in fact; poor, ignorant, little, and insignificant. When he reviews himself he may not unnaturally exclaim, I am a worm, and no man: when he reviews his services, he may pronounce them too worthless to be remembered of God: when he reviews his sins, he may believe them so great, as to cut him off from every reasonable hope of a share in the divine attention. But, notwithstanding his insignificance, fears, and doubts, he is not forgotten here; and will not be forgotten in the day, when God makes up his jewels. The tears, which he has shed; the prayers, which he has offered up; the two mites, which he has consecrated to God; the cup of cold water, which he has given to a fellow disciple; were neither unnoticed nor unregarded. God was present, when each act of humble and sincere obedience was performed; marked it with his eye; recorded it in his book; and will acknowledge it at the final day.

From this constant, kind, and merciful regard of his Maker, no situation, no circumstances, will preclude him, even for a moment. However lowly, however solitary, however forgotten of mankind, his course through life may be; himself and his interests, his wants and his woes, are tenderly, as well as continually. regarded by his God.

In seasons of sorrow, of sickness, bereavement, or desertion; when he has lost his parents, or his children; or is forsaken by his former friends and companions: when the world begins to seem to him a desert, and life to be a burden: God is then at hand, his Father, and everlasting Friend; and will be better to him than sons and daughters. The Physician of the body, as well as of the soul, will administer healing to his diseased frame ; pour the balm of consolation into his wounded spirit; and enable him to say, Why art thou cast down, O my soul! and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

When those around him become hostile to his character, and to his religion; when he himself is hated, despised, and persecuted: when for help he looks through the world in vain, and is ready to sink in the gulph of despair: let him remember, that God has been present, to behold all his sufferings; and will effectually guard him from every fatal evil. He may indeed be persecuted, but he will not be forsaken; he may be cast down, but he will not be destroyed. Let him also remember, that his afflictions, though they may seem heavy, are but for a moment, and are, therefore, really light; and that they will work for him an exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

In seasons of temptation, when his resolution to resist, his fortitude to endure, his patience to suffer, his wisdom to devise means of escape, and his diligence and faithfulness to use them, fail and decline: or even when, immersed in sloth and security, he ceases to watch over himself, and to guard against impending evil: God still is present, to supply all his wants; to renew his vigor; to support his yielding constancy; to awaken in him new vigilance; to quicken in him a contrite sense of his backsliding; to deliver him from the unequal contest; and to bless him with returning hope, peace, and safety.

When self-confidence, self-flattery, and self-righteousness, inflate, deform, and betray him: when no Christian friend is near, to know, to pity, or to rescue him: God, even then, is present, to humble, to guide, and to restore him: and to enable him to find a safe path over the otherwise insurmountable obstacles to his continuance in the way of life.

Does he, with other humble followers of the Redeemer, mourn in Zion the hidings of God's face, his own backslidings, or the depression and sufferings of his fellow-christians; and feel, as if