them the reproof was administered: "Thus saith the Lord, the heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; where is the house that ye build unto me? And where is the place of my rest? For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord."

Thus does it appear that God is everywhere present-present in the full and indivisible perfection of his nature to uphold all things-present in heaven to communicate higher degrees of happiness and glory— present with his church and people on earth to impart the blessings of his grace, and present with the wicked in his justice and power. Nor is this doctrine at all opposed by the expressions in scripture which ascribe a local residence to God, and which represent him as moving out of his place, departing from us, or coming towards us. Heaven is called his dwelling-place, on account of the glorious representation which he gives of himself to the angels and the spirits which there surround him; because of the unmingled love and happiness of the worshippers; and because it is from thence he sends his messengers to announce his counsels and his will. Zion of old, because it was consecrated to his worship, and the spot on which the visible tokens of his gracious presence and glory were constantly to rest, was called the habitation of his house, and the place where his honour dwells. "The Lord hath chosen Zion, he hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest for ever; here will I dwell; for I have desired it." He dwells gloriously in heaven in the full perfection of his nature, and he dwells graciously with his church on earth with the

same fulness of perfection, though not with the same manifestation of it; and with equal fulness, though not for the same ends, nor with the same discoveries of himself, does he fill, in the infinity and indivisibility of his essence and attributes, every part of boundless space.

The expressions in scripture which ascribe motion to God, are used, not only in condescension to our weakness, but with a peculiar significancy in reference to us. What can be more calculated to impress us with a sense of the mighty power of God, and of his omnipresence, than the description of the Psalmist ? "He bowed the heavens also, and came down, and darkness was under his feet. And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly; yea, he did fly on the wings of the wind. He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. At the brightness that was before him, his thick clouds passed, hail-stones, and coals of fire." When he is said to be far from the wicked-to hide his face from his people-to be near unto all that call upon him-to rend the heavens and come downto come down to see the city,-the meaning of the expressions is obvious to every one, and especially to every one who is in the least acquainted with revelation.

We are every moment, then, wherever we go, in the presence of the God of infinite perfection. (We cannot look on the firmament with all its glories, without beholding his living agency guiding and sustaining unnumbered and distant worlds amid all their movements. We cannot survey the changes of nature, the

races of living creatures around us, the adaptation of their instincts and habits to the circumstances in which they are placed, and the subserviency of all to the happiness of mankind, without feeling the universality of that divine and vital presence which pervades all space, and gives being to all worlds;-which, while it holds in the compass of its power the infinitude of systems, overlooks not the wants of any one of the beings that are in succession passing over the stage of existence. We cannot witness the sublime scene before us,-mark the renovation of a world as often as the seasons revolve-observe the air, the earth, the sea, full of life, and all things proclaiming the presence and the power of God, without the deep impression of our living, and moving, and having our being in him.

To him no high, no low, no great, no small;

He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all!

The God of all perfection, who is everywhere present, must know all things. His omniscience we infer from his omnipresence. Hence his own declaration; "Can any hide himself in secret places, that I shall not see him, saith the Lord? Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord?" He who is unchangeably present in every part of space, and in every part of his creatures, to whom the world is but as a point, must be acquainted perfectly with all the thoughts of all the beings in the universe, because they arise in his sight,-nothing can be hid from him, since all things are naked and open to him.

How great is the difference between created beings, and even individuals of the same species, as to the

extent of their knowledge! How superior does he appear who is able to predict, by the aid of scientific acquirements, the aspect and the position of the planets, long after he himself is removed from our world, to the man whose habits are little elevated above the savage life, and who has not the power of forming probable conjectures of the future from the experience of the past! Nor is he less elevated whose close and continued observation of human nature has put him in possession of a faculty, which, like an additional sense, greatly enlarges the field of vision, and enables him to discern the different motives which operate on the human mind, and to foretel the influence which religion, and philosophy, and political institutions will have on the future prosperity and happiness of nations. We can conceive, that the knowledge of a being formed like ourselves, if his life were sufficiently protracted, to afford him opportunities for the exercise of his faculties, would increase to a degree not only beyond the limits of our present comprehension, but which, when considered in relation to our present attainments, might be denominated infinite. Were he to live a thousand

years in the full possession of his powers, his progress in knowledge during the second century of his life, would be far more than double that which was made during the first, so that his acquirements in each of the following centuries would more than equal what had been attained in all the preceding."

But how little do our reflections on the possible attainments of man enable us to comprehend the extent of his knowledge who is omniscient!-Who sees all that exists, or will exist, in time and in space

Who knows all the events with all their consequences, that can take place in this mighty compass! I observe, then,

i. That as God is omnipresent and omniscient, nothing can happen without his appointment or permission. As he is everywhere present in the infinite perfection of his nature, nothing can happen without his knowledge, nothing that is beyond the control of his power. All things are his own work-all are the object of his care, and he only has the attributes necessary for universal rule. He inhabiteth eternity, and therefore he is king always; he is omnipresent, and therefore his reign is universal. His will is the only reason why any thing exists, and whatever he chooses should not be, can never come into being. He can only will and appoint the existence of that which is good; but if evil does exist, it cannot be without his permission. As nothing can escape his knowledge-as nothing can overcome his power, we must believe that as sin and misery exist, he has not seen meet to prevent their existence. He is the Author of good, and of good only; but as evil does exist, its existence could only have taken place by his permission. The certainty of the fact comes within the painful experience of us all; to assign the reasons why it is so, is far beyond the reach of our understanding. "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out. For of him, and through, and to him, are all things, to whom be glory for ever."

ii. The omnipresence and omniscience of God form