Kindness will I have Mercy on thee, faith the Lord thy Redeemer. Ifa. liv. 8. His Mercy is from everlafting to everlafting upon them that fear him. Pfal. ciii. 17. The Covenant he makes with them is an everlasting Covenant. Ifa. lv. 3. The Salvation he will bless them with is an everlasting Salvation. Ifrael fhall be faved of the Lord with an everlasting Salvation; ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded World without End. Ifa. xlv. 17. The Happiness good Men fhall enjoy in his Prefence is often defcribed under the Character of eternal Life. And that which includeth this and every Bleffing that can be conceived, is, that he himfelf will be their Portion for ever. This is inIcluded in that fundamental Promise of the New Covenant, I will be a God unto thee. What a Fountain of Confolation and Joy is here, enough to fupport the good Man when Nature is finking in all its Powers, and this World and all that is in it are ready to forfake him! Then may he say with the devout Pfalmift, Whom have I in Heaven but thee? and there is none upon Earth that I defire befide thee. My Flef and my Heart faileth; but God is the Strength of my Heart, and my Portion for ever. Pfal. cxxiii. 25, 26. What a stable and permanent Portion is this! A Portion which fhall out-laft the Injuries of Time,

and

and never know the leaft Diminution or Decay. Compared with this, what are all the boafted Poffeffions upon Earth? how unfatisfying in their Nature! Or if they were never fo excellent and fatisfying whilft they laft, yet how temporary and fhort-lived is their Duration! They are as the Grafs, and the Flower of the Field, whofe agreeable Beauty and Verdure foon withereth. But God is an eternal Portion, which shall never disappoint the Hopes of his People. He is a Fountain of Bliss overflowing, a Sun of Glory ever shining and diffufing the happy Emanations of divine Life, and Light, and Love, through all the heavenly World, and filling Angels and Saints with unutterable Raptures of Wonder and Joy. This is the very Heaven of Heavens, that all God's Perfections are as himself eternal, and fhall perpetually furnish new Matter for delightful Admiration. There shall be no room for unfatisfied Defires, or uneafy Cravings. If all the Fulness of Glory and Perfection that is in an eternal God can make the Saints happy, they shall be ever fo. Surely the Confideration of fuch an everlasting Felicity should keep us from being weary in well-doing, and should caufe us to think little of all the Labours and Difficulties we now meet with in the Way

Way of our Duty. Nothing can poffibly have a more animating Influence to engage us to a diligent perfevering Obedience to the divine Commands, than this Perfuafion, That the Lord whom we ferve, liveth and reigneth for ever; and that in his Prefence is Fulness of foy, and at his right Hand are Pleafures for evermore.

On

On the Omniprefence of God:

DISCOURSE VI.

PSALM CXXXIX. 7, 8, 9, 10.`

Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither fall I flee from thy Prefence? If I afcend 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 uttermoft Parts of the Sea; even there fhall thy Hand lead me, and thy right Hand fhall hold me.

A

MONG all the divine Attributes, there is none more glorious in itself, more worthy of our highest Admiration, or more capable of being improved to the most important Purposes of Reli

gion, than God's Immenfity and Omniprefence. The Contemplation of it filleth the vaft Capacities of the Soul, and spreadeth an awful and pleafing Aftonishment through all its Powers. Whilft the Mind is thus engaged, it feeleth the Influence of the Divinity within it. A lively Sense of God's being ever present with us, tendeth to awaken every good Affection and Refolution in our Hearts, and giveth a refiftless Force to every Argument on the Side of Religion and Virtue: Nor can any Thing poffibly be more conducive to controul the unruly Appetites and Paffions, and to render the whole Conduct uniform

ly regular and pure. Accordingly the Omniprefence of God is clearly afferted, and nobly defcribed in the holy Scriptures, but no where more fo than in this 139th Pfalm, which is univerfally acknowledged to be a moft fublime and admirable Compofure. The Pfalmift beginneth with contemplating the divine Omnifcience, and thence by a very natural Tranfition proceedeth to confider God's Omniprefence. For it is a very juft Way of arguing, that God muft needs know all Things, fince he is prefent every where. And here he giveth full Scope to the noble Tranfports of a devout Mind, and celebrateth the Immenfity of the Supreme