written his eternal power and Godhead on creation; but it is in the holy Scriptures that he is unveiled in the plenitude of his natural and moral perfections, so far as it is possible for these to be apprehended by the human mind. If he has, in mercy to our weakness, made himself known, it is not to gratify our vain speculations, or only to exercise our reason; to fill us with astonishment, or to dazzle and overpower our intellect; but every perfection or attribute revealed is placed before us for our practical benefit, and is intended to produce in us a corresponding feeling or affection, and to prompt us to the performance of corresponding duties or actions. For example: Is he a Spirit? Then, "they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth;" because service, unaccompanied by the heart, is an abomination before the eyes of him who, as a Spirit, has access to the secret recesses of the soul. Is he from eternity, and to eternity; self-existent, infinite in his essence, filling immensity, and possessed of unlimited knowledge and power? The contemplation of him in this point of view should fill us with reverence and holy awe; lay us in the dust before his throne, and make us feel ourselves but as atoms in his sight. At the same time it should inspire us with confidence in the immutability of his counsels, the truth of his word, and the power of his arm. As the moral Governor of the universe, is he inflexible in justice, unsullied in holiness, and inviolably true? The manifestation of these attributes should awaken the sinner, fill him with compunction, create in him a salutary dread of Almighty wrath, a penitential sorrow for sin, and earnest desires and prayers for mercy; and should lead the Christian to aspire after a resemblance to his Creator's image, as his only qualification to have fellowship with him on earth, and to dwell with him in heaven hereafter. Has he revealed himself in the character of love?" God is love." Does this attribute unfold itself in ten thousand varied forms of mercy, kindness, and benevolence? Mercy adapts itself to the condition of the guilty and wretched, and claims from sinful creatures a thankful acceptance of the favours it offers; whilst kindness and benevolence, exercised towards us, call for our gratitude, love, and praise. In a word, is he the Author of our existence, our preserver, the only source of temporal or spiritual good in time or eternity; so that "in him we live, and move, and have our being?" This establishes his absolute right over us, and lays us under an indissoluble obligation to worship, serve, and glorify him with every power and faculty of body, soul, and spirit, to the latest period of our mortal life, and through eternity. But a difficulty arises out of our condition as fallen creatures, who are very far gone from our primeval innocency and integrity. Our guilt exposes us to everlasting misery, and our "carnal mind is enmity with God, not subject to his law, neither indeed can be." The clearest revelations of holy Scripture are powerless on a heart, which, according to

the strong phraseology of St. Paul, is "dead in trespasses and sins." By the economy of redemption this difficulty is met. The death of Jesus Christ on the cross has obtained forgiveness of sins, and reconciliation with God for every penitent believer; his intercession at the right hand of God procures the gift of the Holy Ghost for all who ask it of the Father. By his Almighty agency the heart is renewed; and, in a renewed heart, the revelation of God is recognised as a law, intended to exercise dominion and rule over the whole man.

In our approaches to God, as the object of worship, it is highly expedient, for our encouragement and comfort, that our minds should be imbued, as far as possible, with a full and correct knowledge of his nature and perfections; so that we may be able to see in him some attribute, or some special relation to us, bearing upon our case, suited to our necessities, and adapted to the subject of our petitions. If, for instance, we are walking in darkness, to view him as the God of light, and to approach him as the inexhaustible source of uncreated knowledge and wisdom, who giveth liberally to all who ask of him, and upbraideth not. If agonizing under a sense of guilt, to view him as God "in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them;" and to claim, through believing, forgiveness from him who has declared himself to be the Lord, merciful and gracious, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin." If convinced of the remaining depravity of our nature, and the necessity of entire holiness, to regard him as pre-eminently "the Holy One;" not only holy in himself, but the giver of holiness to whatever is holy either in heaven above, or earth beneath; and who makes known his will in the appointment of holiness as the distinctive feature of his chosen ones, "Be ye holy, for I the Lord your God am holy;" and, encouraged by this view of his character, to lay hold upon the promise, "If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." When feeling our weakness, when called to perform onerous and difficult duties, or when assailed by subtle, powerful, and invisible foes, how does it revive the spirits, nerve the arm, and quell our painful apprehensions to know, that before the power of his might nothing is too hard; and to pray to him in the character of Almighty God, who makes perfect his strength in human weakness, and whose promise binds him never to fail or forsake his people who put their trust in him! When every spring of earthly comfort seems dried up; and, in our own apprehensions, forsaken and forlorn, sorrow takes possession of our heart; yet it is then our privilege to look unto him as the ever-blessed God, infinitely happy in himself, and delighting to communicate happiness to his creatures; and to be permitted to approach him as our God, who has promised to supply all our

need out of his glorious riches by Christ Jesus, who himself alone can fill the soul of a believer with holy joy, raise the most abject sufferer from the dungeon of grief, and enable him, in the fulness of satisfaction, to exclaim, "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee:" "My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever." It was the manifestation of God's tender care for Hagar, in a way so peculiarly adapted to relieve her in her forlorn and helpless condition, that filled her mind with a sense of the interference of a special Providence in her behalf, and dictated the utterance of the truth contained in the words of the text, "Thou God seest me!" "Thy watchful eye is upon me, even in the solitudes of the wilderness; and thy love has commissioned thine angel to save me in the hour of my distress!" The passage is capable of general application. Each individual may bring it home to himself: "Thou God seest me!" I shall therefore, first, examine the truth suggested by these words; and, secondly, point out some of the uses to which it may be applied.

I. I shall examine the truth suggested by the words of the text, "Thou God seest me!"-Holy Scripture abounds with figurative language, explaining and illustrating spiritual and invisible things by those which are material and visible. Confined by the body to a material world, and our senses being the only inlets of knowledge, all our ideas, formed on material models, partake of a material character; and the language that expresses them must be constructed accord ingly. We do not, therefore, possess a purely spiritual language, capable of setting forth and expressing invisible and eternal things in the truth and reality of their own nature. This explains the reason of our Redeemer's question to Nicodemus, "How shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?" and why it was that St. Paul says, in the third heavens he heard "unspeakable things which it was not lawful for man to utter;" that is, which it is not within the compass of human language, in its present state, to represent. God is a Spirit, a pure Spirit, simple and uncompounded in his essence, indissolubly one, without bodily parts or members: when, therefore, hands, feet, eyes, and ears, and seeing, hearing, or walking, are attributed to him, it is figuratively; but yet intended to show that there is some attribute in him which bears an analogy to some bodily member in us, the exercise of which, in some sense, resembles the action of that member. Seeing is the action attributed to God by the text: "Thou God seest me!" The metaphor is taken from the eye; but it is often used in ordinary language; and means not merely simple vision, but also care, oversight, and inspection. In its application to God, in the character of the great Ruler of the universe, there are especially three leading ideas included: simple knowledge; providential care; and, lastly, judicial inspection. On each of these let us dwell for a few moments.

1. Simple knowledge. I need not occupy your attention by attempting to prove, that, as God is an infinite Being, his knowledge must be, like himself, infinite also; that heaven, earth, and "hell's deep gloom," are without a covering before him; the thoughts of angels, devils, and men are present to his view. Filling immensity, his eye surveys whatever exists; so that "known unto him are all things from the foundation of the world." The different orders of animated beings down through the shining ranks of heaven, to the meanest creeping thing, or to the animalcule, not discoverable by the most powerful microscope, are known to him. The various kinds of trees, plants, and flowers, with all their classes, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop on the wall, come within the range of his knowledge. He counts the number of the stars, he calls them by their names, and his eye measures their courses. He saw when time began its race, and has fixed its period. He knows when the foundations of the world were laid, and when this visible system shall perish in the fire. As his knowledge, stretching from eternity to eternity, takes into its vast grasp whatever was, is, or will be; so futurity, with all its contingent events, is spread before his eye. The moral actions of men, the future judgment to be passed upon them, the final destiny of each individual of the human race, are objects of God's knowledge; yea, heaven and hell are both unveiled to him; so that he knows, and ever has known, who shall be lost and who shall be saved. The knowledge of God is a deep subject. One branch of it (namely, what is generally termed "God's foreknowledge") has been greatly abused. It has been argued, that God's foreknowledge and decree are inseparable; that the former must imply the latter; thus confounding the knowledge that foresees an event with the will which determines it, and the power or agency which brings it to pass. It does not require much acuteness of intellect to distinguish between simple knowledge and causation ; between the knowledge of what exists, and the cause of its existence. We know things that exist, because they exist; but our knowledge of their existence has no connexion with the cause of their existence : so Almighty God foreknows what will be, because it will be; but his foreknowledge of future events is perfectly independent of their causes. That class of events generally distinguished as future contingencies, though, as their title implies, unaffected by any absolute decree, and dependent on circumstances which may change and vary, are yet objects of God's foreknowledge. The absolute knowledge of God is represented by the beautiful figure of light, "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all;" but were even the most distant future contingencies beyond the reach of his eye, a cloud of darkness would cast its shade over a portion of his unsullied splendour.

2. Providential care. This must have been the leading idea in

Hagar's mind, when she uttered the words of our text. Driven from her home, a solitary wanderer in a howling wilderness, God sends his angel to direct and comfort her; she sees in this God's providential care, and thus expresses her views: "Thou God seest me!' Thou hast seen my trouble, and thou carest for me!" The belief of the special providence of God is calculated to inspire the Christian with confidence, and to afford him strong consolation under every trial. A ruling Providence, extending its influence through every department of God's works, cannot be overlooked, except by prejudice; but is seen alike in the revolutions of the heavenly bodies, and the formation of an insect's eye. The infidel opinion of fate, and the heathen doctrine of an inactive great first Cause, are both remote from truth, and opposed to the doctrine of the Christian Scriptures. He who made all things in wisdom, fills what he has made; where he is, he works; and the operation of a wise,, good, and almighty Agent is everywhere apparent. The providence of God, by establishing the laws of the universe, and appointing a chain of successive causes and effects, rolls the planets in their orbits, maintains the regular succession of seasons, and secures the continuance of men, animals, plants, fruit, flowers, and whatever else is necessary to uphold and perpetuate this visible system of nature. The same Providence rules and directs those events, of which the causes are less apparent, and the movements marked with less regularity such as the rise and fall of empires, the distress of nations, the accession of wealth and prosperity, and the march of war, famine, and pestilence. If these things may be considered as more properly indicating the existence of a general Providence, it is not, however, to be forgotten, that all generals are made up of particulars; and that a particular or special Providence, included in this general Providence, as the "wheel within a wheel," superintends and directs all the affairs of each individual of the human race. It is the special Providence of God that appoints to every one of us the bounds of our habitation, that determines the country of our birth and residence, our rank and station in life, our occupation, trade, or calling; and extends its ruling influence through all the circumstances and occurrences, great or small, which mark our lot from the beginning to the close of our mortal existence. "Even the hairs of your head," said our Redeemer, "are all numbered." sparrow falleth to the ground without" the notice of " your heavenly Father; but ye are of more value than many sparrows." Men whose minds are puffed up with a vain show of worldly wisdom, have attempted to account for whatever comes to pass on what are termed "natural principles;" and by asserting a doctrine of settled causes that necessarily and invariably produce their certain effects, would exclude the special providence of God from any interference with the affairs of human life. This, however, does not satisfactorily account

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