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You know that He "sitteth on the throne!" You know that power belongeth unto Him that sitteth on the throne! "Be ye sure that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture!" We preach that ye should turn unto HIM!

Rom. i. 21.

IF NOT, WHERE, AND WHO IS HE?

SERMON V.

HEB. XI. PART OF 6TH VERSE.

"He that cometh to God, must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.”

I...AT the commencement of a series of discourses, on subjects to which I have been desirous of drawing your attention lately, I endeavoured to bring to your minds, in as plain and simple a form as possible, the kind of reasoning by which we arrive at conviction respecting the Being and the Attributes of Almighty God.

Attempt was made to show How "the invisible things of Him," as St. Paul tells us, "from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made."

A part, however, of the Providence or moral government of God, towards which I am desirous of calling your attention this evening,

has been purposely omitted from our former reflections, being deemed more suited to our distinct consideration, as the theme of this present discourse. The subject alluded to is the retributive justice of Almighty God-the knowledge which we are able to derive from the contemplation of our own selves, the observation of our fellow-creatures-from the history of ourselves, the history of othersfrom the history of individuals, and the history of nations: that the "God of all the kingdoms of the earth" punishes certain actions, while he rewards others: that He turns from those who turn from him: that He comes to those who come to him: and "is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."

II...The words which compose our text are particularly plain, and simple, and forcible :"He that cometh to God, must believe that He is, and, that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."

That is he that cometh to God, to worship him and serve him, must necessarily first believe that there is a God to worship and to serve: he must have a reasonable and firm belief on this point, first of all.

We are "far from justifying the opinion of

those, who thought it a thing incredible that God should raise the dead; but we admit that it is first necessary to be persuaded that there is a God to do so."* Therefore, he that cometh to God, must first believe that He is.

But, next, he must believe, as the inspired apostle informs us, and to whose declaration, we presume, our own reflections bear witness, —next, he must believe, that God "is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." That is, that as He is infinitely powerful, wise, and good, so also He is infinitely just; and that, therefore, He will reward those who act in accordance with his will, and punish those who do not; that He will withdraw himself from those who withdraw themselves from him; and draw nigh unto those who draw nigh unto him.

III...Now, out of the different modes of reasoning, by which a sound mind† may arrive at conviction on this head: from the various grounds on which we conceive the understanding may erect its persuasion of this

* See Paley's Nat. Theol. p. 357.

†See Sermon III. p. 31.

"It is on the wings of the CHERUBIM," i. e. (according to the interpretation of the ancient Hebrew doctors,) the

truth, let us select those which are the simplest, and the nearest (so to speak) to the comprehension of all;-and which are to be found, as before was intimated, in the contemplation of our ownselves: in our own history, and the history of others which teaches us, that Almighty God punishes mankind for certain deeds, while he rewards mankind for others; that, to the mind which seeks God, God approaches; and that from that mind which turns from God, the Spirit of God recedes.

Did we not believe-did we not feel convinced that God would reward those who diligently sought him, we should have, at the best, an uncertain hope only, whereon to rest the reasonableness of entering upon such an undertaking as the work of coming unto God. Therefore, he that cometh unto God, must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him.

intellectual powers and energies, that we must be borne up to the " pure empyrean."

"If a man love me," said Jesus, "he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." John xiv. 23.— It is written of Saul, that "the Spirit of the Lord departed from him, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him." 1 Sam. xvi. 14.

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