taining the honour of God's holy law, but also for rendering the divine justice apparent to the whole universe. But beyond all the miseries of sin, and all the ravages of death, a most alluring prospect breaks upon the eye of faith, which is one day to be fully realized, when a new heaven and a new earth shall be formed, wherein righteousness shall reign without interruption, and in which a divine life is to be enjoyed that shall never know a period for the Lord God shall swallow up death in victory. It is by connecting this remote prospect with all the evils to which mortality is subject, that the humble believer is carried above the sufferings of the present time, rejoicing in hope of the glory of God. And this constitutes one of the grand exercises of that faith, which is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen; whereby its happy possessor, overlooking and passing through every intervening obstacle, enters into immediate rest.

As God is the great Author of life, so He alone may justly be said to live and it shall be a part of my present employment

344

SERMON XXI.

to note, that He lives truly, independently, universally, and eternally.

First-He liveth truly, that is, essentially and substantially. In Him is life. He is its only Source and Origin: and from Him, as from an inexhaustible fountain, all life proceeds, continually running over and flowing abroad in ten thousand streams, and under an endless variety of forms, replenishing the earth with creatures of every name and character. God is in Himself a divine unbroken Unity. Yet as all numbers are but a unity multiplied, so all the various tribes of creatures about us are to be considered as the sparkling emanations and manifestations of this divine Unity, thus presenting itself to our notice, at sundry times and in divers manners; for of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever! But while we contemplate the incomprehensible Jehovah, as the only and inconceivably prolific source of life; we are constrained with all humility to acknowledge, that we ourselves possess nothing more than a relative,

ccidental, and imperfect kind of existence. All forms of life are to us inscrutable. We <now not in what life consists. We are a mystery to ourselves; and such a mystery, so perplexing, so profound, as all the sagacity of man can never unravel. And if this be so, how much greater, how much deeper a mystery must be the mode of His existence, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen, nor can see; and in whom creatures of every denomination live and move and have their being!

Secondly-The great and unspeakable Jehovah liveth independently. He hath no necessary reference to, nor connexion with, creatures of any description, either in earth or in heaven, He lives independently of the universe, which his own hands have formed; as well as of the inhabitants with which he has replenished it. For his pleasure they were at first created, and for his pleasure they still exist: but were they all to sink at once into a state of absolute annihilation, it would effect no manner of change in Him, because the Divine Nature

is endlessly complete and entire within itself, like a sea of unbeclouded light without a bottom or a shore, God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. On the contrary, our derivative life is dependent upon the almighty Author of it, from moment to moment. And hence it is said, of the whole animal creation-These wait all upon Thee, that thou mayest give them meat in due season. When thou givest it them, they gather it; when thou openest thy hand, they are filled with good; when thou hidest thy face, they are troubled; when thou takest away their breath, they die, and are turned again to their dust. Man walketh in a vain shadow, and disquieteth himself in vain. His life is as a vapour, which continueth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. We pass to and fro like so many feeble, frail, and unsubstantial things; never remaining in one stay, and always upon the point of disappearing. As, when the sun hides his face, the shadows of every surrounding object immediately vanish; so, if the great God withdraw from us his secret influence, we instantly sink, and flit away, and are seen

no more.

Thirdly-He liveth universally. God exists everywhere, and is equally present in every part of his unbounded dominion, from the heights above to the depths beneath; a view, which we find the psalmist expressing with peculiar solemnity-Whither shall I go from thy Spirit, or whither shall I go from thy presence? If I climb up into heaven, thou art there; if I go down to hell, thou art there also: if I take the wings of the morning, and remain in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there also shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, peradventure the darkness shall cover me, then shall my night be turned to day; yea, the darkness is no darkness with thee, but the night is as clear as the day; the darkness and light to thee are both alike. And as He lives in all places, so he lives under all possible forms, from that of the purest spiritual Intelligence inhabiting the heaven of heavens, down to that of the meanest reptile crawling upon the face of the earth, everywhere animating and sustaining all things in the visible and invisible worlds. We do, indeed, exist; but human life, with all its interesting accompaniments of care and labour, ease and