and from all the evil to come, I am persuaded there is not one in this assembly, who truly knew him, who will not bear me witness, that I say no more than the truth concerning him, when I take you to record this day, That he was a good man, full of the Holy Ghost and of faith,' a distinguished example to the flock over which he was placed: that he made it his first concern through life, that Christ might be glorified in him; and that by means of his fidelity among the youth, and among all who heard him, much people might be added unto the Lord.' The circumstances of his death were most eminently suited to his assiduous and conscientious life.

From the commencement of the short illness which occasioned his dissolution, he thought himself aware of its termination; and he earnestly and pathetically expressed, not merely an entire resignation to God, but the most interesting satisfaction and delight, from the immediate prospect of entering on the possession of eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The prospect of meeting with those precious friends who have gone before me,' he said, 'is most enlivening; but it is nothing, when compared with the assurance of being with Christ, which is far better. I am dying in peace with God and man: Í die in the firm belief of the certainty and importance of the everlasting truths which I have declared to others. This body shall moulder into dust; but I know that Christ shall raise it up at the last day!'

He said this, and much more in the same spirit, during the progress of a dissolution, which he regarded as the certain passage to his desired home. When his friends intimated their wishes that a physician should be called, he cheerfully acquiesced, and said, 'I am ready to use every mean for restoration; but think it probable I shall not recover. What a pleasing prospect to a Christian, that he is going home! for to die, is to go home indeed, to be with Christ for ever!' When he had said to one of his attendants, I am sensible that my dissolution is fast approaching,' and was answered, that the change would be a blessed change to him, ' O yes,' he replied, I shall be ever with the Lord! One of his medical friends, asking him how he had been through the night immediately preceding his death, he said, I am free of pain; and am going fast into the eternal world! I have had much delight through the night, in committing my family to God.'

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These particulars, equally interesting and consolatory, represent the state of his mind better than any description. He possessed his understanding, with little interruption, clear and entire to the last moment, when he was able to pronounce articulate sounds. He expressed the most visible delight in uttering the affectionate concern, which seemed to dwell on his thoughts, for the congregation entrusted to his pastoral care, and for the youth he had laboured to instruct for the church of God; and he de

sired, with earnest solemnity, that it should be told to his friends, and told to his brethren, That he died in the blessed and lively hope of the gospel!

Among the last words proceeding from his departing spirit, these were distinctly heard: None but Christ, none but Christ!" and when an attendant said, "Sir, you will soon be with Christ," he replied, with visible eagerness and joy, 'Yes, yes!'

It is most useful to contemplate such an example as this, of life and of death. Full of the Holy Ghost and of faith,' he lived and died, as he exhorted you, 'Cleaving to the Lord *.' How precious an attainment, to be able, in any degree, to follow his faith unfeigned, his godly sincerity, his mild and gentle spirit, his animating and triumphant hope in death! How blessed, to be prepared to adopt, with the same ardent mind, as we go down to the dust, the last words which his voice was heard to utter on the evening on which his last illness commenced, while he believed himself to be still in possession of perfect health! They were naturally suggested by a conversation, of which they were the close: I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness; which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me; and not to me only, but to all them who love his appearing. I know in whom I have believed; and am persuaded, that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day.'

Amen. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord! Yea, saith the Spirit, they rest from their labours, and their works do follow them.' Amen.

The following short Account of Dr. Hunter's Death is taken from the Christian Magazine for June:

On Saturday, April 16, Dr. Hunter attended public worship in the church of North Leith, where the Lord's Supper was to be celebrated on the Sabbath following. He was then in his usual health; but next morning was seized with an inflammatory disorder, which put an end to his valuable life on the evening of Friday, April 28, in the 66th year of his age, and 39th of his ministry. He was ordained minister of the new church in Dumfries, 1770, and translated in 1779 to the New Grayfriars Church, Edinburgh. In the same year he was associated with the late Professor Hamilton, as conjunct Professor of Divinity; and on the death of Dr. George Wishart; one of the Ministers of the Tron Church, Dr. Hunter succeeded him in that collegiate

*The text on which the funeral-discourse was founded, Acts ii. 23, 24 Barnabas exhorted them all, That, with purpose of heart, they would cleave unto the Lord; for he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith; and much people was added unto the Lord.'

charge in 1786. The duties of these important offices he con tinued to discharge, with great honour to himself and advantage to the church, till his last illness. Dr. Hunter was acquainted with vital piety from his earliest years; and, in the whole of his conduct through life, in every situation in which he was placed; in the pulpit, in the chair, in the circles of his private friends, the power of true religion was displayed with an uniformity, with an energy, and with a beauty, which procured to his character the veneration and love of all who knew him. As his life eminently adorned the doctrine of God our Saviour, so his peaceful and triumphant death illustrated its efficacy, in supporting the heart of the Christian in the hour of dissolution. From the commencement of his disorder, he anticipated its fatal issue, and died full of the lively hope of a blessed immortality.

THE OMNIPRESENCE OF JEHOVAH.

THOU, GOD, seest me!' is a sentence that should be engraven on all our minds; and may be uttered by us with propriety wheresoever we are, or in whatsoever we are engaged. A view of any one of the divine attributes as described in the Scriptures, is adapted to produce the most benign effects on our minds; but perhaps nothing has so strong a tendency to render solemn and soft the heart, as a scriptural view of the divine Omnipresence. We may certainly have distinct ideas of this doctrine; for the pages of inspiration clearly teach that God is everywhere.

In essence. Not like the sun in the heavens, does he himself remain stationary, while the effects only of his existence are felt in every part of the universe; but in his essence he is really and truly wherever thought can reach. The High and Lofty One inhabiteth eternity, and dwelleth with him also that is of a contrite heart. The Lord is in Heaven, and not far from every one of us The Most High is not confined to temples made with hands, neither can the heaven of heavens contain him. No one place can put us at greater distance from him than another; and, however he may conceal or unveil himself, he is yet continually and intimately nigh to all.

In knowledge. Known unto God are all his works, neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and open to the eye of Him with whom we have to do. Vain man would be wise; but, alas! how circumscribed is our knowledge! In every thing it finds a check, and all around us hang impenetrable clouds; but God is his own light! Before him all clouds evaporate, all mysteries vanish, all objects are transparent! Desires are words to him, and his eye is on the ambush of secret prayer!

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In influence. His knowledge is not speculative,-his presence

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is not uninfluential. What shall I address that does not feel his influence? Shall I ask the dashing billows who made them roll, and set their limits, over which they cannot pass?—or, shall I question loud the thunder and the whirlwind, for their ability and authority to act? Methinks I hear a voice replying out of the whirlwind, I gave to the sea its bounds; I hold the wind in my fist, and ride upon the storm. To my nod all Nature owes her birth, and the resting of my hand would be her dissolution." But why address inanimate objects? Am not I myself a living proof of a First Cause, ever present and operating? Who sustains my nerves ? Who supplies my breath? Who tunes my voice? The Almighty maketh my heart soft. It is God that worketh in us to will and to do, of his own good pleasure. In him we all live, and move, and have our being.

In government. When the purposes of men oppose his, how sure are they to be frustrated! The arrow which they direct with all their force and skill to a favourite mark, is carried to one quite contrary; but when a man is pursuing the same end as He, how certain his success! Mountains of opposition flow down before him, and whatsover he doeth, it is made to prosper. Every movement then in this vast machine is at God's disposal, and subject to his controul. In the wildest commotions He remains perfectly tranquil, signifies his will, and pities those who would attempt to stay his hand. The Lord has prepared his throne in the heavens; his government ruleth over all.

We may deduce from this doctrine, inferences respecting

God.

His spirituality and incomprehensibleness. A spirit is indivisible. Wherever it is, it is all there. In what a supereminent manner must this apply to Him who filleth Heaven and earth! The divine perfections are not parts of Deity, but rather the Deity seen in different views, or acting in different ways. God is One! A spirit is not to be seen; and no mau hath seen God at any time. Tell us, ye ancient Jews, what was his form ?-for he was never nearer to any than to you. Ye saw his glory! — ye heard a voice! but neither heard his voice at any time, nor ye saw his shape. To what then shall we liken God? - how represent him to our minds ?-how reduce him to our comprehension ? He is incomprehensible,-past finding out! Lo! these are parts of his ways! but how little a portion of him is known! Mortals, confess your ignorance! Bow and own your nothingness before the incomprehensible God!

His intelligence and unchangeableness. All things are known to him at one view, without any succession. He sees the past without recollection, the present without medium, the future without forethought! To him all truths are but one idea, all places but one point, all times but one moment!' If then nothing can arise that he did not always see, what can waver his

designs, or ever induce him in the least to alter the thing which has gone out of his mouth?

The certainty and correctness of his future judgment. Will he fail to publish what he has seen? No; but God will bring every work into judgment, with every secret thought; and, havIng seen actions in all their springs and bearings, his judgment will be according to truth. Who then may stand before him? Those only who are united by faith to the Divine Surety, whose souls are cleansed by renewing grace, whose subsequent actions have evinced a change of heart.

Let us all make use of this doctrine, to shew us

The thickness of that sinful veil which conceals him from a human soul; for since he is everywhere, and since his presence must be a fulness of light and glory, how is it that a man can avoid perceiving him ?-how is it that he can enter and leave his courts, where his saints behold his glory, without having once felt an impression that God was there? Oh, Sin! offspring of Satan! what a sable mantle, what an impenetrable veil hast thou thrown around the human soul!

The deep repentance that is due from sinners against him. Who can understand his errors? No man can number them up, -no man can tell their aggravation, no man can bear them in mind! Sinners do not ordinarily deposit their sins in their memories; and Satan is never wanting in helping to forgetfulness of them but God has seen them all, and sees them all fully, and sees them all now; and can a humbling acknowledgment, unblushing confessions of them, be all the repentance he requires, as that the grace of repentance from him produces? Oh! deceive not yourselves! If he has forgiven your sins, he has made the remembrance of them bitter. If you have a gospel hope that they do not stand against you in his judgment, they will often stand before you to affect and mollify your heart.

The wonders of his mercy in revealing himself to souls like ours. Has he appeared to you, and indulged you with communion, communion sweet, communion vast and high? Think of the state in which he found you. Poor and miserable, blind and naked, is the picture which inspiration has drawn of it; but he passed by, and it was a time of love. He said, Live, awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead!-Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee;' and now you are one with Jesus, now you have communion with the Almighty; you walk by faith, and you walk with God. Why did he behold you with delight? Surely, you are exclaiming, How is it, Lord, that thou wilt manifest thy self to me, and not unto the world?

That communion with him is to he had in all places. In the temple and in the closet; indeed, his invitation has peculiar force.-Seek force. Seek ye my face:'- but everywhere a pious heart may find a closet. In a rock Moses may turn aside to converse with