to his desires, for such an one to despond of mercy, is the greatest disgrace and dishonour that he can cast upon God: for, if there be any such attribute belonging unto his nature as mercy, it is certainly thine; and, if there be not, think then what a God dost thou serve! Clear up, therefore, O Christian: scatter all thy dark and gloomy thoughts: smooth out thy wrinkled conscience: and, whilst thou perseverest in a careful and sincere obedience unto his commands, cast thyself boldly upon his mercy; and, believe it, it will never sink under thee, nor suffer thee to sink into that hell which thou now fearest. Doubt nothing: thou canst not perish, so long as the mercy of God endureth. And, whilst thou thus, with an humble confidence, layest the whole weight and stress of thy soul upon it, thou dost more glorify God, than those doubting and perplexed souls, who always serve him suspiciously, and dare scarce approach near him lest he should devour them: certainly, this is so contrary to the nature of God, who is love and goodness itself to those that serve him, that he cannot but take it ill, when they seem to account of him no otherwise than an ireful and ravenous deity. Fear not: this is no presumption, but a holy faith, a filial freedom of spirit, which is most acceptable unto God. He delights in the services of those, who address themselves unto him with an open heart and a cheerful soul: Ps. cxlvii. 11. The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.

(4thly) Another way by which we ought to glorify the mercy. and goodness of God, is, by Praising him for all the Effects and Expressions of it.

Ps. 1. 23. Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me. Praise is God's tribute; the only impost, that He lays upon all his benefits: it is all the return, that he expects from us. Certainly, they are guilty of foul and black ingratitude, who would defraud God even of this small acknowledgment. Our whole lives are thick set with mercies: wheresoever we turn, we find ourselves encompassed and surrounded with blessings. Now what canst thou do less than lift up thy heart and thy voice to God, and give him thanks? this God is pleased to account a glorifying of him, because it owneth his free goodness to be the original of all: and, therefore, when the ten lepers were cleansed, and only one of them returned to return thanks for his cure, our Saviour, Luke xvii. 18. saith, There are not found, that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. Reflect now upon the

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sum and stock of thy mercies. Hast thou riches, or health, or repute, or friends, or all of these? ascribe it to the mercy of God, which hath so plentifully furnished thee with all these mercies: say," Lord, I have received them all from thy bounty, and I desire to return the thankful acknowledgment of all to thy glory. Accept of that share, which alone is worthy of thee; even my humble thanks and praise for them." Whilst thou thus praisest God for his goodness, thou payest him his tribute : all the rest is thine; which thou mayest enjoy and use with comfort.

And thus I have, at large, shewn you how you ought to glorify God in his Mercy and Goodness: viz. by your conformity unto it; preparing yourselves to be fit vessels of it; trusting and relying upon it; and blessing and praising him for it.

3dly. Another attribute, which we are to glorify, is the divine Immensity and Omnipresence.

That this is an essential attribute and property of the divine nature, both Scripture and Reason do abundantly testify. He pervades all beings, is excluded out of none, neither included in any 1 Kings viii. 27. Behold, the heaven, and heaven of heavens, cannot contain thee; and, certainly, if God cannot be contained in them, but his essence dilates and expands itself infinitely beyond and above them, into that endless and unwearied space in which never any thing was created nor doth exist but God only, much less then can he be contained within the compass of any other finite and created being.

Now we ought to glorify this attribute of God's omnipresence, (1st) By our Reliance and Dependance upon him, in all our fears and dangers.

Art thou surrounded with dangers on every side, and in the very jaws of death and destruction? yet then consider, that thy God, who is every where present, is likewise present with thee there; and there is no danger so great nor imminent, that can fright him from thee: he, who hath been a sun to thee in thy prosperity, will now be a shield to thee in thine adversity. Indeed, we ought not rashly to run headlong upon dangers, when we have no call to expose ourselves to them: this is not to trust God, but to tempt him: and therefore our Saviour well answered the Devil, when he impudently bid him cast himself down from the pinnacle of the temple, for that God would give his angels charge to bear him up in their hands that he should not dash his

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foot against a stone, It is written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God; for it is a tempting of God, when we rely upon his presence and protection to preserve us from those dangers, into which upon that presumption we voluntarily and needlessly precipitate ourselves. But yet, if, either in the way of thy ordinary employment or else in some special and extraordinary cases, thou art called to do that, which perhaps may be attended with danger and hazard, refuse it not; but glorify the omnipresence of God and his power, by depending upon him, who will always be nearer unto thee than dangers can be. We shew ourselves to be very irrational and childish, in being secure and confident in some places and at some times, but timorous and fearful at others as if to be alone or in the dark were more justly dreadful, than to be in the company of our friends at noon-day is not God every where present, at all times? God beholds us clearly in the most gloomy night: Darkness and light are both alike to him: neither can any evil have power over us, one time more than another, without his permission; and why then should our fears? Isa. xli. 10. Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God....yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness and, again, v. 14. Fear not, thou worm Jacob....I will help thee, saith the Lord, and no foot of violence shall crush thee: so, again, Isa. xliii. 2. When thou passest....through the fire....and through the waters, I will be with thee. And, in the confidence of this omnipresence of God, the Psalmist resolves not to be terrified with the most dreadful shapes and apparitions of danger: Ps. xxiii. 4. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, though death and danger should meet me full in their most dismal shapes, yet I will fear no evil: for thou art with me. A great reason why we are so frequently overtaken with these low and unbecoming fears, is, because we do not sufficiently steep our thoughts in the consideration of this attribute of God's omnipresence; and so we sculk, and tremble, and bewray a great deal of base and degenerous fear: as though we lived without a God in the world, and there were no supreme mind present with us to help and relieve us; but we were left wholly to shift for ourselves. It is the observation of a heathen philosopher (and I think it is Plutarch) That if brute beasts be animated and encouraged by the presence of a man, because he is of a superior nature to them; how much more should man himself be encouraged by the presence of the Great God with

him! Glorify him, therefore, by a bold and courageous encountering of all dangers, that his Providence or his Law shall call thee to and let it appear, that thou canst despise all those Mormos and hideous spectres of dangers, which affright others; because God is present with thee, and he is able to deliver thee. (2dly) We ought to glorify this attribute of God's omnipresence, by our constant maintaining Communion and Fellow. ship with him.

Thou canst not say, "Alas! God is in heaven above, and I am here upon the earth; and what converse or intercourse can I maintain with his Divine Majesty?" no: believe it, God is present with thee wheresoever thou art, and as much within thee as thy soul is in thy body. He is not a God afar off; but he is near unto thee, even in thy heart, and in the very centre of thy being and therefore thou mayest converse with him, by the silent whispers of thy thoughts. When the heart doth but breathe and pant towards God, when it conceives thoughts too big and quick to be uttered, thoughts which dart themselves like lightning out of our bosom into his; even this is, in the account of God, as truly solid and substantial communion with him, as the performance of the more solemn and conspicuous duties of religion. This is converse with God; a converse, which no place, no employment, no condition of life can possibly hinder. Be your affairs never so weighty and urgent, it is impossible that they should crowd so close together, as to leave no room for heavenly thoughts to come in between them. Be you in what company you will, if you cannot turn the discourse heavenward, yet you may well turn your thoughts thither. For ejaculations are winged messengers: or, if they were not, yet God is always present with us, and lays his ear to our very hearts; and hears the voice of our thoughts more distinctly, than we can hear the voice of one another's words. (3dly) Glorify God's omnipresence, by demeaning yourselves with an humble and reverential Fear continually before him.

Wheresoever you are, imprint this consideration chiefly upon your hearts: "Now I am with God: he is present with me, in the city, in the field, in the room, in the congregation, in my closet, in all my ways and converse in the world. And, what! can I be vain, and frothy, and light, when I am before so great and glorious a majesty? If the presence of some earthly prince strike an awe and reverence into us when we come before him, how much more ought the consideration of God's presence,

in comparison with whom all the glory of the greatest monarchs upon earth is but a silly piece of pageantry!" Now those, who would express honour towards another, will not willingly do any thing that is distasteful to him, or unworthy of his presence. And, let me tell you, that there is only one thing unworthy of the presence of God; and that is, sin: though thou art poor, or diseased, and the most despicable creature among the sons of men, so that they account it a kind of disparagement to them to be present with thee; yet God is present with thee, and thinks it no dishonour, for there is nothing in this unworthy of his glory: but, if thou art a sinful, lewd, debauched, and vicious wretch, thereby indeed thou dishonourest the presence of God, and dost that which is unworthy for him to behold; for God is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity, as the Prophet speaks, Hab. i. 13. If, therefore, you would glorify this attribute of God, let your conversation be always as in his sight and under his eye, with all gravity and seriousness, with all reverence and submission, with all purity and holiness. And those, who so honour his common presence with them here on earth, he will honour with his glorious presence in heaven.

4thly. Another attribute, that we are to glorify, is the Wisdom and Omniscience of God.

Indeed, his wisdom and omniscience do somewhat differ. For omniscience respects only the bare act of God's intention, whereby he knows and sees all things: but wisdom is a practical knowledge; and connotes counsel, in the government and guidance of all things to his own prefixed and fore-ordained ends. But, yet, because they are so near alike, I shall speak of them together.

Now God's wisdom and knowledge may be glorified by us, many ways.

(1st) By our endeavours to increase in wisdom and knowledge.

All wisdom is a bright ray of the deity darted down into the soul it is the light of a rational creature, and doth mightily assimilate us unto God, for God, saith the Apostle, is light; and the more light we have beaming into our understandings, the more expressly we do bear the resemblance and image of God. Certainly, a dark and ignorant soul can never glorify God: for, as light is necessarily required to all reflections; so,