be have been in another state, or otherwise in their room, or none at all; if "so it had pleased thee." All the external lots, in time, the most contingent things, were eternal draughts of absolute sovereignty. Is not the eternal resound of our endless songs, "Not unto us, not unto us, but unto thee," O absolute Sovereign of all things, the glory for ever!” Psa. cxv. 1. Wicked men and devils have mightily endeavoured to obscure the glory of thy absolute sovereignty, by ascribing undetermined and absolute sovereignty to intellectual agents over their actions. Stupid madness! are not all things at thy beck? Whatever pleased thee, hast thou done, in heaven and on earth: the hearts of men are in thine hands; as the rivers of waters, thou turnest them whithersoever thou wilt. Psa. cxxxv. 6; xxi. 1. Thou removest the mountains, and they know it not; thou overturnest them in thine anger; thou takest away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth; they grope in the dark without light. Though thou art not the cause of such a monster as sin, yet sin could never have entered within thy creation without thy infinite counsel; its existence, or non-existence, was at thy disposing; for thou wilt have mercy on whom thou wilt have mercy; and whom thou wilt thou hardenest, Rom. ix. 18. Hast thou not power over the same lump, O great Potter, to make of it any vessel thou pleasest, either of honour," or "dishonour?" Mayest thou not do in thine own things what thou wilt? Blasphemous miscreants, your blasphemies redound to his glory; for this were you created, 66 66 that his absolute sovereignty might be clearly manifested over you, the "vessels of wrath, fitted to destruction?" Rom. ix. 22. And that sovereignty is cast in justice-mould; so that ye most deservedly undergo eternal wrath: he shall have eternal glory over you, O haters of his glory! these beings of yours are so many everstanding monuments of his perfections. Oh the depths of the riches, both of thy wisdom and knowledge! how unsearchable are thy judgments, and thy ways past finding out? For who hath known thy mind? or who hath been thy counsellor? For of thee, and through thee, and to thee are all things. Rom. xi. 33, 34, 36. Here is my heart satisfied, since the disputers of thy ways are eternally confounded. Roar out now your blasphemies, vile creatures; you are indeed in your enemy's hand; Divine justice hath overtaken you every billow of vengeance that runs over soul and body, might dash to nothing ten thousand worlds. But he holds you up with one hand, and dashes on with the other; strong influences, for sustaining a being, are ever showered down upon you. Why strive you against him, silly bits of nothings? For he gives not account of any of his matters: far be it from him, that he should do wickedly: for the work of a man is rewarded unto him. For he layeth not upon man more than right, that he should enter into judgment with him, Job xxxiv. 23. Can a creature be more just than God? can a creature be more pure than his Maker? Behold, he putteth no trust in his servants, and his angels he chargeth with folly: behold, he taketh away, and none can hinder. Who may say unto him, What doest thou? Can we by searching find him out? can we find out the Almighty unto perfection? Job iv. 18; ix. 12; xi. 7. Shall creatures shape thee out, according to their finite conceptions? shall they think to comprehend thy ways? art thou not altogether wonderful in thy working, O Infinite ? What comprehendeth infinite excellency, except an infinite understanding? Shall we not be ever diving further and further, and be ever beginning to dive? Wert thou, and thy goings out from eternity, comprehensible by us, then wert thou not God, the infinite JEHOVAH; thou dwellest in light which no man can approach unto; thou art he, whom no man hath seen, or can see. Can we stoop low enough before thy throne? What are beings of yesterday to thee? What are ever so many worlds before thee? Shall empty nothings quarrel at what they cannot comprehend? Thy thoughts are not as our thoughts, neither are thy ways as our ways. Who has directed thy Spirit, or being thy counsellor, has taught thee? Who instructed thee, and taught thee in the path of judgment? Behold, all creatures are before thee as nothing, less than nothing, and vanity. Isa. lv. 8; xl. 13, 14, 17. Oh boundless ocean of all perfections! we are for ever swallowed up in thy infinite fulness. Oh superabundancy of all happiness and joys! Oh more than perfect satisfaction, in the full accomplishment of all desires! Oh more than sweetness, surpassing all sweetness! Oh heaven! Oh glory! how massy, solid, real, substantial, and enduring art thou! Oh only life! Oh flower and vigour of all lives! Oh life of beholding, praising, rejoicing, wondering! Oh life of raptures! Oh life of living! Oh life of lives! 47. A world of free most excellent world possible. What speak we, men and angels, redeeming grace, the of the limits of Divine power? what talk we of his manifesting his excellency in one, or many, or innumerable worlds? is it not manifested to the uttermost? The production of ever so many armies of creatures can add nothing thereto, since the manifestation of God in the flesh is the principal design of eternity; and all other manifestations are in order to this. There stands One among us all, who is the Firstborn of every creature existent, or possible; here is the Man, in whom is visibly to be seen such glory, majesty, loveliness, sweetness, compassion, mercy, justice, wisdom, and all treasures of overflowing fulness of excellency, in such an incomprehensible, transcendent, eminent and superabundant manner, as all the beholders are overwhelmed in a sea of delightsome ecstacies for evermore. Couldst thou, O my God, have manifested thyself more clearly, familiarly, sweetly, condescendingly? Away with other worlds, though they were; this is the only one, since my all lovely Wellbeloved dwells here. Thy beauty darts round about thee, and fills this world with surpassing glory; yea, were this world myriads of myriads of stages, and ever so many times greater than it is, one ray of thy countenance, one glance of thine eye, would enlighten and adorn it all. What though we could view and comprehend at once thousands of thousands of created paradises 66 of beauty; one sight of thy God-like visage would swallow up all. Angels, had you such a sweet manifestation of Divine beauty in the beginning, as now? Is not our heaven now two heavens? since the essential image of God standeth here, clothed with the human nature, as our "everlasting King, Priest and Prophet," the great Lord, Mediator of the new covenant," the boundless treasure of all fulness, out of which we shall all be filled and satisfied for evermore. Are we not, as it were, constrained betwixt standing back, and drawing near? Those who behold thee, what can they think of themselves? Yet, who can see and take rest until they be folded in thy embraces? Verily thou art both the shame and glory of creatures; created excellence is exalted in thee, to the highest pitch; and all created excellence is beautified and obscured before thee. This is the Man, men and angels, by whom all things in heaven and earth do flourish and bloom: this is the "Tree of life," the great Vine of glory, into which we are all ingrafted, as so many boughs and twigs; all the glory of his Father's house hangs upon him. This is He, in whom we have been ordained to this blessedness from eternity: this is He who was promised to the people under the first dispensation of the gospel, who was held forth by types and shadows unto them. This is He, by whom the carnal and beggarly elements of the world were destroyed; the clear, evident gospel dispensation was brought in; the hand-writing of the law cancelled; the vail betwixt Jew and Gentile was rent asunder; the nations were ingrafted into the old stock of |