SERM. Time, can change his Hatred towards un VII.

righteous Actions; or hinder him, without true Repentance and effectual Amendment, from punishing unrighteous Men. His Wisdom, his Honour, his Goodness, obliges him to preserve the Dignity of his Laws and Government; and 'tis therefore a dreadful thing for willful Sinners to fall into the hands of the ever-living, everunchangeable God.

3dly, On the contrary, the consideration of the Mercy of Him, who is unchangeable in his Perfections, ought to be a no less constant incouragement to such as are truly penitent, and sincerely desirous to amend. Men, are oft times weak and passionate, and implacable when provoked : But the Mercy and Compassion of God, is, like all the other Perfections of his Nature, unchangeably ready to extend itself towards those, who at any

time become capable Objects of it. And from the same confideration, appears likewise the absolute and indispensable Necessity of Repentance : For as the Mercy of God is always open to the penitent, so from it the impenitent are irreversibly excluded.

"Tis impossible, that God should change: SERM,
The Sinner may change, and must do so, VII.
or perish.

4thly and Lastly; As Unchangeableness
is an Excellency and Perfection in God;
fo in Man on the contrary, to change his
opinion and manner of acting, when there
is juft cause so to do, is one of his great-
eft Commendations. And the Reason in
Both, is the same; namely, that Right
and Truth are to be followed unchange-
ably. As therefore God, who never can
err in his judgment of Right and Truth,
must consequently be unchangeable in his
acting according to it; fo, for the very
same Reason, frail and fallible Man, when-
ever he finds he has erred from what is
True and Right, must immediately re-
turn unto it. But in things certainly and
demonstrably True ; or which, upon the
fullest and most careful examination, are
found evidently and undeniably Good; in
these things, men ought to be firm and
ftedfast without wavering ; and not like
children, tossed to and fro with
of doctrine, by the Night of men, and cun-
ning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to

ز

every wind

M 4

SER M.deceive. For Jesus Christ, i. e. the Doc-
VII. trine or Gospel of Christ, is the same ye-

sterday, and to day, and for ever ; Be not
therefore (fays the Apostle ) carried about
with divers and Prange doetrines ; for it
is a good thing that the heart be establish-
ed with grace. And our Saviour himself,
Rev. iii. 15, I would thou wert cold or bot,
and not luke-warm : The meaning is; If
men pretend to make profession of Reli-
gion at all, they ought to be, not luke-
warm, not, careless and indifferent, in
matters of Religion; but they ought to
be zealous, that is, not hot in their pal-
sions, not, fierce and contentious about
disputable opinions, about things uncertain
and indifferent; but zealous and stedfast
in the pursuit and practice, of what is
clearly and indisputably Just and Right,
I conclude with the exhortation of St Paul,
1 Cor. xv. 58, Therefore, my beloved bre-
thren, be

ye stedfast, unmoveable, clways abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that

1 Kings vjii. 27.
But will God indeed dwell on the

Earth? bebold, the Heaven, and
Heaven of Heavens, cannot con-
tain thee: -----

S the Eternity of God sig-SERM.

nifies his continued existence, VIII. A

through all the periods of
boundless Duration : fo his

Immensty Omnipresence,
fignifies his being equally present in every

Part,

or

SER M.Part of the infinite Expansion of the UVIII. niverse. In discoursing upon which At

tribute of the Divine Nature, I shall ist, indeavour briefly to prove the Truth of the Doctrine itself, that God must be immense or omnipresent. 2dly, I shall offer fome particular Obfervations concerning the Nature and Circumstances of This Divine Perfection. And 3dly, I shall consider ( which is the most important of all,) how This Meditation, may become useful to us in influencing our Practice.

First, In order to prove the Truth of the Assertion itself, that God must of Necessity be Omnipresent; 'tis to be observed, (and it may easily be apprehended even by the meanest Capacities, ) that if Being or Existence be at all a Perfection, ( as it manifestiy is the Foundation of all other Perfections,) it will follow, that in like manner as continuing to exist through larger Periods of Time, so alto Extent of Existence (and consequently of Power,) through larger portions of Space, is the having a greater degree of this Perfection. And as That Being, which is absolutely perfect, must with regard to Duration be

Eternal;