exalt themselves greatly, yet still he has been above them, and has accomplished his designs by them, and at last has brought them down. Haughty Nebuchadnezzar, when he had broken the nations to pieces, as if he had been the hammer of the whole earth, now thought himself somebody; and Alex ander the Great, when conquering the world, aspired to be thought the son of Jupiter. But the most high God, the great and almighty Governor of the world, always had such scourges of mankind only as a rod in his hand, with which he has executed judgment upon a wicked world. Howbeit, they meant not so, neither did their hearts think so. But it was in their hearts to gratify their ambition, avarice and revenge. However, he was above them; and always such have been in his hands, as the ax is in the hands of him that heweth therewith, or as the saw is in the hands of him that shaketh it; or as the rod is in the hand of him that lifteth it up. And when he has done with the rod, he always breaks it and burns it. See Isa. x. 19.

And as this great King has discovered his almighty power, by crushing rebellions in his kingdom, and subduing rebels, so he has, also, in protecting his friends, and working deliverance for his people. He made a path for his people through the sea; he led them through the wilderness. He gave them water to drink out of the rock; and fed them with angels' food. In the day-time he led them by a cloud, and all the night with the light of fire. He brought them to the promised land, and drove out the heathen before them; and in all their distresses, whenever they cried unto him, he delivered them. And as the supreme Governor of the world, in the days of old, did thus discover his almighty power in governing among his intelligent creatures, so he is still, in various ways and manners, in his providential dispensations, evidently discovering that he can do all things. And his people see it and believe it; and admire and adore. Read Psalm cv.

(3.) Again, His infinite wisdom is discovered in an endless variety of instances; in all his government throughout all his dominions; in his managing all things to the glory of his Majesty, to the good of his loyal subjects, and to the confusion

of his foes. There has never any thing happened in all his dominions, and never will, but has been, and shall be made entirely subservient to his honour and glory. Even the contempt cast upon him by his rebellious subjects, he turns to his greater glory; as in the case of Pharaoh, who set up himself against God, and said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey him? I know not the Lord, nor will I let Israel go. And he exalted himself, and dealt proudly and haughtily; and hardened his heart, and was resolved he would not regard God, nor be bowed nor conquered by him; for he despised him in his heart. But the more he carried himself, as if there were no God, the more were the being and perfections of God made manifest; for the more he hardened his heart, the more stout and stubborn he was, the more God bonoured himself in subduing him. Yea, God, in his infinite wisdom, suffered him to be as high and haughty, as stout and stubborn, as he pleased; he took off all restraints from him; permitted the magicians to imitate the miracles of Moses, so that Pharaoh, in seeing, might not see, nor be convinced; and he ordered that the plagues should last but for a short season, that Pharaoh might have respite; and thus it was that God hardened his heart. And God, in his infinite wisdom, did all this with a view to his own glory; as he tells Pharaoh by the hand of Moses" Such and such plagues I design to bring upon you, and to do so and so with you." And, indeed, for this cause have I raised thee up, for to show in thee my power, and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth. Exod. ix. 16. And, accordingly, God was illustriously honoured, at last, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, at the Red Sea; and the Egyptians, and all the neighbouring nations, were made to know that he was the LORD; and his name became dreadful among the heathen. And we find that, in three or four hundred years after, the Philistines had not forgotten it; for when the ark, in the days of Eli, was carried into the camp of Israel, the Philistines were sore afraid, and said, "God is come into the camp: Wo unto us: Who shall deliver us out of the hands of these mighty Gods? These are the Gods that smote the

Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness," &c. 1 Sam. iv.

So God wisely ordered and over-ruled all things that befell the children of Israel in the wilderness, to accomplish the ends he had in view. His designs were to get himself a great name, and fill the whole earth with his glory, (Num. xiv. 21.) and to try and humble his people, and make them know, that it was not for their righteousness that he brought them into the land of Canaan, (Deut. ix.) And every thing that came to pass, for those forty years, was admirably calculated to attain these ends. The news of Pharaoh's overthrow; of God's coming down upon mount Sinai, in the presence of all Israel, and abiding there so long a time with such awful majesty; and of the pillar of a cloud by day, and of fire by night; of the manna; of the water flowing out of a rock, and following them; of their murmurings and insurrections, and God's judgments upon them; I say, the news of these, and other things of this nature, that happened to them for those forty years, flew all the world over, and filled all the nations of the earth with the greatest astonishment; and made them think there was no God like the God of Israel. (Numb. xiv. 13, 14, 15.) By all these things, and by God's bringing his people, at last, to the possession of the land of Canaan, according to his promise, there was exhibited a specimen of God's infinite knowledge, power, wisdom, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth; and that before the eyes of all the nations. And so the whole earth was filled with his glory; i. e. with the clear manifestations of those perfections in which his glory consists. And thus his great end was obtained. And, in the mean time, all the wanderings, and trials, and sins, and sorrows of the children of Israel, together with all the wonderful works which their eyes beheld, and wherein God discovered himself for those forty years, had a natural tendency to try them, to humble them, and break their hearts, and make them know, that, not for their righteousness, nor for the uprightness of their hearts, did God at last show them that great mercy; and to convince them of the exceeding great obligations they were under to love, and fear, and serve the Lord for ever. And so, the other great

end which God had in view was accomplished. Deut. viii. ix. x. And now, all these things were by God wisely done; and in this his conduct, his infinite wisdom is to be seen*. And thus it is in all God's dispensations, throughout all his dominions, with regard to the whole universe in general, and to every intelligent creature in particular. His works are all done in wisdom; and so his infinite wisdom is discovered in all and hence God appears infinitely glorious in the eyes of his people. Deut. xxxii. 3, 4. Psalm civ. 24. cv. 1. 45.

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1 Cor. i. 24. 31.

(4.) Again, His infinite purity and holiness is also discovered in his government of the world; in all that he has done to establish right, and discountenance wrong, throughout all his dominions. His creating angels and men in his own image, with his law written on their hearts, manifested his disposition, and showed what he was pleased with. But his public conduct, as moral Governor of the world, has more evidently discovered the very temper of his heart, and shown how he loves right and hates wrong, to an infinite degree. Governors, among men, discover much of their disposition, and show what they love and what they hate, by their laws; and they show how fervent their love and hatred is, by all the methods they take to enforce them; and so does the great Governor of the world. By his laws, by his promises and threatenings, by his past conduct, and declared designs for the future, he manifests how he loves moral good and hates moral evil.

If God had so ordered that Abraham had been born in the land of Canaan, and his posterity had multiplied greatly, and the other nations gradually, by sicknesses and wars, had wasted away and come to nothing, until there were none but the posterity of Abraham left, and they had filled the land, God's hand then would not have been seen; none of these excellent ends attained; all would have been resolved into natural causes. Therefore, God contrived where Abraham should be born; how he should leave his own country; have a promise of the land of Canaan, and how his seed should come to be in Egypt; come to be in great bondage and distress; how he would send, and how he would deliver them, and how they should carry themselves, and what should happen; and how every thing should turn out at last: he laid the whole plan with a view to those excellent ends his eye was upon. It was wisely contrived, and, when it came to be acted over, his infinite wisdom was discovered.

By his infinite understanding, he is perfectly acquainted with himself, and with all his intelligent creatures; and so perfectly knows what conduct in him towards them is right, fit, and amiable, and such as becomes such a one as he is; and also perfectly knows what conduct in his creatures towards him, and towards each other, is fit and amiable, and so their duty. He sees what is right, and infinitely loves it, because it is right. He sees what is wrong, and infinitely hates it, because it is wrong; and, in his whole conduct, as Governor of the world, he appears to be just what he is at heart-an infinite friend to right, and an infinite enemy to

wrong.

He takes state; sets up himself as a God; bids all the world adore him, love, and obey him, with all their hearts; and that upon pain of eternal damnation, in case of the least defect; and promises eternal life and glory, in case of perfect obedience. This is the language of his law, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbour as thyself: Do this, and live; disobey, and die. And now all that infinite esteem for himself, and infinite regard for his own honour, which he herein manifests, does not result from a proud or a selfish spirit; for there is no such thing in his nature: nor does he threaten damnation for sin, because it hurts him; or promise eternal life to obedience, because it does him any good: for he is infinitely above us, and absolutely independent of us, and cannot receive advantage or disadvantage from us. Job xxii. 2, 3. and xxxv. 6, 7. But it results from the infinite holiness of his nature. He loves and honours himself as he does, because since he is what he is, it is right and fit he should. He bids the world adore, love and obey him with all their hearts, because, considering what he is, and what they are, it is infinitely fit and right. He commands us to love our neighbour as ourselves, because this also, in the nature of things, is right. And while he promises eternal life to the obedient, and threatens eternal damnation to the disobedient, he shows how infinitely he loves righteousness, and hates iniquity. His promising eternal life and glory to perfect obedience, does indeed manifest the infinite goodness and bountifulness of his nature; but then his promising all,