not countenance them in their impieties. So long as they are under observation, they will not dare to yield to imperious desires: they must shrink into a solitude, ere they will perpetrate crime: or give indulgence to lusts. We can feel confident in respect of the most worldly-minded amongst you, that, if there could be always at his side an individual of whom he stood in awe, and whose good opinion he was anxious to cultivate, he would abstain from many of his cherished gratifications, and walk, comparatively, a course of self-denial and virtue. He would be arrested in far the greater part of his purposes, if he knew that he was acting under the eye of this individual; and it would only be when assured that the inspection was suspended or withdrawn, that he would follow unreservedly the bent of his desires. But it is amongst the most surprising of moral phenomena, that the effect, which would be produced by a human inspector, is scarcely ever produced by a divine. If a man can elude the observation of his fellowmen, he straightway acts as though he had eluded all observation: place him where there is no other of his own race, and he will feel as if, in the strictest sense, alone. The remembrance that the eye of Deity is upon him, that the infinite God is continually at his side-so that there is absurdity in speaking of a solitude; every spot throughout the expansions of space being inhabited by the Almighty-this remembrance, we say, is without any practical effect; or rather the fact, though universally known, is not considered; and there

fore the man, though in contact with his Maker, fancies himself in loneliness, and acts as if certain of being unobserved.

But let consideration be superadded to knowledge, and there will necessarily be produced a fear or dread of the Creator. There is nothing so overwhelming to the mind, when giving itself to the contemplation of a great first cause, as the Omnipresence of God. That, if I were endowed with unlimited powers of motion, so that in a moment I might traverse unnumbered leagues, I could never for a lonely instant escape from God; that He would remain at the spot I left, and yet be found at the spot I reached; of all truths this is perhaps the most bewildering and incomprehensible, seeing that, more than any other, it separates the Infinite Being from all finite. But let me consider this truth; let me, if it baffle my understanding, endeavour to keep it in active remembrance. Wheresoever I am, and whatsoever I do, "thou, O God, seest me." Then it is not possible that the least item of my conduct may escape observation; that I can be so stealthy in my wickedness as to commit it undetected. Human laws are often severe in their enactments; but they may be often transgressed without discovery, and therefore with impunity. But there is no such possibility in regard to divine laws. The Legislator himself is ever at my side. The murkiness of the midnight shrouds me not from Him. The solitariness of the scene is no proof against His presence. The depths of my own heart lie open to His

inspection. And thus every action, every word, every thought, is as distinctly marked as though there were none but myself in the universe, and all the watchfulness, and all the scrutiny of God, were employed on my deportment. What then? "when I consider, I am afraid of Him." The more I reflect, the more awful God appears. To break the law in the sight of the Lawgiver; to brave the sentence in the face of the Judge; there is a hardihood in this which would seem to overpass the worst human presumption; and we can only say of the man who knows that he does this whensoever he offends, that he knows, but does not consider.

Oh! we are sure that an abiding sense of God's presence would put such a restraint on the outgoings of wickedness, that, to make it universal were almost to banish impiety from the earth. We are sure that, if every man went to his business, or his recreation, fraught with the consciousness that the Being, who will decide his destiny for eternity, accompanies him in his every step, observes all his doings, and scrutinizes all his motives, an apprehension of the dreadfulness of the Almighty, and of the utter peril of violating His precepts, would take possession of the whole mass of society; and there would be a confession from all ranks and all ages, that, however they might have known God as the Omnipresent, and yet made light of His authority, when they considered God as the Omnipresent, they were overawed and afraid of Him.

But again-it is not the mere feeling that God exercises a supervision over my actions, which will produce that dread of Him which Job asserts in our text. The moral character of God will enter largely into considerations upon Deity, and vastly aggravate that fear which is produced by His Omnipresence. Of course, it is not the certainty that a being sees me, which, of itself, will make me fear that being. There must be a further certainty, that the conduct to which I am prone is displeasing to him; and that, if persisted in, it will draw upon me his vengeance. Let me then consider God, and determine, from His necessary attributes, whether there can be hope that He will pass over without punishment, what cannot escape His observation.

We suppose God just, and we suppose Him merciful; and it is in settling the relative claims of these properties, that men fancy they find ground for expecting impunity at the last. The matter to be adjusted is, how a being, confessedly love, can so yield to the demands of justice as to give up His creatures to torment; and the difficulty of the adjustment makes way for the flattering persuasion, that love will hereafter triumph over justice, and that threatenings, having answered their purpose in the moral government of God, will not be so rigidly exacted as to interfere with the workings of unbounded compassion. But it is not by considering that men encourage themselves in the thought, that the claims of love and of justice will be found here

after at variance, and that, in the contest between the two, those of love will prevail. Through not considering, men have hope in God; let them only consider, and we are bold to say they will be afraid of God.

If I do but reflect seriously on the love of my Maker, I must perceive it to be a disposition to produce the greatest amount of happiness, by upholding through the universe those principles of righteousness with whose overthrow misery stands indissolubly connected. But it is quite evident, that, when once evil has been introduced, this greatest amount of happiness is not that which would result from the unconditional

pardon of every worker of evil. Such pardon would shew the abandonment of the principles of righteousness, and therefore spread consternation and dismay amongst the unfallen members of God's intelligent household. A benevolence which should set aside justice, would cease to be benevolence: it would be nothing but a weakness, which, in order to snatch a few from deserved misery, overturned the laws of moral government, and exposed myriads to anarchy and wretchedness. And yet further-unless God be faithful to His threatenings, I have no warrant for believing that He will be faithful to His promises; if He deny Himself in one, He ceases to be God, and there is an end of all reasonable hope that He will make good the other.

So that however, on a hasty glance, and forming my estimate of benevolence from the pliancy of human sympathies, which are wrought on by