"land: for I will not leave thee, until I have "done that which I have spoken to thee of." Having received this confirmation of his faith, and these powerful motives to patience and obedience, Jacob felt, in all their force, those ferious and devout emotions which fo feafonable an interpofition might be expected to infpire." He awaked out of his sleep, and he "faid, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I "knew it not. And he was afraid, and faid, "How dreadful is this place! this is none "other but the house of God, and this is "the gate of heaven."

This text may lead us,

I. To inquire into fome of the more ordi nary methods by which God manifefts his prefence and his glory.

II. To confider the effects which fuch manifeftations are fitted to produce on the hu-man mind.

I. THEN, we are to inquire into fome of the more ordinary methods by which God manifefts his prefence and his glory.

Of these the first to be mentioned are his works of Creation.

A univerfe exifts, of immeasurable extent, replenished with numberlefs inhabitants, who are poffeffed of fuch powers as their fituations require, and furnished with the means of fuch enjoyments as they are capable of receiving. We ourselves occupy no inconfiderable place in the general fyftem; and cannot fail to ob

ferve

ferve the provifion made for our protection and welfare. The ferenity of the heavens, and the verdure of the earth, the murmuring of the stream, and the mufic of the grove, invite us to difmifs our cares, and to refign our hearts to tranquillity and peace. The viciffitudes of day and night, and the regular revolutions of the feafons, diverfify the life of man, and give him ground of trust, that thofe means will not fail by which his life is sustained. Even the ftorms, which feem at first to be minifters of ruin; the torrent, defcending from the mountains with refiftlefs impetuofity; the whirlwind, which no human force can reftrain; the thunder, which alarms us with its tremendous voice; and the lightning, by which the moft venerable monuments of ancient grandeur are destroyed; ferve to correct diforders in the natural world, and to fix the attention of unthinking mortals on important subjects, which uninterrupted tranquillity might difpofe them to forget. And again, when we raise our views above this earth; when we furvey the fpacious firmament; when we behold the fun coming forth as a bridegroom from his chamber, and rejoicing as a ftrong man to run a race; when we trace the wanderings of the moon through the filent fky, and attempt to count the ftars which iparkle around; or when, aided by icience, we purfue the discoveries which fenfe cannot make, and confider that each orb is the centre of a fyftem, and that fyftems unnumbered are fituated in regions into which our feeble powers cannot penetrate;

we

we dwell with delight on the pleasing subject, till we are loft in contemplation.

Thefe beautiful and grand objects have not been concealed from any of the generations of men. Juft fentiments however have not always accompanied the view of them. Some have been fo infenfible as to confine their regards to the vifible creation. But man is a thinking being, and is capable of perceiving the relations of caufe and effect. It cannot therefore be fuppofed, that he will caft his. eyes abroad without inquiring, whence came this ftupendous frame, whence that beauty which I furvey with pleasure, and that liberal provifion which is made for my fafety and. fupport? In anfwer to fuch inquiries, fome have been fatisfied with hearing, that the materials of this world exifted from eternity, and that at fome remote period, of which no record can be produced, the minute particles of it, rambling about in the unbounded regions. of space, fortuitoufly met, and arranged themfelves into thofe regular forms, which the fame chance hath hitherto preferved. This however is the language of fools: for the maiks of contrivance and defign are fo palpable, as almost unavoidably to lead the mind to the. knowledge of a fupreme, intelligent, and allpowerful caufe. It is thus that God difcovers. himself to thofe whom he hath not favoured with a fupernatural revelation. "He left not "himfelf without a witnefs in that he did them

good, and gave them rain from heaven and ❝ fruitful

"fruitful feasons, filling their hearts with food and gladness. His invifible things from "the creation of the world are clearly feen, "being understood by the things that are "made, even his eternal power and God"head."

But the mere philofopher feels not thofe fentiments with which a good man furveys the works of his Maker. While the former fpeculates on the perfections of God, the latter "feels after him, and finds him." His eye traces the divine glory in every object prefented to it, and his heart opens to the impreffion which it belongs to that glory to make. Partaking of the comforts which on every hand are provided, or perceiving the happiness of other beings around him, he cannot fail to declare, these are the doings of the Lord, thefe are the gifts of the Parent of all, these are tokens that he is gracious and full of compaffion. If again, he is placed in fcenes of tu-. mult and alarm; if nature undergo fome violent convulfion; if the peftilence or the tempest prefent its terrors; if the elements receive a charge to inflict thofe evils which fin hath merited; his thoughts rife to God, as "glorious in holiness;" he reveres him, as "juft in all his ways," and is conftrained to exclaim, "How dreadful is this place! fure❝ly the Lord is in this place: furely the Lord: "is in all, and through all, and over all."

2. GOD

2dly, GOD manifefts himself in the operations of his Providence.

Every trouble inflicted is meant to accomplish some purpofe of his wifdom, and every comfort enjoyed flows from the inexhaustible fountain of his goodness. But his hand is not always feen in the protection it affords; nor doth gratitude to the giver always mingle itself with that gladness which his gifts infpire. Bad men think not of a particular providence, but a fcribe their fufferings to chance, or to an uncontroulable deftiny, and their fucceffes to the vigour of their own exertions, or to the effect of general laws to which the Creator is fuppofed to have furrendered the government of the world. Even good men are lefs attentive than might be expected to the afpect of Providence. At particular feafons, however, God renders them as folicitous to improve, as to obtain his mercies, and convinceth them, that if he had not been their refuge and fecurity, they would in every cafe have found the help of man to be vain.

Mercies are generally accompanied by some circumftance which leads the thoughtful and devout to fay, "Surely the Lord is here: "this verily is the doing of the Lord." Some inveterate disease hath perhaps impaired our ftrength, and given us reafon to apprehend a fpeedy diffolution. Poverty hath presented its terrors and temptations. The child who hath been as the apple of our eye, and to whom we have looked forward as our fupport in old

age,