limits of human reason, permitted them to discover a Being who alone. preserves and governs the world. They could not conceive how he alone could be adequate to the work which they assigned to 30,000 gods. We have grown familiar with the sublime character of the true God; but were we not acquainted with him, the gods of the Romans would appear splendid beings; yet it required so many thousands of them to fill the place of the Lord. How glorious is the nature of Jehovah! The Bible alone reveals him.

But how much more would ancient idolaters have been astonished at the character of our God, had they been aware of the vastness of the universe. Behold yon drop of water which the summer's shower has left pendant upon a leaf in yon lowly bush! Did the eye of Gabriel scrutinize it, he would perceive wonders beyond the reach of the most powerful microscope. He would see that little globule peopled with numerous nations of animalcules whose life is but a moment, and several generations of which are born, live, and expire in a minute of time. In that solitary drop he would make the most charming discoveries---what sciences, more extensive than any which man has yet pursued, would burst upon his delighted view. He would find it a miniature world, abounding in life, rich in vicissitudes, sparkling with beatiful scenery, and all its various appointments moving on in harmonious order. Every drop of water, each leaf or blade of grass, and every particle of sand, is also a world; so that our globe is a little universe, holding in its bosom innumerable worlds all mutually dependent on each other, and all firmly united into one grand system. All these diminutive worlds were created, and are governed with an untiring attention, by one Being; and that Being is the Bible Jehovah.

From the little worlds let us turn our attention to the great ones, such as the earth. What a magnificent home is our globe for all the tribes of beautiful creatures which swarm upon its surface! How extensive is the scale on which all its accommodations have been framed! The great lamp of heaven divides the time into alternate periods of labor and repose. The spring and summer are grand moveable storehouses continually travelling round the world, and returning to every clime precisely at the same period of the year, Autumn follows after, to gather and store up their fruits; and winter enjoys them. Those vast reservoirs of water, the oceans, are constantly sending out to every point of the compass their creatures of burthen, the clouds, laden with supplies of water for each fountain, streamlet, and river. All animals need air more than food; and an

inexhaustible and every where present store is laid up in the atmosphere. Each clime and neighborhood is amply supplied with fuel. What rich and glossy clothing is provided for all species of creatures, from the plumage of the bird of heaven, to the furs of the frozen North! And what noble furniture adorns this splendid abode of man! Lofty mountains, extended plains, chrystal oceans, winding streams; -the continents and the bed of the oceans carpeted with a lovely verdure---the groves filled with bands of sweet musicians---the fields spotted with smiling flowers---and all this canopied with a majestic vault of sapphire illuminated in the day time by a whole world of light, and in the night studded with a superb moon and hosts of smaller brilliants! But every star in the firmament, if we stood on its surface, would swell into a world perhaps thousands of times larger than our own---yes, a world peopled by innumerable tribes of beings, furnished with a train of seasons, and supplied with all the appurtenances of a most commodious and delightful creation. All these were made and are governed by one Being and again that Being is Jehovah!

And now let us ascend to the sublime universe. As the earth is made up of a great variety of divisions and departments, which constitute one complete and harmonious world; so the universe consists of an immense variety of different but stupendous divisions, all which together are combined into one mighty and glorious whole. Each star which we perceive in the firmament is no doubt a far distant sun, as large or larger than our own, and like it attended with a train of planets which move around this common centre. Now, all these suns together with our own, compose but one district of the universe, which wheels around another centre of its own. A vast number of other districts along with ours, revolves about a more distant centre still. And, to use the splendid idea of Mr. Dick, the throne of God is the centre around which the whole universe rolls. This universe, a vast floating island in boundless space, a flood of light surrounded with illimitable darkness, a grand and beautiful system of living and moving realities in a dreary void---this universe is the empire of God. His power pervades its very atoms; his eye absorbs, at one glance, all its worlds, and rests on each particle of dust: and he governs it as empire was never governed before; and, what is most wonderful, without toil, trouble, or care. This God is again the Bible Jehovah..

Here astronomy fails us, and as we rise still higher in contemplating the divine grandeur, we must be guided by predestination. Sup

pose the history of the past universe were written, comprising all its worlds and all its atoms, where is the created mind however lofty that could peruse the first page. Yet the entire volume is open to God. Again; suppose that the universe had rolled on until time were lost in eternity, and that its history were then written; in this mighty volume the past would not form a single chapter. But God views the past and all the future just as clearly and distinctly as the present. If a survey of the universe as it is, be the work of a God; what shall we say of the whole universe unfolded and spread out over all the past and all the future? Great was the work of creating the universe; but far greater the work of superintending and governing it, through all ages. This, however is not all: for this whole creation, spread out over all coming ages, was before the Divine eye from all eternity, just as visibly as it is now. What a sublime assemblage have we here---God, eternity, the universe! God is the spectator; the universe the landscape under view; and eternity the distance between them! Vast indeed is the universe. The greatness of eternity is incomprehensible. God is above all!!! This God is still Jehovah.

There is but one Mind that mind of God. In that Mind

One more step up this ascent; another view of the divine grandeur; and then we shall pause. Let no one suppose that the admirable plan of the universe exhausted divine wisdom; or even that it is the masterpiece of the Creator's skill. We err if we imagine that he first laid the ground-work of this plan; and then elaborated it, and altered it, and mended it, until he finally made it what it is---a monument of wisdom and skill. No such thing. can take in infinitude; and that is the the scheme of the universe is but one single idea. In the twinkling of an eye he conceived this plan of all things out of nothing, as one simple thought. In the twinkling of an eye he adopted it as the model of a future creation, and by a single exertion of his sovereign will. And it is one idea out of a host of them. There, in the depths of the divine mind, God contemplated from eternity many a universe; each differing from the rest as much as land differs from water, air from fire, or one world from another. There, he beholds, as he has always beheld, one creation beside another, teeming with worlds square instead of round, and tied together by a different law from gravitation, which here has no existence. There, his eye has forever scanned other mighty systems where matter itself is unknown, and its place is supplied with another substance equally real, and yet possessing no property that belongs to it---each of these countless sys

tems is large as the universe; glorious for loveliness; and wonderful for the elegant skill which lays the foundation of each of its magnificent worlds in the nicest arrangement of its atoms---yes each of these countless systems is so finished and perfect in all its parts, that it requires nothing more than the fiat of Omnipotence to give our universe a rival. And every one of these stupendous plans is, in the mind of the Lord, but one idea!

Oh how different is this glorious Being from that pretended deity whom some mortals represent as blind and dishonored:---blind to all the future of the moral universe, the noblest part of his empire;---and dishonored by the tyrant Chance who first blinded him, and then usurped the absolute supremacy of this part of his dominion!

Ye Grecian and ye Roman deities, fall before this superlative Wisdom. Ye idols of every nation under heaven, whether material or mental; behold a great god and a great King. Come ye eloquent orators, and kindle your inspiration from a theme of transcendent grandeur! Here, ye sages, is that wonderful Mind which first of all conceived all your sciences, and then stamped them legibly upon matter and spirit---at a reverent distance adore Him who dwelled in light full of glory! Before a God like this, the pious Christian dares not arrogate one tittle of his salvation.---Before this God, it were an honor for angels and archangels to veil their faces from his lustre, and to exclaim, not unto us, not unto us, but to thy name be all the praise!

II. The second use of this doctrine is, to exhibit the absolute sovereignty of Jehovah.

The whole difference between Calvinism and Arminianism results from a contest between the power of man and the power of God, in our salvation. The Arminian rejects every doctrine that weakens the power of man, while the Calvinist embraces every doctrine that adds to the glory of God. Suppose the question were put to the opponents of predestination,---"If predestination were proved to you. as clear as the mid-day sun, would you be willing to believe it?" The answer would be, No. "And why would you be unwilling to believe this doctrine, if clearly proved to you?" The instant response would be---Because it would teach me that God from all eternity has determined to do all for me, and that I therefore can do nothing for myself. And is this the reason why we should throw away predestination? Then we must throw away election; for it is only a part of which predestination is the whole,

The doctrine of man's total depravity must likewise be rejected; for it at once renounces all power of man to save himself. For the same reason we must yield effectual calling, which teaches that the power of God alone can effectually call sinners out of darkness into his marvellous light. And lastly, on the same principle on which predestination is condemned, we must repudiate the perseverance of the saints; for that doctrine likewise prostrates human ability in the dust, and teaches that God alone who effectually calls believers, can afterwards keep them by his mighty power, through faith unto s alvation.

Accordingly, on this single principle of holding to every doctrine that adds to the glory of God, Calvinists actually maintain all these five doctrines, which are therefore called the five points of Calvinism. And on the single principle of refusing every doctrine that weakens the power of man, Arminians reject all these five doctrines. On all other subjects these two great parties will agree or differ just as the case may be; but about these five they ALWAYS differ. Teach what you will, the Arminian does not allow you to call in question his darling human ability. Teach what you please, the Calvinist is sure to confront you if you attempt to sully the glory of his God.

Thus the decrees assert the absolute sovereignty of God in opposition to any other first cause of events whatever. And he is worthy to be universal Sovereign, because he is fully adequate to the extensive government of the universe: whereas none but he is adequate to such a task. As for the old Epicurean notion of chance, however smartly some moderns have dressed up the idol anew, all the first principles of science, and the maxims of philosophers, combine to explode it. With regard to the fate of the ancient Stoics, baptized by the moderns, necessity, the advanced knowledge of the present day must pronounce it a mere philosophical chimera. As to the agency of man in originating events in the moral universe, it is happy for God's moral creation that the notions of some theologians are nothing but fictions. Commit God's moral universe for an hour to the hands of the highest angel in heaven, and it would be a repetition of the story of Pheton who rashly undertook to guide the course of the sun for a single day, contrary to all the tears and remonstrances of his father Apollo.

Regarding God as the Sovereign who owns all things, what force and authority does this single idea give to all his laws! What a majety does it impart to the right: and with what a dreadful gloom does it invest what is wrong! From this single attribute, the divine sov