lity of the universe. What we call the laws of Nature, are no other than the decrees of the Supreme Being. It is because He is without variableness or shadow of turning, that those laws have continued the same since the beginning of the world; that the Sun so constantly observes his time of rising and going down; that the seasons annually return; the tides periodically ebb and flow; the earth yields its fruit at stated intervals; and the human body and mental powers advance to maturity by a regular progress. In all those motions and operations which are incessantly going on throughout nature, there is no stop nor interruption; no change nor innovation; no deflection from their main scope. The same powerful and steady hand which gave the first impulse to the powers of nature, restrains them from ever exceeding their prescribed line. Hence arises the chief comfort of our present life. We find ourselves in a regular and orderly world. We look forward to a known succession of events. We are enabled to form plans of action. From the cause, we calculate the effect; and from the past, we reason with confidence concerning the future.

Accustomed from our infancy to this constancy in Nature, we are hardly sensible of the blessing. Familiarity has the same effect here,

as in many other enjoyments, to efface gratitude. But let us, for a moment, take an opposite view of things. Let us suppose, that we had any cause to dread capriciousness or change in the Power who rules the course of Nature; any ground to suspect that, but for one day, the Sun might not rise, nor the current of the waters hold their usual course, nor the laws of motion and vegetation proceed as we have been accustomed to behold them. What dismay would instantly fill all hearts! What horror would seem to overspread the whole face of Nature! what part could we act, or whither could we run, in the midst of convulsions, which overturned all the measures we had formed for happiness, or for safety? The present abode of man would then become, as Job describes the region of the grave, a land of darkness, as darkness itself, and the shadow of death; without any order; and where the light is as darkness.* With what joy ought we then to recognize an unvarying and steadfast Ruler, under whose dominion we have no such disasters to dread; but can depend on the course of Nature continuing to proceed as it has ever gone on, until the period shall arrive of its final dissolution.

* Job, x. 22.

But though the great laws of Nature be constant like their Author, yet in the affairs of men there is much variety and change. All that regards our present possessions and enjoyments was, for wise reasons, left, in a great measure, uncertain; and from this uncertainty arises the distress of human life. Sensible of the changes to which we lie open, we look round with anxious eyes, and eagerly grasp at every object which appears to promise us security. But in vain is the whole circle of human things explored with this view. There is nothing on earth so stable as to assure us of undisturbed rest, nor so powerful as to afford us constant protection. Time, death, and change, triumph over all the labours of What we build up, they incessantly destroy. The public condition of nations, and the private fortunes of individuals, are alike subject to reverse. Life never retains long the same form. Its whole scenery is continually shifting round us.Amidst those endless vicissitudes, what can give any firm consolation, any satisfying rest to the heart, except the dominion of a wise and righteous Sovereign, with whom there is no variableness, nor shadow of turning? Though all things change, and we ourselves be involved in the general mutability, yet as long as there is fixed and per

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manent goodness at the head of the universe, we are assured that, the great interests of all good men shall be safe. That river perpetually flows, the streams whereof make glad the city of God. We know that the Supreme Being loved righteousness from the beginning of days, and that he will continue to love it to the last. Under his government none of those revolutions happen which have place among the kingdoms of the earth; where princes die, and new sovereigns ascend the throne; new ministers and new counsels succeed; the whole face of affairs is changed; and former plans fall into oblivion. But the throne of the Lord is established for ever; and the thoughts of his heart endure to all generations. We serve the same God whom our fathers worshipped, and whom our posterity shall adore. His unchanging dominion comprehends all events and all ages; establishes a connecting principle which holds together the past, the present, and the future; gives stability to things which in themselves are fluctuating, and extracts order from those which appear most confused. Well may the earth rejoice, and the multitude of isles be glad, because there reigneth over the universe such an immutable Lord.

Were you to unhinge this great article of faith; were you either to say with the fool, that

there is no God, or to suppose with the superstitious, that the God who rules is variable and capricious, you would, indeed, lay the axe to the root of the tree, and cut down, with one blow, the hope and security of mankind. For you would then leave nothing in the whole compass of nature, but a round of casual and transitory being; no foundation of trust, no. protection to the righteous, no steadfast principle to uphold and to regulate the succession of existence. Instead of that magnificent spectacle which the world now exhibits, when beheld in connection with the divine government, it would then only present to view a multitude of short-lived creatures, springing out of the dust, wandering on the face of the. earth without guide or protector, struggling: for a few years against the torrent of uncertainty and change; and then sinking into utter oblivion, and vanishing like visions of the night. Mysterious obscurity would involve the beginning of things; disorder would mark their progress; and the blackness of darkness would cover their final result. Whereas, when Faith enables us to recover an universal Sovereign, whose power never fails, and whose wisdom and goodness never change, the prospect clears up on every side. ray from the great source of light seems to

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