standing," it is only because it is the forerunner of that state which is beyond the heart of man to understand: if Christ here on earth says, that they who learn of him shall “find rest," it is by anticipation of that "rest which remaineth for the people of God."

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The mind of man is such that it can find rest only in God, who is infinite; it cannot therefore be satisfied with any finite and limited good-not even with the highest gifts which God bestows here below in the of heavenly privileges; but it still looks forward to something beyond: and when that is given, still again to something beyond, to something better than all that is given. And, knowing this our heavenly Father gradually opens to us the great dispensations of his eternal providence. By what he gives, always preparing us for something far better which he has to bestow.

The Christian dispensation therefore is in Scripture constantly called the kingdom of heaven; and spoken of under the same expressions as heaven itself. Ŵo be to us if we do not in time begin to live up to them. We are called upon to live the lives of saints and angels here on earth, in order that we may live with them hereafter; we pray not only that that future "kingdom may come," but also that God's will may be already done "on earth, as it is in heaven."

Our state is great and awful in the extreme, much more so than we are willing to see or allow; we, as Christians, are always spoken of in Scripture, as being dead to this world, anticipating and being beforehand with natural death; and being already in heavenly desires and mode of life risen with Christ. It has been well observed,* that as the state to which we are raised is like that of angels; so if we fall from this high estate, our fall will be like that of angels-irrecoverable and eternal!

• The Christian Year. Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity.

SERMON LXIV.

THE EYE AND EAR OF GOD.

PSALM XCIV. 9.

"He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? He that formed the eye, shall he not see?"

A GOOD man would wish to be continually raising his mind to the thoughts of God, to the contemplation of his infinite perfections. We cannot indeed now conceive what he must be, for we are so impure and sinful that he hides himself from us; but a day will come when we shall all see him as he is. And even here, in this our ignorance, he has not left himself without witAnd we are ness, for indeed all things speak of him.

frequently told in Holy Scripture, that from the signs of God, which we see in the visible objects among which we dwell, we should be led to think of him, and especially of his dealings with regard to ourselves.

Such is the case in this psalm where the text occurs; it is said of the ungodly, "they say, Tush, the Lord "Take shall not see," to which the Psalmist answers: heed, ye unwise among the people. He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that made the eye, shall he not see?" How God hears and how he sees we know not; but when he has given his creatures such powers, eyes to see and know each other, and to mark each other's ways, and ears by which they are made to understand the thoughts, and to know the hearts of other men what must be his power to understand us, and to know us thoroughly, and to watch and mark all our ways and doings? He has given us judgment by which we are able to decide in some degree on each other's characters, to know the dispositions and temper of other men, and their feelings toward ourselves: and VOL. II.-23

he has given us memory by which we can recollect for a long time what others have done or said. But how infinitely above all our ideas of human judgment and human memory must be those mysterious attributes in Almighty God, by which he knows and remembers all we say and do? All the knowledge of the wisest of men must be but like a little lamp to one that walks in the dark; but that of the Almighty God compared to it must be far greater than that of the sun at mid-day. All this reason itself would tell us, if men would only listen and attend to it. "O Lord, how glorious are thy works?" says the Psalmist at the contemplation of it, "thy thoughts are very deep: an unwise man doth not well consider this, and a fool doth not understand it." And in the psalm from which the text is taken, it seems implied that nothing but the chastenings of God will so sober the mind of man, as to bring him to consider this at all aright, the weakness of his own imagination, by which he supposes that God does not regard his works, and will not punish him. "He that teacheth man knowledge, shall he not punish? The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are but vain. Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord; and teachest him in thy law."

To a thoughtful mind which is thus schooled by the chastening of God, there is nothing whatever around us but will speak of God, mysteriously and awfully, and yet in such ways as to afford us not only the highest wisdom, but also the most substantial comfort and encouragement. If we look at and examine the smallest insect we find it so wonderfully fashioned, as to bear the most distinct marks of an Almighty hand: if we consider its ways and the mode in which it lives, and those wonderful arts and contrivances which are natural to it, as the curiously made web is to the spider, we cannot doubt but that the same Almighty power is ever with it, to support and sustain its being. And when we see God present in such little things as these, how can we doubt his presence with ourselves also, in all matters that concern our spiritual life?

And we have the very highest authority for thus accustoming ourselves to raise our thoughts from these little things in nature to God's particular care and providence over ourselves. Our blessed Lord has himself emphatically taught us to do so: "Why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow they toil not, neither do they spin."-" If God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, 0 ye of little faith?"-"Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink?" "Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heav enly Father feedeth them; are ye not much better than they?"

We know from the same Divine authority that not a sparrow falls to the ground without the knowledge of our heavenly Father: that "the hairs of our head are all numbered." If we look at the meanest flower that grows, we are startled almost, and half alarmed at the indications of an Almighty presence. Thus, if according to our Lord's command we look to nature; nature itself would teach us, that the humblest concern that can trouble us-the least event of our lives-is the object of his fatherly concern and care. And surely, indeed, the most thoughtless cannot but acknowledge this in some things, if not in others, even though in acknowledging it they perceive it not; for who is there that does not make a practice of thanking God, even though it be for form and custom's sake, and from no higher and better consideration-yet who is there who does not as a matter of course thank God for his daily bread? And why should we thank him for it, but that therein we behold his hand, as it were, visibly put forth from the cloud and providing for us.

Again, to apply the same analogy to the present subject, we know what the eye and ear of man is, what it is to have the eye or ear of a friend near to us, or the eye and the ear of a master watching over us; what a difference does it make at once in all our thoughts and

feelings? Especially, suppose it is a friend or a master whom we love and reverence very much, what a vast difference does his presence make? We are hardly the same persons with him, as when he is away, in all the turn of our thoughts. It is only for want of due attention and consideration that we do not thus think. of Almighty God at all times. For as the Psalmist asks: "He that made the ear, shall he not hear? he that made the eye, shall he not see?"

And these words we may apply to all other faculties and affections he has given us. Shall parents love their children, and feel a lively and tender interest respecting all their concerns? and who is it has put it into their hearts to do so? He that made a parent's love, shall he not love his own children? The Psalmist himself shall answer: "Like as a father pitieth his own children, even so is the Lord merciful unto them that fear him." has made parental love the very type and shadow of his own, but our Lord assures us it is a very inadequate and feeble one: for he says, "If ye being evil," that is, unkind when compared with God, "know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give good things to them that ask him ?"

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Has God put it into the hearts of us all to admire and love goodness, and kindness, and forbearance, and longsuffering, and shall we not find these most assuredly in him infinitely more than in the best of men? God himself hath given us the answer; "Let the wicked forsake his way and turn unto the Lord, and he will abundantly pardon him. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Has God made it his law that as any one becomes more haly or just, he reveres more and more holiness and justice in others? and why is this, but that he himself is infinitely holy and just, and would have all our reverence and regard.

In all things indeed after all he is as it were afar off,