for the sins of ages past, present, and to come, collectively, but he died for the sins of each man individually, as much as if he had died for him alone. If man applies not every hope and fear which Christianity proclaims, to his own peculiar case, if he feels not a personal participation in the great sacrifice of his Saviour, he loses that vital and animating principle of faith, which while it speaks hope and consolation to the soul, controuls the passions, and reforms the heart. He who perceives not his own immediate interest in the redemption of the Gospel, neither will he perceive his own immediate concern in the obedience which it commands; if he forms a weak and erroneous idea of that portion of the new covenant which emanates from the Deity to man, he will not form a juster notion of that part which is due from man to God. If, as the Scriptures inform us, to every one is given a measure of heavenly grace; if to every faithful servant of Christ is promised the co-operation of the Holy Spirit, can we suppose that any moral action can be performed independent of its power, unseen by its wisdom, uninfluenced by its operation? The Spirit of God searcheth all things-it witnesses every struggle with the infirmities of our moral nature-it penetrates into the secrets of the heart, for it is God himself. If again, as revelation informs us, we shall be judg

ed according to our works, and our Redeemer himself shall be our Judge, can we in reason suppose, that any, even the most trifling thought, word, or action, shall pass unobserved by his wisdom, or unrecorded by his justice? As creatures of moral probation, not only are our deeds all numbered, but every circumstance in which we are concerned, of itself becomes a trial; and as such, it is directed and controuled by that Saviour, who watches over us in every struggle of temptation, in every pang of affliction, and will so order the chain of human events, as not to" suffer us to be tempted above that which we are able to bear." Here then as upon a rock the Christian takes his stand; upon the faith of the special Providence of his Creator, his Redeemer, and his Sanctifier, he rests a sure and certain hope, during the troubled scene of this his earthly pilgrimage. He recognises the counsel of God in every event, however minute, however casual. Not a hair can fall from his head, according to the words of his blessed Lord, without the will of his heavenly Father. He sees the hand-writing of Providence in vivid characters upon every event which the changes and chances of this varying world disclose to his view. He acquiesces in every dispensation whether of pleasure or pain, whether of prosperity or adversity; not with the absurd belief in fatalism, or necessity,

but in a lively and consoling faith; that however dreary and cheerless the prospect before him, every trial will be directed, every affliction mitigated, every casualty which can befal him controuled, by an infinitely wise and good Being, to that one great end of his moral government, the salvation of the just.

To those who may feel inclined to dispute the superintendance of a particular Providence over every action of their lives, and every thought of their hearts, let one question be put between God and their consciences-when are we most inclined to break forth into the impious declaration, “the Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard ?" When are we most apt to doubt the existence of a superintending Providence? at those times I fear when we have most reason to desire its absence. When those hours which should have been dedicated to a better purpose, have been consumed in idleness and frivolity, then it is we hope that the power of the Almighty will not condescend to the trifles of the perishable existence of this lower world. When we have abandoned ourselves to the dominion of our passions, to the indulgence of our sensuality, to the slavery of sin, then it is, that we would throw the veil of insignificance over our conduct; then it is, that we would believe in chance, or fatality, in any thing but the exist

ence of a superintending Providence; being well assured, that if it does exist, it will exist to call us hereafter to a severe account for our sins and iniquities here. Who is he that ever doubted that his prayers and praises would not come up as a memorial before the Almighty? Who ever doubted that every act of self-denial, of resignation, of patience, of charity, however minute, however casual, has met the eye of that great Being who is ever with him, and that it shall stand recorded in heaven against the great day of the Lord? He that is inclined to be sceptical on the subject of this superintending Providence, let him ever act, as if it really did exist, and he will then lose every doubt of its existence.

Having thus shewn the necessity of a particular Providence, and of our belief in its existence, I purpose in my ensuing discourse, to enlarge upon the mode of its actions and interference, and upon the power of the Great First Cause as displayed in the agency of secondary causes, that in every event throughout the natural or moral world, we may perceive that it is his doing.

SERMON XVI.

PSALM XCIV. 7.

Yet they say, The Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.

HAVING in my last discourse endeavoured to shew the necessary existence of a particular Providence over every event, however trifling in its nature, or accidental in its occurrence, I proceed now to consider the modes of its interference, and to enlarge upon the power of the Great First Cause, as displayed in the agency of secondary causes, both in the natural and moral world.

It will at first appear somewhat strange, that the very same reasons which inevitably draw men to the acknowledgment of the First Great self-existent Cause, should lead them ultimately to the denial of its authority; that the same arguments which are produced to prove the power of the Almighty in the creation, should be brought to disprove his interference in the go