SERMON XXVIII.

RELIGIOUS MEDITATIONS.

REV. i. 8.

"I am the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty."

THESE words, my brethren, elevate our thoughts to the highest contemplation of which our nature is capable. They lift us at once above all that is little and all that is great upon earth, and carry us into the presence of that Being "who inhabiteth eternity." The contemplation may appear, perhaps, too lofty for our faculties, and may seem to remove us from the present sphere of our knowledge and of our duties; yet, if we enter upon it with due humility, and seek not to "be wise beyond what is written," beyond what is written on the hearts of men, and in the revelations of God, we shall be sensible that those high meditations, while they afford a sublime occupation to the mind, are likewise productive of reflections useful for the conduct of life.

"I am the beginning (saith the Lord), which was." Our imagination is here carried back to a time when the visible frame of creation was not yet unfolded; when all the glories of earth and of heaven had not yet a being; and when that order of things which we call Nature was not yet ordained. But while these magnificent arrangements of existence were not, there was One from whom they all have been derived; and however far imagination may go back, while the earth and the heavens vanish from its eye, it still beholds the great. Universal Spirit presiding in the immensity of his own

essence.

The next object which presents itself to our thoughts is the creation of the universe, when "the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the deep," when God said, "Let there be light, and there was light;" when the sun began to run his race; when "the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." We now behold the earth peopled with innumerable living creatures, and one of a more erect form, and of a nobler nature, placed among them as their lord. From this period, we follow the history of man; and, while, we witness with regret the " many inventions" which. he has found out for himself, his constant deviations from those pure laws which his Maker had established for him, we look up with delight to the great Father interposing in the behalf of his wandering offspring, and rejoice to see the fair fruits of virtue and happiness, which, amidst all the corruptions of man, have been produced, under the fostering dew of heaven, in the harvest of human nature. To some he sent prophets,

to some apostles; some were instructed by the light of nature, and at last " he spoke to man by his Son."

It is a great and a gratifying reflection, my brethren, that there has never been a period of the history of man which has not been transacted under the eye of God; that he who was from the beginning has beheld every step which his children have made; and that his good spirit has ever been with them, calling them on into the ways of perfection. It is interesting to recognize this bond of union connecting the human race from their first origin to the present hour; to think that the God who now beholds us was the God of our fathers, and that "the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob" is still the Lord of the whole earth.

"I am he (saith the Lord) which is. When we look back to the beginning, my brethren, we see a universe bursting into existence. The creation of things is a work which astonishes the imagination, and we instantly acknowledge the Maker in the glory of the work. When we read, too, in the pages of sacred history, we are struck with the relation of astonishing interpositions of the divine power; and when we are informed of a path opened through the sea, or of food rained from heaven, or of a dead man raised to life, we immediately recognize, in those miraculous occurrences, the hand of the Deity. It is only amidst the regularity and order of nature, while no change is made, while nothing is presented to rouse the imagination, while all things are as they have been from the beginning, that we ever forget there is a God, and are tempted to say with the scoffer, "where is the promise of his coming?" But this very

regularity and constancy of nature is the proof that God is; that he ever possesses the same power and the same wisdom; that in him there is "no variableness nor shadow of turning," and that "he slumbers not nor sleeps."

"I am he (saith the Lord) which is." Does thy inattention or thy impiety, O man! overlook this truth? Art thou insensible to the present Deity? Dost thou shut thine eyes to the aspect of nature, or seest thou no traces of his providence in the course of human affairs? Do the disorders of the moral world confound thee, and do the miseries of nations cloud from thy view the bene ficence of God? Yet, does not the sun still rise in the heavens, and continue his annual course, and bring the vicissitudes of seasons, and the grateful interchange of night and day? Or if the book of providence is dark, yet, has not "the Sun of righteousness" risen upon the earth? and, amidst all the guilt and the miseries of mankind, does not he shed "healing from his wings?"

While the profane or the superstitious require some unusual excitement of the imagination before they can be roused to a sense of the divine presence, the man of true piety and reflection feels that he is never removed from his Father's eye; that, wherever he goes, God is with him; and that the same spirit which at first called into existence all the orders of being, and which has since superintended and guided the progress of the human race, is still watching over his children, and gathering them under the wings of his love.

"I am the ending (saith the Lord) which is to come." We have beheld, my brethren, the great Universal Spirit hovering over the universe which he has created,

from the first moment of time to the present hour. The present hour is short; our time is on its wing; and the day will shortly arrive when we too shall be numbered with those who have been. It is natural for man to look beyond his own little sphere, and to listen to the voice which says, "Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter." The only ground on which our predictions of futurity can rest is this, that whatever changes there may be, God is to come; and that, under his eye, the great scheme of providence will go on and prosper till all shall be accomplished. It is pleasing, under this belief, to meditate on the mighty things which will be transacted upon earth after our heads are laid in the dust; on all the improvements which will be made by the future races of men; and on that slow but steady course of divine providence, by which man will at last arrive at the perfection predicted by the prophet, when "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”

"I am the ending (saith the Lord)." The time will come when this earth and all its inhabitants will be removed, and when a new heaven and a new earth will appear. "There will be no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God shall lighten it, and the Lamb shall be the light thereof."

Such, my brethren, are some of those lofty contemplations which the words of the text may suggest to us. They are evidently the highest contemplations of our nature, and to some, perhaps, they may seem to transport the mind of man beyond the present humble sphere of his duties. It is indeed true that our present part is a humble one; and religion, when rightly understood,