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the Deity extends not farther, and penetrates deeper, than the light of that body, which is the work of his hands? It is as certain that God sees us and all our actions, as that he gives us the power of seeing. Fain would we imagine him FAR from us? though even our own spontaneous motion is a proof of his immediate presence. The soul wills the motion of the hand and foot, and they immediately move obedient to its orders. Yet the soul has no more a power, independently of its Maker, to move its limbs by a mere thought; than it has a power to move the sun, moon, and stars by merely willing it: and he, who has made the former consequent upon our volition, might have made the latter so too by his almighty power. The Jews, as we learn from Maimonides, waved their sacrifice upwards and downwards, north and south, eastward and westward, to intimate that the Being to whom they consecrated their sacrifice, was every where; a Being whom no place could confine, and none exclude.

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SERMON XXXVI.

FROM SEED.

PART II.

PSALM CXiii. 5.

ACCORDING TO THE TRANSLATION IN THE BOOK OF

COMMON PRAYER.

Who is like unto the Lord our God, who hath his dwelling so high; and yet humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven and earth?

IN prosecution of my morning's discourse, I now proceed to prove the truth and certainty of a particular Providence.

That the Deity should not grant to every deserving person, what is really for his good upon the whole, and is not inconsistent with that of the public ; must either argue, that he is unwilling, or that he is unable to grant it. Infinite goodness cannot but be willing to communicate happiness to every individual, who is not wanting to himself; and in

finite power cannot but be able to bring about whatever his goodness wills.

Let us then suppose a man combating with some distress, to which his strength is unequal; let us suppose, that this man, who has regarded God during the chief portion of his life according to the best of his abilities, now implores him with all the energy of devotion, as his last, his only refuge. Can we imagine, that the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort will stand looking upon his trouble; without either vouchsafing to him any outward assistance (which he can easily do in an unperceived manner, to whom all nature is subservient ;) or communicating to him inward consolation, though he knows each avenue to the soul? He may not think fit entirely to remove his misfortune; but he will either lessen or abate it, so that he shall not be tempted above what he is able; or he will apportion his succour to his exigence.

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Matter and motion are wholly undistinguishing: they make no difference between him that serveth God, and him that serveth him not: but God doth: for no good man, I believe, ever prayed constantly and fervently to his Maker, without having an experimental proof that God has answered his prayers at some nice and critical conjuncture. It is an impeachment of God's goodness, to suppose that as soon as he has made us, he dismisses us immediately out of his hands, and abandons us; without any design to answer our prayers, or take any farther no

tice of us in our passage through this world; or to accommodate the dispensations of Providence to our wants and deportment.

Instinct is surely a proof, that Providence extends itself to every particular brute: instinct being the immediate energy of the Deity acting upon each of the brute creation. For it operates as soon as animals are born. As soon as they make their entrance upon this new scene the world, they do not act as mere strangers; but seem to be perfectly acquainted with what food is beneficial, and what prejudicial to them. A defenceless brood, when danger threatens, take shelter under the wings of their parent; while another brood, though hatched under the same fowl, run to the water, regardless of the affectionate cries and tender yearnings of their foster mother, calling them from an element which she thinks destructive to them. Now, what we call instinct, cannot be the result of mere matter and motion for these, undirected, cannot shun danger, and pursue what is advantageous: It cannot be the effect of reason in the creatures THEMSELVES: for reason is an acquisition, and men ripen into rational beings by a progressive opening and unfolding of the mind. Instinct, then, as I said before, must be the divine energy acting immediately upon the animal creation it must be his power who giveth fodder to the cattle, and feedeth the young ravens that call upon him. Besides, every species of brutes observes a peculiar track,

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without deviating from it. Instinct does that by one unvarying method, which reason does by several. Birds, we find, always observe the same plan in the structure of their nests: even those which never before had seen one: whereas, if they had reason, they would vary as much in their schemes, as we do. They would project new plans and improve old

ones.

Now if Providence condescends to regard every individual in the brute creation so far as to act constantly in it and upon it; shall he not much more extend his care to every individual in the rational world, and adapt his dispensations to the necessities of each? Consider the fowls of the air; for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them: are ye not much better than they? He, whose overflowing bounty has supplied the birds of the air and the beasts of the field with whatever is suitable to their natures, will provide for mankind in a way suited to the condition of the rational nature. He openeth his hand and filleth all things living with plenteousness; and shall he not answer the various occasions and circumstances of man, the master-piece of the visible creation?

Those who admit a general, but deny a particular Providence, seem to forget that generals are nothing but a collection of particulars: they are nothing but the sum total of individuals. And consequently as generals include particulars; a

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