glorious majesty of the great Eternal, are to be found in every part of the Bible.

Before dismissing this subject, it may be proper to turn our attention to a few facts recorded in sacred history, which illustrate the sovereign power of God. The Antedeluvians and the Sodomites provoked him to wrath; the former he destroyed with water, the latter with fire and brimstone. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, magnified himself against the Lord, who chastised him with ten dreadful plagues, and then overthrew him and his mighty army in the Red Sea. God raised Moses from the banks of the Nile to the Imperial Court of Egypt; afterwards he fled for safety into the land of Midian, and kept the flocks of Jethro in Horeb, where God appeared unto him in a flame of fire, and commanded him to go and deliver the injured and oppressed Hebrews. This was accomplished. Korah and his companions rebelled against God and Moses in the wilderness; and the Almighty caused the earth to open and swallow them up. Thus the elements are the servants of Jehovah, to execute vengeance on those who rebel against him. David was brought by the hand of God from following his father's flock in the wilderness, and set upon the throne of Israel; on the other hand he brought down Nebuchadnezzar from the throne of Babylon, and drove him into the fields to feed like an ox until he knew and acknowledged that the Most High ruleth over the kingdoms of men, and giveth them to whomsoever he pleaseth. It was God who gave Jerusalem into the hands of the king of Babylon, and afterwards gave Babylon into the hands of Cyrus, the Medo-Persian king, who made her a ruinous

heap, and "a habitation for dragons," &c. Sennacherib, the mighty king of Assyria, reproached and despised the God of heaven, by his representative Rabshakeh; but the Almighty "put a hook in his nose and a bridle in his mouth;" and after laying the flower of his grand army silent in death, he turned him back to his own country, where he was miserably and shamefully slain by his own sons in the house of Nisroch, his idol god. Hence the Almighty can soon chastise his foes and destroy his enemies. "Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his anointed." But "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision." "He shall break them with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges." "Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling." "Allelujah! the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth."

V. ON DIVINE PROVIDENCE..

The word Providence only used once in Scripture. There is a Divine Provi. dence; this is evident from the manner in which God has preserved his Word and his people. The doctrine of Providence explained. Its various manifestations classified. Substantially asserted in Scripture. Various kinds of providence spoken of. A particular Providence, proved from sacred history; consistent with reason. Providence of God sometimes very mysterious. Chance considered. Quotation from Wesley. Lines by Cowper.

INTIMATELY Connected with the idea of Divine Sovereignty, is the doctrine of Divine Providence. The term providence occurs only once in the whole of the sacred writings; and then, not in relation to the Divine Being, but to Felix, the governor of Judea. Acts xxiv. 2. Tertullus the Roman orator, who was employed to plead against St. Paul, commenced his speech by flattering the unrighteous governor in the following language:-"Seeing that by thee we enjoy great quietness, and that very worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy providence." This is the only passage in Scripture where the word providence occurs. The meaning of the original is prudence. It was a compliment paid by the Orator to Felix, either in reference to his wisdom, as displayed in the prudent judgment which he had manifested in his magisterial capacity, or in the government of the province of Judea. But, although the word does not occur in Scripture, in reference to God, we

hesitate not to say, there is such a thing as Divine Providence. This is evident from the facts already adduced, viz. that there is a God, the Creator of all things, the Sovereign Ruler of the universe, and the Preserver of men and beasts. It is also evident from the various blessings we enjoy as dependent creatures on his free bounty, from the awful judgments which have been inflicted upon the wicked, and from the astonishing preservation of his Word and his Church throughout a long succession of dark and bloody ages. Notwithstanding the attempts of earth and hell to destroy the Bible, and to annihilate the Christian Church, the good Providence of God has taken care of both; so that we have still God's pure Word, and a living, active Church, holding the faith once delivered to the saints. These facts, I say, prove to us the Providence of God.

By the Providence of God, we are not to understand any separate attribute of the Divine Mind, whether natural or moral, or the Sovereignty of Jehovah, but the care and superintendence which God exercises over his creatures, and the methods which he employs in correcting the rebellious.

Perhaps the doctrine of God's Providence is in no place more strikingly and strongly expressed than in Acts xvii., where St. Paul declares to the Athenians, "God that made the world, and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all, life, and breath, and all things; and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their

habitation; that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: for in him we live, and move, and have our being." Here the doctrine of Divine Providence is taught, in the fullest sense of the word. "In him we live, and move, and have our being." No words or form of expression could more clearly and fully express our continual dependence on God. The design of the Apostle was to teach the Athenians, and all who read this statement, that our very existence, and the operations connected with our existence, are sustained by the Almighty Lord of all. This doctrine is consistent with the true and sound philosophy which was taught by certain of the Athenian Poets. Mr. Wesley thinks the Apostle referred to Aratus, who lived about three hundred years before this time, and to the "Hymn of Cleanthus to Jupiter, or the Supreme Being: one of the purest and finest pieces of natural religion in the whole world of Pagan antiquity."

In order that we may better understand all that appears to be comprehended under the doctrine of Divine Providence, divines have classified its manifestations, and denoted such manifestations of the divine interposition by different names. Hence we read of—

1. Immediate Providence: which signifies something which the Almighty does himself, without condescending to use any means or instrumentality.

2. A Mediate Providence: i.e. the Almighty acting by an intervening agent, or what is exercised in the use of means. 3. There is what is termed an Ordinary Providence: viz. that which is exercised in the common nature, and by a chain of causes.

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