November 6

But they have every thing to fear. At present they have no part nor lot in the matter; and if they die as they are, Christ will profit them nothing—For he has said, "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me."

It is equally obvious that they are badly instructed in the mystery of sanctification who think to gain it from some slavish, legal, superstitious, self-righteous methods of their own, instead of repairing to the sufferings of Christ, the only fountain opened for sin and uncleanness. It is the blood of Jesus that alone cleanseth us from all sin; and this is true as to our purification, not only from the guilt, but also the love and power of it. Our old man is crucified with him. There is no true holiness separate from the cross. There he obtained for us not only eternal redemption, but all the supplies of grace.

And as the death of Christ is the source from which the Spirit is derived, so it is the principal means by which he works: for he works rationally and in a way of argument and motive. And what can equal the view of his sufferings? There we see most strikingly the evil of sin; and there we behold the love of Christ, which most powerfully constrains us. At the sight of this the Christian rises, and says, Did he devote himself thus for me, and shall I not dedicate myself to him? Lord what wilt thou have me to do?

NOVEMBER 6.—"The everlasting God."—Genesis 21:33.

THE eternity of God is the most sublime and astonishing subject on which our thoughts can fix. Let us not darken counsel by words without knowledge. Three things may be said, and this is all we can say. First. He will have no end. If we carry our views forward, and add millions of ages to millions of years, till the mind be lost in the computation, we shall make no progress in the duration of the eternal God. A week is too long for the beauty and fragrance of some flowers. There are insects that are brought forth, and pass the several stages of their being, and die in a single day. The life of man is compared to a vapour that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. But the oak of the forest survives several generations of possessors and observers. The earth continues through all the changes of its inhabitants. The river Jordan, which the Jews crossed, continues to wind its uneven course: and the mount Ararat, on which Noah stepped out of the ark, still remains to be seen. The heavenly bodies shine on above the reach of our revolutionary system. Yet this is only comparatively true: nothing is absolutely durable—"They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end." Some creatures will endure for ever. Angels are imperishable. So are the spirits of just men made perfect. The soul will view untouched the destruction of the universe: yea, the body, though material, will be immortalized. But none of these will live for ever like God. He is the fountain of life; all other beings are streams flowing from him, and sustained by him. They are not immortal of themselves, but by his pleasure and bounty. But he has life necessarily and independently in himself, and is un-

affected by any external cause. Therefore it is said, "He only hath immortality."

Secondly, he never had a beginning. The space of time which has elapsed since the creation seems long: the globe is near six thousand years old. But through an immensity of duration, of which we can form no idea, God had been living equal to his own happiness, and able to do whatsoever he pleased. "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting," as well as "to everlasting, thou art God." It is needless to observe that this prerogative is entirely and infinitely peculiar to God. Thus he is "the first" as well as "the last." He inhabiteth eternity, and indeed constitutes it; for properly speaking, eternity is nothing else but the duration of his being and agency.

Thirdly, there is no change in his being, no diminution, no increase, no variableness or shadow of turning. We speak of the past, the present, and the future: but "I am" is his name, and his memorial in all generations. Our continuance is computed by periods: but his duration is one permanent now. We exist by parcels; we existed partly yesterday, we exist partly to-day, and shall exist partly tomorrow; but he possesses and enjoys his whole being at once. We never continue in one stay: infancy grows into manhood, and manhood descends into old age. Even in the Christian the outward man perisheth, and the inward man is renewed day by day; and even in heaven the saints will be changed from glory into glory; but he says, "I the Lord change not." He was never less, and he will never be more wise, and holy, and happy than he is. He will never be older than he is, and he was never younger. One day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years are as one day.

"Why this is an abyss in which our thoughts are swallowed up." It is. And observe the inference we draw from it. Are we not therefore chargeable with the greatest absurdity, when we reject a doctrine because we cannot comprehend it? Is not this to make our understanding the measure of truth? How much reality is there that does not come within the reach of our senses, or of our reason! — We talk of mysteries. There are such in the Scriptures; and are there none in Nature? There is no doctrine we are called to believe in Revelation more difficult than this eternity of God. Every notion we can form of it involves in it a seeming inconsistency, and a real inexplicability; yet every Deist admits it; and the man that denied it would render himself universally ridiculous.

Let us therefore adore a Being who cannot, by searching, be found out unto perfection, and have grace whereby we may worship him acceptably, with reverence and with godly fear. And convinced of the infinite distance there is between him and us, let us admire his condescension. How evident is it that he does not stand in need of us, and is "exalted above all blessing and praise!" Yet we and our mean affairs have always engaged his attention—"What is man, that thou shouldst magnify him? and that thou shouldst set thine heart upon him? and that thou shouldst visit him every morning, and try him every moment?"

The eternity of God should take off our attachment and dependence from things below. Creatures, however agreeable or powerful, are