the immenfity of space, there is one part of it in which he difcovers himfelf in a moft tranfcendent and visible glory. This is that place which is marked out in fcripture under the different appellations of paradife, the third heaven, the throne of God, and the kabi•tation of his glory. It is here where the glorified Body of our Saviour refides, and where all the celeftial hierarchies, and the innumerable hofts of Angels, are represented as perpetually furrounding the feat of God with hallelujahs and hymns of praife. This is that pre• fence of God which fome of the divines call his glorious, and others his majeftatick prefence. He is indeed as effentially present in all other places as in this, but it is here where he refides in a fen• fible magnificence, and in the midst of thole fplendors which can affect the imagination of created Beings.

It is very remarkable that this opinion of God Almighty's prefence in heaven, whether discovered by the light of nature, or by a general tradition from our first parents, prevails among all the nations of the world, whatsoever different notions they entertain of the Godhead. If you look into Homer, that is,

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the most ancient of the Greek writers, you fee the Supreme Powers feated in the heavens, and encompaffed with in'ferior Deities, among whom the Mufes are reprefented as finging inceffantly about his throne. Who does not here fee the main ftrokes and outlines of this great truth we are fpeaking of? The lame doctrine is fhadowed out in many ' other heathen authors, tho' at the fame time, like several other revealed truths, dafhed and adulterated with a mixture of fables and human inventions. But to pass over the notions of the Greeks ' and Roinans, thofe more enlightened " parts of the Pagan world, we find there is fcarce a people among the late difcovered nations who are not trained up in an opinion, that heaven is the habi tation of the Divinity whom they wor• ship.

'As in Solomon's temple there was the Sanctum San&torum, in which a vifible glory appeared among the figures of the Cherubims, and into which none but the high priest himself was permit-ted to enter, after having made an atonement for the fins of the people; fo if we confider the whole creation as one great temple, there is in it this HoFS

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6 ly of Holies, into which the high prieft of our falvation entered, and took his place among Angels and Archangels, after having made a propitiation for the fins of mankind.

With how much skill muft the throne of God be erected? With what glorious defigns is that habitation beautified, which is contrived and built by • him who infpired Hiram with wisdom? • How great must be the majesty of that

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place, where the whole art of creation •has been employed, and where God • has chosen to fhew himfolf in the most • magnificent manner? What must be the architecture of infinite power under the direction of infinite wisdom? A fpi•rit cannot but be tranfported after an • ineffable manner, with the fight of those objects, which were made to affect him by that Being who knows the inward • frame of a Soul, and how to please and ravish it in all its moft fecret powers and faculties. It is to this majeftatick • prefence of God, we may apply those beautiful expreffions in holy writ: Be• bold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea the flars are not pure in his fight. • The light of the fun, and all the glories of the world in which we live, are bur

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as weak and fickly glimmerings, or rather darkness itself, in comparison of thofe fplendors which encompass the throne of God.

As the glory of this place is tranfcendent beyond imagination, fo probably is the extent of it. There is light behind light, and glory within glory. How far that space may reach, in which God thus appears in perfect majesty, we cannot poffibly conceive. Tho' it is not infinite, it may be indefinite; and f though not immeasurable in it felf, it may be fo with regard to any created eye or imagination. If he has made these lower regions of matter fo inconceivably wide and magnificent for the habitation of mortal and perishable Beings, how great may we fuppofe the courts of his houfe to be, where he makes his refidence in a more especial manner, and difplays himself in the ful nels of his glory, among an innumerable company of Angels, and Spirits of just men made perfect?

This is certain, that our imagina tions cannot be raised too high, when we think on a place where Omnipotence and Omnilcience have fo fignalfly exerted themselves, because that they

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are able to produce a Scene infinitely more great and glorious than what we are able to imagine. It is not impoffi 'ble but at the confummation of all things, thefe outward apartments of nature, which are now fuited to thofe Beings who inhabit them, may be taken in and added to that glorious place of which I am here fpeaking; and by that means made a proper habitation for Beings who are exempt from mortality, and cleared of their imperfections: For fo the fcripture feems to intimate when it fpeaks of new heavens. and of a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

I have only confidered this glorious. place, with regard to the fight and ima gination, though it is highly probable that our other fenfes may here likewife enjoy their higheft gratifications. There is nothing which more ravishes and tranfports the foul, than harmony, and we have great reafon to believe, from the defcriptions of this place in Holy Scripture, that this is one of the entertainments of it. And if the foul of man. can be fo wonderfully affected with thofe ftrains of mufick, which human art is capable of producing, how much

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