-SI VERBO AUDACIA DETUR,

NON METUAM MAGNI DIXISSE PALATIA CŒLI.

Ov. MET.

‹ SIR,

"I CONSIDERED in my two last letters that awful and tremendous fubject, the

'Ubiquity or Omnipresence of the Divine Being. I have fhewn, that he is equally prefent in all places throughout the 'whole extent of infinite fpace. This 'doctrine is fo agreeable to reason, that 'we meet with it in the writings of the enlightened Heathens, as I might shew at large, were it not already done by ' other hands. But though the Deity be 'thus effentially prefent through all the

immensity of space, there is one part of it, in which he discovers himself in a 'moft tranfcendent and vifible glory. This is that place which is marked out in

6

Scripture, under the different appella'tions of "paradife, the third heaven, "the throne of God, and the habitation "of his glory." It is here where the glo'rified body of our Saviour refides, and

' where

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 praise. This is that presence of God, which fome of the divines call 'his glorious, and others his majestatic prefence. He is indeed as effentially pre'fent in all other places as in this; but 6 it is here where he refides in a fenfible 6 magnificence, and in the midst of those splendours which can affect the imagination of created beings.

It is very remarkable, that this opinion of God Almighty's presence 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 dif'ferent notions they entertain of the God'head. If you look into Homer, that is, 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 Muses are represented as finging inceffantly

' about

about his throne. Who does not here 'fee the main ftrokes and outlines of this

great truth we are speaking of? The 'fame doctrine is fhadowed out in many ' other Heathen authors, though at the 'fame time, like feveral other revealed 'truths, dashed and adulterated with a 'mixture of fables and human inventions.

But to pass over the notions of the ، Greeks and Romans, thofe more enlightened parts of the Pagan world, we ' find there is scarce a people among the ، late-difcovered nations, who are not train'ed up in an opinion, that heaven is the 'habitation of the Divinity whom they 6 worthip.

'As in Solomon's temple there was the 'Sanctum Sanctorum, in which a visible 'glory appeared among the figures of the 6 cherubims, and into which none but the 6 high-priest himself was permitted 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 Holy of Holies, into 'which the High-priest of our salvation ، entered,

'entered, and took his place among an'gels 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 inspired Hiram with wifdom! How 'great must be the majesty of that place, 'where the whole art of creation has 'been employed, and where God has 'chofen to fhew himself in the most mag'nificent manner! What must be the 'architecture of infinite power, under the 'direction of infinite wifdom! A spirit " cannot but be transported after an in'effable manner, with the fight of those 'objects, which were made to affect him by that Being who knows the inward 'frame of a foul, and how to please and 'ravish it in all its moft fecret powers ' and faculties. It is to this majeftatic pre'fence of God we may apply those beau'tiful expreffions in Holy Writ: "Be"hold even to the moon, and it shineth

6

“not; yea, the stars are not pure in his "fight." The light of the fun, and all 'the glories of the world in which we live, are but as weak and fickly glim6 merings, or rather darkness itself, in comparison of those splendors which encompafs the throne of God.

6

6

'As the glory of this place is transcen'dent beyond imagination, so 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 can'not poffibly conceive. Though it is not 'infinite, it may be indefinite; and though ' not immeasurable in itself, it may be fo 'with regard to any created eye or ima'gination. If he has made these lower

6

regions of matter fo inconceivably wide ' and magnificent for the habitation of 'mortal and perishable beings, how great 6 may we fuppofe the courts of his house 6 to be, where he makes his refidence in ' a more especial manner, and displays • himself in the fulness of his glory,

6

6 among