ander this character. Rev. 18. "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." So again, verse 10, 11. "I heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last." Alpha and Omega being the names of the first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet, it signifies the same as his being the first and the last, and the beginning and the end. Rev. 21: 6. “And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end," 22: 12, 13. "And be hold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last."

We have seen on what design God began the course of his providence in the beginning of the generations of men; and how he has all along carried things on agreeably to the same design without ever failing; and how at last the conclusion and final issue of all things are to God; and therefore may well now cry out with the apostle, Rom. 11: 33, "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" and verse 36, For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen. "

We have seen how other things came to an end one after another; how states, and kingdoms, and empires fell, and came to nothing, even the greatest and strongest of them; we have seen how the world has been often overturned, and will be more remark

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ably yet; we have seen how it was first destroyed by water, and how at last it shall be utterly destroyed by fire but yet God remains the same through ages. He was before the beginning of this course of things, and he will be after the end of them. Psalm 102 25, 26. Thus God is he who is, and who was, and who is to come.

We have seen, in a variety of instances, how all other gods perish. Those in the nations about Canaan, and throughout the Roman empire, are all destroyed, and their worship long since overthrown. We have seen how Antichrist, who has called himself a god on earth-how Mohammed, who claims religious honors-how all the gods of the Heathen through the world will come to an end; and how Satan, the great dragon, that old serpent, who has set up himself as god of this world, will be cast into the lake of fire, there to suffer his complete punishment: but Jehovah remains, his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and of his dominion there is no end. We have seen what mighty changes there have been in the world; but God is unchangeable, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.

We began at the head of the stream of divine providence, and have traced it through its various windings, till we are come to the end where it issues. As it began in God, so it ends in him. God is the infinite ocean into which it empties itself. Providence is like a mighty wheel, whose circumference is so high that it is dreadful, with the glory of the God of Israel above upon it; as it is represented in Ezekiel's vision. We have seen the revolution of this wheel, and how, as it was from God, its return has been to God again. All the events of divine Redemption.

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providence are like the links of a chain; the first link is from God, and the last is to him.

III. We may see by what has been said, how Christ has in all things the pre-eminence. For he is the great Redeemer; and therefore the work of redemption being the sum of God's works of providence, shows the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, as being above all, and through all, and in all. That God intended the world for his Son's use in the work of redemption, is one reason why he created the world by him, Eph. 3:9-12. What has been said, shows how all the purposes of God are in Christ; and how he is before all, and above all. All things consist in him, are governed by him, and are for him, Col. 1: 15-18. God makes him his first-born, higher than the kings of the earth, and sets his throne above their thrones. God has always upheld his kingdom, when others have come to an end; that appears at last above all, however greatly opposed for so many ages. All other kingdoms fall, but his kingdom is the last, and never gives place to any other.

We see that whatever changes there are, and however highly Christ's enemies exalt themselves, yet he reigns in uncontrolled power and immense glory in the end, his people are all perfectly saved and made happy, and all his enemies become his footstool. And thus God gives the world to his Son for his inheritance.

IV. Hence we may see the consistency, order, and beauty of God's works of providence. If we behold events in any other view, all will look like confusion, like the tossing of waves; things will look as though one confused revolution came to pass

after another, merely by blind chance, without any regular or certain end. But if we consider the events of providence in the light in which the Scriptures set them before us, they appear an orderly series of events, all wisely directed in excellent harmony and consistence, tending all to one end. The wheels of providence are not turned round by blind chance, but are full of eyes round about, as Ezekiel represents, and are guided by the Spirit of God: where the Spirit goes, they go. All God's works of providence, through all ages, meet at last, as so many lines in one centre.

God's work of providence, like that of creation, is but one. The events of providence are not so many distinct, independent works; but rather so many different parts of one work, one regular scheme. They are all united, just as the several parts of one building there are many stones, many pieces of timber, but all are so joined, and fitly framed together, that they make but one building: they have all but one foundation, and are united at last in one top-stone.

God's providence may not unfitly be compared to a river, having innumerable branches, beginning in different regions, and at a great distance one from another, and all conspiring to one common issue. After their very diverse and apparently contrary courses, they all collect together, the nearer they come to their common end, and at length discharge themselves at one mouth into the same ocean. The different streams of this river are apt to appear confused to us, because of our limited sight whereby we cannot see the whole at once. A man who sees but one or two streams at a time, cannot tell what their

course tends to. Their course seems very crooked, and different streams seem to run for awhile different and contrary ways; and if we view things at a distance, there seem to be innumerable obstacles and impediments, as rocks, mountains, and the like, in the way of their ever uniting and coming to the ocean; but yet if we trace them, they all unite at last, disgorging themselves in one into the same great ocean. Not one of all the streams fail.

V. From the whole that has been said, we may strongly argue that the Scriptures are the word of God, because they alone inform us what is God's design in all these works. God doubtless is pursuing some design, and carrying on some scheme, in the various changes and revolutions which from age to age come to pass in the world. It is most reasonable to suppose that there is some great design to which Providence subordinates all the great successive changes in the world which he has made; that all revolutions, from the beginning of the world to the end, are but the various parts of the same scheme, all conspiring to bring about that great event which the Creator and Governor of the world has ultimately in view; and that the scheme will not be finished, nor the design fully accomplished, till the end of the world, and the last revolution is brought about.

Now there is nothing else that informs us what this scheme and design of God in his works is, but the Holy Scriptures. Nothing else pretends to set in view the whole series of God's works of providence from beginning to end, and to inform us how all things were from God at first, for what end they are, how they were ordered from the beginning,