and has been handed down as a proverb through all successive generations even to this very day: the proverb is, " In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen ; " or, as it should rather be translated, " In the mount the Lord shall be seen." To enter fully into this most instructive proverb, it will be proper to shew,
I. What it supposes —
Much important truth lies concealed in it. It supposes,
1. That God is the same in all ages —
[It may be thought that this is a truth which no one will controvert. I grant that no one will controvert it in theory : but practically it is denied every day. The God who is re- vealed in the Scriptures is evidently a God of infinite conde- scension and grace ; as appears in all his mercies to the children of men. He is also a God of inflexible justice and holiness ; as appears by the awful judgments he has executed on account of sin. But, if we now hold him forth in either of these points of view, and inculcate the necessity of our regarding him with hopes and fears suited to these perfections, we are considered as either derogating from his Majesty on the one hand, or from his goodness on the other hand. The notion, that " the Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil," though not openly avowed, is yet the secret persuasion of almost every heart. But if there were any foundation for this Epicurean sentiment, what room could there be for this proverb? But know assuredly, that "He changeth not;" "with Him is no variableness neither shadow of turning:" "He is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever."]
2. That the privileges of his people in all ages are the same —
[To imagine this, is thought by many to be the height of presumption. But what privilege had Enoch, or Noah, or Abraham, or Moses, or any other of the children of men, which we have not? No one of them enjoyed any thing which was not contained in the covenant of grace. And what was the great promise in that covenant ? Was it not, " I will be their God, and they shall be my people ? " Was there any thing that was not comprehended in that ? or could any thing whatever be added to it ? Yet behold, that covenant is as much in force at this day as it was at any period of the world : and those who lay hold on that covenant are as much entitled to its blessings, as any ever were from the foundation of the world. Were this not so, we should have been injured, rather than benefited,