Page:Sermons preached in the African Protestant Episcopal Church of St. Thomas', Philadelphia.djvu/218

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a sacred nearness
[ser. xi.

about our path, and spies out all our ways." He fills the great immensity of space, and is therefore, everywhere present at the same time. This truth, too large for either human or angelic minds fully to grasp, is set forth by the Psalmist in language the most lofty and sublime: "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven thou art there. If I make my bed in hell behold thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me."[1] God is present to spy out all our thoughts, motives, intentions, dispositions, tempers and actions: He is present to know, sustain and uphold every minute part of his widely extended creation, whether animate or inanimate; aye, his presence extends far beyond the bounds of those innumerable worlds that roll in

  1. Psa. cxxxix., 7—10.