to possess. They tell us that His eyes run to and fro the
earth, beholding the evil and the good; that all things are naked and
open to His eyes. They go further. They teach us that He is always
present with us all, that there is no part of this earth, of the vast
universe, from which He is ever absent. David expresses himself
strikingly on this point--"Whither shall I go from Thy spirit?" says he,
"or wither shall I flee from Thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven,
Thou art there: if I make my bed in hell (hades), 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. If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall
be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from Thee; but the night
shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to Thee."
Psalm cxxxix. 7-12. How certainly therefore does God observe all our
wickedness! Did we but constantly realize this fact what a restraining
power it would exert over us when we are tempted to evil. A man left his
cottage very early one morning taking with him a sack, and accompanied by
his son, a little boy. That boy was a Sunday scholar, and little
suspected his father's errand. After proceeding some distance the father
entered a turnip field, and throwing down his sack, looked in this
direction and in that to see whether any one was observing him. On
discovering the father's object, the child said, "Father, there was one
way you did not look." "Indeed," replied he, hastily; "which was that?"
"You did not look upward," was the rejoinder, "and God is observing you."
That was a word in season. The father's arm was paralyzed. He took up
his sack and returned home. Remember, my friends, that the sleepless eye
of the Omnipresent One is upon you. The man that goes forth at the
still, dark, hour of midnight to plunder our habitations, how startled
would he be if an inmate should noiselessly and suddenly present himself
before him--the servant that robs his master, the circulator of base
coin, the man of fraud--would these practise their misdeeds if they
realized this truth: "Thou God seest me?" Would the slanderer, or
backbiter, or hypocrite, indulge their habits if they realized this
truth? Of what immense benefit would the realization of this truth be,
both personally and socially!

2. When God says that He reme