and there an Epistle; say the Psalms want sifting, and call the inspired writings of Paul and others, their familiar letters to their friends; and who then deduce inferences from the wreck of Scripture far less consistent, and eventually more baneful, than the open Deist, than the frantic Infidel, who, to the ghastly affright of a whole country, stands up before heaven and earth, and with hand untrembling throws the black drapery of condemnation over the cross and Him who died thereon, and denounces prophet, priest, scribe, pastor, and believer, as alike fools or impostors? Of the latter, we are aware, invading terror stiffens every joint; fear rolls in the eye, and children better taught cling close to their parents when the horrors of Deistic execration are recited in their presence. The very crime is a beacon, and the man who dares thus to insult the Most High, becomes great in infamy, and pre-eminent in deformity; his effigy rises on the imagination like a ghost, and his very name descends to posterity like some pale comet, which sweeps through the midnight hemisphere, to alarm one half of the world, and to be seen no more.

But the man who professes to receive the Christian system, and even writes in favour of its general authority, while yet he contrives to undermine its principal doctrines, and to de

stroy whatever of its records would oppose his own creed, is more dangerous than an open enemy his external profession as a Christian secures him from a theological outlawry, and the unwary and the unsuspecting are his victims. But let us remember that the Scriptures not merely contain, but that they are a revelation from God.

My fourth inference is,

Veneration-for we have had frequent occasion to mention, this evening, the awful name of Jehovah, the self-existent Deityveneration for the Ancient of days. Shall Jews venerate the name, and we forget the God? Shall they bow down and shake before the name, and we distrust or disobey the Being? Oh, the blessed name of God! It is this which casts out devils, and consecrates the prophetic mission. It is this which rends the rocks and raises the dead. It is in this blessed name that Martyrs have trampled through the fire, and lame men have learned to leap as an hart. The name of God is so awful, that it checks the insolence of Satan, and swells the hosannahs of heaven, and yet how often on earth is this Holy name profaned! Let swearers tremble and remember that God will not hold him guiltless who taketh his name in vain. Let scoffers and semi-Deists beware. Let believers rejoice. Let the timid

enquirer after truth draw near, the terrors of the Lord shall not make him afraid. The aspect of Deity is softened in the work of Christ. Now he can be just, and yet the justifier of him who believeth. It is here we see

the venerable God in his mildest form; the severer lines of justice are tempered by Covenant mercy, and if he be from everlasting to everlasting, so is his mercy on such as embrace his testimonies: then let us trust his promises, and expect his great salvation.

Never can we sufficiently venerate the great Jehovah the very word denotes that he was from everlasting. The hoary mountain, the solitary lake, the sandy wilderness, the sombre wild; all the fabled honours of royal descent, the darkness and obscurity of primæval agesshores unexplored, whose echoes have slept since the departure of the deluge; the very soil of Paradise, or the midnight reign of chaos -all- are but feeble images of the antiquity and glory of God, unshaken in the throne of Heaven; unrivalled the King of Eternity.

Nor scarcely less wonderful in his purposes than in his eternal essence: "I have loved thee with an everlasting love!" Here is a scheme of salvation which rushes by, like the whirlwind, carrying with it the destinies of all human beings and of all inferior things; extending from the birth of nature to the world's last

groan yea, infinitely more: the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting. Here we exclaim, O, the depth! or rather we are silent, we adore: we look out into the boundless ocean of Jehovah's love, we hear the marvellous going forth of his decrees, we feel like the Apostle who asks, What shall we say to these things? we are like Elijah, who went into the cave and hid his face in a mantle.

Lastly, joy.

We have spoken of altars and places inscribed with Jehovah's name: we have spoken of Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah Nissi, Jehovah Shammah, &c.

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Let us all rejoice that God has provided a Lamb for a burnt offering, and in our experierect an altar whose inscription shall be Jehovah Jireh. How pitiable is that man who feels no joy at such a statement! Let me earnestly entreat such an one to consider whether he can be righteous, when God enters into judgement. Is there no meaning in such a text as this, God beholdeth the proud afar off;-or in this question, Hast thou an arm like God, or canst thou thunder with a voice like him ;-or in this descriptive interrogatory, Fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites; who amongst us can dwell with devouring fire, who can lie down in eternal burnings? Are there no terrors in these expres

sions to the Pharisee, to the daring rebel, or to the arch deceiver? May such characters, no less than the fashionably moral and the supine, take warning; and God's own voice be heard, when he says, Woe be unto them that are at ease in Zion! But how sweetly does this subject breathe upon the troubled conscience; how cheering to the man who feels a dreadful void in his soul, while he perceives that nothing but the religion of Jesus can satisfy him! Here he sees the Eternal Three sitting in council to deliver the wretched: God the Father laying help upon one that is mighty, even his co-equal and co-eternal Son, and God the Spirit covenanting to conduct the soul whom he shall awaken, into all the truth. Yes, the Lord hath provided a Lamb for a burnt offering. Look at the victim, ye that are of a troubled conscience, and behold your God. He is our peace, the God-man mediator, the everlasting Son of the Father. Let that be another inscription for your altar, Jehovah Shalom, even the Lord our peace. The Lord Jesus Christ who has reconciled us unto God, us who are made willing in the day of his power, and whose confession is, O Lord, other Lords have had dominion over us, but now by thee only will we make mention of thy name, it is our banner: Jehovah Nissi is inscribed on every trophy: Jehovah Shammah is the glory of the