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all created nature, mutable. Of this who can entertain a doubt, that reflects on the awful apostasy of myriads of their family, now consigned to the blackness of darkness for ever! Nor does the security of those who retain their holiness and their bliss, result from any immutability in themselves, but from the purpose and the power of him whose they are, and whom they serve; in whose presence they are represented as veiling with their wings their faces, as if dazzled with the splendour of his holiness; and veiling with their wings their feet, as if conscious of unworthiness to approach the throne of his glory.

PATIENCE OF GOD.

SIN, in every shape, and form, and degree, is that abominable thing which God hates; against which every attribute of his nature, and every principle of his government, must of necessity rise up in direct and unalterable hostility. Men are disposed to treat with lenity and indulgence those improprieties to which they are themselves inclined, while they would visit, with the full weight of punishment, offences to the commission of which they themselves feel no temptation. But never was there a sin of thought, or word, or action, which was not diametrically opposed to the unchanging nature of the blessed God. His name is holy; his law is holy; his throne is holy; his heaven is holy; and all its inhabitants are holy and yet it is to the unholy, it is to those who are in rebellion against the attributes of his nature, that his wondrous patience is extended.

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LOVE OF GOD.

How must the infinite Creator behave towards such audacious and impotent rebels? He can crush them in a moment; he can repress them into nothing again; he can extinguish all nature in the twinkling of an eye.-How is it that this has not happened thousands of years ago? for this insolence of ours against the Almighty, is as universal and ancient as the history of man on the earth. What is that God, and who is He, that can persevere in bearing all this? He must have some character still greater than that of Creator, to unfold to the creatures he preserves in a state of such ungrateful rebellion. It is so; for he has it in his power to be their Judge, and his own avenger every moment. But is it possible; can it be credited indeed? He would be their FATHER-he wishes to call these insignificant apostates his children, and that they should call him Father. Omnipotent Justice! how glorious art thou; who canst vindicate thyself in the effusion of love upon the guilty, and transform thine awful decisions into the yearnings of parental affection towards abject apostates! Ungrateful child! But thou art still more miserable than thou art rebellious-unhappy that thou knowest me not. No: thou shalt not be my hired servant-come to my arms, thou art my son still!

O God! this is creating indeed! Can the wretchedness of profligate apostasy warm Omnipotence into this? Can tremendous justice vindicate itself, in dissolving my contumacy, by cherishing me in a bosom burning with the affection of a parent? My Creator-my Father! Is this possible? Father to an unworthy reptile

of yesterday, and to-day tottering upon the very brink of destruction. Has the eternal Creator pronounced and sealed the immortal being and felicity of one too insignificant for his notice, and who might have been overlooked amongst the immensity of his works, by pronouncing himself, my Father? What have I been surfeiting upon? One momentary expression of this paternal affection towards an outcast prodigal is worth all that he has created.-O sun! thou hast no warmth like this-thy brightest beams are cold. What do they avail without love-love that no guilt, no oceans of provocation can quench!

God "knocks at the door" of our hearts, by the dispensations of his providence, by the declarations of his word, by the admonitions of conscience, by the influences of his Spirit.

GOODNESS OF GOD.

CONSIDER the amiable, the delightful attribute of goodness, which belongs to the Deity in the most eminent degree, and is the source of all the good that exists in the world. It is this which recommends him to our love, produces confidence in his government, and acquiescence in his dispensations; enables us to expect his protection, and completely reconciles us to the contemplation of all his other perfections. This constitutes him the Father, as well as the absolute Sovereign of all his creatures. Self-existence and Eternity amaze and confound the mind; Omnipotence is awful and tremendous; Justice is

venerable, and, to sinners, terrific; Purity and Sanctity are amiable and sublime. But they seem to shed too bright a lustre for the feeble eyes of imperfect and degenerate creatures. Goodness tempers these rays, softens the awe of Majesty, attracts to the contemplation of Divinity; and raises, by affection and hope, the hearts which reverence, mixed with terror, had sunk in deep and trembling prostration! This attribute, inseparably united with every other, imparts to their assemblage those colours and that aspect, which cheer and delight the soul. Goodness, eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, unlimited in its exertions; Goodness, directing the whole frame and order of the universe, and graciously modifying the severity of Justice, constitutes the description of an all-perfect Being, completes the idea of the divine nature-is the just representation of God!

The Father has a heart of large bounty to the poor ruined race of Adam; the Son has a hand fit to be the almoner to the King of glory; and the Spirit is the rich alms. The blessed donative has enriched ten thousand souls already, and there remains enough to enrich ten thousand worlds.

The Father what a glorious giver! The Son, what a glorious medium of communication! And the Spirit, what a glorious gift!-We blush and adore while we partake of such immense favours, and gratitude is even overwhelmed with wonder.

O let our spirits rejoice in this blessed article of our religion: and may all the temptation we

may encounter from men of reason never, never baffle so sweet a faith!

If the goodness of God is so admirably seen in the works of nature, and the favours of providence, with what a noble superiority does it even triumph in the mystery of redemption! Redemption is the brightest mirror in which to contemplate this most lovely attribute of the Deity. Other gifts are only as mites from the divine treasury; but redemption opens, I had almost said, exhausts all the stores of his glorious grace. Herein God commendeth his love; not only manifests, but renders it perfectly marvellous; manifests it in so stupendous a manner, that it is beyond parallel, beyond thought, and above all blessing and praise.

The Supreme Being has not given us powers or faculties sufficient to extol and magnify such unutterable goodness. It is, however, some comfort to us, that we shall always be doing what we shall never be able to do, and that a work which cannot be finished, will, however, be the work of eternity.

MERCY OF GOD.

ALL the divine excellencies rejoice together in the efforts of mercy. Love, grace, and mercy, claim no share in the triumphs of vindictive justice, but justice claims a share in the triumphs of love, grace, and mercy in Christ; for justice gets its due before mercy could be obtained; and the throne of grace stands upon judgment fully exe

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