horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup. For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright." (Ps. v. 3-6, xi. 4—7.) And these, and similar passages, should be viewed in connexion with such adoring views of his mercy as the following:- "The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide : neither will he keep his anger for ever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.The mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children; To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them." (Ps. ciii. 8-14, 17, 18.) And, in contemplating the harmony of the Divine attributes, as displayed in his dealings with his people, we find him exclaiming, "Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other." "Justice and judgement are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face." (Ps. lxxxv. 10, lxxxix. 14.)

Such is the view of the Divine Character presented to us in the Old Testament. Let us now turn to the pages of the New. Have we not here the same remarkable and glorious character displayed? What can be more awful in judgement than the views which are given us of the fearful doom of the impenitent and unbelieving? "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." (Matt. xxv. 41.) And yet we find the holy God, who awards this doom, represented as contriving, out of His own overflowing grace and mercy, a plan of salvation with eternal glory, adapted to the case and necessities of sinful rebels-even the chief! And such are freely invited to experience its power, and to accept of its consolations!

We are plainly told of His holy indignation against sin :

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness." (Rom. i. 18.) Of his strict

and equal justice: "Who will render to every man according to his deeds: To them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile : For there is no respect of persons with God. For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law." (Rom. ii. 6—12.) "We know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." "For our God is a consuming fire." (Heb. x. 30, 31, and xii. 29.) The holiness of God is matter of unceasing praise to the blessed companies of heaven: "They rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come." (Rev. iv. 8.) And the enemies of his kingdom, unable to endure the terrors of his righteous anger, are represented as crying out "to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand ?" (Rev. vi. 16, 17.)

Such declarations are calculated to appal the guilty. Who shall stand before Him? And yet this awful, just, and holy God is represented as giving "His unspeakable gift"-all (we may justly say it) that even Divine fulness could bestow-as a ransom for the sins of an offending world, and to work out everlasting redemption for rebellious men!"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." "For when

we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." "God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love,

not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (John iii. 16, 17; Rom. v. 6-8; 1 John iv. 8-10.) And this precious gift was bestowed, in order to make poor and perishing sinners his children by adoption and grace. "For ye are "The

all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ." "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God!-Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." (Gal. iii. 26 ; Rom. viii. 16, 17; 1 John iii. 1, 2.)

Fix your attention, I entreat you, upon the riches of love and mercy which are set forth in these and similar passages. They contain some truths against which you might probably be disposed to make objections: but the manifestation of boundless love and mercy which they contain is plain and intelligible to all. And this, we are taught by express declaration, was to be shewn in such a way, as should be perfectly consistent with the holy character of a most just Judge and righteous Governor. "God hath set forth" Jesus Christ "to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time, his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." (Rom. iii. 25, 26.) So that, while He reveals himself as a Father of mercies, forgiving all trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, it might justly be said, "The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable :

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(Is. xlii. 21,) and that "He is FAITHFUL AND JUST to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John i. 9.)

Thus, then, we find God revealed in the New Testament, as well as in the Old, as "a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside" Him. (Is. xlv. 21.)

CHAPTER II.

Of the moral condition of Man-The view which the Old Testament gives of his exceeding sinfulness and pollution-This is opposed to the proud conceits which prevail among men-But entirely consistent with the declarations of the New Testament.

We have next to enquire, Whether the New Testament gives a different view of the natural state and moral condition of Man, from that which is uniformly presented to us in the Old?

Before the Flood, we have a fearful view of the state of a fallen world. "GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." (Gen. vi. 5.) And though, since that awful event, we may perhaps allow, that some restraints have been put, in providence and grace, upon the more violent actings and overflowings of wickedness and rebellion, yet it is evident, that we still remain children of the same corrupt and fallen race. "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean ? not one." (Job. xiv. 4.) Accordingly we find, that, immediately after the Flood, God renews the most important and emphatic part of the foregoing declaration, and applies it to mankind at large; "The imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth." (Gen. viii. 21.)

Take Man under the most favourable circumstances. When God, by signs and wonders, with an outstretched arm, had separated a people to Himself, and given them his ordinances and commandments, and bestowed upon them every privilege, we should expect to find them, in a remarkable manner, preserved from the corruption and pollutions of the idolatrous world around them. What, then, are the declarations of the Scriptures respecting this

highly favoured and peculiar people? and what are the facts of the history of Israel? Observe the plain declarations of that eminent servant of the Lord, in whose name you are so commonly disposed to boast yourselves. "Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the LORD thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee. Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go in to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Understand therefore, that the LORD thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for THOU art a STIFF-NECKED PEOPLE. Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst the LORD thy God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against the LORD. -Furthermore the LORD spake unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people : Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven: and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they. So I turned and

came down from the mount, and the mount burned with fire and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands. And I looked, and behold, ye had sinned against the LORD your God, and had made you a molten calf: ye had turned aside quickly out of the way which the LORD had commanded you. And at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah, ye provoked the LORD to wrath. Likewise when the LORD sent you from Kadeshbarnea, saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given you; then ye rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God, and ye believed him not, nor hearkened to his voice. YE HAVE BEEN REBELLIOUS AGAINST THE LORD FROM THE DAY THAT I KNEW YOU." (Deut. ix. 4-7, 13-16, 22-24.) Such is the testimony of Moses respecting Israel; and, in all his prayers and intercessions for them, he acknowledges their guilt and unworthiness. The long continuance of those prayers, for forty