he was pleased to revive the desponding souls of Adam and Eve, with a promise of salvation through Christ, who should be crucified as a blasphemer, but, in his expiring moments on the cross, should vanquish Satan, and restore felicity to his chosen people : “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel"." Astonishing mercy! How wonderfully does "God commend his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." In every age since the tragical event to which we have alluded, God has given the most indubitable proofs of his clemency to the broken-hearted sinner. He has selected some as objects of his mercy, who, before their conversion, were the vilest of the sons of men, in order that the chief of sinners might be encouraged to renounce their iniquities and live. Manasseh, who impiously set God at defiance, and wantonly shed the blood of his subjects; Saul of Tarsus, who was a sanguinary persecutor, and made dreadful havoc of the infant church'; some of those who crucified the Lord of Glory, and put him to an open shame; yea, even the thief upon the cross, in his dying moments"; all these, and many others, when they humbled themselves at the footstool of his mercy, found pardon. God is still seated on a throne of grace, ready to dispense, in the kindest manner, forgiveness to the greatest delinquents, when they seek him with all their hearts. 3. The holiness, righteousness, and justice of God are written in the Scriptures as with a sun-beam, and 2 Kings xxi. 2-16. Gen. iii. 15. 'Acts ix. 1-7. 'Rom. v. 8. Luke xxiii. 40-43. are strikingly confirmed by his conduct towards men and angels. These perfections are of eminent service, to prevent the abuse of his mercy, and to teach offenders not to suppose that God has no just abhorrence of sin. For were Jehovah to exercise compassion and love to sinners without a due regard to his justice, his law would be dishonoured, and its glory eclipsed; his purity would not shine forth (as it now does, by redemption through the satisfaction of Christ) in its full splendour; and sinners would be emboldened to indulge their vicious practices, under the idea that they could not be regarded as criminal by God, since he did not mark them with his just displeasure. To manifest, then, the unspotted righteousness of his Divine nature, and to shew that he displays mercy in full consistency with the demands of justice, he loudly proclaims himself "a just God and Saviour ";" who, though he forgives the penitent, will by no means clear the guilty, the impenitent, and unbelieving, lest his purity should be sullied, or he should appear in the slightest degree to encourage sin, which he abominates. The whole tenor of Divine truth accords with this view of the subject. God styles himself, repeatedly, "The Holy One of Israel;" to publish to the world that righteousness is an attribute essential to his character. So strict is the regard he pays to it, that, in confirmation of the promises of the everlasting covenant, he saith, "Once have I sworn by my Holiness, that I will not lie unto David"." If God, then, be thus unalterably righteous, he can never be indifferent to the behaviour of men, as it respects himself. Without the testimony of Scrip"Isa. xlv. 21. Exod. xxxiv. 6,7. P Psalm lxxxix. 35. ture, we may be sure that he constantly notices the actions and deportment of each individual, and records their good or bad deeds "in the book of remembrance;" and that, at the last day, he will reward or punish with the utmost impartiality. His word corroborates this statement. "I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings." It is true, the prosperity which sometimes attends the wicked in this life, and the afflictions of the righteous, often obscure our views of the apparent equity of God's providential dispensations. But no disparity, however great, in men's temporal condition, should lead us to the unwarrantable conclusion, that God regards good and evil as objects alike indifferent to him; since his word solemnly avers, "Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth'. But even now, as well as hereafter, God makes a marked difference" between those who serve him, and those who serve him not".' God avows that he bears the strongest affection for his people, whom he more tenderly regards than a woman does her beloved offspring'; that he delights in them, and will preserve them from, every danger, and finally bring them to the possession of unceasing bliss. The following passages are a few, out of many, that attest this truth. "The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.' "The Lord God is a sun and shield the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk up Jer. xvii. 10. 'Isa. xlix. 15, 16. tt " rightly." "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that riseth against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn." "This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord; and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord"." These representations of his attachment to his Saints we find exemplified in his dealings with the Church. He took Enoch to heaven, in the sight of a corrupt generation. He saved Noah and his family, in the ark, from the deluge **. He granted peculiar tokens of his regard to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, on earth; and, at their death, received their departing spirits into abodes of glory. He sent Christ, the Angel of the Covenant, to deliver his chosen people Israel from the iron bondage of Egypt; and to conduct them, through the Wilderness, to the Promised Land. He rescued Daniel from the lions' den; and preserved his companions from the destructive fury of a burning fiery furnace. And although he does not now, as in ancient times, remarkably interpose for the deliverance of the Faithful, still God "knoweth them that are his;' and will make "all things work together for good to them that love him, and are called according to his purpose. Even now he accomplishes his promise to the Church; so that, notwithstanding the malice of Satan, Christianity still prospers, and extends its benign triumphs throughout the world. On the contrary, God has told us that his holiness and justice compel him to punish, with insupportable torments, all the enemies of his government, and despisers of his truth, who die in their sins. "Ps. lxxxiv.11,12. Isa. liv. 17. y Heb. xi. 13-17. * Gen. v. 24. Dan. vi. 16-24. 66 Hear how he thunders out his wrath from heaven against those who oppose his authority! and you can'not doubt whether God is concerned to vindicate his injured honour. God is angry with the wicked every day.' ""Upon the ungodly he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, storm and tempest: this shall be their portion to drink." "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God." Jehovah has repeatedly demonstrated the glorious holiness of his nature before all, that they may be deterred from offending him. He punished Satan and his rebellious associates, by expelling them from Paradise, and plunging them into the abyss of everlasting woe. "He spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment." The execution of the sentence pronounced on Adam, and the dire effects of his fall, which extend to his descendants in every age, may convince us that the hatred of God to sin is unalterable. The universal destruction occasioned by the deluge, of which some remembrance is almost everywhere to be found, puts beyond dispute the righteousness of God. He opened the windows of heaven, and broke up the fountains of the great deep, to destroy the whole human race, except eight persons *. The fact of Christ's death is the most striking demonstration of the justice of God that ever was made. In the punishment of the fallen Angels, of Adam, and of the old world, we see so many rebels suffering the just desert of their crimes: but in the crucifixion of Christ, we behold an innocent and perfect dib. ix. 17. b Psalm vii. 11. Le 2 Peter ii: 4. • Psalm xi. 6, 7. |