therefore I hate it. I hate the dearly beloved of my soul; Jer. xii. 7, 8. Thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities; yet sovereign grace breaks forth in Israel's favour, and Jehovah adds, I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins; Isaiah xliii. 24, 25. I knew thou wouldest deal very treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the womb. Yet, saith the Lord, for my name's sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee that I cut thee not off; Isaiah xlviii. 9. For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth and smote him, I hid me and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the

way of his heart. And was not the desperate sinner made a dreadful example of divine displeasure? He must have been so, had not free exuberant grace interposed in his favour, saying, I have seen his ways, and I will heal him; Isaiah lvii. 17, 18. Sovereign love triumphs in the sinner's salvation, through the merits of the almighty Saviour, in a way which displays the infinite purity of Jehovah's nature and unmerited favour. Sin gives many a mortal wound, but grace provides

a cure.

Thus, from the example of God's conduct towards backsliding saints, we have striking proofs that neither God's natural nor sovereign love change their objects. Holiness is the invariable

object of the former, and the persons of his people, the objects of the latter. I might add, All the good which sovereign grace does work, or implant in the human heart, meets with God's necessary approbation in all its genuine operations. He attends to the language of penitence with pleasure. He says of mourning Ephraim, whom he heard bemoaning himself, My bowels are troubled for him, and I earnestly remember him still. With what melting pity does he address the soul that seeks for solitude to lament its doleful condition? O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rocks, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice, for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely; Song ii. 14. Sovereign love having given sight to the soul which was before blind to the beauties of Immanuel, to Jesus it now looks and loves, and he being delighted with the exercise of grace, says, Thou hast ravished my heart, thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes; how fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! How much better is thy love than wine; and the smell of thine ointments than all spices! Song iv. 10. The productions of sovereign grace God naturally loves, and therefore takes pleasure in them that fear him, in them who hope in his mercy; Psalm cxlvii. 11. Once

more:

3. Of that love which is essential to the na

ture of God, good men are not equally the objects; for as no man is its object but in consequence of being the subject of holiness, therefore a growth in grace, or in holy obedience, will ever meet with God's increasing approbation. Christ, as man, though ever pure, increased in favour with God; Luke ii. 52. Therefore doth my Father love me (said Jesus) because I lay, down my life; John x. 17. He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him. If a man love me he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him; John xiv. 21, 23. For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God; John xvi. 27. Keep yourselves in the love of God; Jude, 21st verse. A's the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you; continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love; John xv. 9, 10. Though all regenerate persons are evidently the equal objects of special sovereign favour, and with them, as in Christ, the Lord is well pleased for his righteousness sake; Isaiah xlii. 21, and their persons are accepted in the beloved. Yet with many of them the Lord is not well pleased, with respect to the temper of their hearts, and manner of life.

See 1 Cor. x. 4, 5. versation be as becometh the gospel of Christ. We beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus Christ, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk, and to please God, so ye would abound more and more; Phil. 1. 27. 1 Thess. iv. 1. Knowing that your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord; 1 Cor. xv. 58. For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love; Heb. vi. 10. From the above we may infer.

Therefore only let your con

1. That the everlasting damnation of those who kept not their first estate in which they enjoyed the divine approbation, does not oppose the unchangeable nature of Jehovah's love, nor render the eternal salvation of his people precarious or uncertain.

2. How carefully should every saint watch against every sin, and strive to grow in perfect conformity to his God. True happiness will ever be found inseparably connected with real holiness, and sin, wherever it is, will invariably remain the object of God's displeasure. On the account of which he hides his face, and is wroth with his people, and though he pardon them, yet he will take vengeance on their inventions, for whom he loveth he chasteneth.

3. How awfully miserable must our condition have been, having lost that rectitude of nature in

which God delighted, had he not proceeded towards us in a way of sovereign grace. Choosing us in, and committing our persons to, the care of his own son, laying our iniquities upon him and punishing him for them, and justifying us on his account. Conveying holiness, pardon, and peace, through him to make us pure and spotless before his throne. There, in that world of bliss, God in all his essential glories will be for ever enjoyed the same as though sin had never been. With additional pleasures arising from the amazing infinite source of sovereign spontaneous favour. The hearts of the redeemed will be ravished, their powers of mind animated, and their elevated songs make heaven's high arches wring with the joyful acclamation of, Salvation to our God and the Lamb. A full evidence of the infinite deserts of sin, which seems to be intended by the smoke of the furnace ascending before the throne, will heighten their admiration of sovereign love, and fill their capacious souls with unspeakable joy, profound reverence, and holy wonder.

4. Opposition to the sovereign grace of God is truly lamentable. How mournful to think that poor condemned criminals should be filled with enmity against that, in consequence of which salvation can only become the object of hope. It is a striking proof of the deceitful and infa