cuted, and justice fully satisfied. Is not this noble encouragement for those who are by nature the objects of vindictive justice, to hope in divine mercy? Why should any person refuse to give God the glory of all his perfections, by trusting to his mercy in Christ? Why should they refuse to see the crown on Christ's head, or to allow him to triumph over Satan, in showing mercy to the most miserable? Why refuse to shine as jewels in his crown, or to adorn his triumphal entry into glory at the last day? For no stone in the Redeemer's crown will shine more brilliantly than the redeemed from among men, who have been defiled by sin. None will be more like the angels in seraphic love, none can enjoy redeeming love more sweetly, and none will employ their voices more ardently in the song of Moses and the Lamb. Yea, none will more clearly perceive the perfect consistency of the salvation of the chief of sinners, with the holiness and justice of God and his law, than the objects of new covenant mercy. Has mercy, then, restored things to an honourable and comfortable situation? Let mercy then for ever reign. Let it shine gloriously, in forgiving the chief of sinners. And let the guilty objects of wrath appeal from judgment to mercy, which extends its arms to embrace them.

GLORY OF GOD.

WHAT then are we to understand by the glory of God? In answer to this, suffer me to ask you, what do you mean by the glory of a man? Is it not some excellent and honourable quality, where

by he is distinguished from, and raised above, all his fellow-creatures? The glory of a wise man is the display of his wisdom; the glory of a mighty man is the display of his strength. By the first, the one is raised above, and distinguished from the rude and illiterate tribes; by the second, the other is raised above the inexperienced, timid, and unsuccessful general, by virtue of his superior skill in military tactics. Any excellent quality found in the creature in a finite degree, is to be found in the Creator in an infinite degree. By the glory of the Lord, therefore, must be meant, not the excellent attributes of his nature only, but the degree thereof, whereby he is distinguished from, and raised infinitely above, all his creatures and all his works. This is not all; it also includes the united display and operations thereof. We all know that the glory of the bright king of day does not consist in being merely a body of light and heat; this he is in himself, when his rays at the dawn of day gild the tops of the mountains, amidst the surly blasts of dreary winter, by which his beauteous beams are shorn-nay, in the dark and dreary hour of night, when to us invisible; but his glory is the most clear, full, and pleasing display of his strength in his meridian brightness-So the divine glory is not the possession of his excellent attributes in an infinite degree, but the display thereof in their utmost extent and harmony.

THE DIVINE CHARACTER.

THE design of missionary labours in reference to God, is to display the glories of his character and administration to all mankind, and by this means to reclaim them from a state of rebellion, and reduce them to a state of loyal subjection and affectionate allegiance to him as the supreme ruler.

The divine Being combines in his character and administration, all that is great and good, fair and excellent, venerable and lovely. When we have strained our faculties to the utmost in conceiving of grandeur, and purity, and benignity, we are still at an immeasurable distance from the grandeur, and purity, and benignity, which make his infinite nature their eternal dwellingplace. "His is the greatness," and the highest of his creatures, the totality of his creation is before him less than a drop to the ocean, than an atom to the universe of matter. "His is the power," and all created might is in his hand, to be exerted, directed, restrained, and resumed at his pleasure. "His is the glory," and all created splendour in his presence fades into obscurity, vanishes into nothing. "His is the victory;" in all his purposes he ever is the overcomer, and all victories gained by his creatures are won by power derived from him. "His is the majesty," and all the potentates of the earth before Him are contemptible worms, and their loftiest thrones are not worthy to be his footstool. "All that is in the heaven and in the earth is his;" he is the Maker, Preserver, and Governor-the supreme and sole proprietor of the universe. "His is the kingdom" unbounded dominion belongs to him,

and all powers and authorities are under his feet; and all this grandeur is beautified by absolute moral perfection. His is a purity, before which the holiness of angels waxes dim; and his a benignant tenderness, of which the yearnings of a mother's heart over the son of her womb is but a feeble figure. And, is it not meet, that all intelligent beings should acknowledge this supreme excellence and loveliness, and in the inmost sanctuary of their intellectual and active natures, yield him to whom it belongs the tribute of supreme reverence and love? Who, that has a spark of allegiance to the supreme authority, will not, from the bottom of his soul, breathe out the wish, "Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; let thy glory be above all the earth." "Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him."

WISDOM OF GOD IN HIS ADMINISTRATION.

ALTHOUGH God may be said to act arbitrarily, yet he never doth any thing unadvisedly, but according to the counsel, which is always rational, though our shallow reason in this state of degeneracy and mortality be not able to fathom the depth of its contrivements, and thereupon cavil at, and call in question the equity of them. Such as do so, must give me leave to say unto them, as one of our ancient writers did to their forefathers, "The apostle (saith he) having discoursed of these mysteries, acknowledgeth their depth, and adoreth the wisdom of God in them. Be thou also willing to be ignorant of such

things. Leave God himself in the modelling of his decrees and dispensations. He will be sure to do it so as not to stand in need of any apology or defence of thine." To which let me add a saying of Luther, "Reason (saith he) thou art a fool, and dost not understand the matters of God. Wherefore be not obstreperous, but hold thy prating make not thyself a judge of these things, but attend to the word of God, and believe."

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WISDOM OF GOD DISPLAYED IN THE CROSS OF CHRIST.

AN evidence of the wisdom of God in the cross of Christ is, that the doctrine of it is designed especially to counteract the very sin by which man originally fell. Man fell by pride, he is restored in a way of humility. He fell by self-dependence, he is saved by self-renunciation. We lost ourselves by a vain desire after wisdom, we return to God by the foolishness of the cross. As we sinned by presumptuous curiosity, the wisdom of God humbles us at the very root of the tree of knowledge, and compels us to renounce the pride of our understanding, and submit to faith. Every thing connected with the cross of Christ opposes the reigning evil of our fallen hearts. Human wisdom receives not the doctrine. Human pride comprehends nothing of it. Repentance begins in humility, faith moves in it as its proper atmosphere, claiming nothing but from the undeserved mercy of God; prayer is the breathing of humility; justification is a free gift; salvation is of grace, holy obedience is the fruit of submission. Every step, every act, every