luminous and enlivening; and communicates new rays to the splendour of noon. It appropriates to our service every dispensation; exacts tribute from every passing circumstance and event; and, by its powerful operation, draws sweet out of bitter, and good out of evil. By faith in the gospel, all is ours; whether prosperity or adveristy; life or death; things present, or things to come: all work together for our profit; and all are grounds of thankfulness and joy. Thus, copious sources of spiritual delight, as the law and providence of Jehovah are found to be, it is by faith in the gospel they are unsealed, and refresh us with their streams.

Again, faith in the gospel relieves us from the fear of divine displeasure, and the dread of future punishment.

Were we told that God, in a certain corner of his dominions, had planted a race of rational beings, holy and happy; that he had given to them just laws for the rule of their conduct, and the test of their fidelity; annexing happiness to obedience, and misery to transgression; were we farther told that these intelligent creatures had forfeited the promised blessing, and subjected themselves to the threatened penalty, by violating the commandments given: were we finally informed, that a scheme had been devised, by means of which the penalty might be averted, the breach repaired, and the forfeited happiness completely restored; would we not be eager to learn the nature of so wondrous and beneficent a scheme; and expect the highest gratification, in contemplating the grace and wisdom, which it would be likely to exhibit? But when we are told, that that portion of the universe is the earth which

we inhabit; that race of beings, the posterity of Adam; and that scheme, the plan devised by God, and executed by Jesus, for our own deliverance from perdition; how interesting is the subject; how attractive the inquiry; and how delightful the knowledge! The gospel is that scheme, unfolded at once for our gratification and our instruction. And if, as rational beings, we derive pleasure from resolving difficulties, and reconciling apparent contradictions; from discovering the causes of things and of events; and tracing the manifold appearances of the natural, intellectual, or moral world, to a few invariable general laws; what delight must we experience in searching into the heighth and depth, the breadth and length, of the love of God to us in Christ Jesus! in contemplating the infinite wisdom, displayed in our redemption; displayed, in uniting the integrity of divine justice, with the justification of transgressors! If to contemplate truth in general be pleasant, how peculiarly pleasant to contemplate truth so interesting to ourselves? If to acquire the knowledge of inferior truths, such as those of art, science, and history, afford a rational delight; what must be the effect of the knowledge of that, which is called in scripture, by way of eminence, "the truth?" If to behold the display of wisdom, power, justice, and goodness, throughout the works of God, in the kingdoms of nature, be a source of intellectual joy; how ravishing to behold their more complete display, in the stupendous work of grace! And if, in the operations of providence, it be pleasing to discern the hand of God rendering affliction the mean of reformation and

2 John i. 2, &c.

sanctification, overruling the wrath of man to praise him, and compelling evil to bring forth good; how much superior, to contemplate, in the gospel, the redemption of sinners from eternal death, and hopeless misery, by the ignominious death and unspeakable agonies of Jesus Christ!

How noble in itself, how elevating to the mind by which it is regarded, is the manifestation of the divine attributes, in thus redeeming man from misery! Circumstances arose, which, to human apprehension, must have appeared to set them in opposition one to another, and to render the exertion of them all, in the case of man, absolutely impossible. Yet in the gospel, how extensively are they all displayed, how inviolably preserved, how inseparably combined, and how admirably do they shine, each in its own light, and all with mutually increased and reflected lustre ! "In the day that thou eatest

thereof," said God, concerning the forbidden fruit, to man, "thou shalt surely die."* Events confirmed and illustrated his inviolable truth. "Cursed "be he, that confirmeth not all the words of this "law, to do them." The sentence supported his unspotted justice. But he also said, " Deliver men " from going down to the pit :" and here his wisdom is displayed in that astonishing contrivance, whereby his love and mercy to his ereatures, his hatred of moral evil in general, and of their offences in particular, are at once exhibited. His Son suffers a voluntary and accursed death, to magnify his law, to assert his truth, and vindicate his justice; while the sinner lives to honour his mercy, a monument of his love. How amazing are these facts! What + Job xxxiii. 24.

* Gen. ii. 17.

* Deut. xxvii. 26.

differences are here reconciled! What apparent impossibilities effected! Is God pure? his abhorrence of sin is proved. Is he true? his threatening is fulfilled. Is he just? his law has its full exercise. Is he sovereign? his authority is maintained? And is he wise? his wisdom overrules sin, the greatest, and apparently the most irremediable of evils, to give occasion of immeasurable good, in the glory of the Creator, and the salvation of the creature. In the condition of the angels of light, we discern the kindness of our Maker's love: in that of those who fell, the severity of his justice. In the deliverance of elect sinners of mankind from merited condemnation, the glory of both is infinitely advanced; and the sweet attribute of mercy, which had been otherwise unknown, finds place for exercise. The happiness of good angels, though eternal, is finite: the misery of devils, though everlasting, is also limited: but the sufferings of the incarnate Son of God, and the eternal weight of glory which he acquired, are objects, which, from the dignity of him who was concerned in them, receive a character of infinity. What honour do they confer on the Majesty of heaven! what transport, in the contemplation, do they afford to the redeemed among men!

Thus, considered as a scheme of profound wisdom, in which the seemingly inconsistent attributes of mercy and justice accord in perfect harmony, as a manifestation of the divine character, and as a luminous body of interesting truth, the gospel of man's redemption from misery, must, on a believing and attentive view, afford exquisite delight to every rational and contemplative mind.

But the gospel is enjoyed, as well as believed; its truths are felt, as well as admired. Angels with pleasure contemplate it: man both contemplates it, and feels his interest in it. It is pleasant to investigate the laws, which regulate the material universe; to follow the sun in his course; to mark the increase of the moon; to trace the alternate succession of day and night; to observe the gradual revolution of the seasons: and it is pleasant to reflect that these laws were ordained, that this sun shines, that this moon changes, and that these seasons revolve, for us. But how much is our pleasure increased, by our actually enjoying the light and warmth of the sun's rays by day, the soft splendour of the moon by night, our seed-times and harvests, and fruitful seasons. Thus the gospel, when contemplated as a scheme worthy of divine wisdom, affords delight: when felt as actually delivering us from sin and guilt, it fills us with ecstacy and gratitude. Think, christians, what ye once were by nature; and what, if ye be indeed christians, ye now are by grace: once children of disobedience, and heirs of wrath; now, born again into the family of God, and made joint-heirs with Christ. Pleasant is the early dawn to the traveller wandering by night, in a land unknown: but to you, far more pleasant the day-spring from on high, which hath delivered you from the paths of error, in which formerly you strayed; from that moral darkness, which originally clouded your minds. "Ye were

"sometimes darkness; but now are ye light in the "Lord."* Pleasant to those who go down to the sea in ships, is the calm which succeeds a storm; * Eph., v. 8.