Tho' loth, and ever loud blaspheming, owns
'Tis justly doom'd to pour eternal groans,
To talk to fiery tempests, and implore
The raging flame to give its fury o'er,
To writhe, to toss, to pant beneath its load,
And bear the weight of an offended God.

Contemplate from its margin the worm that dieth not-the fire prepared for the devil and his angels-the blackness of darkness-the smoke of torment that ascendeth up for ever and ever; and when you have contemplated well these direful objects, then say,-What was it gave to that worm its sting, but sin? What was it gave to that fire its intensity, but sin? What was it gave to that blackness its density and terror, but sin? What was it gave to that torment its bitter agony, but sin? What was it gave to woe's wide empire its dread existence, but sin? Methinks, as the inquiry is made, a shriek is heard from the bottom of the flaming abyss, crying, it was sin! it was sin!

O! did we but consider how God hates sin,-did we but attend to the present marks of his displeasure against it,—or could we be persuaded really to believe the "wrath to come," we should no longer be disposed to treat it as a light thing. O! pray for the enlightening influence of the Holy Spirit, that the evil of its nature may be fully disclosed to your mind, and never be content with your view of sin until you see it in some degree as he sees it who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, and in whose sight it is "the abominable thing which he hateth.

How much ought we to admire the riches of that divine mercy which has provided a remedy against an evil so dreadful! The very same being against whom the transgressions of the human race have been directed, has himself been pleased to condescend in mercy to provide a method by which the guilty may be pardoned, sanctified, and saved. God hath not

left us, as he left the angels that sinned, in hopeless despair, but hath raised up a horn of salvation for us,―he hath appointed us another and a safer covenant-head, the second Adam, by whom we may escape from the dreadful ruin due to transgression under the first covenant. In conformity with this design, Jesus, the Son of God, was made flesh and dwelt among us; he took upon him the character and office of the second Adam. One was the destroyer;-the other was the restorer. The one sinned, and brought death upon his descendants;—the other was righteous, and suffered the penalty of sin, and gave his life for his spiritual posterity. In other words, he took upon him our nature, offered himself as a substitute for the guilty, and at length died the just for (or in place of) the unjust, that he might bring us to God. Because we deserved shame, he was loaded with infamy, and numbered with transgressors;— because we deserved death, he endured the pangs of dissolution in their most racking extremities;-because we were obnoxious to the curse of God, he became a curse for us. Glorious propitiation! by the substitution of Christ as our redeemer in our stead, and by the infliction of that punishment upon him which our sins had deserved, the law was magnified and made honourable;-and, the reasons for punishment having been removed, God's justice is satisfied; and now, "God is in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, and not imputing unto them their trespasses.' He has declared his satisfaction with the work of the Redeemer, and, on the ground of that propitiation, he gives to every sinner free access to his throne. What a veil is hereby thrown over the deepest gloom! What an effectual door of hope is opened for sinners, even the vilest and worst! Let them but turn unto God with sincere humiliation, and sorrow for their past sins, and in the exercise of faith in Jesus,—a believing appropriation of his blessed sacrifice,—an acceptance of God's mercy, as displayed in the death of his Son, to the exclusion of all

human merit, and their guilt shall pass away like the morning cloud; they shall obtain acceptance with God, and the gift of eternal life. Pain and sickness, bereavement and sorrow, they must still endure, but their afflictions shall no longer be punitive but corrective,—a wise and salutary discipline, promotive of their best and most important interests. Natural death they still must suffer; the flesh must become the food of worms, and remain the prisoner of the grave until the trumpet of the archangel shall be heard; but it shall rest in hope, and the immortal spirit, emancipated by death from a scene of suffering and of sorrow, shall be transmitted to higher regions, where the inhabitants, pure as God is pure, cast their crowns at his footstool, crying, "Alleluia! Alleluia! Lord God Almighty! who is, and was, and is to come: where God himself is with them, and is their God,-where death has no more dominion,—and where a divine hand wipes away all tears from their eyes. Matchless mercy, that makes known to us the glad tidings of salvation! Glory shall be "to God in the highest, and on earth peace and good-will towards men." "Sing, O heavens! and be joyful, O earth! and break forth into singing, O mountains! for the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted."

THE DESIGN OF AFFLICTION.

O what am I, that I should dare arraign
Thy righteous dealings, Judge of all the earth?
A rebel and transgressor from my birth,
Conceiv'd in sin, the heir of wrath and pain,
What cause have I to murmur and complain,

When thou art pleas'd to smite? for had'st thou dealt
In righteous judgment, I had long since dwelt
In that abyss, where prayer itself, t' obtain
The slightest mitigation of my doom,

Were unavailing. Let me rather praise
Thy patience, that thou dost not yet consume
So vile a wretch: Oh no! Thy word of grace
Assures me that the deepest wounds I feel
Are given in mercy,-not to slay,—but heal.

66 THOU SHALT CONSIDER IN THINE HEART, THAT AS A MAN CHASTENETH HIS SON, SO THE LORD THY GOD CHASTENETH

THEE.

DEUT. VII., V.

"SHEW me wherefore thou contendest with me," said Job, when in the bitterness of his heart he poured out prayer to God. The request proceeded from a conviction that his affliction was of God, and was intended to accomplish some important purpose, in connection with his spiritual condition. For want of such a conviction, many who are in trouble are not only prevented from profiting by their afflictions, but their distress is aggravated and increased, either by dwelling

exclusively upon the instruments, or subordinate means of their trouble, or by the perplexity and embarrassment in which they are involved, from their being unable to account for what they endure. But "affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground." "God is judge." With him is the number of our days, and to him we are ultimately to refer the variety of good or evil with which they are diversified. Disease is the messenger of his will. He appoints the "wearisome nights" and days of sickness. He directs "the terror by night," and "the arrow that flieth by day," and "the destruction that wasteth at noon:" and when any of these plagues approach our dwelling, they are commissioned by God. Are we deprived of those comforts which once gladdened our hearts in the house of our pilgrimage? It is the Lord that hath taken them away. Are we disappointed in our fondest hopes? Have we looked for good and behold evil hath come unto us? Have all our endeavours to succeed in life proved abortive? To what shall we ascribe the failure, but to the over-ruling providence of the Most High? Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it." The sons of Jacob from envy sold their brother into slavery, yet Joseph says, it was not they, though they thought evil against him, but God, who meant it for good, "that he might save them alive by a great deliverance." Part of the affliction of Job was produced by the agency of men, and part by the more immediate agency of heaven. The Sabeans fell upon his oxen and his asses; the Chaldeans upon his camels, and carried them away, and slew his servants with the edge of the sword; while fire from heaven consumed his sheep, and a wind from the wilderness smote the house where his family was feasting, and buried them in its ruins: yet Job refers the calamities he sustained to the infliction of the same hand. He knew that his enemies could have no power against him, except it were

66