included in this one rich and overflowing promise.

It will serve, however, to give a more distinct and powerful impression of the extent of these blessings, if we briefly exhibit a specimen of those particular promises of the Old Testa ment (for to these the text requires us to confine ourselves; though its terms are obviously still more applicable to those of the Gospel), which spring from this evangelical covenant, and which are designed to relieve the various necessities and to console the hearts of the faithful and we cannot trace them out better than by considering the various occasions on which a true penitent would naturally be led to have recourse to them.

One of the first blessings which an awakened sinner perceives himself to need is, DIVINE TEACHING. He becomes sensible of his natural blindness as to spiritual things. How appro'priate, then, is the promise, All thy children shall be taught of the Lord! Good and upright is the Lord, therefore will he teach sinners in the way!

He is prone to doubt whether God will RE

CEIVE SO GUILTY AND UNWORTHY A CREATURE ; but he is encouraged with the promise, Seek ye the Lord-for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption. As I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of

a sinner, but that the sinner should turn from his ways and live. He that confesseth and forsaketh his sins, shall find mercy.

He perceives his extreme need of PARDON AND JUSTIFICATION before God; and he learns at the same time, that God abundantly pardons; that he is ready to forgive; that though our sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow, though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool; that by his knowledge his righteous servant justifies many; that the Messiah finished transgression and made an end of sin, and made reconciliation for iniquity and brought in everlasting righteousness.

The penitent feels the power of his passions and corruptions, and his inability, with all his efforts, to change his own heart and attain real SANCTIFICATION. What encouragement, then, does he derive from the promise: Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean; from all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you; a new heart also will I give unto you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within cause you to walk in my statutes; and keep my judgments and do them!

you,

and

ye shall

and ye

If, again, he needs CONSOLATION under his various afflictions, he may rejoice in the divine

assurance, For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but in great mercy will I gather thee; in a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy upon thee, saith the Lord thy Re

deemer.

Does he humbly pray for DELIVERANCE out of trouble? Mark the promise: Call upon me in the day of trouble, so will I deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

Does he desire the DIVINE GUIDANCE? What says the Scripture? I will bring the blind by a way which they knew not, I will lead them in paths which they have not known; I will make darkness light before them and crooked things straight: these things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.

Is he in danger of DESPAIR from the remembrance of any especial departure from the ways of duty, and does he long to return to God? The gracious promise meets him, Return, thou backsliding Israel, and I will heal thy backslidings. I have seen his ways, and will heal him.

DO TEMPORAL CONCERNS Occupy him with anxious thoughts? He is told, that the young lions shall lack and suffer hunger; but they that seek the Lord, shall not want any good thing.

In the solemn hour of DEATH itself, when he peculiarly stands in need of support and conso

lation, he may rely on the declaration, Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruc

tion.

Does he require an assurance of his part in THE FUTURE GLORY OF HEAVEN? Let him say with Job, Though after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God; whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold and not another. Or with the Psalmist, Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy, at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

Finally, do any other IMAGINABLE DIFFICUL TIES, distinct from those which we have mentioned, occur to his mind? They are all included in the promise; Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee. The Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.

Are not these promises, then, and the almost unnumbered variety of similar ones which it is impossible for me to detail, EXCEEDING GREAT AND PRECIOUS? Are they not of the widest extent and of the most inestimable price? Whether you consider them in the aggregate, as they are contained in the covenant of grace, or

whether you regard them as to the particular adaptation of them to the necessities of the true servants of God, does it not surpass all the capacities of our minds to describe their richness, or estimate their amount? It is not common, indeed, that greatness and worth should be equally united in the same object. What is magnificent as to the extent of its power, is not often in a like degree valuable for its excellence, But in the promises of God greatness and worth are found in the same profusion, and serve to augment the glory and effulgence of the whole,

They are EXCEEDING GREAT, if you regard the author of them, God; who bestows them in a manner worthy of himself, confirming them by his oath, and fulfilling them by the greatness of his power and faithfulness. They are great, if you consider the subjects of them, deliverance from all evil, the bestowing of all good, every thing that man, a needy, guilty, weak, sinful creature, burdened with a corrupt nature, and beset by powerful and crafty spiritual foes can want, in a world of temptation and misery. They are great, if you view the multitude which no man can number of every nation and kindred and people and tongue, to all whose several necessities, in all ages of the church, and under every variety of circumstances, they are exactly adapted. They are great, if you look forward to the final end which they are to accomplish,

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