were we to judge of God by ourselves, that the High and Lofty One, who inhabiteth eternity,' would not condescend to notice the misWho would not eries of poor worms of the dust. be surprised to see the Monarch descending from his throne to visit the mansions of poverty, disease, and wretchedness. Yet the great God deigns to frequent the cottage of the destitute, the bed of disease, and the abode of guilt. When • God manifest in the flesh,' walked on this earth, His chief delight was among objects of distress. We do not find Him attending the levees of Herod, or courting the acquaintance of his nobles. But we find Him surrounded by a circle of the maimed, the deaf, the halt, and the blind. He wept with those that wept.'*He is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.'-Moreover man, considered as a guilty creature, is the object of Divine compassion. Who can look into the dungeon of guilt, and for a moment contemplate the wretched criminal loaded with chains, without dropping a tear of sympathizing sorrow? Such persons are the proper objects of human pity. But there is one respect, in which Divine pity differs from

'ty. But by sin man became a wretch, and this is the

name by which the species is most commonly called in scrip'ture.' PARKHURST'S Lexicon, p. 37, 3d edit.

* John xi. 35.

our's. If the miseries of the object have been occasioned by offences committed against ourselves; were we to behold a criminal under sentence of punishment for injuries done to our own persons, fortune, or reputation; our tender feelings would be in danger of suppression from the opposite principles of indignation and resentment. But God's thoughts are not as our ⚫thoughts.' He compassionates those, who have broken His own laws, rebelled against His own authority, crucified His own Son, and done despite to his own Spirit; nay, those who have proudly and disdainfully, and perhaps for a long season, rejected the overtures of reconciliation, which He has made them. O the depths of the riches of the grace of God! The sin of man, however complicated, however heinous, is no obstacle to the exercise of Divine mercy; which, like some mighty torrent, swelled by descending rains overflows all bounds, and with irresistible impetuosity breaks down all impediments, in the course which it is appointed to take.-Man also, considered as an helpless creature, is the object of Divine commiseration. We feel in our bosoms peculiar emotions towards the new-born infant, because of its helpless state. Were we to discover a fellow-creature, who, by some dreadful accident, had dislocated all his bones, our com

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passion would be excited to a degree beyond the power of our present conception. The good Samaritan beholds us all in this disabled situation. He willeth not the death of a sinner.' Abandoned to ourselves, we must spend the miserable remains of life in unavailing groans, and then make our bed in Hell. But

Every attribute, which we ascribe to Jehovah, He possesses after an infinite manner. What an amazing thought is an infinite mind, full of ⚫ compassion!' The great and wide sea, and unmeasurable space afford ideas, that overwhelm our staggering faculties: yet these are limited. But the bosom of our God is higher than heaven, longer than the earth, and broader than the sea; and is full of compassion.' Our grandest ideas of it are as inadequate to the subject, as a drop of water to the ocean, or a single ray of light to the flux of radiance from the orb of day. Whatever God's compassion dictates, His arm is able to effect. What ground have we then for faith, since our very guilt and misery is that, which attracts the regard of Divine pity? Perhaps it may be asked, when does our heavenly Father feel these emotions towards His redeemed ones? He is always the same, knowing no variableness, nor shadow of turning.' What

+ Job xi. 8.

He was in the beginning, that ever will be world without end.

He is now, and
But those, who,

feel a keen sensibility of their own miseries through sin, may be certain that it is occasioned by what passes in the bosom of their God concerning them. If you are of a broken and contrite heart, and tremble at His word; if you are sighing after pardon and salvation; be assured that the Lord is looking down from the height "of His sanctuary, to hear the groaning of the prisoners, to loose those that are appointed unto • death.'

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But in what way does God show mercy? He manifests His loving-kindness in the only way, that could be really advantageous to the sinner, He gives the longing desire to turn from our wickedness,' and thus proves His willingness that we should live.' He does not take away the guilt of sin by absolution, and leave us under its tyrannical dominion. This would not be an act of kindness; since the love of sin would effectually exclude us from felicity, even if there were no burning lake to receive transgressors. But He leads us in spirit to the garden at the Psa. cii. 19, 20.

*The word rendered avenger' in Psa. viii. 2. literally signifies the self avenger,' or 'self-tormentor,' and is a proper appellation of Satan, aud of all those, who follow him in his enmity to God and holiness. See also Psa. xliv. 16, where the same word occurs in the same sense.

foot of the mount of Olives, and from thence to Golgotha; and there presents to our view a bleeding, dying Saviour. We behold in Him the malignity of sin, and the curse that is annexed to it; and turn from our wickedness with abhorrence, as a tender mother would turn from the sight of the reeking blade, which had just been plunged into the bosom of her darling child. I will pour 'out' (says He, who desireth not the death of a sinner) the spirit of grace and of supplication,

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and they shall look upon ME, whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one ⚫ that mourneth for his only son; and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born.'* Thus sin is exhibited to the mind as exceeding sinful; and from thenceforth it becomes the business of life to crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts." Now every man, who thus turns from his wickedness, has the witness in himself that God willeth not his death, but rather that he should live; since conversion is the work of God. But am I effectually turned from it? Or, am I not in league with some known sin? Should I choose, were it possible, to be secured from hell, without any experience of deliverance from the love and power of sin? Or, can I say that I should prefer any sufferings, which God may see necessary for my purification, rather than continue under the accursed thraldom of sin and Satan?

* Zech. xii. 10.