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their joy when he invited them to repent, and be washed in his blood; making them more innocent than the angels in heaven, through faith in Jesus Christ.

IV. I shall prove fourthly, that every good, temporal as well as spiritual and eternal, emanates to us, as the gift of the Saviour. He says to his Disciples in the text, "Sleep on now, and take your rest," therefore, in necessary connexion with this, there is not anything but good presented from the Saviour to the true believer. It is much to have the sentence of eternal death taken away, much more to have it transferred to our sin, that we may live for ever free from sin; it is much to have our sins forgiven, much more, after we have been reconciled by faith in Christ, to feel the evil of them. No where is sin more discernible than in the lethargy of the believer himself; he asks himself, is it possible I can be a Christian, and possess such hardness of heart, after all Christ has done for me?' There is in the midst of this lethargy, a love of the moral government of God; he deprecates the idea of rebelling against God, and he finds in himself, in his worst moments, a striking difference between himself now, and formerly, when in a state of nature. In visiting Calvary, and weeping

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over the sufferings of Jesus, may we remember that our desert, as sinners, demanded every thing that Christ suffered.

To apply my subject, let me inquire, what do we think of our own characters and deserts ? Religion is a personal thing: is the testimony of our conscience, the testimony of God? Is it the echo of the testimony of God? Do we remember, that unless found in Jesus, we must perish for ever? There is not anything like the contemplation of our Saviour's sacrifice, to check presumption and despondency. And is man indeed a deicide and a homicide? We see in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ the flames of God's vengeance, kindled in the bosom of Deity, and that, united with humanity! And we see all this connected with the eternal deliverance of those who live and die to Jesus, and the necessary eternal destruction of all his enemies. We have not only the promises, but the threatenings of God proved in the suffering and death of Jesus: for if he could not escape, how can the sinner hope to escape? sufferings of Jesus speak with all the terrible eloquence of a God of vengeance, and with all the sweet accents of a God of mercy and of love; the terrors of Sinai, and the glory and bliss of heaven. What awful-what important truths are these! and we need the Spirit of God to

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keep them alive in our bosoms; for such is the state of our hearts by nature, that without this Spirit we shall be more pleased with a trifling novel, than with all the glorious subjects of eternity. Let us, then, continually implore the Spirit of Jesus, to take of the things of Jesus, and reveal them unto us, that through his blessed influence, we may for ever inherit a crown of glory.

December 23, 1827.

SERMON XXXVI.

THE LOVE OF GOD AND ITS EFFECTS.

I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee.JEREMIAH Xxxi. 3.

I SHALL first consider THE LOVE OF GOD.

And secondly, THE EFFECTS OF THAT LOVE; and under the first head I shall proceed to point out

I. THE CONTRA DISTINGUISHING PECULIARITIES OF THE LOVE OF God.

First. It has its source exclusively in himself: there is no Being but God, whose motives inhabit his own bosom exclusively; the most that can be said of man's motives, is, that they are compound, partly flowing from himself, partly from others.

Secondly. Another distinguishing peculiarity in this love is, that it flows freely, and must do so throughout eternity. A creature's love can

not be free in any sense, as God's love is free : he must see something in others to excite his love; God commands our love by presenting himself to us, as altogether lovely it is that which his law demands, and which is due to him from every creature.

Thirdly. God is a Being of such perfection, that he alone fills his own love. It might have lived in his own bosom exclusively throughout eternity. But not so with the creature; for every creature is too poor to fill his own bosom.

Fourthly. When God travels abroad, as it were, from himself, he travels like a munificent Monarch, freely dispensing his gifts among his subjects, and thereby enriching them; but man travels abroad among his fellow-creatures as a mendicant; he has nothing to bestow. We see men obsequiously waiting, cap in hand, at the door of their fellow men, who are beggars like themselves, asking favors; but as for me, I will wait at the door of the King of kings, and ask him for the richest gift he has to bestow, even himself. Man is a dependent being, but such is his folly, that he would be independent of God, but dependent upon the creature: no creature can enrich another, but their tendency is to impoverish each other; and thus it is, that while God

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