no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?.....Oh! that ay head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!"9 Yet even the wickedness of the world in which we live, is overruled to the advantage of the children of God; for, by their resistance, through divine aid, of the temptations to which that wickedness exposes them, their souls are strengthened in virtue, and are gradually prepared for eternal purity. So also their faith is dooplined and put to the proof, by the darkness and tidolity which surround them, and comes forth the bighter and stronger for the trial.

Thus it appears, that in contemplating God in his providence, the Christian discovers innumerable reasous for loving that gracious Being who first loved ws; but it' we would rightly love the Creator and Moral Governor of the world, we must not fix our attention on his benevolence, as an insulated attri

The love which would be excited in the sational objects of his bounty, by the kindness of an ancholi. Berto, could never be of that pure and exalted havators which Christianity claims for our love to wood In ondor to the production of this noble affecthom in ih gennine strength and purity, the benevo tence of Clod, and his love towards ourselves, must

* der vil, 21, 22. ix, 1.

ever be regarded in connexion with his holiness. What a blessing is it then, that even in his perceptible government over the world, God proclaims himself, by a multitude of indications, to be on the side of virtue! What a blessing, that his holiness is established beyond the possibility of a doubt, by that intuitive rule of right, which, in characters more or less legible, he has condescended to write, by his Spirit, on the hearts of all men!

It is in the Holy Scriptures, however, that the theology of nature is cleared and confirmed. There the Creator and Ruler of the universe is presented to our view in the true majesty of his character, and his attributes, both natural and moral, are developed in amazing splendour; they are also described in their individual distinctness, as well as in their union-as blended, but not confused. Let us, then, under the guidance of prophets and apostles, learn to contemplate God as our Father-a Spirit, eternal, omnipotent, all-wise, omnipresent, the searcher of all hearts, just, true, faithful, merciful, and holy; let us remember that he is love! Then, surely, if our own dispositions be but rectified by his grace, we shall not fail to love Him, who is infinitely lovely; we shall adore him in all his glorious perfections. Our love for God will not only be strong, but reverential;

e-let us contem

fix our souls on the amazing sceneplate the love of the Father, the love of the Son, and the love of the Spirit ! 2

The love of GOD the FATHER is ever represented in Scripture as the origin of all our hopes-as the eternal, unfathomable, spring of the waters of life and salvation; and this love is plainly described as extending to the whole world. "God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."3 "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them."4 "God would have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of his truth."5

"Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else." 6

2 The following lines are said to have been written by a person commonly esteemed an absolute idiot. A ray from the sanctuary, revealing the mercies of redemption, as well as of creation, must surely have gleamed across his darkness:

Could we with ink the ocean fill,

Were the whole earth of parchment made,
Were every single stick a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above,
Would drain the ocean dry,

Nor could the scroll contain the whole,

Though stretch'd from sky to sky.

3 John iii, 16.

4 2 Cor. v, 19.

5 1 Tim. ii, 4.

Do we inquire for an overwhelming evidence of the love of God? Let the apostle satisfy our inquiry,— In this was manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."7 Do we ask, whether God thus loved the whole, or only part, of mankind? Let the same apostle answer

If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." He tasted death for

every man :"9 he gave himself a ransom for all.”1

If through the offence of one [the] many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto the many." Even the Gentiles, who were without the benefit of an outward revelation, were by no means destitute of an inward knowledge of the law of God: and some of them showed • the work of the late written in their hearts — their conscience also bearing witness3 Christ is the true light which lighteth every man that cometh