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ple on the morn of the resurrection. But we require to come to God with a true, that is, with a sincere and unfeigned worship, avoiding and hating the sin of drawing near to him with the service of the lips, or of presenting a faithless and hypocritical homage. In every action sincerity is essential to the validity and worth of the duty performed. No Father would esteem the professions of a child who expressed an affection he did not feel, or promised an obedience he did not render; and can you suppose that God will be mocked by such proceedings? He saith to the wicked, What hast thou to do to declare my covenant, or to take my name into your mouths? Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Sincerity must be founded on faith, or a cordial and unfeigned reliance upon the merits and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is only when we come to God in his name, that we can find acceptance for our persons, and for our services. It is a blind sincerity which acts or feels differently, the sincerity of presumption, and self-righteousness, and impenitence; and therefore it cannot be but hateful in the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Let us never engage in any act of worship or devotion without first seeking the preparation of the heart which cometh from the Lord; and that he would give us grace whereby we may serve him acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

FOURTH DAY.-EVENING.

For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead,' Rom. i. 20.

an inquiry after a knowledge of the Creator from whose hands he had proceeded.

'To speak I tried, and forthwith spake, My tongue obey'd, and readily could name Whate'er I saw; thou sun, said I, fair light, And thou enlighten'd earth, so fresh and gay; Ye hills and dales, ye rivers, woods, and plains; And ye that live and move, fair creatures tell, Tell if ye saw how came I thus ? how here? Not of myself. By some great Maker then In goodness and in pow'r pre-eminent ! Tell me, how may I know him, how adore, From whom I have that thus I move and live, And feel that I am happier than I know.' When we endeavour to realize the existence of God, in its eternity, immutability, and independence; when we think of him as existing in all the glory and majesty of his perfections throughout all the infinitude of past duration, and that there never was a period when he was not; how are we absorbed in adoration and amazement. And when we farther reflect that all the excellence which we discover in creation is the result of his creative wisdom and power; and that what we behold is but a single ray in comparison with the stupendous and glorious whole; and that the magnificence of the universe, in all its united splendour, may form only a partial display of the inexhaustible resources of his infinité nature, how are we overwhelmed with the contemplation of his unbounded and unsearchable perfections and attributes! He alone possesses all-sufficiency and absolute independence; needing nothing, and forming the source and support of all else that either now or ever can exist. Creation was his sovereign act, the result of his absolute good pleasure, but in no degree necessary to enhance his felicity, or in any way promote the perfection of his existence. All the goodness and mercy which so abundantly distinguish the universe, is the effect of the purest and most disinterested benevolence; for no return can be made by any of his creatures to the Creator but out of that which they themselves have received; for of him, and through him, and to him, are all things, to whom be glory for ever and

Ir is the glory of man's intellectual being, that he can look from nature up to nature's God. He is necessarily led to conclude, that every effect must have a cause, and thus from the existence of the visible universe, and the innumerable indi- ever. cations of wisdom and design which it presents, is he compelled to conclude, that it is the work of a Being of Almighty power, of eternal existence, and of supreme and absolute sovereignty. Accordingly, the belief of the existence of a great first cause has prevailed among all nations, and the most degraded tribes have entertained it, no less than the most refined and learned states. In describing the creation of Adam, our great Poet has represented with much truth the first effort of his intelligence, as called forth and directed to

FIFTH DAY.-MORNING.

'The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good,' Prov. xv. 3. THE consciousness of being an object of observation is usually felt by men to be powerfully repressive of evil, and an exciting stimulus to the practice of what is great and good. And accord

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Let the thought that you have to do with an infinitely holy God, whose inspection and whose law are spiritual, and extends to every feeling as well as every action of your lives, convince you of your need of a purer and more perfect righteousness than your own. How can you, without this, appear before him in judgment. Shall you be justified by your works. Which of them is without sin, which of them needs not to receive forgiveness. The individual who cultivates the external proprieties of conduct, has still within him a heart which is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who could vindicate before God the purity of all his motives, desires, principles, and designs. If we should say we are without sin, our own hearts would condemn us, and this would prove us to be perverse.

ingly it is considered a circumstance of the utmost | tion, the view entertained by the divine mind of moment to give a free and extensive circulation your proceedings and character, how would it to opinion, and to make the acts, at least of pub- overwhelm you with self-abhorrence and grief of lic men, the subject of a keen and penetrating the profoundest nature. observation, by bringing them under the attention of the community, and obtaining upon them a verdict of praise or censure. But the man who is solely guided in his conduct by a regard to human opinion, and who forgets or cares not that the eye of God continually rests upon him, is blind to a truth, of all others the most solemn and momentous, and which ought to have the chief place in the regulation and government, not only of his external actions, but of his inmost feelings and thoughts. Beneficial as the influence of human opinion may sometimes be, it is necessarily a fallible criterion, and they who would follow it implicitly are guilty of dishonouring the will and authority of God, and are exposing themselves to the danger of being led into many sins. It was the chief cause of blinding the minds of the Pharisees to the incomparable evidences which our Lord gave of his character as the promised Messiah and Saviour of the world, for they received praise one of another; in other words they countenanced and encouraged each in their contempt and rejection of his person and of his doctrines; and they cared not by repenting and believing the truth, to receive the praise which cometh from God only. It was also the inducement which prevailed upon Pilate to deliver Jesus to be crucified, contrary to his own avowed convictions of his innocence; for he was more afraid of being denounced by the malignant Jews to Tiberias the emperor as an enemy to Cesar, than to fall under the holy displeasure and condemnation of heaven.

How graciously suitable to our polluted and sinful state, are the blessings provided for us through the mediation of Christ Jesus. He presents us with a righteousness of perfect purity; becomes our Advocate and Intercessor; reconciles us unto God; imparts the spirit of adoption whereby we say, Abba, Father; and draws us to a holy and habitual engagement in the service of God by the chords of a fervent gratitude and adoring love.

Be careful to cultivate in your hearts an abiding sense of the presence of an all-seeing God, and allow it to exercise a sanctifying influence over the whole tenor of your thoughts and actions. Confiding in his mercy, seek that you may also be found glorifying him in your bodies and spirits which are his, and thereby show that you are not subject to the charge which shall be brought against false and hypocritical professors, on the great day, of receiving the grace of God in vain. Instead of evincing that spirit of enmity which actuates the unregenerate, and in consequence of which they desire not to retain the knowledge of God in all their thoughts-cultivate a holy trust and confidence in God as the Father of mercy, and the God of all grace and consolation; and rejoice that he reigneth over all, and that the whole of your interests and concerns are under his wise and holy disposal. By daily and fervent supplication at a throne of grace, entreat that the love of God may be shed abroad in your

Let the consideration, that the eye of God has rested upon you throughout the whole period of your history, and has been intimately acquainted with your every thought, and feeling, and pursuit, and action, be improved as a motive to deep and heartfelt repentance and self-abasement. It has often been remarked, that no one could even disclose to the knowledge of his most intimate friend, without shame and humiliation, his innumerable errors and sins; but how much more awful is the thought that all things are naked and open to God, and that you have never been able for a single moment to elude his inspection, or to hide yourselves from his presence. After Peter had denied his Lord, he read in his look that he had a full knowledge of all his guilt, and of all its aggravat-hearts by the Holy Spirit, and that you may be ing circumstances, and the subdued disciple at once went out and wept bitterly; and O could you realize in a similar manner, by any intima

enabled to walk before him as becometh dear children. O taste and see that the Lord is good ; blessed is the man that trusteth in him. O fear

the Lord ye his saints, for there is no want to them that fear him. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The Lord is nigh to them that are of a broken heart, and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit,' Ps. xxxiv. 8, 9, 15-18.

FIFTH DAY.-EVENING.

O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out,' Rom. xi. 33.

ONE of the principal sources of the depravity and corruption of men, it has been remarked, arises from their not entertaining sufficiently pure and exalted views of the nature and attributes of God. In some cases they consider him to be altogether like unto themselves; actuated only by those views which they are pleased to impart to him, and consulting only those ends which seem to them to be consistent with the purposes of his government. Hence pride, impenitence, and unbelief are fostered in their minds; for how expect that they should submit to be taught of God, who have already anticipated, in their own conceptions, both what he is, and what he must do; and who are prepared to declare every doctrine absurd and false which transcends their thoughts, or contradicts their self-formed imaginations.

It might appear that the knowledge of God conveyed even by the first impressions of the light of nature, was fitted to fill every mind with a profound conviction of his infinite majesty and unutterable glory, and to warn the most arrogant against presuming to fathom his counsels, or penetrate his designs. How undeniably just and reasonable, as well as pious and reverential, is the acknowledgment drawn from Zophar, in regard to the transcendant and incomprehensible nature of Jehovah. Canst thou, by searching, find out God; canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is high as heaven, what canst thou do? it is deep as hell, what canst thou know? The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.'

The more an individual becomes conversant with the nature, the perfections, the counsels, and the works of God, his decrees of providence, his wonders of grace, his mighty judgments, and

his sovereign counsels, he has reason to say, at every step by which he advances in this sublime knowledge, 'O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!' More especially is this the feeling of wonder and of praise with which we should contemplate the character of God in connection with the work of redemption. That he should have selected the inhabitants of this sinful world to be the objects of his mercy, whilst fallen angels are left to endure the eternal punishment of their revolt, constitutes an act of distinguishing grace which we cannot sufficiently admire and adore. And how infinitely mysterious was the vindication of his holy law which God required before he could extend mercy to us, and which he actually provided when he ordained his Son to undertake with all its humiliation, sufferings, and woes, the work of our deliverance. The method by which he secured our redemption, and the overthrow of the kingdom of Satan, was one which, though infinitely glorious in itself, and worthy of all his perfections, would never have entered into any finite mind to conceive. What but infinite mercy could have supplied the sacrifice? and could any thing but infinite holiness have rendered it necessary that it should be presented? Most just the sentiment of the poet in reference to the infinite sublimity of God, and of all his works:

"The more of wonderful

Is heard in him, the more we should assent.
Could we conceive him, God he could not be;
Or he not God, or we could not be men,
A God alone can comprehend a God.'

SIXTH DAY.-MORNING.

"Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy,' Rev. xv. 4. THIS forms a portion of the praises of the redeemed in heaven. Taking a retrospect of the administration of God, viewing in its completeness the whole of that comprehensive plan of which at present we can see only a small part, its every aspect, all its events, and all their bearings, serve to impress them with a profound and universal feeling of the infinite unutterable holiness of God. At present clouds and darkness surround the throne of God, and the devout inquirer is often painfully perplexed, in attempting to reconcile the ways of providence with the acknowledged excellencies and perfections of the Supreme Judge and Ruler of all. To understand, for instance, why sin was permitted to enter, and to spread its fatal effects through so extensive a portion of the dominions

of God; to account for the enduring domina- | ing, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts, the tion which idolatry and wickedness have been whole earth is full of his glory. Let us endeapermitted to hold, for so many ages, over the vour to realize the same deep emotions of congreat majority of our race, whilst truth and its scious guilt and utter unworthiness which filled attendant blessings have been enjoyed by com- his mind, and which led him to say, 'Woe is me, paratively a few; to know the cause why so for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean many possess the advantage of the external call lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unof the gospel, without being made the subjects clean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the of its converting and saving influence,-are ques- Lord of hosts. Similar were the impressions tions which exceed the fullest investigation of produced upon the mind of Job, when he arrived man with his present limited and defective views at a saving discovery of the infinite purity and adequately to resolve. But in the light of eter- holiness which distinguish Jehovah. I have nity, how shall all the darkness which now seems heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now to lie over the divine administration pass away! mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and from the infinite wisdom, justice, and truth, and repent in dust and ashes.' which shall be seen to distinguish the whole, and every portion of the ways of God, the saints shall say with the feelings of ecstatic admiration and awe, 'Who shall not fear thee, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy.'

In God holiness is an essential and immutable perfection, or rather it constitutes the absolute and necessary glory and excellence of his nature; for in the same manner as it is elsewhere said of him that he only has immortality, implying that existence, as belonging to him, is alienable and eternal, so also here when it is asserted that he only is holy, it represents not only that he is possessed of holiness to an extent infinitely beyond all other beings, but that holiness, which in them is derived and contingent, is in him necessary, everlasting, and essential. He dwelleth in light which is inaccessible to mortal eye, and full of glory; yea, he is light, and in him is no darkness at all. Holiness in God is less a distinct and separate attribute than the combination of all those perfections which unite to constitute supreme and absolute moral excellence; it is the bright aggregate of spotless purity, unsullied truth, stainless rectitude, unalloyed mercy, and inflexible justice. In short, it is the brightness, not of a single perfection, but of the harmonious and united assemblage of all those perfections that constitute the peculiar glory of the divine

nature.

Improve to this end every trace and indication which you every where witness of the transcendant holiness of God, whether in the operations of providence, in the visible judgments with which he often pursues and visits sin, to the astonishment even of the wicked themselves; in the purity, spirituality, and perfection of his revealed law; or yet more particularly in the sufferings and death of Christ, where you have the highest and most impressive evidence of the holiness of God which you can ever receive. When you take your station at the foot of the cross, and contemplate the infinite anguish of that mysterious occasion, when the Son of God cried out in overwhelming grief, 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' O how much does it reveal of the infinite holiness of God; of the awful indignation with which he looks upon sin; and of the endless separation from glory and blessedness which must overtake those who seek not to have their sins expiated by the blood of atonement, but are willing to bear all their guilt upon their own souls. 'Who shall not fear thee, O God? for thou only art holy.' They who will not allow themselves to reflect upon the nature of God, as a holy God, and to be led to repentance and to a saving interest in Christ from a knowledge of his character as it is revealed to them in his own blessed word, to make them wise unto salvation, shall hereafter be overwhelmed with terror, and shall call upon the mountains and the hills to cover them from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall manifest himself as a consuming fire to destroy the workers of iniquity, and shall pursue them with his unmitigated vengeance to the abode of eternal woe.

The transcendent holiness of God claims, on his behalf, the adoration and reverence even of the most exalted of the angelic host; and O how should it engage towards him the deepest awe and the lowliest homage of fallen men. Consider how the prophet felt when a revelation was made to him in vision of the majesty and glory of But that very holiness which the impenitent God; when he saw the Lord sitting upon a throne and wicked shall feel to be infinitely terrible, shall high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple; constitute the theme of eternal joy and praise to and the scraphim stood having their faces covered the redeemed servants of Christ. They will dewith their wings, crying one to another, and say- | light to trace how God has, in all things, acted

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worthy of his own divine perfections, and they will | earth cannot but do right. Let us adore all his acknowledge the praises of his justice, even whilst procedure, and reverently acknowledge whatthey celebrate the triumphs of his mercy. Great and manifold are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy.'

SIXTH DAY.-EVENING.

ever he decrees or ordains, that it is the result of infinite and unimpeachable rectitude, and that to murmur or repine at his dispensations is to manifest a presumptuous, a blind, and an impious disposition.

As God cannot do, neither can he say, but that which is right. Let us, therefore, reverence the whole doctrines and truths of revelation; and however painful it may be to human pride, let us acknowledge, in particular, the solemn truth of all

Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?' those testimonies advanced by the oracles of God Gen. xviii. 25.

In religion, as in science, there are certain axiomatic truths which only require to be enunciated, to appear self-evident to every rational and unprejudiced mind. And if there be one truth which bears this character more decidedly than another, it is undoubtedly that which is interrogatively expressed in these words of the patriarch. That God is a God of equity and truth; that he can lie under no conceivable inducement, even though it were possible for him to be impelled by any motive to depart, in any case, from the exercise of his own infinite rectitude so to do, but that he must decide and act, invariably, according to the principles of unerring wisdom and absolute justice, must appear intuitively certain to every individual who is capable of forming any conception of the nature and character of God.

Happy were it if this momentous truth engaged the confidence of the heart as firmly as it secures the conviction of the judgment; and if men rested in it with hope and patience under all the trials of faith with which they are conversant in the pilgrimage of life. With what holy acquiescence would they not submit to all the decrees of providence, if they felt that they proceeded from one who exercised his sovereignty for the highest and most glorious ends, and in accordance with the purest and most perfect designs! that nothing was fortuitous, or the effect. of chance; that nothing was done capriciously, ignorantly, or malignantly, but that all was ordained with unerring wisdom and infinite faithfulness; that the very hairs of their head were numbered; and that not a sparrow could fall to the ground without the permission of God.

And how would it quell many a dark and disquieting thought in regard to the eternal destiny of our race, and the manner in which God shall deal with the heathen on the day of judgment, and those whose advantages have been few to entertain the firm conviction that the Judge of all the

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concerning our utter sinfulness and depravity. What things the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.' The impenitent and the self-righteous, and all who, reject the views inculcated by the word of God concerning their sinful state, the desperate wickedness and deceitfulness of their hearts, and their innate aversion to what is holy and good, are in effect making God a liar, and the truth is not in them.

Let us be more especially convinced that the method of salvation provided for a lost world, through Jesus, is altogether right, and worthy of God to establish; and that there can, consequently, be no other way by which the guilty can receive forgiveness. It became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.' There required to be offered an infinite sacrifice to take away sin, and that this might be provided God spared not his own Son, but give him up freely to the death for us all. How then shall they escape who neglect so great salvation, which at first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him? God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will.'

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Above all, prepare to meet God as the righteous Judge of the whole earth, before whose awful tribunal an assembled universe shall stand, and from whose mouth irreversable decisions shall go forth to seal the eternal doom of all the various members of the human race. Seeing that you have no merit, and no righteousness of your own, to entitle you to acceptance with a God of infinite purity, seek that you may be found in Christ, clothed with the robe of his perfect righteousness and sustained by the advocacy of his all-prevailing intercession. Rejoice that the Redeemer can say, in behalf of as many as come to the

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