SERMON VII.

THE COMPASSION OF GOD.

PSALM ciii. 13.

Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord

pitieth them that fear him.

AMONG many frivolous excuses, which mankind have invented to exculpate their barrenness under a gospel-ministry, there is one that deserves respect. Why, say they, do ye address men as if they were destitute of the sentiments of humanity? Why do ye treat Christians like slaves? Why do ye perpetually urge, in your preaching, motives of wrath, vengeance, "the worm that never dies, the fire that is never quenched?" Isa. lxvi. 24. Motives of this kind fill the heart with rebellion instead of conciliating it by love. Mankind have a fund of sensibility and tenderness. Let the tender motives that our legislator has diffused throughout our Bibles, be pressed upon us, and then every sermon would produce some conversions, and your complaints of Christians would cease with the causes that produce them.

I call this excuse frivolous: for how little must we know of human nature, to suppose men so very sensible to the attractives of religion! Where is the minister of the gospel, who has not displayed the charms of religion a thousand, and a thousand times, and displayed them in vain? Some souls must be terrified, some sinners must be "saved by fear, and pulled out of the fire," Jude 23. There are some hearts that are sensible to only one object in religion, that is, hell; and, if any way remain to prevent their actual destruction hereafter, it is to overwhelm their souls with the present fear of it: "knowing therefore the terrors of the Lord, we persuade

men."

Yet, however frivolous this pretext may appear, there is a something in it that merits respect. I am pleased to see those men, who have not been ashamed to say, that the Lord's yoke is intolerable, driven to abjure so odious a system: I love to hear them acknowledge, that religion is supported by motives fitted to ingenuous minds; and that the God from whom it proceeds, has discovered so much benevolence and love in the gift, that it is impossible not to be affected with it, if we be capable of feeling.

I cannot tell, my brethren, whether among these Christians, whom the holiness of this day has assembled in this sacred place, there be many, who have availed themselves of the frivolous pretence just now mentioned; and who have sometimes wickedly determined to despise eternal torments, under an extravagant pretence that the ministers of the gospel too often preach, and too dismally describe them. But, without requiring your answer to so mortifying a question, without endeavouring to make you contradict yourselves, we invite you to behold those attractives today, to which ye boast of being so very sensible. Come and see the supreme Legislator,

to whom we would devote your services; behold him, not as an avenging God, not as a consuming God, not "shaking the earth, and overturning the mountains" in his anger, Job ix. 4, 5: not "thundering in the heavens, shooting out lightnings, or giving his voice in hailstones and coals of fire," Ps. xviii. 13, 14; but putting on such tender emotions for you as ye feel for your children. In this light the prophet places him in the text, and in this light we are going to place him in this discourse.

O ye marble hearts! so often insensible to the terrors of our ministry; may God compel you to-day to feel its attracting promises! 0 ye marble hearts! against which the edge of the sword of the Almighty's avenging justice has been so often blunted; the Lord grant that ye may be this day dissolved by the energy of his love! Amen.

Like as a father pitieth his children, so doth the Lord pity them that fear him." Before we attempt to explain the text, we must premise one remark, which is generally granted, when it is proposed in a vague manner, and almost as generally denied in its consequences; that is, that the most complete notion which we can form of a divine attribute, is to suppose it in perfect harmony with every other divine attribute.

The most lovely idea that we can form of the Deity, and which, at the same time, is the most solid ground of our faith in his word, and of our confidence in the performance of his promises, is that which represents him as a uniform Being, whose attributes harmonize, and who is always consistent with himself. There is no greater character of imperfection in any intelligent being than the want of this harmony: when one of his attributes opposes another of his attributes; when the same attribute opposes itself; when his wisdom is not supported by his power; or when his power is not directed by his wisdom.

This character of imperfection, essential to all creatures, is the ground of those prohibitions that we meet with in the Holy Scriptures, in regard to the objects of our trust.

"Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth, in that very day his thoughts perish," Psalm cxlvi. 3, 4. "Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm," Jer. xvii. 5. Why? Because it is not safe to confide in man, unless he have such a harmony of attributes, as we have just now described; and because no man has such a harmony. His power may assist you, but, unless he have wisdom to direct his power, the very means that he would use to make you happy, would make you miserable. Even his power would not harmonize with itself in regard to you, if it were sufficient to supply your wants to-day, but not to-morrow. That man, that prince, that mortal, to whom thou givest the superb titles of Potentate, Monarch, Arbiter of peace, and Arbiter of war; that mortal, who is alive to-day, will die to-morrow; the breath that animates him will evaporate, he will "return to his earth," and all his kind regards for thee will vanish with him.

Canst thou by searching find out his knowledge? Explain to us the wisdom of an Intelligence, who comprehended plans of all possible worlds; who compared them altogether; who chose the best, not only in preference to the bad, but to the less good; who knew all that could result from the various modifications of matter, not only of the matter which composes our earth, but of the immense matter that composes all bodies, which are either in motion or at rest in the immensity of space, which lie beyond the reach of our senses, or the stretch of our imaginations, and of which, therefore, we can form no idea. Explain to us the wisdom of a God, who knew all that could result from the various modifications of spirits, not only of those human spirits which have subsisted hitherto, or of those which will subsist hereafter in this world, but of the thousands, of the "ten thousand times ten thousands that stand before him," Dan. vii. 10.

Canst thou by searching find out his power? Explain to us that self-efficient power, which commands a thing to be, and it is; which commands it not to be, and it ceases to exist.

The extent of God's mercy is no less impossible to find out than the extent of his other attributes. We are as incapable of determining concerning this, as concerning any of his other perfections, that it must needs extend hither, but not thither: that it ought to have prevented sin, but not to have given Jesus Christ to die for the salvation of sinners. Our notion of the goodness of God should agree with the inconceivableness of his nature, and, provided we have good proofs of what we believe, we ought not to stagger at the objections which an insufficient, or rather an insolent reason, has the audacity to oppose to it.

III. Our notion of the goodness of God should agree with the holiness of his designs. I mean, that it would imply a contradiction to suppose that a Being who is supremely holy, should have a close communion of love with unholy creatures, considered as unholy and unconverted. By this principle we exclude the dreadful consequences, that weakness and wickedness have been used to infer from the doctrine under our consideration. We oppose this principle to the execrable reasoning of those libertines, who say, (and, alas! how many people, who adopt this way of reasoning, mix with the saints, and pretend to be saints themselves!) "Let us continue in sin that grace may abound," Rom. vi. 1. With the same principle the prophet guards the text, "Like as a father pitieth his children, so doth the Lord pity," whom? Them, who establish their crimes on the mercy of God? God forbid! "So doth the Lord pity them that fear him." This truth is so conformable to right reason, so often repeated in the Holy Scriptures, and so frequently enforced in this pulpit, that none but those who wilfully deceive themselves can mistake the matter; and for these reasons we dismiss this article.

IV. The love of God is in perfect harmony with the independence of his principles. Interest is the spring that moves, and very often the defect that destroys human friendships. It must be allowed, however, that though

principles of interest may appear low and mean, yet they often deserve pity more than blame. It would be extremely difficult for a debtor, if he were oppressed by a merciless creditor, to love any person more than him, who should be both able and willing to free him from the oppressor's iron rod. It would be strange if a starving man were not to have a more vehement love for him who should relieve his necessities, than for any one else. While our necessities continue as pressing as they are in this valley of tears, principles of interest will occupy the most of our thoughts, and will direct the best of our friendships. Disinterested love seems to be incompatible with the state of indigent creatures.

But God forbid that we should entertain similar notions of the Deity! God is supremely happy. His love to his creatures is supremely disinterested. Indeed, what interest can he have in loving us? Were this world, which has existed but a little while, to cease to exist; were all the beings upon earth, material and immaterial, to return to their nonentity; were God to remain alone, he would enjoy infinite happiness; in possessing himself he would possess perfect felicity. "Every beast of the forest is his, and the cattle upon a thousand i hills," Ps. 1. 10; sacrificial flesh affords no nourishment to him; clouds of fragrant incense communicate no odours to him; he is not entertained with the harmony of the mu sic that is performed in his honour; for " our goodness extendeth not to him," Ps. xvi. 2. » The praises of the seraphim can no more augment the splendour of his glory, than the blasphemies of the damned can diminish it.

V. The love of God to his creatures agrees with the immutability of his will. There is but little reality, and less permanency, in hu man love. The names of steadiness, constancy, and equanimity, an indelible image, an everlasting impression, a perpetual idea, and endless attachment, an eternal friendship, alk these are only names, only empty, unmeaning sounds, when they are applied to those sentiments which the most faithful friends entertain for each other.

I am not describing now those light and inconstant people only, who are as ready to break as to form connexions: I am describing people of another, and a better, disposition of mind. We are ignorant of ourselves when we ima gine ourselves capable of a permanent attachment, and, when we think that we shall always love, because we are assured that we love at present, we are the first to deceive ourselves. This man, who only at certain times discovers sentiments of tenderness, is not a hy pocrite. That woman was very sincere, when weeping over a dying husband, and in some sense more agonizing than he, she just gathered strength enough to close the eyes of her departing all, and protested that she should never enjoy another moment, except that in which the great Disposer of all events should appoint her to follow her beloved partner to the grave: the woman expressed what she then felt, and what she thought she should always feel: but, however, time brought forward new objects, and other scenes have calmed the violence of her passions, and have placed her in

a state of tranquillity and submission to the will of God, which all the maxims of religion had not the power of producing.

People are not always to be blamed for the slightness of their friendships. Our levity constitutes, in some sort, our felicity, and our perfections apologize for our inconstancy. Life would be one continued agony if our friendships were always in the same degree of activity. Rachel would be infinitely miserable, if she were always thinking about "her children, and would not be comforted because they are not," Matt. ii. 18. I only mean to observe, that a character of levity is essential to the friendships of finite human minds.

God alone is capable, (O thou adorable Being, who only canst have such noble sentiments, enable us to express them!) God only, my dear brethren, is capable of a love, real, solid, and permanent, free from diversion and without interruption. What delineations, what representations, what purposes, revolved in the infinite mind, before that appointed period, in which he had determined to express himself in exterior works, and to give existence to a multitude of creatures? Yet throughout all these countless ages, through all these unfathomable abysses of eternity (I know no literal terms to express eternity) yet through all eternity he thought of us, my dear brethren; then he formed the plan of our salvation; then he appointed the victim that procured it; then he laid up for us the felicity and glory that we hope for ever to enjoy! What care and application are required to inspect, to order, and arrange the numberless beings of the whole earth? The whole earth, did I say? The whole earth is only an inconsiderable point: but what care and application are required to inspect, to order and arrange the worlds which we disCover revolving over our heads with other worlds, that we have a right to suppose in the immensity of space? Yet this application does not prevent his attention to thee, believer; thy health he guards, thy family he guides, thy fortune and thy salvation he governs, as if each were the only object of his care, and as if thou wert alone in the universe! What an immensity of happiness must fill the intelligence of God, who is himself the source of felicity; of a God, who is surrounded with angels, archangels, and happy spirits, serving him day and night, continually attending round his throne, and waiting to fly at a signal of his will; of a God, who directs and disposes all; of a God, who, existing with the Word and the Holy Spirit, enjoys in that union inconceivable and ineffable delights; and yet the enjoyment of his own happiness does not at all divert his attention from the happiness of his creatures! If a Saul persecute his church, he is persecuted with it, Acts ix. 4; and when profane hands touch his children, they "touch the apple of his eye," Zech. ii. S. "In all her affliction he is afflicted," Isa. Ixiii. 9; "lo! he is with us always, even unto the end of the world," Matt. xxviii. 20.

VI. The goodness of God must harmonize with the efficiency of his will. The great defect of human friendships is their inefficacy. The unavailing emotions that men may feel for each other, their ineffectual wishes for each VOL. L-12

other's happiness, we denominate friendship. But suppose a union of every heart in thy favour; suppose, though without a precedent, thyself the object of the love of all mankind, what benefit couldst thou derive from all this love in some circumstances of thy life? What relief from real evils? Ah! my friends, ye are eager to assist me in my dying agonies: Alas! my family, ye are distressed to death to see me die; ye love me, and I know the tears that bathe you, flow from your hearts; yes, ye love me, but I must die!

None but the infinite God, my dear brethren, none but the adorable God hath an efficient love. "If God be for us, who can be against us?" Rom. viii. 31. Let the elements be let loose against my person and my life, let mankind, who differ about every thing else, agree to torment me, let there be a general conspiracy of nature and society against my happiness, what does it signify to me? If God love me, I shall be happy: with God to love and to beatify is one and the same act of his self-efficient will.

VII. But finally, the goodness of God must agree with his veracity. I mean that although the many Scripture-images of the goodness of God are imperfect, and must not be literally understood, they must, however, have a real sense and meaning. Moreover, I affirm, that the grandeur of the original is not at all diminished, but on the contrary, that our ideas of it are very much enlarged, by purifying and retrenching the images that represent it; and this we are obliged to do on account of the eminence of the divine perfections. And here, my brethren, I own I am involved in the most agreeable difficulty that can be imagined; and my mind is absorbed in an innumerable multitude of objects, each of which verifies the proposition in the text. I am obliged to pass by a world of proofs and demonstrations. Yes, I pass by the firmament with all its stars, the earth with all its productions, the treasures of the sea and the influences of the air, the symmetry of the body, the charms of society, and many other objects, which in the most elegant and pathetic manner, preach the Creator's goodness to us. Those grand objects which have excited the astonishment of philosophers, and filled the inspired writers with wonder and praise, scarcely merit a moment's attention today. I stop at the principal idea of the prophet. We have before observed, that the term which is rendered pity in the text, is a vague word, and is often put in Scripture for the goodness of God in general; however, we must acknowledge, that it most properly signifies the disposition of a good parent, who is inclined to show mercy to his son, when he is become sensible of his follies, and endeavours by new effusions of love to re-establish the communion that his disobedience had interrupted: this is certainly the principal idea of the prophet.

Now who can doubt, my brethren, whether God possesses the reality of this image in the most noble, the most rich, and the most emi nent sense? Wouldst thou be convinced, sinner, of the truth of the declaration of the text? Wouldst thou know the extent of the mercy of God to poor sinful men? Consider then, 1. The victim that he has substituted in

their stead. 2. The patience which he exercises towards them. 3. The crimes that he pardons. 4. The familiar friendship to which he invites them. And 5. The rewards that he bestows on them. Ah! ye tender fathers, ye mothers who seem to be all love for your children, ye whose eyes, whose hearts, whose perpetual cares and affections are concentred in them, yield, yield to the love of God for his children, and acknowledge that God only knows how to love!

Let us remark, 1. The sacrifice that God has substituted in the sinner's stead. One of the liveliest and most emphatical expressions of the love of God, in my opinion, is that in the gospel of St. John. "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son," ch. iii. 16. Weigh these words, my brethren, "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son." Metaphysical ideas begin to grow into disrepute, and I am not surprised at it. Mankind have such imperfect notions of substances, they know so little of the nature of spirits, particularly, they are so entire ly at a loss in reasoning on the Infinite Spirit, that we need not be astonished if people retire from a speculative track in which the indiscretion of some has made great mistakes.

Behold a sure system of metaphysics. Convinced of the imperfection of all my knowledge, but particularly of my discoveries of the being and perfections of God, I consult the sacred oracles, which God has published, in order to obtain right notions of him. I immediately perceive that God, in speaking of himself, has proportioned his language to the weakness of men, to whom he has addressed his word. In this view, I meet with no difficulty in explaining those passages in which God says, that he has hands or feet, eyes or heart, that he goes or comes, ascends or descends, that he is in some cases pleased, and in others provoked.

Yet I think, it would be a strange abuse of this notion of Scripture, not to understand some constant ideas literally; ideas which the Scriptures give us of God, and on which the system of Christianity partly rests.

I perceive, and I think very clearly, that the Scriptures constantly speak of a being, a person, or if I may speak so, a portion of the divine essence, which is called the Father, and another that is called the Son.

I think I perceive, with equal evidence in the same book, that between these two persons, the Father and the Son, there is the closest and most intimate union that can be imagined. What love must there be between these two persons, who have the same perfections and the same ideas, the same purposes and the same plans? What love must subsist between two persons, whose union is not interrupted by any calamity without, by any passion within, or, to speak more fully still, by any imagination?

With equal clearness I perceive, that the man Jesus, who was born at Bethlehem, and was laid in a manger, was in the closest union with the Word, that is, with the Son of God; and that in virtue of this union the man Jesus is more beloved of God than all the other creatures of the universe.

No less clearly do I perceive in Scripture, that the man Jesus, who is as closely united to the Eternal Word, as the word is to God, was delivered for me, a vile creature, to the most ignominious treatment, to sufferings the most painful, and the most shameful, that were ever inflicted on the meanest and basest of mankind.

And when I inquire the cause of this great mystery, when I ask, Why did the Almighty God bestow so rich a present on me? Especially when I apply to revelation for an explication of this mystery, which reason cannot fully explain, I can find no other cause than the compassion of God.

Let the schools take their way, let reason lose itself in speculations, yea, let faith find it difficult to submit to a doctrine, which has always appeared with an awful solemnity to those who have thought and meditated on it; for my part, I abide by this clear and astonishing, but at the same time, this kind and comfortable proposition, "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son." When people show us Jesus Christ in the garden, sweating great drops of blood; when they speak of his trial before Caiaphas and Pilate, in which he was interrogated, insulted, and scourged; when they present him to our view upon mount Calvary, nailed to a cross, and bowing beneath the blows of heaven and earth; when they require the reason of these formidable and surprising phenomena, we will answer, It is because God loved mankind; it is because "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son."

2. The patience that God exercises towards sinners, is our second remark. Here, my brethren, I wish that as many of you as are interested in this article would allow me to omit particulars, and would recollect the histories of your own lives.

My life, says one, is consumed in perpetual indolence. I am a stranger to the practice of private devotion, and to speak the truth, I consider it only as a fancy. I attend public worship, only because I would conform to example and custom. I hear the sermons of the ministers of the gospel as amusive discourses, that treat of subjects in which I have no interest. I take no part in the prayers that are addressed to God in behalf of the sick or the poor, the church or the state.

I, says a second, ever since I have been in the world, have cherished one of the most shameful and criminal passions; sometimes I have been shocked at its turpitude, and sometimes I have resolved to free myself from it: in some of my sicknesses, which I thought would have ended in death, I determined on a sincere conversion: sometimes a sermon, or a pious book, has brought me to self-examination, which has ended in a promise of reformation: sometimes the sight of the Lord's Supper, an institution properly adapted to display the sin-1 fulness of sin, has exhibited my sin in all its heinousness, and has bound me by oath to sacrifice my unworthy passion to God. But my corruption has been superior to all, and yet God has borne with me to this day.

A third must say, As for me I have lived thirty or forty years in a country where the