gine the extent nor fulness! What amazing capabilities would be thus imparted to the immortal soul, of contemplating that Divinity, in whom all its happiness will be centered! For in the life future, though we cannot know God in all the immeasurable amplitude of His glory, we shall, nevertheless, have our knowledge of Him as a Saviour and a God of mercy, heightened in a very transcendant degree; so that what appeared to us here mysterious, will there be perfectly intelligible, and we shall know enough to make us everlastingly happy. God will be in all our thoughts, and though there shall not be in Heaven a fulness of knowledge, there will at all events be a "fulness of joy." i As you will perceive, my main design has been to show you, that however high above the reach of our understandings, the mysteries of religion may be, they are nevertheless by no means inconsistent with a rational belief. I shall now conclude the subject with a few brief reflections, upon the peculiar blessings which the Deity, in his several characters of Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, conveys to us.

As our Creator then, He has brought us into the world, with the design that we should be glorified in another, after we have, through His blessed assistance, rendered ourselves fit, in this, to be so glorified. He has prepared a habitation for us, exactly adapted to our condition, and furnishes to all mankind the liberal supplies of his bounty. "He

giveth rain from Heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness." He has endued us with capabilities for enjoyment, which He will not disappoint, provided we only so act as not to place ourselves beyond the influence of his mercy. He will infallibly exalt us to happiness, if we do not thrust ourselves into remediless misery. He has framed us for immortality, although upon ourselves must depend whether we attain to that state hereafter, for which he designed us when he brought us into existence here. He is a kind and beneficent Master, tender towards our infirmities, "gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness," who "willeth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live." He condescended, at the creation of man, to enter into covenant with him; that covenant was broken; He again entered into covenant "with the transgressors;" that covenant is again perpetually broken, and as often renewed upon their contrition. We are every day rebelling against Him in thought, word, or deed; and yet his anger slumbereth when we earnestly repent. The greatest offender obtains His pardon, where he sincerely and reverently seeks it. Oh! the mercy of God! who can estimate it? "The measure thereof is longer than the earth and broader than the sea." "Thou, Lord, art ready to forgive, and plenteous in mercy to all them that call upon thee."

As our Redeemer too, what has not the Almighty done for us! His favours are "more in number than we are able to express." He first called man from non-existence into a life of happiness, and when his creature had frustrated that blessed boon by transgression, He rescued him from the everlasting bondage of sin, and death, and hell. He descended from the throne of his glory, suffered upon the cross for us miserable sinners, who were already "in the valley of the shadow of death," and verging towards "everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." We were under the sentence of eternal excision, until the Saviour of the world removed it, by expiating the sin on account of which it was denounced, and thus making us co-heirs with himself in the fruition of eternity. We are, therefore, particularly, "His people and the sheep of His pasture," "by whom we are now sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all." We, who but for Him should have been the slaves of Satan, are now advanced by Him to the glorious liberty of the children of God, and, "if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ." How delightful are the consolations which are afforded to us, in contemplating the Everlasting God in the character of our Redeemer! What must be the immensity of His love for the feeble objects of his creation, when He could do so much for their delivery from the deadly penalties

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of sin! What must be the character of His mercy, when He could not only forgive the erring descendants of an erring forefather, but quit the habitation of his omnipotence, relinquish for awhile the dignity of the Divine Nature, to dwell among those who had provoked the penalty of everlasting exclusion from his kingdom in Heaven! How can we withhold our love from Him, who has so loved us as to die for us the most painful death that the ingenuity of malice ever devised, and only that we might not have our portion in a world eternal, where there will be nothing heard but the wailings of the tormented-where there will be nothing seen but "the blackness of darkness for ever."

In the character of our Sanctifier, He is equally entitled to our adoration, our honour, and worship. In this particular capacity of the Godhead, He qualifies us for that blessed estate for which He created us, and to which, after we had lost it by transgression, He voluntarily laid down his life to restore us. It is in this character that He " feeds us with the breath of life," "pours the oil and wine" of a healing piety into our souls, places us "beside the waters of comfort," "under the shadow of a great rock"-the rock of our Salvation-" in a weary land," and directs us through the "strait gate" into "that narrow way," which leads to everlasting life. By His Holy Spirit he becomes at once "a lantern unto our feet, and a light unto our paths," "a refuge from the storm, a shadow

from the heat," our Comforter, Ruler, and Guide. It is through the Holy Spirit only, that we have access to the Father, that we are "strengthened with might in the inner man," that we become "holy and acceptable unto the Lord." What were our knowledge, but for this divine instructor? What were our piety, but for the suggestions of this blessed director? What were our distresses, our errors, but for this unfailing resource against the sorrows of the world and the temptations of the flesh? Without Him, we should be "as sheep going astray," but, when we obey his voice, He restores us" to the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls."

Thus it is, in the three characters, under which the Divinity appears in the blessed Trinity, that He presents Himself to us with the most endearing claim upon our obedience, our gratitude, and our love. Let us remember, that we withhold them at our peril. Let us, therefore, never cease to bestow them "while we have any being."