pofe, David, in another place, fays, Thou defireft not facrifice, elfe would I give it: Thou delighteft not in burnt-offering; and immediately after, declares, agreeably to our doctrine, The facrifices of God are a broken fpirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not defpife. He that confeffeth his fins, and forfaketh them, faith the wife man, the fame fhall find mercy; but he that covereth his fins, fhall not profper. And in the New Teftament, deftruction is denounced against all who do not repent. Except ye repent, ye fhall all likewife perish. In the parable of the pharifee and publican, the latter, who was afhamed on account of his fins, who ftood at a diftance, and beat upon his breast, and faid, God be merciful to me a finner : went down to his houfe juftified, rather than the other.

But in the third place: In this parable is represented to us the mercy of God, and his readiness to receive every returning finner. This is the perfection of the divine nature, in which, as offending creatures, we are principally interested. By his goodness he is

Pfalm li. 16, 17.

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the

Prov. xxviii, 13. d Luke xiii. 3.

e Luke x.

the object of the love and veneration of angels. From its emanations they receive their felicity, and, dwelling at the fountain of joy, they know no forrow. But goodness itself, ftrict impartial goodnefs, is the object of terror to a weak, imperfect creature like man, conscious of his fins, and repeated offences. Goodnefs engages the being that is poffeffed of it, to be beneficent, to beftow the means of happiness, but not to restore them, if they have been mifapplied and fquandered. When I furvey the justice of the Divinity, I tremble in his prefence; and were I ignorant of every other moral perfection of his nature, I fhould pray to be reduced to nothing. When I view his goodnefs, I admire and adore it; but I envy the angels who never fell, and who are the objects of its complacence. But when I fee him clothed in his mercy, I glory in my lot as a man, and raise my eyes to immortality. Now it is this attribute which is reprefented to us in this parable. When the prodigal had wafted all, when he was ruined and undone, and was obliged to return to that father whom he had difregarded and dishonoured; we read, while he was yet a great way off, he

had

had compaffion, and ran and fell on his neck, and kiffed him. Does not this teach us that, like as a father pitieth his children, fo the Lord pitieth every repenting finner?

Even under

the severity of the old difpenfation, the Omnipotent had declared himself the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-fuffering and flow to anger, forgiving iniquity, tranfgreffion, and fin. With him, it was at that period declared, there was mercy, that he might be feared, and plenteous redemption; and he remembered the frame of mortals, that they were but duft. But still clearer declarations of the mercy and placability of God are afforded to us under the new difpenfation, in which Christ himself is the law-giver. The heavenly voice, at his birth, proclaimed, Peace on earth, and good-will to men; as if all that had yet been known, was only to be compared to fome scattered rays which preceded the rifing of the fun. One great part of our Saviour's employment, during the whole of his ministry, was to difplay the divinity in his mildest aspect, and by this means, to beat the broken in heart, and to bind up the wounded in fpirit. And finally, this Saviour, by an unfpotted obedience, and a meritorious death,

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death, made mercy and truth to meet together, righteousness and peace to kiss each other.

Having now considered the fatal confequences of vice, the disposition of a true penitent, and the exuberant mercy of God; let us, in a few fentences, apply what has been faid.

Is vice the direct road to mifery and ruin? Does not daily experience convince us that it is? While the common accidents of life flay their thousands, this evil alone killeth her ten thousands. Let this teach us to confider it as our greatest enemy. If there were a general reformation in a country, I could fcarcely number up the train of diseases, misfortunes, and afflictions which would difappear at once by its means: for trace our calamities to the fource, and it will be found that vice is the chief one. Let the wicked man forfake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let all who are not yet initiated in fin, beware of it, for verily it bringeth a fnare to his foul.

2dly, Since the disposition of a true penitent is fo pleafing in the fight of God, what reason has every one of us, to endeavour to obtain it! The Almighty fhews the value he

has

has for a human foul, by preferring its renewal to every other facrifice. There is a ftrange propenfity in corrupt man, to endcavour to please God in fome different manner; but this is the only way that is acceptable, To what purpose is the multitude of your fabbaths, your new-moons, and your oblations? Wafh ye, make ye clean, put away the evil of your doings, ceafe to do evil, learn to do well. What occafion we all have for this, let our lives and our manners teftify. Does that picty, integrity or purity prevail among us, which become the gofpel? Is that love to God, and regard to his laws, which the gofpel enjoins, the ruling principle of our lives? Would to God it were! after all, there fhould remain fufficient defects to lament, But as it is otherwife, how deep ought our humiliation to be! Let us acknowledge our tranfgreffions, and be diligent to search out the plague of our own hearts, and turn unto God, who will have mercy; and unto our God, who will abundantly pardon.

Laftly, This mercy of God which is dif played in the fcriptures, ought to be the object of our praise and adoration. We are enabled to view God, and yet we are not confumed.