Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

ON THE WORD OF GOD.

And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed.

[Continued from page 71.]

ISA. xl. 5..

HAVING AVING treated of the holiness and justice of God, as fet forth in the Scriptures, it remains that we confider the Spirit's teftimony concerning his mercy. And whereas mercy is that perfection of the Supreme, which comes between finners and total ruin; fince a work of mercy is that which he has chofen for the exercise of all his attributes; and fince the record of mercy is that which publishes all that may be known of God: we are difpofed to take a more extenfive view of this branch of the divine character, and mean to devote to it the whole of the prefent paper.

In fpeaking of the mercy of God, it is needful to diftinguish it from his goodness and forbearance. The former, ftrictly speaking, is invariably connected with, and brings nigh to all that are the subjects of it, that complete falvation, which men as finners require; being difplayed towards them by the Father, in the gift of his Son Jefus Chrift, in whom they have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of fins, in whom alfo they are made children of God—and heirs according to the promife. The latter make no provi fion for the permanent welfare of any, but are manifested to all men, in the temporary fufpenfion of merited evil, and in granting fuch prefent fa

vors to the unworthy, as are fuitable to the defigns of an all-wife providence. Accordingly when this world paffeth away, thefe likewife fhall be withdrawn from all who have no better hope, and will leave them finally, as at firft they found them, enemies of God, and children of wrath. However, these three must be confidered as having one grand feature in common, as it is the office of them all to bring relief to the defervedly wretched; and on this account we conceive it will be well to introduce the fub-. ject of mercy, with some obfervations on good

nefs and forbearance.

The difpenfations of Divine Providence, as unfolded in the Scriptures, unite in bearing wit-. nefs, that the Lord is good to all, and exercifeth loving-kindness in the earth. Are men fupplied with fuch things as their earthly state requires? they are indebted to HIM who hath prepared the light and the fun, and giveth the former and the latter rain in his feafon; that he may cause herb to grow for the fervice of man, and provide him with bread to firengthen his heart. Are men rich in the poffeffion of worldly affluence? They receive it from HIM who giveth increase to the corn, and vine, and oil, that man's heart may be gladdened thereby; who maketh the garners full, and affording all manner of flore, that man may have abundance; and caufeth the cattle to bring forth thousands and ten ihoufands, that man may rejoice in their use. On the other hand, when men are deprived of those things in which earthly happinefs feems to confift, the God of all comfort opens to them various fources of confolation. HE affords pity and relief to the destitute and. afflicted: HE, in his own good time, giveth food to the hungry, and maketh the weary to reft: the caufe

caufe of the ftranger is HIS, and for the oppreffed HE executeth judgment: HE is a father of the fatherlefs, and caufeth the widow's heart to fing for joy. Thus do the Scriptures manifeft the bounty and compaffion of God, as extended to all mankind; and by their light we behold HIM, who is the Savior of all men-making his fun to rife on the evil and on the good, and fending rain on the just and on the unjuft-whofe tender mercies are over all his works. Alas! for thofe who, in the enjoyment of thefe favors, are yet ignorant of the grace of the gofpel, and fo, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth to repentonce, abuse them to their aggravated condemnation. But bleffed, truly bleffed, is the man who hath learned from the gofpel to acknowledge God as gracious in all his ways: who, poffeffing this world's bleffings, will with unfeigned thankfulness fay, the LORD giveth; and, when brought low, can add with refignation, the LORD taketh away; for he remembereth that God is his portion, and that all things work together for good; therefore he can join the prophet in that fong, YET will I rejoice in the LORD, I avill joy in the God of my falvation.

The goodness of God is further magnified, when we confider it in that peculiar character which it derives from the finfulness of those on whom it is bestowed;-when we view it in the light of forbearance. His own believing people, what experience have they of the forbearance and long-fuffering of God! Compared with what. they ought to be, how faithlefs and perverfe are the best amongst them! How high-minded and untractable, how blind, how unfteady! Which of them can fay, I have made my heart clean? For in many things they all offend, and day by day they provoke their God to take his loving kind

nefs

Let

nefs from them. How patiently too did he bear with them during the time paft of their life, before they knew his name; when they wrought the will of the flesh in all things, lived without God in the world, and, funk in the bondage of corruption, yielded themselves up to be the fervants of fin altogether! Surely, whether they confider their former or their prefent character, they have reason to say, It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not confumed, because his compaffions fail. not. But moreover unto the world at large, that lieth in darkness, and under the power of Satan, he exhibits himself a gracious God, and merciful, flow to anger, and of great kindness: He giveth them space to repent, but they will not turn unto him: he stayeth the arm of his vengeance, but they provoke him the more. favor be fhewed to them, yet will they not learn righteoufnefs though he vifit them with judgments, they will not underftand. He giveth them his word, but they reject its counfel: he hath fent his meffengers unto them, but these they have reviled and perfecuted: He withheld not his own Son, but him they flew and hanged on a tree. Nor let the men of this generation fay, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets, or in the flaying of the Just One. -Ye fiff-necked, and uncircumcifed in heart and ears, ye do always refift the Holy Ghoft, as your fathers did, fo do ye for know, that by rejecting that word which the Holy Ghost that was in them fpake, ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers. Thus does experience illustrate the defcription which Paul has given of God's conduct towards the objects of his final difpleafure. We must acknowledge, with that Apostle,

that

[ocr errors]

that he endureth with much long-fuffering, veffels of wrath fitted to deftruction; for we behold him continually in the fame gracious posture, which he affumed of old to his rebellious Ifrael,-all day long ftretching forth his hands to a difobedient and gainfaying people.

We come now to what is in the ftricteft fenfe called the mercy of God, or that perfection of kindness to the unworthy, which completely cancels their iniquities, and receives them into everlasting favor. In accents like these fhe addreffes the guilty, I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy tranfgreffions, and as a cloud, thy fins : return unto me, for I have redeemed thee.

It is a common error with those who have not received the love of the truth, to fuppofe mercy a perfection included in our natural conceptions of Deity, and to difcard as fuperfluous the reve lation made of it in the Scriptures. But to refute this fuppofition, we need only turn to thofe nations who have had no opportunity of borrowing light upon this fubject from the Christian religion, and confult them upon their views of the Supreme Being. The inhuman rites by which he was fuppofed to be honored; the felf-tormenting zeal in which he was imagined to delight himself; the horrid facrifices which were deemed neceffary to appease his wrath; thefe and the like, being characteristics of Gentile homage, by whatever forms, and under whatever emblems the Deity was worshipped, prove that from man's natural idea of God mercy is excluded, and in its place substituted all that is gloomy, malignant, and revengeful ;as if man were conscious that an enmity subsisted between himself and his Creator, but without any notion of a God that reconciled finners unto himself..

« AnteriorContinuar »