in the time of the plagues, and at their egression, and when pursued by Pharaoh, and when passing through the sea on dry gound, and when they found themselves safe on the other shore, while Pharaoh and his hosts were sunk like lead in the mighty waters; and talk over all their wilderness-travels, and all God's wonderful works; and how they sinned at Massah, Tiberah, and Kibroth-hattaavah, and were always provoking the Lord to wrath; and how the carcasses of six hundred thousand fell in the wilderness, "Yea, and we should all have been cut off and destroyed, had not the Lord wrought for his great name's sake. It was not for our righteousness, nor the uprightness of our hearts, that he brought us into this good land; but from his own sovereign, self-moving goodness, and that he might fill the whole earth with his glory. Wherefore, we will tell our sons and our sons' sons, what God hath wrought; that we and they may fear and reverence that fearful and glorious name, THE LORD OUR GOD, and adore his distinguishing goodness, and walk in alt his ways, and keep all his commands for ever." So it will be just as natural for those who are saved from among men, when the day of judgment is past, and they safe in the heavenly Canaan, from thence to look back, and survey, and talk over all the ways of God to men, and all the ways of man to God, from the creation to the final conflagration. And while they behold the divine nature set in so clear, strong, and striking a light; and the picture still brightened by a view of the shocking conduct of the human race towards him, how will they feel, and what will they say?

Let us but imagine ourselves in the company of the saved, and attend to the conversation of heaven. Patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, and angels, mixed in the same assembly, all join to carry on the conversation, each filled with holy delight, while the ways of God to man, and the ways of man to God, are all the theme.

ADAM begins: "How surprising is it to find myself and so many of my posterity in this happy world, happier a thousand times than the paradise I lost! Indeed, I was happy then, but the scenes of darkness, guilt, and wo, I passed through after my revolt from God, and all I have seen and heard from that day

to this, things never to be forgotten, will for ever heighten the joys of this blessed place. But, Oh, my foul revolt! How infinitely heinous was the crime! How just, if God had left me and all my race to have gone on in rebellion, died in despair, and spent eternal ages with satan and his hosts, in yonder lake of fire and brimstone! But sovereign grace interposed! And now I see the promise accomplished; the seed of the woman hath bruised the serpent's head. Know it, then, you are happy, not by me.: not to me, therefore, but to God, and God alone, is all the glory due."

GABRIEL next: "Indeed, ye sons of men, is all the glory. due to God. He only is immutable. See, in yon lake, satan and all his hosts for ever lost. Once this was their abode. With us they worshipped before the throne; but they fell. And so might we have done, but for the grace of God. And so might all mankind have fallen, too, had they been created at once, as we in heaven were; and each set to act for himself, as many of Adam's conceited sons have often foolishly wished had been the case. From the day that satan fell, to this very hour, every thing we have observed has joined to establish us in this, that there is no safety for finite intelligences, but in God alone. He only is by nature immutable. Nor can a creature, how exalted soever, arrive so near to a state of independence, as to be in himself immutably good. God is our strength and refuge, and the only source of our eternal stability; of whom, and by whom, and to whom, are all things; to whom belongs glory for ever!"

St. PAUL. "No doubt, the interest of the human race was as safe in Adam's hands as it would have been in our own. And it being no injury to us, God might, without any injustice to us, appoint him our public head. And, indeed, considering the design God had in view, there was great wisdom in that constitution; for Adam was suited, as a type and shadow, while we dwelt in that world of darkness, to assist us to right conceptions of Christ, our second Adam; our second public head. The Omniscient, seeing no trust could be put in his saints, and that even the angels could not be depended upon, did, before the foundation of the world, design his own Son should become incarnate, and stand forth as the

first-born of every creature, the head of the creation of God; that in him he might gather together, fix and establish, all the elect, whether belonging to heaven or earth, as we see at this day."

ADAM. "How glorious is the exchange! Once I was your public head; but in me all was lost. God left me, that it might be seen what was in my heart; that it might appear all flesh is but grass. And now, not I, but his own Son, is your head. And your eternal welfare is secured in the divine immutability. This glory was due to God alone, who only is unchangeable and this glory, by means of my fall, God has taken to himself in the sight of the whole intellectual sys

tem."

GABRIEL. "So satan once stood at the head of all the angelic hosts, who revolted with him, a mighty CHIEF. And, like the bright morning-star, excelled in lustre all those stars of heaven. But how art thou fallen, O Lucifer, son of the morning! And how hast thou drawn off a third part of the stars of heaven, to join in thy revolt* !”

St. PAUL. "But now, not an archangel, nor the father of mankind, but God's dear Son, is, in this new state of things, at the head of all holy intelligences. Both angels and men are gathered together in one; even in him, who is the image of the invisible God, and has exhibited the sublimest picture of the Deity in all his works, but chiefly in the works of our redemption."

ADAM. "And all is free sovereign grace! His giving being, natural powers, and moral excellencies to his creatures in their first creation, brought them into debt to him; but not him to them. They owed themselves to him; he owed them nothing. He was unobliged to become their surety. I ought to have been obedient to the God that made me; but I fell; and the throne of the Almighty was guiltless. Destruction was our due. Oh, how free and sovereign is the grace that has saved us!"

We read of principalities and powers among the evil angels, (Col. ii. 15.) as well as among the good. (Eph. i. 21.) And one of their number is called a prince. (Eph. ii. 2.) And doubtless he was prince before he fell, as well as since. See Rev. xiv. 3, 4. 7, 8, 9.

MOSES. What must have been the consequence, had mankind, in their fallen state, been merely under the law of nature, which required sinless protection, cursing the man who continued not in all things! And yet this law was strictly righteous; and, as such, was it republished from Mount Sinai, by the holy ONE of Israel. But, although our depravity did not free us from the government and authority of God, yet it laid a sure foundation for our breaking the law. And so, had mere law taken place, we should all have been for ever lost; and this had been but strictly just. But, Oh, the free and boundless grace of God! His own Son became a curse for us, that all these blessings we now enjoy in this happy world might come upon us."

St. PAUL. "Creatures becoming apostate, and turning enemies and rebels to the God that made them, this did not in the least disannul God's right to them, and authority over them; but they still remained, by right, his subjects, and under his government, and accountable at his tribunal. And, accordingly, we have lately seen wicked men and devils brought to the bar, and there stand without excuse, every mouth stopped, all of them guilty before God. On the foot of mere law, therefore, God might justly have dealt with us after our apostacy; and, by law, might have judged and condemned us all to yonder lake of fire and brimstone, to welter out eternal ages. Oh, the height, and depth, and length, and breadth, of the love of Christ, which passeth all understanding! The law was holy, just, and good. He judged it so, he died to answer its demands. Nor did he ask our pardon, at his Father's hands on cheaper terms*."

GABRIEL. "How had it gratified the infernal hosts, lately banished the heavenly world, by law, to have seen LAW

How infinitely shocking, to the inhabitants of heaven, would the work of our redemption appear, had Christ died to answer the demands of an unjust and wicked law? If the law, which requires sinless protection, on pain of eternal damnation, (Gal. iii. 10.) was a cruel, unjust, and wicked lwa, as some, who pretend to trust in the blood of Christ for salvation, are so inconsistent with themselves as to affirm,) it was infinitely wicked the Son of God should die to answer its demands. On this hypothesis, the work of redemption, instead of being the most glorious, would be infinitely the most shocking affair that ever happened.

set aside in favour of a fallen race! And how would they have triumphed to see the judge of the whole system respect persons, and have no regard to right! Better, infinitely better, all the human race had been for ever lost."

St. PAUL. "You speak the sentiments of all the saved. Had we been pardoned to God's dishonour, it would have sapped the foundation of all our joys. How much soever you pitied our case, you never desired our relief in such a way.

GABRIEL. "I remember well the day the news of your revolt first reached the heavenly world. We thought you all for ever lost, and approved the thing as just. We saw no way for your relief; nor shall we ever forget how things appeared; God's new creation all in ruins, and satan triumphing in his deed. But, O, the love of God to you! And, O, the boundless wisdom of him who sits upon the throne!"

MOSES. "So Israel once, for their idolatry, stood all condemned to death; Let me alone, the Almighty said, that in a moment I may destroy them. I knew the cause was just; and never shall forget how he wrought for his GREAT NAME'S SAKE."

GABRIEL. "That was but a faint image of this; for now a whole world lay in ruins, and satan and all his hosts in triumph were ready to say, 'Tis beyond the ALMIGHTY himself to disconcert our plan. His honour, law, and truth, oblige him to accomplish the thing we would, devote the world to death."

ADAM. "Now the full purport of those mysterious words, The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head, once the foundatin of all my hopes, although but little understood, now their full purport all opens to view. On the cross, he spoiled principalities and powers, sapped the foundation of satan's hopes, and ruined all his hellish scheme. Since his exaltation, he has completed his whole design. Yonder now lies the old serpent, his head, although so replete with craft and poison, thoroughly bruised, and himself chained in the burning lake. But why am I among the saved Never was there such an instance of free sovereign grace! Satan began rebellion in heaven, and I began rebellion on earth;