ducted by the Spirit of grace into a scriptural apprehension of the Divine Being let him in this moment of agony, in which he is ready to despond, understand that benevolence is no less necessary to the perfection of the Divine character than those very attributes which are so alarming to the guilty:-let him be persuaded, that God, whom he has offended, is waiting to be gracious, and that he is yearning over him with the compassion of a parent,-in a word, that he is a Father. These are the considerations which force their way to the heart of the penitent, and fill his spirit with ingenuous sorrow. Penetrated with the evidences of infinite goodness, and softened into the deepest contrition, he can "keep silence" no longer, but says, with trembling hope, "I will arise, and go to my Father, and will say, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee." He rises, he goes, he prostrates himself at the feet of his insulted Parent.There, he acknowledges his transgressions, there, he pleads the efficacy of that "blood which taketh away all sins,"—there, he expresses that pungent grief which has a more tender and ample flow, in proportion as he perceives that the holy Being before whom he endeavours to humble himself, is a kind and unchanging Father. This is the touching

thought, which at once abases, encourages, and sanctifies the soul.

2. If we regard God as our Father, we shall be encouraged to place our confidence in him.

When the children of Israel beheld all the ensigns of Divine Majesty on Sinai,-when they heard the sound of the trumpet waxing louder and louder, and the voice of Jehovah speaking to them out of the midst of the fire, they were struck with consternation. They perceived that they were come to the seat of the Eternal Lawgiver; and, "being unable to endure that which was commanded," they cried, "Let not God speak to us, lest we die.” This blackness, this darkness, this tempest, which accompanied the publication of the law, were significant of the obscurity and awful nature of that dispensation in which the Eternal Governor proclaimed his inflexible hatred to sin, and his unalienable right to the supreme love and perfect obedience of all his intelligent creatures. In this transaction, the High and Holy One appeared not in the endearing character of a Father, but as a Legislator, arrayed in arms, asserting the equity of his government, and threatening to avenge every breach of his holy law. How different is our situation, my bre

thren, if we appreciate and enjoy the advantages of that economy of mercy and grace in which God "has abounded towards us, in all wisdom and prudence." "The lines are fallen to us in pleasant places;" for, "we are come, not to the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire; but we are come unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel." Interested in the blessings of this covenant, which opens a way of access to heaven, and released from the terrors of a dark and threatening frown, we can approach the Judge of all, who, through the sacrifice and intercession of the Redeemer, assumes the milder aspect of a Father.

By regarding God in this relation, we shall not only cease to dread him, but we shall look to him with confidence and love. This, according to St. Paul, is the happy privilege of those who are enlightened and sanctified by Divine grace. "We have not," says that apostle,

"received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but we have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." He whose soul is oppressed with the burden of guilt, and who, to lighten the weight, has recourse to seclusion, and fasting, and penance, still approaches God with terror, because he is conscious that he has not, after all his painful toil, arrived at that perfection which the great moral standard requires. But the believer in Christ, though he may have a painful consciousness of sin, and may perceive in an equal, if not in a superior degree, the defectiveness of his obedience; yet, renouncing all confidence in himself, and pleading the atonement and righteousness of his Surety before the Judge of all, is happily freed from the terrors of the criminal, and the embarrassment of the slave and, exulting in his pardon and emancipation, can bear additional testimony to the truth of that inference which the apostle deduced from a similar review of christian experience;"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ."

If, my christian brethren, the high and lofty One is your Father, how numerous are your encouragements! What delightful prospects are thrown open before you! He does not re

quire you to approach his seat as the tribunal of judgment; he does not lead you thither, to hear the voice of his terrible Majesty, to behold his flaming sword, and the instruments of his vengeance; but "to obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need;" that, instead of exclaiming, with the affrighted thousands of Israel, "Let not God speak to us, lest we die," you may say, with the Psalmist, "We will hear what God the Lord will speak; for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints."

3. We are encouraged by this relation to spread all our wants and sorrows before God.

The distinctions which Divine grace confers on the children of men, do not suppose exemption from the usual sufferings of the present life. To many of those who are interested in the immunities of the Divine covenant, are distributed all the sad varieties of corporeal and mental pain which are incident to other branches of the human family. Believers, however, are in possession of advantages which are peculiar to their holy relationship; advantages, of which they are permitted to avail themselves, no less in seasons of trial than in those of prosperity and comfort; for, they can approach the throne of