grateful joy. They are happy in the highest degree; and the parents, now ripening in years, are waiting to pass over Jordan, cheered by the full conviction, that after being separated a little while, they will be permitted to welcome every child they nourished upon earth, into Heaven's everlasting glory.

By these examples, and such as these, God is continually appealing to the hearts of all his servants. Thus cheered by smiles of love, and warned by solemn admonitions, therefore, let all indifference be laid aside for ever. Assail the heart with all the vigour of aggressive mercy. So shall your joys be multiplied exceedingly; and, sinners rescued from perdition, shall join you in praising your conquering Lord.

THE PROVISIONS OF MERCY.

CHAPTER IV.

ON THE

RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN MAKING REQUISITION FOR NEGLECTED SOULS, AS IT IS SEEN IN THE PROVISIONS OF MERCY.

"Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges ? " 1 Cor. ix. 7.

THE Christian life is a warfare; and each member in the body of Christ, is required to sustain it against all the combined forces of earth and hell. Considering what they are, how numerous, experienced, and mighty, this duty must be attended with great labour and suffering. But no part of the Christian conflict appears, at first, so formidable as that which relates to the conversion of sinners Jehovah frowns and

threatens them with death; Satan deludes them and nourishes their crime, while their own hearts are full of enmity and rebellion. In such a state of things the courage of man positively fails, and often the most sincere will feel as though the utmost that can be expected from his inexperienced weakness, is continued faithfulness in himself, and a patient endurance till the end; and hence, the aggressive labours of a Christian church, are frequently resigned as impossibilities.

But this is cowardice, not prudence; it also implies a fearful deficiency of faith in God. For he intends that his servants shall feel their own insufficiency, and continue their labour in that very work in which their strength seems perfect weakness. He hath put this treasure into earthen vessels, which may be broken by their own contents, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of man. Placed in the phalanx of his armies, his servants must fight, but not in their own strength; God will sustain the expenses of their warfare; and hence, the riches of his grace, destroys the ex

cuse so often founded on the difficulty of our undertaking.

Our text relates to temporal things; but the principle, that he who originates a war must sustain its charges, applies to the whole conflict of merey. This then originates in God; by him the whole plan of operation is devised; he has ordained the result; he issues every commission, appoints the station of every soldier, assigns him his task, and the rich provisions of Divine grace made for his assistance, will annihilate all excuses which weakness can supply, for indifference and infidelity towards the souls of men.

You will now be directed to a proof of this statement.

I. From the riches of Divine grace.
II. From its constant accessibility.

I. The riches of grace destroy our excuses, by presenting a perfect reconciliation with the Father.

When Esther the queen, knew that her peo

ple were in danger, without any provision for appeasing the king, she ventured on an act which hazarded her life for their deliverance; and Moses, when Horeb itself melted and shook beneath the burning of deserved vengeance, casts himself before his frowning God, crying, Spare this people, I beseech thee, or else blot out my name from thy book. He bore in his hand no sacrifice with which to atone for Israel's gross idolatry. His decision in the camp, and his supplication on the mountain, were both induced by the bare possibility of awakening Divine compassion. Thus God has taught us that no discouragement can remove the obligation of his law. But this is not the condition in which we are called to labour. Grace has rent the vail of heaven's most holy place, and there we see the perfect propitiation, placed by God's own hand, the Intercessor who can never die, pleading for the objects of our compassion with a reconciled God and Father. There the Infinite Eternal is seen divested of all his terror, and waiting to be gracious. When these facts were first declared on earth, they awakened a glow of feeling, of