else. No man can rightly estimate the goodness or the power of God, unless a strong sense of duty operates upon the mind,-nor can he be certain that even the richest blessings which he has received from the Most High will not be eventually a rod of chastisement, and a heavy visitation for his wickedness and folly. Prosperity may be given him, to introduce a train of calamities, and make them the more grievous by contrast health and strength may be continued to him for a while, to convince him, at length, by the most heart-rending experience, that they are precarious; and that they depend not only upon our own good use of them, but upon God's favour in permitting their continuance :—and the same remark applies to all our enjoyments. If, however, we faithfully serve and obey God, we improve our repentance to its proper and intended use. He will, then, preserve us in a fit state of mind, which will enable us to support and endure whatever may happen to us. We shall not despair, while we are conscious that he is both powerful and at hand to help us; nor shall we be negligent or presumptuous, while we know that he has, at all times, power and abundant means to afflict us. To fear him for his mercies, and to love him for his chastisements, are proofs of an enlightened faith and of a wise experience :—and to all who bear this truth in their minds, he will be gracious, whether he appears as the Father who corrects them, or as the Father who loves them. We should never forget that the intention of all his mercies

is, to unite us to him in obedience, and to encourage us to rely and to depend upon Him in every emergency of our lives;-and that they are often sent to us as warnings, that, if they do not lead us to repentance and amendment, and induce us to take heed to our ways, they will be followed by a course of judgments from which there will be no escape. "Whoso, therefore is wise, will consider these things ;" and that we may so consider them as to make them lastingly useful to our souls' good,-may God, of his infinite mercy grant, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

SERMON XXV.

GOD'S GOODNESS A MOTIVE TO OBEDIENCE.

PSALM CXix. 68.

Thou art good, and doest good:-teach me thy statutes.

THIS Psalm, which, to the common reader, is remarkable chiefly for its length, is one of the most curious and elaborate compositions that remain to us from the literary treasures of antiquity. It is divided into twenty-two sections, answering to the number and names of the letters in the Hebrew alphabet. Each of the eight verses, that a section contains, begins respectively in the original language with that letter, the name of which, in our English Bible, is placed as a title to the section. The Psalm bears internal evidence of having been written by King David himself;-and it has always been received as his. It is an eulogy upon God's law, considered either as such, or, under the various but convertible names of sta

tutes, commandments, precepts, judgments, and testimonies. It is not the commendation that an inexperienced person would express,-dictated by the mere impulse of the moment ;-but it is the testimony of one who had studied the subject, and was convinced that its influence was most salutary. He places the thing, indeed, in its most practical point of view, and states the result of it upon his own feelings and conduct. The whole Psalm is made up of this sort of meditation; but the verses that immediately precede the text will be sufficient for our proof of it. "Thou hast," says he, "dealt well with thy servant, O Lord, according unto thy word. Teach me good judgment and knowledge; for I have believed thy commandments. Before I was afflicted, I went astray; but now have I kept thy word. Thou art good, and doest good, teach me thy statutes."

A more consoling and exhilarating subject than the goodness of God, cannot be presented to our contemplation ;—and yet it is too luminous and refulgent to be fully examined by finite creatures, such as we are. We should, however, raise our conceptions, and make the nearest possible approaches to it; because it is that great moral attribute of the Godhead, which we are required to imitate.

Man's goodness is, like his nature, finite and imperfect. It is so, even when he is blessed with the purifying aids of divine grace in their highest degree. His powers and his scene of exertion have respec

tively "their bounds which they cannot pass." His portion of time is short. God's goodness, if we would form a right notion of it, must be conceived as including every idea of benevolence and of active kindness, with the additional idea of infinite perfection. Its sphere of action, and the duration in which it exerts itself, are alike unlimited. Human goodness is debased by a mixture of passion, of selfishness, of imprudence, and of frailty. In the divine goodness, no passion can intervene; because there is an invariable rectitude of will;-no selfishness can interfere; because, in the exalted sufficiency of his own essence, he possesses every possible enjoyment,-an enjoyment which nothing exterior can augment or diminish ; -no imprudence obtrude,-because of his consummate wisdom;-no frailty can exist ;-for he is absolutely perfect. Of all this we are infallibly certain ; though an adequate conception of his goodness we are unable to receive; for if all the kind acts and thoughts that have come to our knowledge were multiplied till numbers fail, we should still make an incomparably short estimate of this essential quality in God. We perceive enough of it, however, to excite our most ardent gratitude;-and though we cannot comprehend its fulness, we feel its gladdening effects.

The two branches of the proposition, "God is good, and does good," are, in the text, placed in an inverted order; for it is from the observation and experience of his bounty, that we acquire the knowledge of his essential benignity. They are, however,