with rivers of communicated joy, this everflowing fountain waters continually. Boundless, and (which raises our idea of this divine principle to the very highest degree of perfection) disinterested munificence! How inexpressibly amiable is the blessed God, considered in this charming light! Is it possible to conceive any excellence so adorable and lovely as infinite benevolence, guided by unerring wisdom, and exerting Almighty power, on purpose to make a whole universe happy!-O my soul, what an irresistible attractive is here! what a most worthy object for thy most fervent affection! Shall now every glittering toy become a rival to this transcendently beneficent being, and rob him of thy heart?-No. Let his all-creating arm teach thee to trust in the fulness of his suf ficiency-let his all-superintending eye incline thee to acquiesce in the dispensations of his providence:-and let his bounty, so freely vouchsafed, so amply diffused, induce thee to love him with all the ardour of a grateful and admiring soul, induce thee to serve him, not with a joyless awe, or slavish dread, but with unfeigned alacrity, and a delightful complacency. If the goodness of God is so admirably seen in the works of nature and the favours of Providence, with what a noble superiority does it even triumph in the mystery of redemption +! Re In this sense, there is none good, but one, that is God: none universally and essentially good: none, whose goodness extends itself, in an infinite variety of blessings, to every capable object; or, who always dispenses his favours, from the sole principle of free and disinterested benevolence. In this, and in other parts of the Contemplations, the reader will observe, that the attributes of the Deity are represented, as shining with more distinguished lustre in the wonders of redemption, than in the works of creation. If such remarks should seem to be unprecedented, or to stand in need of a vindication; permit me to subjoin the sentiments of a great critic, equally versed in both those sublime theories." In a perfect orator, he says, Tully demption is the brightest mirror in which to contemplate this most lovely attribute of the Deity. Other gifts are only as mites from the divine treasury; but redemption opens, I had almost said exhausts, all the stores of indulgence and grace. Herein, "God commendeth his love:" not only manifests, but sets it off, as it were, with every bright and grand embellishment: manifests it in so stupendous a manner, that it is beyond parallel, beyond thought, "above all blessing and "praise."-Was He not thy Son, everlasting God, thy only Son; the Son of thy bosom from eternal ages, the highest object of thy complacential delight? Was not thy love to this adorable Son incomparably greater than the tenderest affection of any, or the united affections of all, mortal parents? Was not the blessed Jesus more illustrious in excellency than all angels, more exalted in dignity than all Heavens? Yet didst thou resign him, for poor mortals, for vile sinners!-Couldst thou see him descend from his royal throne, and take up his abode in the sordid stable? See him forego the homage of the seraphim, and stand exposed to the reproachful indignities of an insolent rabble? See him arraigned at the bar, and sentenced to death; numbered with malefactors, and nailed to the gibbet; bathed in his own innocent blood, and pouring out his soul in agonies of sorrow? Could the Father, the Father himself, with unknown philanthropy t, say, philanthropy t, say, “It shall, "requires some skill in the nature of heavenly bodies; "because, his mind will become more extensive and unconfined; and, when he descends to treat of human "affairs, he will both think and write in a more exalted "and magnificent manner. For the same reason, that "excellent master would have recommended the study "of those great and glorious mysteries, which revelation has discovered to us; to which the noblest parts of this "system of the world are as much inferior, as the creature "is less excellent than the Creator." Spect. Vol. viii. No. 633 * Rom. v. 8. † Philanthropy, that is, loving-kindness to man. "it shall be so! "pleads and prevails. Awake, therefore, O "sword*! edged with divine wrath. Awake, "and be sheathed in that immaculate breast, "pierce that dearly beloved heart. I am content "that my Son endure the sharpness of death, "rather than sinful mortals perish for ever."Incomprehensible love! may it henceforward be the favourite subject of my meditation; more delightful to my musing mind than applause to the ambitious ear! May it be the darling theme of my discourse, sweeter to my tongue than the droppings of the honeycomb to my taste! May it be my choicest comfort, through all the changes. of life; and my reviving cordial, even in the last extremities of dissolution itself! My pity to rebellious man A Prophet contemplating, with a distant survey, this unexampled instance of Almighty love, is wrapt into a transport of devotion. At a loss. for proper acknowledgments, he calls upon the whole universe to aid his labouring breast, and supply his lack of praise. Sing melodiously, ye vaulted heavens; eruit, and even leap for gladness, thou cumbrous earth; ye mountains, break your long silence, and burst into peals of loudest acclamation+; for the Lord, by this precious gift, and this great salvation, hath comforted his people.-A sacred historian hath left it upon record, that, at the first Zech. xiii. 7. + Isai. xlix. 19.-I have not adhered to our common translation, but endeavoured to preserve, somewhat more faithfully, the noble pathos, and inimitable energy, of the sacred original.-The love of God, manifested in a divine and dying Saviour, is a blessing of such inconceivable richness, as must render all acknowledgments flat, and all encomiums languid. Yet, I think, the most poetical and emphatical celebration of that unspeakable instance of goodness, is contained in this rapturous exclamation of the prophet: which intimates, with a wonderful majesty of sentiment, that even the whole compass of the inanimate creation, could it be sensible of the benefit, and capable of delight, would express its gratitude in all these demonstrations of the most lively and exuberant joy. exhibition of this ravishing scene, there was with the angel, who brought the blessed tidings, a multitude of the heavenly host; praising God, and making the concave of the skies resound with their hallelujahs. At the dawn of the Sun of Righteousness, when He was beginning to rise, with healing in his wings, the morning stars sung together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.And shall man, whom this gracious dispensation principally respects; shall man, who is the centre of all these gladdening rays; shall he have no heart to adore, no anthem to celebrate, this Love without end, and without measure grace? Milt. How pure is the state of the sky, and how clear its aspect! Clearer than the limpid stream, purer. than the transparent crystal, and more curiously fine than the polished mirrors That stately ceiling, fretted with gold, and stretched to an extent of many millions of leagues, is not disfigured with a single flaw: that azure canopy, embroidered with stars, and spacious enough to form a covering for unnumbered worlds, is without the least spot or wrinkle.-Yet this, even this, will scarce yield us so much as a faint representation of the divine purity. God is a God of matchless and transcendent excellency: his ways are uprightness. itself: his counsels and words are the very sanc tity of wisdom and of truth. The laws, which he has given to universal nature, are exquisitely contrived, and beyond all possibility of improvement. The precepts, which he has appointed for the human race, are a complete summary of all that is honourable in itself, and perfective of the rational mind. Not the least oversight, in planning a series of events for all futurity: not the least mal-administration, in managing the affairs of every age since time began, and of every nation under the whole heavens.-Pardon these disparaging expressions. A negative perfection is far, far beneath thy dignity, O Thou most Highest. In all these instances; in all thy acts, and all thy attributes; thou art not only holy, but "glorious "in holiness." So inconceivably holy is the Lord God of Hosts, that He sees defilement even in the brightness of the firmament. The living sapphire of the heavens, before his majesty loses its lustre: yea, the stars (though the most pure and resplendent part of the heavens) are not pure in his sight. How much less man, who, in his fallen and depraved state, is but as a worm, that crawls in the corrupted carcass; and the son of man, who, by reason of his manifold actual impurities, is too justly compared to an insect, that wallows amidst stench and putrefaction +?-Is there not then abundant cause O thou most Highest!-This expression occurs more than once, in the Psalms used by the established church. It is, I think, one of those beauties; which, because often exhibited, generally escape our notice. It is a superlative, formed on a superlative; and, though not strictly conform able to grammatical rules, is nobly superior to them all. The language seems to be sensible of its own deficiency; when the incomprehensible Jehovah is addressed, or ce Jebrated. Oppressed, as it were, with the glories of the subject, it labours after a more emphatical manner of diction, than the ordinary forms of speech afford.-It is, if I rightly judge, one of those daring and happy pecu liarities of a masterly genius, which Mr. Pope so finely describes; and, while he describes, exemplifies: Great wits sometimes may gloriously offend, Essay on Criticism, St. Paulle ελαχιστότερος πάντων των αγίων-s a beautiful passage of the like nature; which our translators have very properly rendered, less than the least of all saints.-His πολλώ μάλλον κρείσσον is another instance of the same kind: but here the English version fails: far better is extremely flaccid, compared with the nervous original: and I greatly question, whether it is possible to translate the sentence with equal conciseness, and with equal spirit. See Eph. iii. 8 Phil. i. 23. +Joh xxv. 5, 6. I submit it to the judgment of the learned, whether this is not the true meaning of the text. It may not, perhaps, recommend itself to the squeam |