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for the most irreproachable and eminent of mankind, to renounce all arrogant pretensions; to lay aside every assuming air; to take nothing but shame and confusion to themselves? A holy prophet and a holy prince, felt such humbling impressions, from a glimpse of the uncreated purity. I abhor myself in dust and ashes, was the declaration of the one; I am a man of unclean lipst, the confession of the other.-Should not this teach us all, to adore the divine mercies, for that precious purifying fountain, which was foretold from the foundation of the world; but was opened at that awful juncture, when knotty whips tore the flesh; when ragged thorns mangled the temples; when sharpened nails cut fresh sluices for the crimson current; when the gash of the spear completed the dreadful work, and forthwith flowed there, from the wounded heart, blood and water.

Especially, since God himself saw no blemish in

ishly nice critic; or to those persons who dream of (I know not what) dignity in our failen nature: but it seems, in preference to every other interpretation, suitable to the sacred context; and is far, far from being injurious to the character of that apostate race, which is" altogether be"come abominable," and "is as an unclean thing."-Oa this supposition, there is not only an apparent, but a very striking contrast, between the purity of God, and the pol lution of man: the purity of the most high God, which outshines the moon, and eclipses the stars; the pollution of degenerate man; which, exclusive of a Saviour, would render him as loathsome to the all-seeing eye, as the vilest vermin are in ours.-Without assigning this sense to the passage, I cannot discern the force of the antithesis, nor indeed the propriety of the sentiment. Worms, in the general, give us an idea of meanness and infirmity; not of defilement and impurity: unless they are insects, hatched amidst putrefaction, and considered in such noisome circumstances.-The two words of the original, and nybin, are evidently used in this signification, by Moses and Isaiah: by the former, to denote the vermín which devoured the putrefied manna; by the latter, to express the reptiles which swarm in the body that sees corruption. Exod. xvi. 20. Isa. xiv. 11.

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In that day there shall be a Fountain, opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and uncleanness, Zech, xiii, 1.

his dear Son. He looketh to the moon, and it shineth not yet his all-penetrating and jealous eye discerned nothing amiss, nothing defective, in our glorious Redeemer. Nothing amiss? He bore this most illustrious testimony, concerning his holy child Jesus: "In Him I am pleased; I am well "pleased; I acquiesce, with entire complacency, "and with the highest delight, in his person; his "undertaking; and the whole execution of his "office."-How should this thought enliven our hopes; while the other mortifies our pride? Should not our hearts spring within us, and even leap for joy, at the repeated assurance given us by revelation, that such a divinely excellent person is our mediator? What apparent reason has every be liever to adopt the blessed Virgin's exclamation! "My soul doth magnify the Lord for his transcen"dent mercy; and my Spirit rejoices, not in wide "extended harvests, waving over my fertile "glebe; not in armies vanquished, and leaving "the peculiar treasure of nations for my spoil"; "but in an infinitely richer, nobler blessing, even "in God my Saviour."-That a person so sublime and perfect has vouchsafed to become my surety; to give Himself for my ransom, in the world below; and act as my advocate, in the royal presence above: yea, to make my recovery, the reward of his sufferings; my final felicity, the honour of his mediatorial kingdom!

When an innumerable multitude of bodies, many of them more than a hundred thousand

The inspired penman, from these two occasions of distinguished joy, sets forth the incomparably greater delight, which arises from the gift of a Saviour, and the blessing of redemption. Isai. ix. ver. 3. compared with ver. 6.

+ This refers, not only to the planets, which pass and repass about our sun, but also to the other planetary worlds, which are supposed to attend the several fixed stars.

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miles in diameter, are all set in motion-when the orbits, in which they perform their periodical revolutions, are extended at the rate of several hundreds of millions: when each has a distinct and separate sphere, for finishing his vast circuit: when no one knows what it is to be cramped; but each most freely expatiates, in his unbounded career: when every one is placed at such an im mense remove from each other, that they appear to their respective inhabitants only as so many spots of light:-how astonishing must be the er panse, which yields room for all those mighty globes, and their widely-diffused operations! To what prodigious lengths did the Almighty builder stretch his line, when he marked out the stupen dous platform!-I wonder at such an immeasur able extent: my very thoughts are lost in this abyss of space. But, be it known to mortals; be it never forgot by sinners; that, in all its most surprising amplitude, it is small, it is scanty, compared with the bounty and the mercy of its Maker.

His bounty is absolutely without limitst, and without end. The most lavish generosity cannot exhaust, or even diminish, his munificence. O! all ye tribes of men; or, rather, all ye classes of intelligent creatures; ye are not streightened in

The diameter of Jupiter is calculated at 130,650 miles, while his orbit is reckoned to consist of 895,134,000: which computation, according to the maxims of astronomy, and the laws of proportion, may, as is taken for granted in the Contemplations, be applied to other planets revolving round other suns.

t By bounty, I mean, not the actual exercise, or the sensible effects, of this excellency in the Deity. These are, and always must be, through the immense perfection of the attribute, and the necessary scantiness of the recipient, bounded. But I would be understood, as speaking of the Divine Power, and the Divine Will, to exert Divine Beneficence. These can have no real, no imaginable fimits. These, after a profusion of blessings, distributed to unnumbered worlds, continued through unnumbered ages, must still have more to bestow; for ever have more to bestow; infinitely more to bestow, than it is possible for creation itself to receive,

the liberality of your ever-blessed Creator; be not streightened in your own expectations. "Open

your mouth wide, and He shall fill it" with copious and continual draughts from the cup of joy. Your God, on whom is your whole dependence, is more than able, is more than willing, to " supply all your need according to his riches in "glory."-When the Lord Jehovah is the giver, and his grace the gift; let your wishes be unbounded, and your cravings insatiable. All that created beings can possibly covet, is but a very small pittance of that unknown happiness which the everlasting Benefactor is ready to bestow. Suppose every charitable disposition, which warms the hearts of the human race, added to those more enlarged affections, which glow in heavenly bosoms; what were they all, even in their highest exercise, compared with the benignity of the Di vine nature-Bless me then, thou eternal source of love; bless all that reverence thy holy name; according to thy own most profuse goodness: whose great prerogative it is, to disdain all mea sure. O bless us, in proportion to that grace; the richness of which (unutterable by the tongues of men, and of angels) was once spoken in the groans, and written in the wounds, of thy expiring Son!

Spacious indeed are these heavens! Where do they begin? Where do they end? What is their extent? Can angels answer my question? Have angels travelled the vast circuit? Can angels measure the bounds of space? No; 'tis boundless, 'tis unknown, 'tis amazing all!-How charming,

#2 Cor. ix. 8. God is able to make all grace abound to wards you; that ye, having all sufficiency in all things, mag abound to every good work.-How beautiful, and emphatical, is this description! Inferior to nothing, but that extent of ability, and those riches of liberality, which it so eloquently celebrates. Does it not exhaust all the powers of language, while it attempts to give us a specimen of the munificence of the Lord?

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