then, to reflect, that the mercy of God is " greater "than the heavens," is more extensive than the dimensions of the sky. Transporting reflection! let me indulge thee once more. Let me think over the delightful displays of this lovely attribute; and, while I admire the trophies of forgiving goodness, add one to the number. With what amiable and affecting colours is this represented in the parable of the prodigal! What could in duce that foolish youth to forsake his father's house? Had he not been tenderly cherished by the good parent, and loaded with benefits from his indulgent hand? Were not the restraints 'of parental government an easy yoke? or, rather, a preservative from ruin? Notwithstanding every endearing obligation, he revolts from his duty, and launches into such scandalous irregularities as were dishonourable to his family and destructive to himself. When necessity, not choice, but sharp necessity, drove him to a submissive return; does the injured father stand aloof, or shut his doors! Quite the reverse. He espies him, while he is yet a great way off; and the moment he beholds the profligate youth he has compassion on him. His bowels yearn; they "sound like an harp," touched with notes divinely soft. He never once thinks of his ungracious departure and infamous de baucheries. Pity, parental pity, passes an act of oblivion, and in one instance cancels a series of long continued provocations.-So strong are the

Once more refers to page 77 of Reflections on a Flower Garden. The following pages, to the 129th, exhibit a digressive view of the Divine Mercy. I thought it proper to apprise my reader of this excursion; though, I hope, it will be needless to offer an apology for enlarging upon a theme incomparably joyous. Who can complain of tediousness, while I speak consolation to distressed, and recovery to ruined creatures? The Divine Mercy is the sole fountain of all our present and future blessings. In conformity to this benign attribute, human hopes arise, and human felicity flows. Who, therefore, can be weary of viewing and reviewing; when the lengths and breadth of forgiving grace are the ravishing prospect?

workings of fatherly affection, that he is almost impatient to embrace the naked and destitute wretch. The son's pace is slow; he arose and came the father's is swift; he sprung forth (aged as he was) and ran. And is there a single frown in his brow, or one upbraiding one upbraiding word on his tongue-Instead of loathing the sordid creature, or reproaching him for his odious excesses, he falls on his neck, clasps him in his arms, and hugs him to his bosom. Instead of disowning the riotous spendthrift, or rejecting him for his undutiful behaviour, he receives and welcomes him with kisses of delight; he rejoices at his return from extravagance and vice as he formerly rejoiced on the day of his nativity.-When this companion of harlots opens his mouth, before he speaks the father hears he interrupts him in the midst of his intended speech. The overflowings of his compassionate heart can brook no delay. He seems to be uneasy himself, till he has made the afflicted penitent glad, with the assurance of his acceptance, and the choicest of his favours. While the poor abashed offender seeks nothing more than not to be abhorred; he is thoroughly reconciled and honoured before the whole family: while he requests no other indulgence, than only to be treated as the meanest servant; he is clothed with the best robe; he is feasted with the fatted calf; he is caressed as the dearest of children.-Was there ever so bright and winning a picture of the tenderest mercy, most freely vouchsafed, even to the most unworthy of creatures? Yet thus, my soul, and thus, my fellow sinner, will the Lord God of everlasting compassions receive us; if, sensible of our misery, and thirsting for salvation, we turn to him through Jesus Christ.

Where sin has abounded, says the proclamation from the court of Heaven, grace doth much more abound.-Manasseh was a monster of barbarity, for he caused his own children to pass through the

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, 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; exult, 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 mul titude of the heavenly host; praising God, and making the concave of the skies resound with their hallelujahs. At the dawn of the Sun of Righ teousness, 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 ceil ing, 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 ra tional 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,