SERMON I. ENCOURAGEMENTS FOR DRAWING NIGH TO GOD. JAMES iv. 8. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. THE Gospel is not more distinguished as a dispensation of wisdom, than as a mild and encouraging display of the attribute of God's love. It is evident, even to our unassisted reason, that though all things are testimonies of his power, yet that his beneficence is continually exerted through the whole range of the creation. If the universe is the acknowledged work of his power and wisdom, the preservation of every individual creature is not less so. The continuance of existence to the different classes of things created, is as much a subject of admiration, as their existence itself;—and to a contemplative mind, nothing is more wonderful than the formation of all things out of nothing, except the preservation and order of those things after they are formed. The same power that B gave them their being, must be constantly employed to preserve them from annihilation;-and if we admire the power in the one case, we must equally admire it in the other. The one we may contemplate as a single miracle: the other we must regard as a continuance of miracles. Yet as the course of nature proceeds in an orderly manner;-as day and night, summer and winter, seed time and harvest, occur in regular succession,-we are less attentive than we ought to be, to the goodness and wisdom by which they are regulated. It is by extraordinary circumstances and events, that our admiration is usually excited ;-the common results of nature and providence, though in themselves more wonderful than those others, are but little regarded, because we are familiarized to them. What can be greater subjects of admiration than the sun in his glory, the cheering light that he emits, and the life-supporting air through which his beams are conveyed to us? In themselves, they are stupendous instances of God's power and goodness, and would be so considered by us, if we saw or felt them but seldom. Yet as they are daily and continued objects, we notice them merely as things of course. Every thing around us proves that God's tender mercies are over all his works. The beasts of the forest, the fowls of heaven, the various tribes of fishes and of insects, and even the humble lily of the fields, are objects of his providential care :—and in no part of his immense works has he, from the beginning of time, "left himself without witness." His favour to the human race appears in the sovereignty which he has granted to them over all the other creatures upon earth, and in the means which he has provided for their preservation, their use, and their convenience. He has gifted them with the faculties of reason and understanding, to direct them in the choice and the enjoyment of what is good,and with conscience to deter them from what is evil. He has written in their own minds a law, by the observance of which their happiness will be increased,— though he has, at the same time, implanted in them appetites and passions, which, if abused, will certainly lead them into misery. The means of happiness, however, as compared with the means of misery, are great and numerous beyond all proportion; but they are too frequently enjoyed without being acknowledged or strongly felt,-while, on the other hand, even the slightest sorrows excite a lively sensibility,—and, by the heedless and dissatisfied part of mankind, are recounted as if they really had the preponderance in the amount of human life. But it is from holy scripture, and not from our own reason, that we can learn the true condition of man :-because reason, though a useful guide, is not clear-sighted or comprehensive enough to suggest to us the whole of what belongs to our state. It can observe and estimate our pre-eminence among God's creatures, but it cannot, of itself, discover the nature of our relations to the Creator himself. Those we have the opportunity of knowing from divine revela |