but their cause of joy is not equal to yours, who have been snatched from the thunderings and terrors of Sinai, and have been brought to "mount "Zion," to the tranquil scenes of" the city of the 66 living God."* How gladdening to the captive is deliverance from the miseries of his prison-house, in the land of his long captivity! But the gospel proclaims "deliverance to the captives;"+ deliverance from the bondage of fear, from the awful forebodings of judgment, and from the pit prepared for the nations that forget God. The prisoner of men may have hope that one day he may elude the vigilance of his guards; or that some favourable circumstance may occur to assist his escape. But the fetters of condemnation, in which ye were bound, were those of the divine law: conscience was the herald of its sentence; and God, its author, was himself its executor. The law you could not evade; for its authority and obligation are as universal, as the being and the presence of its Maker. From conscience you could not fly; for it haunted you in the field, and in the secret chamber: and from the hands of God there was no escape; for even in "the uttermost parts of the sea," his right hand should have held you ; and all things are naked "and open unto the eyes of him, with whom we "have to do."§ "But now ye are delivered from "the law; that being dead, wherein ye were held:"|| dead, as a covenant of life; and dead, in respect of its power to condemn. In an early period of his public ministry, Christ opened his discourse, in the synagogue at Nazareth, with this *Heb. xii. 18, 22. + Luke iv. 18. Psalm cxxxix. 9, 10. || Rem. vii. 6. comfortable quotation from the prophecies, respecting himself."The Lord hath anointed me to pro"claim liberty to the captives, and the opening of "the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim" the great jubilee, "the acceptable year of the Lord."* "There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them "which are in Christ Jesus."+ "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God."‡ If, therefore, we have cause of the purest satisfaction, in contemplating the gospel as a scheme of marvellous wisdom; we have still higher reason to rejoice in it, when believed as a scheme of infinite mercy for our redemption. Are there, then, any among you, who, convicted of the practice, and convinced of the demerit of sin, are oppressed with the fears of condemnation? let not their hearts be longer overwhelmed. You believe in the purity and indispensible obligation of the divine law: believe also that the law has been fulfilled, nay, magnified and made honourable,§ by the obedience and sufferings of the Saviour; and that "whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have "everlasting life." The same revelation from God, which discovers to you your guilt, publishes its remedy; and it is acting unreasonably, it is doing wrong to your God, to receive one part of its contents, and reject the other; to groan under the terrors of punishment, rather than rejoice in the tidings of mercy. The Lord was indeed angry with you; but his anger is turned away, and he comforteth you: for now he " is well pleased for his 66 Isaiah Ixi. 1, 2. † Rom. viii. 1. Ibid. v. i. | John iii. 16. 66 righteousness' sake," "Therefore, with joy shali ye draw water out of the wells of salvation." Lastly; faith in the gospel is a ground of rejoicing to christians, as by the gospel they are assured not only of deliverance from divine displeasure, and from future misery, but of restoration to the favour of God. Restoration to the favour of God! What ineffable delight must accompany the belief of such marvellous grace! We, who feared and who merited his displeasure, are restored to his friendship to a friendship, which neither the lapse of years, nor the change of situation, nor even our own variable conduct can destroy; a friendship, which, through time and eternity, remains the same, steady as the throne of the Highest, and immutable as his decrees. The value of friendship may be computed by the dignity and worth of the person who confers it; the meanness and demerit of those who are its objects. How inestimable a blessing, then, to men, is the friendship of the Almighty? How eagerly is the favour of potentates, who can confer the honours, and bestow the riches of the world, desired; and how anxiously is it sought! But He, christian, of the restoration of whose friendship the gospel assures thee, is the Sovereign of heaven and of earth, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords; whose love, like his being, is the same, yesterday, to-day, and for ever; who loved mankind, while they continued obedient; who pitied them when they fell, and withdrew not his love. He retired, as it were, from the praises of eternity, to place his " delights with the sons of "men," the frail creatures of time. How free f Prov. viii. 31. Isaiah xlii. 21. + Ibid, xii. 3. and how valuable was his favour, whilst we continued, in a state of innocence, to be its proper objects; but how transcendently great is it now, when still prolonged, after having been forfeited by our disobedience and rebellion! "Behold, what man"ner of love is this, which the Father hath be"stowed upon us, that we should be called the sons " of God !"* To render our conceptions of the value and extent, of the cause of rejoicing, now under consideration, more distinct and lively, let us attend, for a moment, to the blessings of which it comprehends the present possession, or ultimate enjoyment. The favour of God, then, bestowed on all whe believe the gospel, implies, that they are enlightened, and renewed in their minds, by the Holy Ghost. For," after that the kindness and love of God our "Saviour toward men appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but accord"ing to his mercy, he saved us, by the washing of "regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost."+ When the good of exalted station bestow their friendship on the indigent and mean, they intend it to afford them both comfort and advantage: and the great God, our Saviour, in bestowing his favour upon men, must have meant them to be happy in it, and in its fruits. But the corrupt heart, in its native state, cannot relish or enjoy a blessing so sublime and pure. Its affections must be both elevated and refined, ere its Creator can be the object of its desire and delight. The understanding also must be enlightened, to form just conceptions of the divine nature and perfections. In their na+ Tit. fii. 4. 5. Johniii. L 66 tural state, men have "the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, through "the ignorance that is in them, because of the "blindness of their heart."* But he who has false views of the character and attributes of God, cannot enjoy him. He may imagine that he does; but the object of his delight is only the fiction of his own imagination, not the living and true God: and need it be added, that the joy which is built upon a fiction, must be chimerical, and must finally issue in disappointment and vexation in spirit. The restoration of the favour of God also implies, that those on whom it rests, receive from him assistance and support, according to the various circumstances of their need. Did one of the mighty among men offer his favour to the necessitous around him, and yet leave them unsupported, to struggle with their hardships; view their painful efforts with indifference; and withhold the aid which he could well afford; and would we not pronounce his professions false, and his favour an empty name? and can we imagine less to be comprehended under the favour of the Almighty, than we reckon to be implied in the favour of man? "A friend loveth at all times; and 66 a brother is born for adversity."+ Such is the character of friendship, which he himself hath dictated; and in his own, it must be found in entire perfection. If we be restored, therefore, to his favour, it implies that he will readily afford us the direction and the strength, of which we stand in need, to carry us through all necessary duties; that he will support and comfort us, under the trials to which his wisdom may appoint us; and that he + Eph, iv. 17. + Prov. xvii. 17. |