I am not describing now those light and inconstant people only, who are as ready to break as to form connections: I am describing people of another, and a better, disposition of mind. We are ignorant of ourselves when we imagine ourselves capable of a permanent attachment, and when we think we shall always love, because we are assured we love at present, we are the first to deceive ourselves. This man who only at certain times discovers sentiments of tenderness, is not a hypocrite. That woman was very sincere, when weeping over a dying husband, and in some sense, more agonizing than he, she just gathered strength enough to close the eyes of her departing all, and protested she should never enjoy another moment except that, in which the great disposer of all events should appoint her to follow her beloved partner to the grave: the woman expressed what she then felt, and what, she thought, she should always feel but however, time brought forward new objects, and other scenes have calmed the violence of her passions, and have placed her in that state of tranquillity and submission to the will of God, which all the maxims of religion had not the power of producing.

People are not always to be blamed for the slightsomeness of their friendships. Our levity constitutes in some sort, our felicity, and our imperfections apologize for our inconstancy. Life would be one continued agony, if our friendships were always in the same degree of activity. Rachel would be infinitely miserable, if she were always thinking about her children, and would not be comforted because they are not, Matt. ii. 18. I only mean to observe, that a character of levity is essential to the friendships of finite human minds. God alone is capable, (O thou adorable Being,

who only canst have such noble sentiments, enable us to express them!) God only, my dear brethren, is capable of a love, real, solid, and permanent, free from diversion and without interruption. What delineations, what representations, what purposes, revolved in the infinite mind, before that appointed period, in which he had determined to express himself in exterior words, and to give existence to a multitude of creatures? Yet throughout all these countless ages, through all these unfathomable abysses of eternity (I know no literal terms to express eternity) yet through all eternity he thought of us, my dear brethren; then he formed the plan of our salvation: then he appointed the victim that procured it; then he laid up that felicity and glory which we hope forever to enjoy! What care and application are required to inspect, to order and arrange the numberless beings of the whole earth? The whole earth, did I say?-the whole earth is only an inconsiderable point: but what care and application are required to inspect, to order and arrange the worlds we discover revolving over our heads, with other worlds, which we have a right to suppose, in the immensity of space? Yet this application doth not prevent his attention to thee, believer; thy health he guards, thy family he guides, thy fortune and thy salvation he governs, as if each were the only object of his care, and as if thou wert alone in the universe! What an immensity of happiness must fill the intelligence of God, who is himself the source of felicity; of a God, who is surrounded with angels, archangels, and happy spirits, serving him day and night, continually attending round his throne, and waiting to fly at a signal of his will; of a God, who directeth and disposeth all; of a God who existing with the word, and the holy Spirit, enjoys in that union in

conceivable and ineffable delights; and yet the enjoyment of his own happiness doth not at all divert his attention from the happiness of his creatures! If a Saul persecute his church, he is persecuted with it, Acts ix. 4. and when profane hands touch his children, they touch the apple of his eye, Zech. ii. 8. In all our afflictions he is afflicted, Isa. Ixiii. 9. Lo! he is with us always, even unto the end of the world, Matt. xxviii. 20.

VI. The goodness of God must harmonize with the efficiency of his will. The great defect of human friendships is their inefficacy. The unavailing emotions that men feel for each other, their ineffectual wishes for each others happiness, we denominate friendship. But suppose an union of every heart in thy favor, suppose, though without a precedent, thyself the object of the love of all mankind, what benefit couldst thou derive from all this love in some circumstances of thy life? What relief from real evils? Ah! my friends, ye are eager to assist me in my dying agonies; Alas! my my family, you are distressed to death to see me die; you love me, and I know the tears that bathe you flow from your hearts; yes, you love me, but I must die!

None but the infinite God, my dear brethren, none but the adorable God hath an efficient love. If God be for us, who can be against us, Rom. viii. 31. Let the elements be let loose against my person and my life; let mankind, who differ about every thing else, agree to torment me, let there be a general conspiracy of nature and society against my happiness, what doth all this signify to me? If God love me, I shall be happy with God to love and to beatify, is one and the same act of his self-efficient will.

VII. But, finally, the goodness of God must

agree with his veracity. I mean, that, although the many scripture-images of the goodness of God are imperfect, and must not be literally understood, they must, however, have a real sense and meaning. Moreover, I affirm, that the grandeur of the original is not at all diminished, but, on the contrary, that our ideas of it are very much enlarged, by purifying and retrenching the images that represent it; and this we are obliged to do on account of the eminence of the divine perfections. And here, my brethren, I own, I am involved in the most disagreeable difficulty that can be imagined, and my mind is absorbed in an innumerable multitude of objects, each of which verifieth the proposition in the text. I am obliged to pass by a world of proofs and demonstrations. Yes, I pass by the firmament with all its stars, the earth with all its productions, the treasures of the sea, and the influences of the air, the symmetry of the body, the charms of society, and many other objects, which, in the most eloquent and pathetic manner, preach the Creator's goodness to us. These grand objects, which have excited the astonishment of philosophers, and filled the inspired writers with wonder and praise, scarcely merit a moment's attention to-day. I stop at the principal idea of the prophet. We have before observed, that the term, which is rendered pity in the text, is a vague word, and is often put in scripture for the goodness of God in general, however, we must acknowledge, that it most properly signifies the disposition of a good parent, who is inclined to shew mercy to his son, when he is become sensible of his follies, and endeavors by new effusions of love to re-establish the communion. that his disobedience had interrupted: this is certainly the principal idea of the prophet.

Now who can doubt, my brethren, whether God

possess the reality of this image in the most noble, the most rich, and the most eminent sense? Wouldst thou be convinced, sinner, of the truth of the declaration in the text? Wouldst thou know the extent of the mercy of God to poor sinful men ? Consider then, 1. The victim he hath substituted in their stead. 2. The patience he exerciseth towards them. 3. The crimes he pardons. 4. The familiar friendship to which he invites them. And, 5. The rewards he bestows on them. Ah! you tender fathers, you mothers who seem to be all love for your children, you whose eyes, whose hearts, whose perpetual cares and affections are concentered in them, yield, yield to the love of God for his children, and acknowledge that God only knows how to love!

Let us remark, 1. The sacrifice, that God hath substituted in the sinner's stead. One of the liveliest and most emphatical expressions of the love of God, in my opinion, is that in the gospel of St. John. God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, ch. iii. 16. Weigh these words, my brethren, God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son. Metaphysical ideas begin to grow into disrepute, and I am not surprized at it. Mankind have such imperfect notions of substances, they know so little of the nature of spirits, particularly, they are so entirely at a loss in reasoning on the Infinite Spirit, that we need not be astonished if people retire from a speculative track in which the indiscretion of some hath made great mistakes.

Behold a sure system of metaphysics. Convinced of the imperfection of all my knowledge, and particularly of my discoveries of the being and perfections of God, I consult the sacred oracles, which God hath published, in order to obtain right