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What a complication of mercies does this great scheme of gospel salvation contain, what an endearing display of all the glorious attributes of the Deity; " mercy and truth met together; right"eousness and peace embracing each other;" "God reconciling guilty sinners to himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them;" and at the same time, satisfying the strictest demands of justice in the punishment of sin," so loving "a guilty world, as to give his only begotten "Son for it, that whosoever believeth in him, "should not perish, but have eternal life: Bless "the Lord, therefore, O my soul; and all that "is within me, bless his holy name!"

Thirdly, our gratitude to God for all these manifestations of grace must shine forth in our new obedience" shall we sin, because grace doth "abound?" Shall we turn this dispensation of mercy into an argument for fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind? God forbid: but let it teach us to "deny ungodliness and worldly "lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and god

ly in the present world:" proving to the world, and to our own consciences, that we are indeed the children of God, the objects of redeeming love, the heirs of eternal life, by living

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comes the gospel of Christ." The

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Fourth and last inference I shall draw is, the inexpressible misery of those who have no part nor lot in this matter," who know not God, and who obey "not the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ;" who never concerned themselves whether they were interested in this scheme of salvation or not, but go on in a sluggish inconsiderate course, sit down contented to be" without God in the world" --who know themselves to be strangers to God, and at enmity with him, and yet have learned the unhappy art of saying, "What is the Almighty "that we should serve him, and what profit should "we have if we pray unto him?" And no less miserable is the situation of those, who build their hopes of happiness and salvation on any other foundation than what is laid even Jesus Christ; for "there is salvation in no other, there is no other "name given under heaven whereby we may be saved, than the name of Jesus." "May God, by his grace, convince all such proud pretenders to merit, all such despisers of the Saviour, of the emptiness of their hopes, of their danger and misery, that they may return to the Lord from whom they have revolted, before iniquity prove their ruin; and may all of us be enabled suitably to improve the means of grace, and to his Name be praise. Amen.

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SERMON XXXI.

HOSEA vi. 1.

Come, and let us return unto the Lord; for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.

FOR A FAST DAY.

ON RETURNING TO GOD.

THOUGH scripture were entirely silent on this

head, our own sad experience might sufficiently convince us, that by nature we are estranged from God, and of consequence from true and solid happiness. The almost universal and daring impiety which prevails in the world; that open contempt of all religion which possesses one part of mankind; that carelessness and indifference which, like a deep lethargy, lulls asleep another; and that coldness, deadness, and backsliding which too frequently overtakes even God's own people, sufficiently warrant, at all times, especially upon a day of solemn fasting and humiliation, the propriety of addresses, such as that con

tained in my text, 66

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Come, and let us return un

to the Lord." I propose, first, to explain the exhortation; and, secondly, to enforce it, particularly from the motive in the following context:

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For he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath "smitten, and he will bind us up."

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"and let us return unto the Lord;" and this exhortation, in the first place, implies, that man was once in a state of nearness unto God. This was the case of our first parent, whom " God "created in his own image, and after his own

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likeness," in all the dignity of innocence and enlarged understanding. When we look back to that glorious and happy period of his existence, and behold one in our own nature, qualified for the enjoyment, and actually enjoying the friendly, the gracious presence and converse of his great Creator, with what humble rapture must our hearts burn within us, to view our fellow creature, our kindred clay, in a condition so happy, and so elevated: to view God himself, the greatest and the best of beings, the centre of all perfection, the source of all felicity, condescending to the lowness of his own creature, vouchsafing to be his guardian, his guide, his father, his friend. Then was man near unto God, while sin

was as yet unknown; but nature and holiness were the same thing; while as yet the law of God was the study and delight of his rational creature; while reason and practice went hand in hand, and conscience smiled approbation upon every action; while as yet no ignorance, error, or prejudice clouded the understanding, no perverseness or corruption domineered in the will, no disorder reigned in the affections; but the human soul was a transcript of the purity of the eternal mind. Then was man near unto God, when his desires were heavenly, when communion and fellowship with his Maker were all his delight; and this glorious state of affinity was built upon the combined ties of the most close and the most endearing relations, even those of a gracious Creator, and an exalted, though submissive creature; a kind and benevolent father and an affectionate child; a bountiful benefactor and a grateful dependent; all the glorious attributes and perfections of the One, interested to secure and promote the happiness of the other, and all the powers and faculties of man, on the other hand, devoted to the service of his God--this was then the delightful connection, the blessed nearness between the divine and the human nature. But in the

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