2. How solicitous is God to counteract the follv
and wickedness of man!
[A subordinate end of the Jubilee was, to counteract the cupidity of some, and the prodigality of others. But it is a very principal end of the Gospel to remedy the miseries, which men have entailed upon themselves. Well might God have said to the whole human race, " Ye have sown the wind, and ye shall reap the whirlwind :" but instead of that, He says, " Ye have sold yourselves for nought, and ye shall be redeemed without money p:" " I have no pleasure in the death of a sin- ner ; turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die ? " Let not then these gracious declarations reach our ears in vain ; Behold, " the year of the Lord's redeemed is come15;" " the perfect law of liberty" is now proclaimed : the Lord himself now preaches " deliver- ance to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are boundr:" he says to the prisoners, " Go forth and shew yourselves." The Lord grant that none may put from them these words of life, or receive this grace of God in vain !]
3. How blessed are they who embrace the glad tidings of the Gospel!
[We can easily conceive the blessedness of one, who is in an instant restored from poverty and cruel bondage to the pos- session of liberty and affluence. But who can estimate aright the happiness of those who are freed from the curses of the law, the fears of death, the bondage of sin, and the damnation of hell ? Who can fully appreciate the joy of a trembling and condemned sinner, who by the sound of the Gospel is enabled to call God his father, and heaven his rightful inheritance? Well does the Psalmist, in reference to this very ordinance of the Jubilee, exclaim, " Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound8." Surely there is no state on earth to be com- pared with this. May we seek it as our supreme felicity ; and may we all enjoy it as an antepast of heaven !]
Plsai.lii.3. <i Isai. lxiii. 4. r Lukeiv. 18, 19. s Ps.lxxxix. 15. VOL. I. xx