god's paths are mercy and truth.
Ps. XXV. 10. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.
IT has often been observed, that there is m the world an indiscriminate distribution of good and evil, without any respect to men's moral characters. And this is confirmed by Solomon, who says, "All things come alike to all, neither knoweth any man love or hatred by all that is before him." This, however, must be understood with certain limitations and restrictions : for, as in chemical preparations one ingredient will entirely change the qualities of the thing prepared, so in the dispensations of Providence will one single ingredient wholly change their nature, while, in appearance, they remain the same. God often sends temporal blessings to his enemies in anger, as he raised up Pharaoh to a throne, for the purpose of displaying in him the power of his wrath. On the contrary, the bitterest cup that he puts into the hands of his friends is mixed with love. The eye of faith therefore will discern a most essential difference, where sense and reason can see none : it will see, that however God may load the wicked with benefits, " he is angry with them everyday," and that however he may visit the righteous with the rod, '^ all his paths are mercy and truth unto them." To elucidate this truth, let us consider,
I. The character of the godly —
Among the numberless marks whereby the godly are described in Scripture, there are not any more deserving of our attention than those before us :
1. They keep God's covenant — [The covenant here spoken of cannot be the covenant of works, because no man is able to keep that, seeing that it requires perfect and unsinning obedience. We understand it therefore as relating to the covenant of grace, wherein God undertakes to give us pardon, holiness, and glory, for the sake of his dear Son, who is the Mediator of it, and in whose blood it is ratified and confirmed*.
a Compare Jer. xxxi. 31 — 34. with Heb. viii. 10 — 12.