differ from another in respect of outward sin: but in respect of alienation of heart from the holy Law of God, and an utter incapacity to restore ourselves to his favour, all are on a perfect level. I entreat you, then, all of you without ex- ception, to " wash in the Fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness^, " and to cry mightily to God for the renewing influences of his Holy Spirit, that so you may have your past iniquities forgiven, and be " created anew after the divine image in righteousness and true holiness y." Then will you be brought to that state which every true Christian must attain, " abhorring that which is evil, and cleaving to that which is good^;" and then will God be glorified in you, both in this world and in the world to come^.]
X Zech. xiii. 1. y Eph. iv. 24. ^ Rom. xii. 9. ^2 Thess. i. 10.
god's word and works mysterious. Ps. xxxvi. 6. Thy judgments are a great deep.
WE little think how highly privileged the meanest Christian is above all the sages of antiquity. The greatest philosophers of Greece and Rome were un- able to account for the existence of moral evil upon earth, or to see through the disorder and confusion which it has produced throughout the world. But the servant of the Lord is instructed to trace every thing to an All-wise and Almighty Power, who brings light out of darkness and order from confusion, and overrules every thing for the glory of his own name. To this Divine Being, the child of God has recourse in all his difficulties, and in the contemplation of Him finds comfort under the sorest trials. David, under the persecutions of Saul, was reduced to the greatest extremities : but, after complaining of the subtlety of his implacable enemy, " he encouraged himself in the Lord his God," who was able to accom- plish his own gracious designs, not only in opposition to this powerful adversary, but by the very means which Saul was using to defeat them.
The word "judgments" has, in Scripture, many different significations. As used in my text, we may consider it as comprehending both the word and the
560. J god's word and works mysterious. 279
works of God. In illustration, therefore, of our text, we may observe that " God's judgments are a great deep,"
I. As displayed in his word —
The whole of Revelation is a mystery. But, that we may not be led over too wide a held, we will confine our attention to two points :
1. Our fall in Adam — [This is a fact to which the whole Scripture bears witness: "In Adam all died^;" and " by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation^." Now, that he should himself be drawn into sin, circumstanced as he was, perfect in his nature, and supplied with every thing which his soul could desire, is wonderful. But it is a fact, that he did commit sin, and brought upon himself God's righteous indignation. That in his sin all his posterity should be involved, is a yet deeper mystery ; for which it would be impossible for us to account, if God had not plainly and unequivocally revealed it. That the whole world is full of sin, is obvious to the most superficial observer. That the very nature of man is corrupt, is also evident. No one who has ever marked the dispositions of an infant can entertain a doubt of it''. But was man first created in such a state? Can we conceive of a holy Being forming, in the first instance, such unholy creatures ? Human wisdom is altogether lost, and confounded, whilst occupied on this mysterious subject. But God has explained it to us in his word. He has told us, what, when revealed, is a self-eddent truth, that " no man can bring a clean thing out of an unclean*^." He has told us, also, what we could never have imagined or conceived, that the very guilt of Adam is transmitted to us, because he was not a private and isolated individual, but the head and representative of all his descendants : so that we come into the world, not only corrupt creatures, but " cliildren of wraths"