wound their consciences, to defile their souls, and to grieve his good Spirit, by the commission of sin ? Yet these are the ways in which he deals with them, and it is by these means that he " fulfils in them the good pleasure of his goodness i." Nor is this a mere arbitrary appointment : for, by these means, he discovers to us far more abundantly the riches of his grace, and affords us more ample grounds for praise and thanks- givingk. The way is circuitous indeed; but it is the right way to the promised land1.]
Improvement —
1. How should we magnify and adore our God for the blessings of his grace !
[Well may every child of God exclaim with wonder, "What manner of love is this wherewith thou hast loved me, that thou shouldest give thine only dear Son to redeem me by his blood, and thine eternal Spirit to sanctify me by his grace ? In the review of his own life he may well add, ' Why me, Lord ? why hast thou chosen me, and borne with me, and plucked me as a brand out of the burning? Why too hast thou used such methods for my recovery and salvation ? ' Yes verily, in the review of all these mercies, he must of necessity exclaim, " Bless the Lord, O my soul ; and let all that is within me bless his holy name."]
2. How submissive should we be under the darkest
dispensations of his Providence !
[While we are saying, with Jacob, "All these things are against me," perhaps the very dispensations, of which we so complain, are absolutely necessary to our eternal welfare111. Let this thought silence every murmur, and encourage us to
J God does not approve of sin, or tempt to sin : but he makes use of the sins which men commit, to humble them in the dust, and to magnify his own superabounding mercy. Rom. v. 20, 21. Thus he permitted the fall of Peter, and overruled it for good, Luke xxii. 31, 32. ; but that permission neither excused, nor extenuated Peter's guilt. The sin was the same, whether it were pardoned or punished : but the grace of Christ was eminently displayed in the pardon of it ; and backsliders have ever since derived much encouragement from thence {not to deny their Lord, but) to repent, and turn to God.
k The deliverance vouchsafed to the Israelites was not a little en- hanced by their oppression in Egypt, and their subsequent embar- rassments.
1 Ps. cvii. 7.
m Perhaps something which has met us unexpectedly has been, like Abigail, God's messenger to keep us from some deadly sin. 1 Sam. xxv. 17—33.