will be discovered in the plan, whereby he has effected their restoration to his favour ! What marvellous patience will he appear to have exercised towards them under all their back- slidings ; and what unbounded mercy in pardoning their mul- tiplied transgressions! Nor will his poiver be less an object of admiration, when it is seen how wonderfully it has been exerted in converting their souls, and in preserving them unto his heavenly kingdom. Yea, as long as there shall exist one glorified saint in heaven, so long shall the perfections of the Godhead be most eminently displayed in the salvation of sinful man.
How excellent then must that change be, which to all eternity shall be the brightest monument of the Divine per- fections ! The work of creation is excellent, though it is so soon to pass away: but that, glorious as it is, has no glory by reason of the glory that excelleth in the new creation.]
Infer —
1. What encouragement have men to hear the Gospel!
[As a person who had never seen the face of nature but in the depth of winter, would scarcely conceive it possible that so great an alteration could take place in it as is annually made within the space of a few weeks, so are many ready to imagine, that their hard and barren hearts are incapable of experiencing such a change as God requires. But his word is as powerful as ever: it is still " like fire, or like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces:" and though " it runs not, nor is glorified" to the same extent as in former days, yet wherever it is preached in sincerity and truth, there are some to attest its efficacy, and to prove, that "it is the power of God to the salvation of men." Let none then despair : for though " the treasure be put into an earthen vessel, God will display the excellency of his power by means of it : " he will plant the fir-tree and the myrtle where nothing grew but thorns and briers; " he will make the wilderness like Eden, and the desert like the garden of the Lord."]
2. What a sure criterion have we whereby to judge of our state !
[An insensibility with respect to spiritual things charac- terizes the natural man ; and a quickness of perception with respect to them marks the person in whom the word of God has taken due effect. Have we then surrendered up our false peace, and our carnal joy? and have we attained to a scriptural "joy and peace in believing?" Have the creatures all around us been led, as it were, to sympathize with us, and congratui