Infer —
1. How low are our conceptions of God's love to
man !
[How little are any of us able to realize the idea in the text! how little can we comprehend the heights and depths of such unsearchable love! Still is he dealing with us as with his people of oldc. Yet we, like little infants, are almost un- conscious of our Father's love. But O that every heart might "praise the Lord for his goodness, and declare the wonders that he doeth for the children of men!"]
x Deut. xxv. 17—19. > Judg. v. 23, 24. z 2 Thess. i. 6.
» Rom. xh. 19. b Matt. xxv. 41, 42.
c Deut. xxxii. 9 — 12. and Isai. lxiii. 9. VOL. X. G G
2. How tender ought to be our concern for God !
[In general we think but little of his honour in the world. But shall he be so mindful of us, and we be forgetful of him? Shall he be so concerned for our welfare, and we be indifferent about his glory d. Shall not sin, the accursed thing which he hates, be a source of pain and anguish to our minds? Could we see the eye of an earthly parent pierced, and be unconcerned about it ? Let " rivers of waters then run down our eyes because men keep not God's lawe." Let us especially weep over the sins of his professing peopled And above all, let us lothe and abhor ourselves for all the evils of our hearts and lives. Let us feel, as it becomes us, our obligations to God, and labour to requite his kindness by a suitable deportment. Yes, while we entreat him to " keep us as the apple of his eyeg, let us keep his "law as the apple of our eyeh," and, " whether we eat, or drink, or whatever we do, do all to his glory1."]
3. How strong a motive have we to beneficence !
[If God be so sensible of any injuries we receive, surely he cannot be regardless of any benefits conferred upon us : if he avenge the one, surely he will also reward the other. Nor is this an uncertain deduction of human reason : he himself tells us, that at the last day every kindness that was shewn to us shall be recorded as shewn to himself, and a suitable recom- pence be awarded for itk; nor shall even a cup of cold water given to one of his disciples lose its reward1. Shall not then this thought stimulate us to acts of beneficence ? Has " Christ so pitied us as to give himself for us, an offering and a sacri- fice to God for a sweet-smelling savour," and shall not we endeavour to shew love to himm? Can I, in administering to the poor, relieve him who is my Lord and my God ? Can I assist him, who, as my great High Priest, is yet daily and hourly touched with the feeling of all my infirmities"? O let no opportunity then be lost; nor let me ever think much of any thing that I can do for such a tender Friend, such an adorable Benefactor !]
d See the conduct of Moses, Exod. xxxii. 11 — 13. and of Joshua, Josh. vii. 9.
« Ps. cxix. 13G. f Phil. hi. 18. s Ps. xvii. 8.
h Prov. vii. 2. J 1 Cor. x. 31. k Matt. xxv. 34, 35.
1 Matt. x. 42. m Eph. v. 1, 2. n Heb. iv. 15.