sin ? How could the truth of God be preserved, if his threatenings were not executed, either against the sinner himself, or against one who should be substituted in his place ? Men speak of God's mercy as if that was the only attribute to be displayed, and as if it was of no consequence whether his other attri- butes were honoured or not : but God will not suffer one of his attributes to be exalted at the expense of all the rest : and therefore has he opened for us a way of salvation whereby all might be displayed and all be glorified. Not only is mercy now exalted, but justice too ; and that, not only in the condemnation, but in the salvation also of sinful man : nor is it a whit less glorified in the salvation of a penitent be- liever, than it is in the condemnation of the impe- nitent, and unbelieving. Is here then no mystery ? are here no treasures of wisdom and knowledge ? Verily the angels themselves are made wiser by the revelation of them to the Church ; and they are justly represented as " desiring daily to look into them," in order that their admiration of God may be augmented, and their felicity increased.
We have been constrained to speak only summa- rily on these points ; but enough has been said to shew, that in this subject there are treasures which will amply repay the most laborious investigation.
We proceed, therefore,
II. To commend these treasures to your most dili- gent pursuit —
Much as we revere human knowledge, we must declare, that, in comparison of that which we have been considering, the wisdom of philosophers is of no account : for this knowledge is at once the most sublime, the most certain, the most attainable, the most useful.
What is there so sublime as this ? We grant that many human sciences, and astronomy in particular, are very sublime ; and appear to be out of the reach of mortal man : but it is well known that philosophy, in many of its branches, was carried to as high, if