the nature of God and the consequent duties of mankind, which his observation and his reason could never resolve. The laws of God's moral government, the worship which he requires, how far he interferes to reward or punish men for their actions in this life, to what extent our existence hereafter is influenced by our conduct here- these, and other questions of the highest interest, are evidently incapable of being satisfactorily answered by the unassisted powers of the human mind. Other difficulties equally insuperable arise, when we endeavour to reconcile attributes of the Deity apparently inconsistent with one another; to conceive how it comes to pass that the foreknowledge of God interferes not with the free agency of man to comprehend that mysterious power of God which no magnitude can overcome, no minuteness escape, no intricacy distract: a power which at the same instant directs the complicated motions of innumerable. worlds; guides every heavenly body in its course through the free paths of infinite space, and gives life to the smallest of those living creatures which animate them. When we thus attempt to form a clear conception of a Being who neither slumbers nor sleeps; we are compelled to confess with Job; "Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion

is heard of him;" that the knowledge which man can thus attain of heavenly things cannot satisfy the soul, and still leaves a consciousness that much remains unknown.

But at this very point, where the feeble torch of reason ceases to direct our footsteps in the investigation of truth, the word of God shines forth, a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our path. Its character is perfection. It purports to be a revelation from heaven of all that man is to believe and to do, that he may obtain eternal life. It displays as much of the Divine counsels as it is necessary for man to know; perhaps as much as his present faculties are able to comprehend. It solves, upon authority, various questions which reason could never determine. It teaches man a becoming humility and diffidence of his own strength. It opens views of the Divine power and wisdom and goodness which the most persevering study of natural objects could never attain. It proposes means of grace and discloses hopes of future glory, such as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor heart conceived. The doctrine built solely upon natural reason, valuable as it is within its proper limits, is still imperfect and unsatisfactory. The doctrine of God is perfect, refreshing the soul.

e Job xxvi. 14.

f Psalm cxix. 105.

II. The law of God is perfect also, as a rule of life, contrasted with all other laws. Human laws can only regulate in some degree the actions of men. Over the thoughts of the heart they neither have, nor can pretend to have, any control. And in this respect they are imperfect, that, in every specific case, the evil which they intend to correct must already have taken place, before the remedy can be applied.

Now it is to the heart itself, to the very spring of volition and action, that the law of God is applied. It is not meant that the hearts even of those, who sincerely endeavour to obey the will of God, are always under the control of this law. For that would be to ascribe perfection to human nature which receives, as well as to God who gives, his law. And we all know by what a painful change the original perfection of our nature has been corrupted. Still the law of God is intended to exert this control; and may and will, by his grace, so act, if the mind of man be not unfitted to receive it. Now it is evident that a law which regulates the very thoughts; which forbids not only theft and murder and adultery, but the very act of desiring what belongs to another, and the rising even of hidden anger; which makes

the love of God and the love of man the foundation of every duty, and a lively faith in the promises of God and the mediation of his Son the ruling principle of our lives, is, in this respect, a perfect law.

III. There is still another qualification necessary to the perfection of any law, which is given to ensure the happiness of mankind. It requires no long experience to discover that in a greater or less degree "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." And so close is the connection, even in this world, between sin and suffering, that no man can long separate them in his imagination. Disguise it as we may, there will adhere to the consciousness of guilt a certain fearful looking for of judgment. Undoubtedly, in different men this feeling will vary in intensity. With some it may, for the present, amount only to an occasional uneasiness; a fear and dread that the way in which they are proceeding cannot end well: that it is not the way which will bring a man peace at the last. With others, the apprehension may be of a severer nature. It may haunt them in their hours of guilty pleasure; and poison the source of all their impure enjoyments. With others, again, it may be aggravated into

Rom. iii. 23.

an unutterable dread. Let any one read those passionate effusions of David, in which he laments the wickedness of his heart, speaks of the waves of God's wrath which have all gone over him, and compares the mental anguish which he endures with the bodily torture arising from fractured bones; and then let him say whether such outcries were ever uttered except under severe pain; whether there be not something real in the agonies of a broken spirit.

Surely then every law, which purports to direct mankind in all the circumstances of life, must contain some remedy for an evil of this magnitude. For truly miserable comforters would those be, who laid down only the

penalty of guilt, and proposed no means by which even the sincerest repentance should make satisfaction for an offence. Now, as God's law is the only source whence we can learn the cause of sin, so is it the only law which provides a remedy for it. And it seems that David refers to this fact in his assertion, "the law of the Lord is perfect, converting" or restoring "the soul." The soul of the sinner, borne down by the sense of his guilt, and tortured with the agony of remorse, is disquieted and faints within him ; and the word of God offers the only means