sive periods is brought to pass in conformity to the general laws which Infinite Wisdom has ordained for the government of the universe, without any necessity for occasional interpositions to suspend the laws of the human mind, or to control the freedom of voluntary agents.

How astonishing and exalted an idea does this consideration excite of the unsearchable perfection of God. How comprehensive must be that intellect which could form and digest a plan of such boundless magnitude! and which could, with such perfect accuracy, arrange and harmonize the innumerable parts of the infinite and stupendous whole! How wonderful that power by which it is carried into effect! and every portion of it developed in its proper time and place! How inconceivable that benevolence which prompted a scheme, the sole object and design of which is to produce virtue and happiness, unlimited and everlasting, without measure and without end; the greatest possible sum of rectitude and happiness which infinite wis

dom could devise, and infinite power could execute! How wonderful that knowledge which saw that evil, in a certain form, and to a certain extent, was not only admissible, but inevitable, in a system upon the whole the wisest and best! And how exquisite that wisdom which, without approving it as intrinsically good, or choosing it for its own sake, permitted it to prevail so far as might be expedient in the general system; so far as it might be made compatible with the great object of the divine government; so far as it might be over-ruled to the production of good; or so far as it might be unavoidable in a system which was upon the whole the wisest and best, without suffering it in the least degree to exceed its necessary limits; and with the great, and glorious, and irrevocable purpose, that when the grand and magnificent plan of government is complete, and the divine dispensations shall have been conducted to their proper termination, all evil, natural and moral, shall be for ever exterminated from the works of God.

How transcendent must be that happiness which results from infinite benevolence, under the direction of infinite wisdom, fulfilling in their appointed season, by the energy of infinite of infinite power, all its glorious purposes, contemplating with inconceivable delight the good which has already been accomplished, and regarding as present the whole of that immensity of bliss which eternity will ripen and evolve, and which is even now actually existent in the views of the Infinite Being, to whom things that are not, are as though they were, and of whom alone it can with propriety be predicated, that he inhabiteth eternity. How are all the powers of reason and imagination absorbed and lost in the stupendous abyss of divine providence!

The apostle Paul, penetrated with these astonishing contemplations of the character and government of the great Ruler of the universe, unable to contain his rapturous feelings, bursts out in the language of joyful admiration, "O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and the knowledge of God!

how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counsellor? For of him, and through him, and to him are all things: to whom be glory for ever."

To this sublime doxology may all the rational creatures of God, under a deep impression of the excellences of the divine character, and of the wisdom, the equity, and the benignity of the divine government, add their grateful and joyful AMEN, and their everlasting Hallelujahs!

SERMON VII.

OBJECTIONS STATED AND ANSWERED.

ROM. ix. 14.

What shall we say, then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.

If there be a doctrine which, beyond all others, is favourable to virtue, and replete with consolation, which is like oil to the troubled waves, or as balm to the burning wound-if there be a doctrine which beyond all others reconciles a man to himself, to his condition, to his fellow-creatures, and to his God-which makes him satisfied with all that happens-which administers peace in tribulation-which dispels all fear, and removes solicitude from the breastwhich forcibly tends to extinguish all bad passions in the heart, and to substitute patience, forbearance, meekness, and forgiveness, in the room of hatred, malevolence,