and who, without it, would perhaps have ever continued So. As the mid-day sun softens the frozen glebe, so a sweet and gentle behaviour works upon the most obdurate heart.

2. Persons endowed with a merciful disposition, springing from evangelical principles, have nothing to fear from the righteous judgments of God. "Blessed are the merciful," says Christ, in his famous Sermon on the Mount, "for they shall obtain mercy." They shall obtain it from men; for with the same measure we mete unto others it shall be measured to us again. Acts, both of benignity and cruelty, are often returned to him who performs them. They shall also obtain mercy from God-nay, they have obtained it already; the very dispositions they possess are a fruit of it, and they shall obtain it in a greater degree, though not through any merit in them, but through their interest in the adorable Saviour. "The Lord give mercy," says the Apostle," to the house of Onesiphorus, for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain." And Christ will say to those on his right hand, whose life had been spent in acts of mercy, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you before the foundation of the world;" so that, when it is said, "Mercy rejoiceth against judgment," the meaning may be, that merciful men shall rejoice in the view of judgment, as the Apostle Paul did: "Henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righteousness." Thus he assures the believing Hebrews, that God was not unrighteous to forget their work and labour of love; such will lift up their heads with joy, when others hang down theirs with grief and shame. They shall triumph over death in all its terrors, have confidence before Christ at his appearing—and, finally, an entrance, an abundant entrance, shall be ministered unto them into his everlasting kingdom. In a word, they shall have the Judge on their side, who will certainly approve that disposition which he himself has imparted, and applaud actions proceeding from his grace,

throat, and, deaf to his most affecting entreaties, cast him into prison till he should pay the sum demanded. The law justified him, custom acquitted him; but his Master's example, who had just before forgiven him ten thousand talents, condemns him, and the whole of his conduct shows him to have been an unfeeling monster, without compassion. Imprisonment was designed as a punishment for knavery, not for poverty; not to say, that by it many are frequently made to suffer for the imprudence or criminality of others; so that, in this view of the case, what is legally right, may be opposed to the dictates of mercy.

(2.) In case of crimes committed, strict justice requires that the punishment should be adequate to the offence, but here mercy should rejoice against judgment; and as God punisheth us, so we should punish others less than they deserve. We should be moderate in our censures, never viewing crimes in the most aggravated light, but making all possible allowances for ignorance, precipitancy, and provocation; the consequence of which will be, that we shall animadvert upon the offence committed with mildness and tenderness, so as to excite in the person offending both fear and love. We should in no case study revenge, or endeavour to ruin those who, if it were possible, would ruin us. In all prosecutions, the good of the community should be our principal end; and though we may take advantage of the law to right and secure ourselves, yet we should not go to the utmost severity of it. Thus David spared Shimei, who had, with the greatest malignity, cursed him to his face; and at the intercession of Abigail, whom he thanks for her wholesome advice, he showed mercy to Nabal, who had treated him both with ingratitude and cruelty. Passion should never obtain the ascendant over patience; but we should be meek and gentle towards those who have been most bitter against us. "The discretion of a man," says Solomon, "deferreth his anger, and it is his glory to pass over a transgression." This is an imitation of God, and the way to make that man our friend who was our enemy;

and who, without it, would perhaps have ever continued so. As the mid-day sun softens the frozen glebe, so a sweet and gentle behaviour works upon the most obdurate heart.

2. Persons endowed with a merciful disposition, springing from evangelical principles, have nothing to fear from the righteous judgments of God. "Blessed are the merciful," says Christ, in his famous Sermon on the Mount, "for they shall obtain mercy." "They shall obtain it from men;

for with the same measure we mete unto others it shall be measured to us again. Acts, both of benignity and cruelty, are often returned to him who performs them. They shall also obtain mercy from God-nay, they have obtained it already; the very dispositions they possess are a fruit of it, and they shall obtain it in a greater degree, though not through any merit in them, but through their interest in the adorable Saviour. "The Lord give mercy," says the Apostle," to the house of Onesiphorus, for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain." And Christ will say to those on his right hand, whose life had been spent in acts of mercy, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you before the foundation of the world;" so that, when it is said, "Mercy rejoiceth against judgment," the meaning may be, that merciful men shall rejoice in the view of judgment, as the Apostle Paul did: "Henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righteousness." Thus he assures the believing Hebrews, that God was not unrighteous to forget their work and labour of love; such will lift up their heads with joy, when others hang down theirs with grief and shame. They shall triumph over death in all its terrors, have confidence before Christ at his appearing—and, finally, an entrance, an abundant entrance, shall be ministered unto them into his everlasting kingdom. In a word, they shall have the Judge on their side, who will certainly approve that disposition which he himself has imparted, and applaud actions proceeding from his grace,

II. The other sense in which these words may be understood, "Mercy in God rejoiceth against judgment;" not only prevails, but, as it were, triumphs. You may observe, it is not said against justice, for we are not to suppose that one attribute in the Divine Being can militate against, or exult over, another. God is just, infinitely and inflexibly just, at the same time that he is a Saviour. Salvation by Christ is no impeachment, but a manifestation of Divine justice; "Whom God," says that clear reasoner, and evangelical writer, the Apostle Paul," whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness ;" and to show the importance of the sentiment, and how much his own mind was impressed with it, he repeats it: "To declare, I say, at this time, his righteousness, that he might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus." If God could not have saved man without infringing the rights, and violating the claims, of his justice, men would never have been saved; so that by judgment here we are to understand the severe, though deserved, punishment of sin; and that mercy rejoiceth against this, will appear, if we consider

1. Judgment is God's strange work: he calls it so, Isaiah xxviii. 21. He sets about it with reluctance, and executes

it with regret. "How shall I give thee up, Ephraim ?— How shall I deliver thee, Israel?" He speaks as if the doing it was offering a kind of violence to himself. Thus, if there had been ten righteous men in Sodom, God would have spared that most wicked city for their sake. But mercy is his "delight." In accommodation to our ignorance it may be said, When he does good, it is with his whole heart and soul. In this he rejoices, for he is displaying that attribute, the manifestation of which is most pleasing to himself, and delightful to man. Hence," he waiteth that he may be gracious."

2. When he executes judgment, it is after much patience and long delays. He endures, with much long-suffering, the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction; he often warns

before he strikes, and again and again lifts up the threatening axe-nay, keeps it long suspended before he gives the fatal blow. "When sentence is executed against an evil work, it is not speedily." Thus, mercy rejoiced against judgment when God bore with the manners of the children of Israel forty years in the wilderness, and deferred the punishment of the Amorites four hundred years, till the measure of their iniquities was full. And how long has his patience been extended towards us!-these thirty, forty, or fifty years, perhaps, he has come, seeking fruit and finding none. If mercy had not thus rejoiced against judgment, we should have been long ago consumed.

3. Judgment is deserved. "The wages of sin is death;" but mercy is entirely and absolutely free. "I will love them freely." This is implied in the very word " mercy," for where there is merit there can be no mercy. Here is mercy without cause in the sinner: "I will be merciful," says God," to whom I will be merciful;"-without solicitation:-"I am found," says he, "of them who sought me not;"-nay, mercy exists on the part of God, when there is implacable enmity and heart-corroding rancour on the part of man.

4. One sin deserves judgment, that is, the eternal wrath and displeasure of God; but mercy extends to many, nay, numberless sins. Our sins are like the sands; God's mercy like the sea, that covers those sands. Our sins rise to heaven; God's mercy is above the heavens. Great mercies follow great provocations; multiplied mercies, multiplied provocations.

The latter part of this discourse may suggest the following duties:

1. To magnify the mercy of God. It is rich, abundant, inexhaustible mercy; mercy without a beginning or an end.

2. To trust in it. It is the proper object of trust, and makes God so. We should apply this general declaration to particular circumstances. Are providences dark and