still upholds and governs, directing them steadily to that end, for which he made them. Here we have recorded the narrative of stupendous miracles, wrought for the promotion of the divine glory among men. Affecting providences are detailed, in which the faithfulness of God to his people, and his wrath towards the ungodly, are strikingly illustrated. Doctrines are revealed, sublime in their nature; perfectly consistent with the principles of right reason, yet exceeding the powers of man to discover, and practical in their effects; changing the heart, and reforming the life. The way of salvation through a crucified Redeemer, and all the benefits which he has purchased for those who believe in him; such as calling, pardon, acceptance, cleansing, adoption, and perseverance, are fully made known to us. Prophecies delivered ages back, are here preserved, for the confirmation of faith, and the conviction of unbelief. Life and immortality is brought to light, and the glorious reward of righteousness, together with the awful punishments of wickedness, are unveiled to view. Are not all these particulars truly great things -important matters?

Even the positive institutions of religion, those lesser parts of the law, display the same excellence; as "the eagle, wonderful in his soarings, shows in his very stoops, the power of his wing.

The establishment of a Gospel ministry; attendance on public and private worship; observance of the Lord's day in a holy manner; administration of the sacraments, and exercise of spiritual discipline; all lead our attention to salvation by the blood of the cross, and teach us to die unto sin, and walk before God in newness of life. They all, by the divine blessing, promote growth in Christian knowledge, and in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Not less important in significancy and moral influence, thus are the rites of the Gospel, than those of the law were.

Truly, then, the things of religion are great: great in themselves, and great in comparison with other things. Where will you find so clear, consistent, and rational an account of creation and providence, and salvation for sinners, as is contained in the law of God? In the writings of pagan sages, if you except some few moral precepts, you meet with the eternity of matter, the formation of the world by chance, the superintendence of fortune over the concerns of men, and a most wretched perversion of the law of nature in many of its most important parts. Among modern philosophers,

"Some drill and bore

The solid earth, and from the strata there,
Extract a register; by which we learn,
That HE who made it, and revealed its date
To Moses, was mistaken in its age.

Some, more acute and industrious still,
Contrive creation; travel nature up

To the sharp peak of her sublimest height,

And tell us whence the stars; why some are fixed,
And planetary some; what gave them first

Rotation; from what fountain flowed their light.”

The different theories of the earth, as they are called, which have been invented to account for the existence of all things, stamped as they are with absurdity, fully prove that these men, on scientific subjects, will "strain at a gnat and swallow a camel,' rather than accredit revelation. Not wiser are they on the subject of providence; accounting for every fact in the natural and moral world, wholly by the agency of second causes; as if second causes could produce so much harmony and order, without the power and wisdom of a supreme and infinite first cause animating and directing them. On the subject of duties, they call good evil, and evil good; confounding the eternal distinctions between virtue and vice; es

tablishing every man's own ideas the standard of right and wrong. As to the pardon of sin and acceptance with God, wretched teachers are they. Rejecting the only name given under heaven among men, whereby they can be saved, they leave us the sport of doubts about the future, dissatisfied with every thing, and believing nothing.

How pre-eminent in consistency, in agreeableness to fact, in moral excellence, in transforming power, is the law of God!-the whole system of religion as contained in the Bible. What it reveals is great ; what it commands is great; what it promises is great; what it threatens is great. Every thing in it is great, grand, dignified, and divine. All who receive it in sincerity, are ennobled by it. Its object is to exalt Jehovah, and to make wretched sinners happy in life, and blessed in eternity. And yet this law was rejected, slighted, contemned, and violated by the ten tribes. Its great things were counted by them as a strange thing.

The meaning of the expressions used, will be sufficiently illustrated in the following particulars: First, Men count this law a strange thing when they consider it as no way regarding them. Thus it was to Israel like a foreign law. They viewed it as the law of Judah, but not of Israel. Its penalties, of course, did not, according to their ideas, reach them, or its promises affect them. Thus men still count it a strange thing, when they do not feel its importance to themselves, nor realize the danger of disobedience unto it. They hear it preached, and perhaps read it too, without examining themselves by it; considering it addressed to others, and not to themselves. The great things it contains, in their eyes, are too abstract, too far removed from the common occurrences of life, to have any influence on human happiness. They do not apply them to their

own cases-do not bring them home to their consciences, as matters in which they themselves are personally interested. Thus they remain careless about the laws, and totally negligent of suitable improvement under it.

Secondly; Men count this law a strange thing, when they remain ignorant of it, with full opportunity of knowing it. This is a necessary consequence of the preceding remarks. They who regard religion as a thing foreign to them, will soon become perfect strangers to it. Thus it was with the Jews in the days of good Josiah. Under his father's wicked reign, the knowledge of true godliness had almost become extinct. The book of the law had been lost; but now it was found, and its contents filled the king and his court with consternation. Equally ignorant were the ten tribes, in the days of the prophet Hosea, during the reign of Jeroboam, the son of Joash. Thus men still count it a strange thing, when they do not read it, or attend on its preaching; when they are unacquainted with its great things, and no way desirous of learning them; when they are satisfied with a superficial knowledge of religion, and take no pains to increase it; when they rather lose what they know, than acquire more. If they were as familiar with it as with other matters, they would not be so ignorant of it. In all cases, they who know not the law of the Lord, count it a strange thing for a wayfaring man, though a fool, may understand it if he will study it.

Thirdly; Men count this law a strange thing, when they do not love it or esteem it. Thus Israel cast away the law of the Lord of Hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. What we know not we cannot love, nor can we esteem that in which we feel not some personal interest. They who realize the value of God's law, and understand it well, count Vol. III.-Nọ. IX.

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it their greatest delight. Oh, how I love thy law! said the Psalmist; and with him will all believers join. They who cannot, are strangers to its excellence, its preciousness; and for them, as long as they continue thus, its great things are written in vain. Seeing, they do not see them; and hearing, they do not hear them. Their hearts are alienated from God, and their affections placed on what he hates and condemns. They do not approve of his law-object to some parts-doubt of others; receive this, and reject that; are pleased with a part, and dislike the rest. Alas! they count it a strange thing. They feel no attachment to it-find no pleasure in it.

Finally; Men count this law a strange thing when they do not obey it. Did they love it, they would fulfil it; but because they hate it, they first cavil with it, and then reject it. These be thy gods, O Israel, said Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which brought thee up out of Egypt; and the people worshipped the calves at Bethel and Dan, though God had forbidden idolatry, and declared that He brought them up, out of the house of bondage. Thus men still act directly contrary to the will of God as revealed in his word. Some, whilst they profess to know God, in works deny him; being abominable and disobedient. They corrupt his worship; abandon his ordinances; disobey his commandments; and attempt to unite God and mammon: others, not a few, wholly reject this law, loving darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. They consider it a cunningly devised fable, which deserves no credit, nor respect.

These are some of the ways, in which men count the law of God, and its great things, a strange thing. Dreadful folly to do so! Aggravated crime! How justly were the ten tribes punished! And all they who act like them, may look for the divine displea

sure.