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it not to glory in his own strength, but for the praise of the Lord; for he adds "Thou hast

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granted me life and favor, and thy visitation "hath preserved my Spirit," Job x. 12. and thus it is with all his saints who are preserved by him for ever. Psalm xxxvii. 28.

But we are to believe on God the Father.

3d. Because he is the benefactor of men.

"Thou crownest the year with thy goodness: "and thy paths drop fatness; they drop upon the pastures of the wilderness, and the little hills

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rejoice on every side. The pastures are clothed "with flocks, the vallies also are covered over with corn," Psalm lxv. 11, 12, 13, Indeed the whole Psalm may be considered as a song of gratitude and thankfulness to God for all his benefits.

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But to speak more particularly as to the deal ings of God's grace. We are to believe on God the

Father.

4th. Because he sustains the honor of the of fended Godhead.

"God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth, the "Lord revengeth and is furious; the Lord will "take vengeance on his adversaries, and he re"serveth wrath for his enemies," Nahum i. 2. His name is, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful "and gracious, long suffering, and abundant in

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goodness and truth; keeping mercy for thou "sands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and "sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty,

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visiting the iniquity of the fathers, upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto "the third and to the fourth generation,” Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7. It may be asked by some, is vindictive justice an adorable attribute, in an holy God? If by vindictive justice, be meant a justice exercised by a revengeful, capricious, and bloody disposition; I answer it is not. But if by it is meant a supreme regard to God's own honor, leading him to hate sin, as the natural effect of perfect holiness, hating sin as opposed thereto, punishing sin as dishonorable thereto, punishing the sinner, only as it were in self-defence of his adorable attributes, and not from any wish otherwise to shed the blood of his creatures; then I say even the vindictive justice of God is an adorable attribute. This we should believe, and at this we should tremble. But as the devils also believe and tremble, James ii. 19. we should do more, and should even love the adorable attribute of God's vindictive justice; and that for this reason, for as it is immutable it is the cause of safety and protection to his friends, as well as of confusion and dismay to his enemies. O my God how terrible art thou; for "with God is terrible ma"jesty," Job xxxvii. 22. "Thy right hand shall "teach thee terrible things," Psalm xlv. 4." Thou "art terrible as an army with banners,” Cant. vi. 4. Yet "The Lord is with me as a mighty terrible "one," Jer. xx. 11. if I trust in him; and in this

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character he will destroy his enemies and the enemies of his people from before his face for ever.

But the vindictive justice of the Father, in sustaining the honor of the offended Godhead, will appear more worthy of our adoration, if we consider another motive for our faith upon God the Father, namely,

5th. Because he loved us and gave his Son to die for us.

"God so loved the world that he gave his only "begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him "should not perish, but have everlasting life," John iii. 16. Why did God give his Son to die for us? Was there a necessity for it? In regard to his own honor certainly not: his vindictive justice guarded his own essential attributes, and even the immediate execution of the threatened sentence, "In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt "surely die," had it been immediately executed, would have made God true though every one a liar. Where then the necessity for it? Could not the sinner be saved without it? By no means.

Without shedding of blood there is no remission; if the blood of the sinner was shed, and the blood is the life, then the loss of his life atoned for the transgression; and then how could the sinner be said to be saved. But the blood of Christ alone cleanseth from all sin. Hence in Christ alone the sinner is saved. In Christ, through his meritorious and vi

carious sacrifice alone, is the vindictive justice of the Father satisfied first and then appeased, and the sinner freed from the pains of hell. Further, the other persons of the Godhead are insulted as well as the Father, though the Father alone sustains the honor of all, and the Son alone offers an atonement well pleasing to all; for God the Son is the Creator of all worlds as well as the Father: the Holy Spirit also, by animating all nature, and by its influence infusing into all breath and being, is the author of all life, and above all the giver unto man of his living soul. Hence how did Jesus sigh in spirit over the sins of man; how he even wept over Jerusalem when with a prophetic eye he contemplated its fall, as the awful consequence which must follow its unbelief and hardness of heart, in crucifying himself the Lord of life and glory: and hereby Christ is rejected, God the Father dishonoured and insulted, the Holy Spirit grieved, and his own offices of grace disowned, disapproved, denied; his efficaciousness, and peculiar and exclusive power to regenerate the soul, and carry on the work of grace therein from first to last, contemned, and the free will (falsely so called) of man, raised to the honor of renewing a fallen and undone spirit, whereas the free will of man, by his contracted powers and above all stubbornness of heart, will only be exerted in running the downward road to perdition, to the contemning of God the Father, rejecting the Son, and doing despite to the Spirit of grace. But a word of com

fort to those who by this blessed Spirit are taught to believe he that heareth the words of Christ, and believeth on the Father who sent him, is freed from condemnation, and passed from death unto life. Mark first, how the hearing of Christ's word, and the belief of the Father are joined together. We know nothing of the Father but as we attend to the words of Christ, explaining as far as useful for us his mysterious and incomprehensible nature. We know nothing of Christ but as we believe the testimony of the Father concerning him, which the Holy Spirit hath been pleased to indite, and cause to be written in ink by the hands of the apostles and disciples of our Lord, from thence to be copied and engraven upon the fleshly tables of our hearts by his own most gracious operations, and these being first separately useful, are joined together as the way to escape the pains of hell. Secondly, Thus joined they are for the present comfort of every believer: "for the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on "him, shall not be ashamed." And, "whosoever "shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be "saved," Rom. x. 11. 13.

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6th. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from Heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from Heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from Heaven, and giveth life unto the world. John vi. 32, 33.

It seems the bread given under the dispensa

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