will the sovereign Lord of all love degenerate creatures? Yes; wonder, O heavens ! be astonished, 0 earth! _God is love; and mankind are the happy objects of his love.

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I would wish to attempt some plain illustration of this most sublime of all subjects : but the attempt seems aspiring and arrogant; for it is a theme far more fit for the harps of angels in heaven, than for the tongues of men on earth. Its height and depth, and breadth and length, pass all understanding and all research. Yet it becomes us to join with adoring angels, in prying into these reviving truths. Let us then, humbly depending on divine aid, direct our attention, this day, to what, we trust, will engage our admiration through eternal ages--the love of God to man. And,

I. In general, it may be remarked, That the emphatic description in the text refers to the nature, as well as to the operations of God. There are other attributes in Jehovah, besides this attribute of love. He is omniscient, omnipotent, just, true, and glorious in holiness ; yet these infinite perfec

tions

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tions of the divine nature are so connected with, and regulated by his love, that they may well be declared as included in it. Thus, our God is infinitely wise, and his omniscience may be denominated the unerring counsels of his sovereign love, devising methods for communicating happiness to myriads of his creatures. His infinite power is the exertion of sovereign love, creating angels and men, upholding them every moment, and crowning them with loving-kindness and tender mercies. His infinite holiness is the purity of sovereign love, turning from whatever is unworthy of God, and pernicious to men. Divine mercy is love pitying and relieving the wretched; divine grace is love saving the lost; and divine patience is love bearing with the weakness of foolish men, and extending protection and blessings to the undeserving.

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II. The truth of the assertion, that God is love, appears in his providential dealings with the children of men. tions in all ages past, in this age, through all nations, to all men, to yourselves in particular; and every dispensation, when pro

perly

perly viewed by the eye of faith, seems encircled with this inscription, “ God is love.'

When, in the beginning, he formed the world, it was in love, that in all succeeding ages, he might raise into being new genera

, tions of rational and immortal creatures ; might render them capable of knowing, contemplating, and enjoying him, and fit them for eternal glory.

When, in the wilderness, and from Mount Sinai, he proclaimed his will, and sanctioned his law, it was in love, to shew unto men the path of holiness and happiness, and deter them from the commission of sin, which can only produce inward torment, and outward disorder : “ O that we had walked in thy ways !” says the prophet ; " then would our peace have flowed as a river!”

When, at sundry times, and in divers manners, our God punished nations, or families, or persons, and poured out his threatened judgments with a fury which no human arm could resist; even these calamities were in love to the many, to prevent the increase of wickedness, and thus prevent the increase of misery ; to awaken unthinking men by

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the terrors of the Lord, that they may turn and live; to maintain good order in his wide government; to protect his faithful subjects, by pleading their cause ; and to deter his people from transgression, lest they be punished with the guilty. Thus love appears even in his righteous judgments.

When the God of Israel imparted the Old Testament Scriptures to his ancient people, it was in love, to prepare them for the coming of the Lord, and to guide their feet into the path of peace.

And when the gospel-day shone around us, it was in love, to bring immortality to light, and shew us the things which belong to our everlasting salvation.

Though, through the unerring dispensations of Divine Providence, the circumstances of men greatly vary; though some are exalted while others are depressed, and the best of men in all ages have a mingled lot in life; though the joys of prosperity, and the griefs of aMiction, alternately succeed each other; yet neither of these are by chance, and both of them are in love. In prosperity, men are the better enabled to honour the Lord with their substance, tu serve him without distracting cares, and to say with the Psalmist, “ What shall we render to the Lord for all his benefits?" Adversity, also, may greatly minister to their hope, may shew them that this world is not their rest, and may constrain them to rely more entirely on that heavenly Friend and Saviour, who sticketh closer than any brother.

Thus all the varying events of Providence, whether more general or more personal, are encircled with this inscription, “ God is love."

III. I remark, that in the redemption of mankind, our Lord has displayed the full glories of his love. Here, indeed, language fails, and human thought is lost, in the admiring contemplation of this wondrous theme !

What, but unmerited love, could induce an infinitely holy and offended God to lay aside the terrors of an avenging Judge, to appear in all the amiableness of a forgiving father, and to make the awful tribunal of justice the basis and support of the throne of mercy? Though he created an unresist