sake of your own souls; it is on this that your souls will be nourished and fed of the Lord; and it is this which stamps an additional importance on the individual performance of almost all Christian duties. Are you the father of a family? Then in your family worship (and surely that can scarcely be deemed a Christian family where the Christian altar is not raised), while you employ your efforts to instruct and to lead the devotions of others, you will yourseif receive a blessing. Are you a parent? Some good will follow your labours in the spiritual instruction and teaching of your children. And, whatever be your calling, your visits to the house of affliction, your endeavours to relieve your fellow men, shall return in ten-fold blessings on your own souls: and think not that any station or calling exempts you from such-duties, shall I say?—or rather privileges. Remember, I implore you again, that it is one of the essential parts of our religion, to "visit the widow and the fatherless in their afflic tion." Remember, therefore, that if you be a Christian, not the most exalted station, nor the most active life, can exempt you from such duties. There is no honour so great as to be like your Saviour; and He that was Sovereign of all, and though he had the cares of the world resting upon him, found his delight among the destitute and the afflicted of men. And, however valuable your time, however greatly occupied you may be, you shall not find those moments lost, which, snatched from the most pressing engagements, are spent in the abodes of ignorance and of misery. You shall surely find it a truth in your own experi ence, that "the soul that blesseth shall be made fat, and he that watereth shall be watered also himself."

LADY HUNTINGDON'S CHAPEL, BRISTOL, SEPTEMBER 23, 1834.

"The glorious Gospel of the blessed God.”—1 TIMOTHY, i. 11.

MAN is an ambitious being: the desire of attaining to some species of real or imaginary excellence is intimately interwoven with the very texture of the human mind. This desire commences with the earliest dawn of our conscious existence as soon as we are capable of forming an opinion respecting our actions and our possible circumstances: and it remains with us through every subsequent stage of our life; stimulating us to future attainments, and holding out the prospect of greater good.

But the entrance of sin has beclouded our faculty of spiritual perception, and vitiated our moral taste: and hence many seek happiness in that which is not in itself essentially "glorious;" but which only tends to augment the suffering, and to increase the misery of the heart. There are individuals who possess such a perspicacity of pride as to discover in themselves excellences imperceptible to any eye but their own. There are those who are so disposed to attain to elevation, that they are content to occupy a position, even though it be as a dunghill, if they can but secure the attention of their fellow men. There are others who, having no virtues to plume themselves with, boast of their very vices, and glory in their shame.

My brethren, I have this evening to put before you an object, not of imaginary, but of real glory; an object, the transcendent splendour of which surpasses all that human ambition ever panted after, or human success ever won. All the productions of nature, and all the events of time-all that has been achieved by the ingenuity of man, or the majesty of God himself, is veiled before its transcendent splendour: and in reference to them we may say, what the Apostle said in reference to the comparative splendour of the two dispensations—that the former had no glory "by reason of the glory that excelleth." O that this evening each of us may purge our abused vision at the fountain of heavenly radiance, that we may be blessed with spiritual perception to behold the unequalled splendour of that, respecting which it is declared, by the voice of infallible truth, that it is "the glorious Gospel of the blessed God."

The expression rendered, "blessed," might, with no less propriety, have been translated "the happy Gospel." And this suggests to us an important train of thought. All holy beings are happy; and all happy beings are benevoient: they are happy just in proportion as they are holy; and they are benevolent just in proportion as they are happy. Angels are holier than men, and For the Bristol Auxiliary Missionary Society.

therefore they are more happy, and more benevolent. Unallied to us by the ordinary sympathies of a common nature, they yet take an intense interest in all that relates to the well-being of man. God is the holiest being, and therefore he is the happiest; and, being the happy God, he is the most benevolent being in the universe; and his own happiness is augmented whilst he is diffusing felicity through countless myriads of intelligent beings.

By "the Gospel," I understand that revelation of mercy in which the Deity, through the substitution and sacrifice of his Son, condescends to bestow blessings on a lost and ruined world. It is the Gospel, because it is glad tidings ; glad tidings, inasmuch as it is a scheme through which the Deity bestows the greatest blessings on man-bestows them in a manner correspondent with the perfections of his own nature, and in a manner adapted to the moral impotence of our own.

Instead, however, of occupying your time with any prefatory remarks respecting the nature and constitution of this Gospel, I proceed to seize on the distinguishing feature which the Apostle places before us, and remind you that it is "the glorious gospel:" and it is so BECAUSE IT IS A SYSTEM OF ETERNAL TRUTH, IN WHICH THE MORAL PERFECTIONS OF THE GODHEAD ARE MOST TRANSCENDENTLY DISPLAYED. There is but one being in the universe that is self-existent and independent, and who, consequently, can make his own glory the ultimate object of his existence: and that being is God. Consequent obligation is the condition on which man receives his existence: "No man liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself: for whether we live, we live to the Lord; and whether we die, we die to the Lord: whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's." The sun shines, not for his own glory, but for the glory of Him who has placed him as a lamp in the firmament of heaven, and for the benefit of those minor orbs that roll around in infinite space. Some men are suns, and others are only stars; but all are compelled to shine-to shine, not for their own glory, but for the glory of Him who has fixed them in their appointed spheres. And there is a propriety in all this. If a finite creature were to seek his own glory, he would make an attempt to vault into the very throne, and invade the very prerogative of heaven; he would aim at that which does not belong to the creature, because his glory cannot be the greatest good. But for the Deity to aim at this object, and to achieve it, is for him to achieve the greatest good: and, at the very moment that this is enhanced to its highest splendour, it becomes the medium through which, in a proportionate degree, the happiness of the moral universe is enhanced.

Now, in reference to this "glorious Gospel," we say, that in it all the perfections of the Divine nature are strikingly displayed. "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handy work." The dread magnificence of the stars-the beauty of the varying seasons-the living millions that swim in the sea, that float in the air, that graze in the field, or, in endless combination of colour and form, people the regions of infinite space-speak of a present and a presiding God. But, brethren, where is the record of pardon? Where is the proof of forgiving mercy? It is neither written by the sun-beam, nor wafted by the breeze. The sea says, "It is not in me:" all nature says It is not in me." "Canst thou, by searching, find out God? Canst thou fing

But the Almighty unto perfection?" These are past man's understanding: how small a portion is known, to him! But when we turn to this "glorious Gospel," we see the Deity full robed, in his round of rays complete. In it we see exemplified what is profound in wisdom, inflexible in justice, awful in dignity, and touching in compassion, in their individual excellence, and in their harmonious combination.

But in this "glorious Gospel" there is, besides the exhibition of all the perfections of the Godhead, the most striking development of them. For though all the attributes of the Godhead are infinite, yet their manifestation may be varied in an endless diversity of degrees and forms: but in this "glorious Gospel" there is the most striking display of the whole. Let us look at these perfections of the Divine nature as philosophers do at a ray of light, through the medium of a prism: let us resolve them into their original elements (if I may be allowed the expression), and bring them to this test: and we shall point them towards this "glorious Gospel :" there is the most striking display of all the attributes of Jehovah.

Is love an attribute of the Divine nature? God is love: he is benevolence itself; it dwells in him as its proper seat; it springs from him as its proper source; and ever actuates him as a vital and immortal principle. We see it in the fragrance that regales our senses, and in the beauty that charms our eye: as Paley has delightfully said, "Pain is the exception-happiness is the rule:" and in all the varied forms of happiness in which the countless myriads of God's creatures that people this lower world do possess and exhibit it, we see so many indications of the truth of the maxim that "God is love."

But this is only as a taper to the sun, compared with the exhibition of eternal love in the cross of the Son of God. That such a sacrifice should be offered -O, this comes home to our souls with melting and with mighty persuasion. It is not merely that "we have redemption," but, "we have redemption through his blood." It is not merely that we have eternal life, but that that life cost the Son of God his own. And whether we consider the magnitude of the blessings that we receive, or the price at which they were purchased, it is such a display of divine love as we shall be occupied through the countless ages of eternity in endeavouring to comprehend. Hence it has been beautifully said that it is "the noon-tide of meridian compassion;" it is "the everlasting display of everlasting love." And hence the Apostle of the Gentiles, when he would give us an exhibition of the love of God, does not take us to some lofty mountain, and there spread before us, in beautiful perspective, all the majestic attractions of nature; but he takes us to the foot of Calvary, and, pointing us to the Illustrious Sufferer, he says, "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and gave his Son to be a propitiation for our sins."

Is justice an attribute of Divine nature? Where do we see it displayed so effectually as in "the glorious Gospel of the blessed God?" Justice is that attribute of his nature by which he is made to assign to every intelligent and accountable being that which is his due. He has evinced his righteous displeasure against sin in a thousand striking forms. I see it engraven on the arms that are washed on the shores of the Red Sea: I see it in those cities of the Plain that are the blighted and blasted monuments of the eternal ire of God: I see it in that abode where "the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched;"

where prayer is unavailing, where repentance is ineffectual, where mercy is unknown.

But in each, in all of these, I have not so awful an exhibition of the inflexible justice of God, as when I go to the affecting scenes of Gethsemane and Calvary. There He hangs, rent with wounds, and racked with pain; his bones dislocated, his nerves convulsed. A gushing crimson tide flows from his bleeding heart it trickles down his sacred body; it stains with purple the very ground on which his cross stands. It is noon; and yet it is awfully dark. "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabacthani?" "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" And why is all this? O, brethren, it is justice sheathing its sword in the heart of mercy: It is Jehovah's Son bearing a weight of woe which none but Omnipotence could inflict, and none but Omnipotence could bear. And if I wish for a display, either of the justice of Jehovah, or the moral turpitude of sin, I must view it in the cross of Christ.

Is wisdom an attribute of the Divine nature? Where have we such a display of it as in "the glorious Gospel of the blessed God?" Wisdom consists in selecting the most suitable objects, and in adopting the most efficient means for the attainment of those objects. Now, in this Gospel, the Deity has abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence. I can very well conceive of holy and happy beings conferring kindness on holy and happy beings in return: but it is left to the wisdom of the cross to exhibit the medium in which a being of unsullied holiness can, compatibly with the claims of justice, pardon the guilty and save the lost. I can very well conceive how mercy can pardon the offender, or how justice can punish his sin: but it is left to the mysterious development of Calvary to unfold the method by which, while the Eternal Legislator maintains, unimpaired, the equity of his moral government, he adopts into his family, and bestows all the marks of love upon, that very offender who has trampled on his authority, and hurled defiance at his throne. Here, then, we have the most vivid display of all the perfections of Godhead. We must, however, advance a step further here is the most harmonious exhibition of the perfections of the Godhead. It is necessary for the divine glory, that all the attributes of the Godhead should be illustrated in harmony with each other, and that the scheme of mercy itself should be constructed on the principles of immutable justice. Supposing that there exists a law; that that law has been violated; and that the Divine Legislator determines to pardon the offender: it is obvious to a demonstration that he can only do this, compatibly with the claims of justice, through the medium of substitution and of atonement, and putting the offender under a course of moral discipline. Were Jehovah to bestow the blessing of eternal life through any medium which allowed his holiness to be sullied, or his veracity to be impeached, such an exhibition would not be the Gospel; because the interests of a part-and that, peradventure, a very small part of the intelligent universe, and that even a guilty part-would be advanced at the expense of the whole: for the various orders of intelligent beings might, from that very moment, imagine that they could, with impunity, trample on his authority, and hurl defiance at his throne. Such an act of indiscriminate lenity, therefore, would not be the Gospel, but a mere substitute for it, unworthy the character of the Deity, and unadapted to the moral necessities of the universe.