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great and glorious God, to all his wise and benevolent purposes and decrees, and to that wise, glorious, and all-comprehending plan of his operations. He sees this, and adores, and his heart breaks and melts in contrition and self-condemnation, humbling himself in the sight of this God. But the impenitent sinner is irreconcilable, and at enmity with such a God, and, in the pride and impiety of his heart, "replies against God," and says, "Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?"

6. Religious joy in God and his government and kingdom is a branch of true piety. This is inculcated abundantly in the Holy Scripture, and Christians are commanded to "rejoice always in the Lord." And we have many examples of the religious joy of pious persons. The fruit of the Spirit is joy. Believers rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, and this joy no man can take from them. This is the joy of the benevolent heart, in the exercise of that love to God which has been described above, beholding him infinitely great and most blessed forever, having an uncontrollable dominion over all, decreeing and fixing from eternity every thing, and all events, in the wisest and best manner, to promote and effect the most desirable and important end, and the greatest possible good of the whole. With this the benevolent mind is supported and pleased, in all the darkness, sin, and evil which take place in this world, and in the view of what will exist forever in the world to come, knowing that God has ordered it all for the sake of the good which he will bring out of it; that the wrath of man shall praise him, and the remainder of wrath, which would not answer this or any good end, he will effectually restrain and prevent. In this view he has solid, lasting support, comfort, and joy, and says, "The Lord reigneth let the earth rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous."

And as this truth, taken in the full latitude of it, is suited to support, comfort, and rejoice the heart of the pious friends of God, in whatever situation they may be, and whatever may be the appearance of things around them, so it is the only truth which can support them. If they give up or let go their hold of this strong foundation and prop, they must sink into gloom, sorrow, and despair. If they have no certainty that God cannot be disappointed in his counsel and designs, and that he has fixed the best plan, including all events, which cannot be altered for the better, if they know not but things may take place which are not, on the whole, best, but God might have been more glorified, and his people more happy, had they not come to pass,- and did they believe this to be the case, they must sink into darkness, grief, and sorrow, which

and goodness. In this view, and certain of this, the language of the pious, benevolent heart is, "Thy will be done," without making any exception or condition. Whatever evil takes place respecting himself or others, he is ready to espouse the language of pious Eli: "It is the Lord; let him do what seemeth good unto him." He with pleasure exerciseth an unreserved submission and resignation to the all-wise and infinitely good Being.

5. Repentance towards God, and humbling ourselves in his sight for our sins, is included in the exercise of Christian piety. This consists in a sense and acknowledgment of the evil of sin, of its ill desert, feeling ourselves wholly blamable and answerable for it, abhorring it, and condemning ourselves for it, renouncing it, and turning from it; in which the sinner justifies God, and approves of his law, and condemns and takes shame to himself. This always takes place and is exercised in the view of those truths which are at least implied the doctrine which we are considering; and it is impossi the heart should repent while it opposes this doctrine those truths which are contained in it. This can be done by an impenitent, selfish, proud heart, which does al oppose and hate this doctrine, though the understandin. judgment may be convinced that it is true.

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The doctrine of the decrees of God, foreordaining ever comes to pass for his own glory and the greatest good, necessarily includes his hatred of sin and the criminal nature of it, as it opposes the glory of God general good; and the sinner, who is guilty of it, does express his enmity against God and the good whic object of his decrees; and were the natural tendency sequence of sin to take place, without being counter overruled to answer an end which sin and the sinner God's end in his decrees would be frustrated, he woul honored, and good be destroyed by unlimited evil. The sinner is as blamable and criminal as if hi not overruled for good, for the nature of it is unreasonable as if no good came of it, and crime as it would be were there no divine de respects greater, for the sinner acts as freely there no decrees; he has all the freedom tha of things, possible; he acts voluntarily, an wise, holy, and benevolent decress of God, wise, beautiful, and benevolent plan which executing, even in that very sin and rebe accomplishing it. When the sinner's ey all this, he sees the evil of sin, as it is opp

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My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. O, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together." (Ps. xxxiv. 2, 3.)

7. Devotion, which consists in the worship of God, in adoration, confession, profession, self-dedication, petition, thanksgiving and praise, is a great and important branch of piety. I shall consider each of these parts of devotion now mentioned, and show that the doctrine which has been deduced from our text, and explained, is so far from being inconsistent with these, that it is suited to excite and promote them, and the only proper foundation of them.

Adoration consists in recollecting and attending to, and with profound awe and religious fear revering, the infinitely excellent and glorious perfections and character of the most high God, manifested in his wonderful works, and most wise and universal government, in a solemn address to him.

Now, no arguments are needed to prove that a Being of infinite greatness, power, rectitude, wisdom, and goodness, who is above all control, doing what he pleases, and ordering and directing every thing by his counsel and decree, with irresistible energy, to answer the best end, that such a Being is the only proper object of this adoration, and that the more clear conviction and greater impression and sense any one has of such a Being and character, the stronger and more fervent will the exercises of his heart be in humble adoration; and this is the only object that is suited to continue and increase it forever. And the thought that God might be changeable in his designs, and had not decreed whatsoever comes to pass, but that many things do take place contrary to his will, and so as to render his plan of operation less perfect than otherwise it would have been, must tend greatly to damp, if not wholly destroy, the most devout and rational adoration, and is inconsistent with the complete enjoyment and happiness of the devout mind.

Confession of sin, unworthiness, wretchedness, absolute dependence on God and his sovereign grace, etc., is essential to the devotion of a sinner; a conviction and feeling sense of all this is implied in all his pious exercises, and intermixed with them.

All this is implied in repentance, which has been considered; and it has been shown that the truth under consideration is suited to promote this. The more clear view the sinner has of the excellency of the divine character, of the absolute, independent supremacy of God, of his infinite wisdom, rectitude, and goodness, and his entire dependence on the power and operation of God, the greater sense he must have of his

will also excite true gratitude, and that every thing contrary to this truth is opposed to the pious love of gratitude.

When the benevolent mind sees Infinite Benevolence designing and effecting the greatest possible good to being in general, and promoting the greatest happiness of the whole, who "is good unto all, and his tender mercies are over all his works," and beholds him decreeing, and doing, and causing to be done, every thing that is necessary to answer and effectually secure this end, this eternal purpose, he finds unbounded scope for the highest and most sweet gratitude to this infinitely good Being, who is glorifying himself to the highest degree, and producing the greatest possible happiness in the created universe forever. He gives thanks to God for his infinite goodness manifested in his works, and in his revealed design and fixed plan, including his own glory and the highest good of the created universe. His mind is enraptured in gratitude to God for his regard and benevolence to the sum of all being, Himself, the First and the Last, the Almighty, in that he has made all things for himself, for his own glory, and is unalterably determined, and infinitely engaged, to glorify himself by all his works, and by all creatures, and, in conjunction with this, to effect the greatest possible happiness of the creation. This manifestation of the divine holiness and infinite benevolence is the greatest, the supreme object of the gratitude and thankfulness of the pious, benevolent heart.

And when the pious, good man attends to the infinitely guilty and wretched state into which mankind have fallen, and how exceedingly odious and vile they are, being total and obstinate enemies to God, his law, and government, and violently opposed to all his benevolent designs, and beholds God so loving the world as to give his only-begotten Son to save them, that whoever believes on him should not perish, but have everlasting life, and that a most glorious, happy, and eternal kingdom shall be raised out of the ruins of an apostate world, to the glory of divine grace; and that the greatest good shall be brought out of all the evil that has been or will exist to all eternity, so that the issue shall be infinitely better than if there were no evil; and that this is all included in the eternal plan which was fixed by Infinite Wisdom and Goodness, when all this comes into view, it will excite the most sincere and strong exercises of grateful love, which will continue and increase forever.

And when the pious man attends to the goodness of God to him in particular, and is sensible that it is the effect of God's eternal counsel and his benevolent design of good to him, and that it flows from him on whom he is absolutely

dependent, who orders all things, so that his hand is to be seen in every event that takes place, all this is peculiarly adapted to excite his grateful love, while he says, "Not unto me, but unto thy name, be all the praise and glory." And what a foundation is here laid for holy, increasing gratitude forever!

Gratitude to God consists in a true sense and pleasing approbation of the goodness of God to universal being and to ourselves, and in making all the acknowledgments and returns of which we are capable, in loving and giving ourselves away to him, to be used for his service, glory, and praise forever.

The man who has no disinterested benevolence, but is wholly selfish, is not capable of the least degree of this true gratitude. He can love those who love him, but this is nothing but self-love, at bottom; for, by the supposition, he seeks himself, and is devoted to none but himself, in all his exercises, and is not pleased with benevolence for its own sake, or any further than he may reap some personal benefit by it, to gratify his self-love. He is displeased with that goodness which passes by him and does good to others, or seeks and promotes the general good.

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