their heads, flee to Christ? May this plain discourse be so accompanied with the Divine blessing, that it may no more be said of any of us, as of the unbelieving Jews, "They have forgotten their resting-place!"

Shalt thou, my dear Saviour,
Thy kindness display,

And I seldom think, Lord, on thee?

The object most lovely,

The truth and the way,

The refuge where penitents flee.

Oh lead me and draw me,

And govern my heart,

There plant all the virtues divine ;

Whatever thy mercy,

And grace may impart,

In me let their excellence shine.

Thus, Lord, in compassion,

A sinner restore,

And bid him return to his rest;

Thy goodness and mercy,

Oh may I adore,

And with all thy fulness be bless'd.

SERMON XLII.

THE MAJESTY AND FAITHFULNESS OF GOD.

NEHEMIAH 1. 5.

The terrible God that keepeth covenant.

AND is it so? Can God be at the same time a terrible and a covenant-keeping God? Yes; for Nehemiah, divinely instructed, declares him to be so. My design, then, in discoursing from these words is, first, to exhibit the most high God to you as a terrible God; secondly, as one that keepeth covenant; and, thirdly, to show what influence these two representations should have upon us.

I. I am to exhibit the Divine Being under the first of these characters, as terrible. He is so to all the workers of iniquity. He is often so to them at death as he was to Saul and Belshazzar. He will be more so at the day of judgment, when they will call upon the rocks and mountains to fall upon them to screen them from his fury and indignation; nay, he is so at any time when conscience is awake, and his judgments hang over our heads. He is also terrible to his own people. "God," says the apostle, " is a consuming fire." Though he is our God, yet he is a consuming fire: not only to others, but to that in us which is repugnant to the purity of his nature, and contrary to his holy will. "How awful is this place!" says Jacob, when remarkably indulged with the Divine presence; "it is no

Moses exceedingly quaked and trembled when God th dered from Mount Sinai. His frowns, his threats, arc terrible, and he is "terrible in his doings towards the children of men." This will further appear from the following

1. The majesty of God is terrible. It is certain tha: majesty belongs to God. He is said to be clothed with it. He looks, speaks, and acts with majesty; and thus his ma jesty is terrible. Hence men are exhorted to "enter inte the rock, and hide themselves in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty.”

2. If the majesty of God is terrible, his wrath and displeasure are more so. Thus he is represented as shaking the earth, and moving the foundations of the hills, because he is wroth. See that sublime and awful description contained in Nahum i. 2: "God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth; the Lord revengeth and is furious. The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet." "Who can stand before his indignation?" O, Sirs, there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of texts of Scripture which declare the terrors of God's wrath against impenitent sinners; and as for you who worship here, the very stones of this building will bear witness that you have not been uninstructed with respect to this awful and important subject. Nay, your own consciences, when freed from their present unrighteous restraints, will give in their testimony that you have been often warned against trifling with this great and dreadful God. You have been again and again told, from this pulpit, that "according to his fear so is his wrath;" and that when he once begins he will make a full end.

II. I am to consider this terrible God as one that keepeth covenant. We read of a covenant made with Noah concerning the regular succession of time and seasons, night and day, summer and winter, seed-time and harvest; a covenant made with Abraham, which was a peculiar covenant concerning himself and his offspring, that whilst they

continued faithful and obedient, God would be their powerful protector and gracious benefactor; the covenant made with Christ, which being ordered in all things, and sure, is all our salvation, and should be all our desire. Sometimes the word covenant signifies the same as a free and unconditional promise. And God keeps his covenant; he keeps it inviolate. He never did he never will, break one article of it; for he will perform the truth to Jacob and the mercy to Abraham, which he swore to their fathers from the days of old. The truth of this proposition will appear, if we consider,

1. The nature of the covenant. It is called in Scripture, "an everlasting covenant;" and it is so called, not only in opposition to that made on Mount Sinai, which waxed old, and is abolished, but because the blessings arising from it are not temporary, but abiding: grace here, and glory hereafter. We may, and often do, break covenant with God; but he never did, never will, nay, with reverence be it spoken, never can, break covenant with us. The very nature of the covenant itself will not admit of it, which is no other than a gracious declaration of his eternal purpose concerning his people, to do them good. His promise is founded upon his purpose; and what his mercy engaged him to promise, his faithfulness constrains him to fulfil; so that the same solemn appeal may one day be made to all the saints which was once made to the Israelitish church and nation" Ye know, in all your hearts, and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed you of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass, and not one thing hath failed thereof." The promises of the first covenant were conditional: "Do, and live; transgress, and die." The promises of the second, or new covenant, are absolute; they depend on no acts, no concurrence on endeavours in the creature to ratify and confirm them, and, therefore, nothing can prevent their fulfilment. Add to this, that to his promises God hath subjoined his oath, and Christ has sealed them with his blood.

2. That which gave rise to the covenant,-the everlasting and unchangeable love of God. It is a covenant of grace, that is, the free love and favour of God. Now this being fixed and immutable, the covenant must be so too; the foundation standing firm, the superstructure cannot be overthrown; sooner may the earth be deluged again, the sun checked in its course, and the ordinances of heaven changed; sooner may the mountains depart, and the everlasting hills be removed, than God will violate his covenant. And why? because nothing can alienate and estrange his affection from his people, agreeable to that exalted boast of the apostle-" I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." If God's love is inalienable, his covenant must be inviolable.

3. The parties engaged in this covenant. It is not made between the Creator and his creatures, immutability on one side, and mutability on the other, but between God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ, concerning the former of whom it is said, that he is "without variableness, or the least shadow of a turning;" and concerning the latter, that he is "the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever;" so that here is nothing to stagger our faith, or shake our confidence, both the federates or parties concerned in the covenant being able and faithful to fulfil their respective parts, so that there is no possibility of a failure either on one side or the other. The relation in which Christ stands to the covenant, is an abundant security for the accomplishment of it. He is the Mediator and Surety of it, by whom the conditions of it have been fulfilled, and the blessings of it will certainly be bestowed. All the promises are "in him—yea, and in him-Amen." On the part of man he has made satisfaction for sins, and performed all that was required. Moreover, faith, repentance, holiness, and evangelical obedience, which some call conditions of the covenant, are his gift; regene