feas, and alfo the variety of animals, plants and minerals, with which they are ftored, furely, with the fweet finger of Ifrael, we fhould fay, O Lord, how manifold are thy works! In wifdom haft thou made them all. But the difplay of divine wisdom in the works of creation is greatly exceeded by the aftonishing brightness with which it fhines in the fuperlative works of grace and redemption. With what tranfports of joy may the faints admire thefe beauties of wisdom and omniscience in their God! particularly fo, when they come before him with defires too big for utterance; when all manner of evil is faid of them falfely; and when all things are dark around them, fo that were it not for their glimpse of these beauties, they might be ready to fay with Jacob, All these things are against us.

Among the beauties of the Lord we admire his eternity and immutability. We are but of yesterday, but God is from eternity. His name is Jehovah. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever the earth and the world were formed, even from everlasting to everlafting he is God. The God of Jefhurun is the eternal God, and his arms are everlasting arms. He inhabiteth eternity, and every thing in him is eternal. We read of his eternal power, his everlafting love, and, that his mercy endureth for ever. He is that king eternal, immortal, in whofe fight a thousand years are as one day, and one day is as a thousand years. The eternal God is always in one mind. He is not given to change. With him is no variablenefs, neither fhadow of turning. He fays himself, I am the Lord, I change not. He is of one mind, and all his gifts and callings are without repentance. Among men, fome are naturally fickle and wavering; others change their purposes from unexpected occurrences; others have not power to accomplish their defigns, or are hindered by their fuperiors; but no fuch circumftances can ever happen with the omnifcient, omnipotent and and eternal God. Let me then admire thefe beauties of my Maker, and in them fee as in a mirror the vanity and emptinefs of every terrestrial enjoyment. What is my life, but a vapour? What my flourishing, but as the flower of the field? In tranfitory things let me never place my confidence; but truft for ever in the Lord Jehovah, in whom is everlasting ftrength. In beholding this glorious beauty of the bleffed God, and in the lively hopes of him as my everlasting portion, how light and momentary are prefent afflictions, and how unworthy to be compared with the glory hereafter to be revealed!

*Another admirable beauty in the Lord our God is the greatnefs of his power;-he is omnipotent. Nature taught

fome of the Heathens, and is capable of teaching others, the eternal power and godhead of her Author. The holy Scriptures abundantly exprefs the omnipotence of God; it is afferted therein more than fixty times. The abundant repetition thereof in the facred writings may at once convince us both of its truth and importance; but often as we read of it in the Scriptures, we may ftill fee the difplays of it more frequently in the world and in the church. By his great power he created all things out of nothing; he faid, Let them be, and they were; he spake, and it was done. By the word of his power he upholdeth all things, How ftrong must that arm be by which the univerfe was created, and is ftill fupported! But his power is evident, not only in his giving and maintaining the laws of Nature, but also at his pleasure, in caufing her to act contrary thereto. Hence, in the lofty ftyle of the prophet Ifaiah, we read that he dried up the fea, the waters of the great deep, and made the depths of the sea a way for the ranfomed to pafs over. At his command the obedient fun food ftill upon Gibeon, and the moon in the valley of Ajalon, for a whole day; by the fame power the fame fun went back ten degrees upon Ahaz's dial, to strengthen the faith of Hezekiah. By Jehovah's power Nebuchadnezzar's burning fiery furnace was not fuffered so much as to finge a hair of the heads of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, when they were caft into it for the fake of their religion. His power stopped the voracious mouths of the lions from devouring Daniel, when, for confcience fake, he was caft into their den. It was the fame power by which the whale brought Jonah fafe on dry land, by which the ravens brought food to Elijah, and by which a dumb afs was made to speak, and forbid the madness of the prophet. But, above all, this beauty of the Lord is difplayed in the redemption and falvation of immortal fouls. Here we fee the eyes of the blind opened, the ears of the deaf unstopped, and the dead in trefpaffes and fins raifed to newness of life. Satan too, that strong man armed, is bound, and his goods are spoiled; all his ftrong holds are utterly demolished, and every fin is effectually fubdued. Beholding this beauty of Jehovah's power, we reft affured of the performance of all his promifes, as Abraham did. Mountains of difficulties may ftand in the way of the promife, but omnipotence can easily remove them; in the view of which we may enter upon the most arduous duties, take up the most weighty cross, and bid defiance to our worst and greatest enemies.

There is another beauty in our God which cannot fail to trike our eyes every time we look unto him, and that is, his

infinite goodness and mercy. There are beauties which fome affect to admire, while in fact they know very little of their nature; hence with the beauties of goodness and mercy they obfcure, if they do not deftroy, thofe of juflice and fovereignty. In the face of our God, as exhibited in the perfon and work of Jefus Chrift, we fee at once the glorious beauties of univerfal goodness and inflexible juftice. That fupreme goodnefs belongs to God,. is plain both from reason and revelation; reafon taught the ancient philofophers that God was maximus et optimus, the greatest and the best. Goodness in God is not, as in the best of men, derived, imperfect, and mutable, but it is original, fupreme, and eternally the fame; it adds luftre to all his other beauties, which, viewed apart from this, might fill us with dread. God accounts his goodnefs his glory; and therefore when he fhowed his glory to Mofes, he made his goodness pass before him. His goodness appears in every thing he does, in every thing he gives, and, in the end, it will appear to his faints, in eve ry thing which to them he denies. How great is the beau ty of his goodnefs, as it appears in the gift of Christ, the Scriptures, the Sabbaths, and all divine ordinances; but particularly in the regeneration, pardon, peace, juftification, adoption, fanctification and falvation of fome of the vileft of Adam's finful race!

Finally, God is glorious in holinefs. Infinite purity is not only a perfection and beauty in God, but it is the harmony and beauty of all his other perfections and beauties. Were the Lord deftitute of holinefs, we might dread, but not love him; for in that cafe, his mercy would be weakness, his power would be tyranny, his juftice cruelty, and his wifdom craft. God fwears by his holiness. The feraphim above continually do cry, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hofts. Every thing in God and belonging to him, is holy. His ho linefs appears in all his works and ways, but above all, in the cross of our Lord Jefus Chrift. Let us then behold thefe glories of the Lord, till we be changed into the fame image. If we be delighted with a faint glimpse of them now, how fhall we be tranfported with the full vifion of them by and by in the heaven of heavens! the enjoyment of which is the writer's fervent with for himself, and every reader of these lines, S. B.:

An ANSWER to this important INQUIRY, How am I to know whether I have the Holy Spirit ?

IF you have the Holy Spirit; (1) you have feen the evil of fin; (2) you have repented of fin; (3) you have forsaken fin; (4) you hate fin; (5) you watch and pray against fin; (6) you have received the fpirit of love. If you have the Spirit of God, you love God fupremely: You love the Father, who gave his Son to fuffer and die: You love the Son, the Lord Jefus Chrift, for what he hath done and fuffered on your account. You love all the fincere followers of Jefus Christ, and confine not your regards to a party. You love the human race at large, as children of the fame family, and you with them to know the things that belong to their peace.

(7) You are of a forbearing and forgiving temper; (8) you pity and pray for finners, who, through blindnefs and ignorance, oppofe at prefent their own eternal intereft; (9) you are of a thankful spirit; you thank God for making you to differ, by his grace, from many others; and you praife him for every favour both of a temporal and fpiritual nature; (10) you are zealous for the honour of God in the world; (11) you desire to rejoice in Chrift Jefus, and in all the duties of Chriftianity; (12) you efteem the applaufe, the pleasure and the wealth of the whole world, as nothing, in comparifon of the love and bleffing of God, through Christ Jefus. Thefe are some of the figns of having the Holy Spirit. (Read with care Gal. v. efpecially towards the clofe.) See, my dear readers, that the graces there mentioned by the Apostle, in verfe 22, &c. be in you and abound; and you will profper in the divine life, and walk in the comfort of the Holy Ghoft.

T.

On the Benefits arising from frequent Meditation on the subject of Redemption.

IN

N order to any fubject of frequent contemplation yielding us conftant pleasure and fatisfaction, it must be capable of commanding the approbation of our underftanding, of excit ing and fixing our strongest affections, and of raifing, as well. as keeping up, our expectation of future good.

Now the fubject of redeeming love is admirably calculated for all thefe ends, and therefore muft prove a never-failing fource of fweet meditation. The righteoufnefs, mercy, faithfulness, and love of God, as manifefted and glorified in the mediation of Chrift, muft command and fecure the conftant approbation of every mind enlightened by the Spirit. The infinite love of God in given his Son to be a ranfom price for finners, and the unparalleled love of Jefus, in coming willingly into the world in the character of Redeemer, when he knew what it would coft him, muft excite, and fix for ever, every heart which feels the force and meaning of fuch love: While the fure profpect of eternal life through faith in his blood, can never fail, while clearly feen, to fill the foul with hopes of future good, as large as it can bear. But let every Christian remember this, it is not meditation on our own depravity, or on our accomplishments, no, nor even the contemplation of the divine perfections, if Chrift be not confidered as the centre where they meet, and the fun from which they shine, that will afford us conftant fatisfaction and delight of foul: It is meditation on HIM, and Him alone, who is in one glorious perfon our Judge and Saviour, that will prove only fweet, and always fweet. Self-examination may well ferve to humble, and make afhamed before God, and frequent thoughts of the divine perfections may fill our minds with holy fear and facred awe. But in redemption by our Lord Jefus Chrift, all the rich varieties of colouring neceffary to render a fubject of contemplation completely glorious, meet as in a rainbow! from the infinite fublime, to the finite beautiful; and even down from thefe to the mournful and fympathetic! His DIVINITY fills the mind with adoring reverence and holy confidence: His HUMANITY, while it excites affection, and encourages the foul to look to God without flavish fear, fheds fuch a dignifying luftre on our very nature, as renders all honours, fhort of thofe which come from above, unworthy of our notice or regard. The glorious fubject of the UNION of his two natures, while it ftrikes expression dumb, affords the most unbounded room for fpiritual meditation, and muft for ever remain in this respect inexhaustible. We might proceed on the wings of meditation, from earth to his eternal throne, where he reigned before all worlds; from that throne to the manger; from the manger to the crofs; and from the cross to his eternal throne again, without the leaft want of fresh matter for holy meditation. But perhaps the incarnation, fufferings, and exaltation of Chrift, may at fome future period furnish a fubject for a distinct JOSEPH.

meditation.