Man Suffering.

Wherefore I poured my fury upon them, and I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries. According to their way and according to their doings, I judged them. EZEKIEL XXXvi. 18, 19.

IT

It appears a very easy thing to say what a plant or animal is. It is not so. There are myriads of living debatable ground between

creatures that occupy the the vegetable and animal kingdoms, and naturalists have not yet determined on which side of the border to assign them a place whether to rank them among plants or animals. What is man? You would think it an easy thing to answer that question; yet I am not sure that, even at this day, we have any correct definition which-distinguishing him on the one hand from the angelic race and on the other hand from the higher orders of inferior creatures, is at once brief and comprehensive. Now, if we have such difficulty in defining even ourselves, or those objects that, being patent to the senses, may be made the subject of searching and prolonged experiment, we need not wonder that, when we rise above his works to their Maker, from things finite to things infinite, it should be found much easier to ask than answer the question, "What is God?" The telescope by which we converse with the stars, the microscope which unvails the secrets of nature, the crucible of the chemist, the knife of the anatomist, the reflective faculties of the phi

losopher, all the common instruments of science avail not here. On the threshold of that impenetrable mystery, from out the clouds and darkness that are round about God's throne, a voice arrests our steps; and the question comes, "Who can by searching find out God, who can find out the Almighty to perfection ?"

Divines, notwithstanding, have ventured on a definition of God; and, according to the Catechism of the Westminister Assembly, "God is a spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom,power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth." A very comprehensive definition, no doubt; yet did it never strike you as strange, that there is no mention of love here, and that that is a very remarkable omission ?an omission as remarkable as if a man who described the firmament were to leave out the sun, or, painting the human face, made it sightless, and gave no place on the canvas to those beaming eyes which give life and animation to the features.

Why did an assembly, for piety, learning, and talents, the greatest, perhaps, that ever met in England, or any where else, give us that catalogue of the divine attributes, and deny a place among them to love? We think the omission may be thus explained and illustrated. Take a globe, and observing their natural order, lay on its surface the colors of the rainbow; gave it a rapid motion round its axis ; and now you no longer see blue, red, yellow, and the others. As if by magic, the whirling sphere changes into purest white, presenting to our eyes and understanding a visible proof that the sunbeam is not a simple, but compound body, woven of various rays, and forming, when blended into one, what we call

light. Now, may it not be, that these divines make no mention of love (otherwise an unaccountable omission) just because they held that as all the colors together make light, so all the attributes acting together make love; and that thus, because God is justice, is wisdom, is power, is holiness, is goodness, and is truth, God therefore of necessity, and in the express words of John, "God is love." This is the briefest and best definition of Divinity, and would have been John's answer to the question, "What is God ?"

It may be said, and is no doubt true, that objects take a color from the eyes that look at them; all things-sun, and sea, and mountains, look yellow to the jaundiced eye; all things look gloomy to a gloomy mind; while a cheerful temper gilds the edges of life's blackest cloud, and flings a path of light across a sea of danger; contentment sits down to a crust of bread and a cup of water, and gives God thanks; and the plainest person is beautiful in the eyes of fond affection. Now it may be thought, to John's loving eye, his heavenly Father seemed so loving and so lovely, that it was very natural for him to give the color of his own eyes to this divine object, and say, God is love. But it is to be remembered, that when he gave this shortest, sweetest definition of divinity, he was not painting objects only as they appeared to him; he was a pen in the hand of inspi ration;— like the keys of a musical instrument, he sounded to the movements of another's will, and the touch of another's finger; and that one of the holy men of old, who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost-it was not he, but God himself, who thus described and defined himself, "God is love.”

Assuming then that God is love, it may be asked,

how does that harmonize with the text? How is it to be reconciled with words where God represents. himself as pouring down his fury like a thundershower, and scattering his people, in a storm of indignation, as light and worthless chaff blown away upon the wind. How, it may be asked, does this consist with God's love and mercy? Now, there is no greater mistake than to suppose that God, as a God of justice and a God of mercy, stands in antagonism to himself. It is not mercy, but injustice, which is irreconcilable with justice. It is cruelty, not justice, that stands opposed to mercy. These attributes of the Godhead are not contrary the one to the other, as are light and darkness, fire and water, truth and falsehood, right and wrong. No; like two streams which unite their waters to form a common river, justice and mercy are combined in the work of redemption. Like the two cherubims whose wings met above the ark-like the two devout and holy men who drew the nails from Christ's body, and bore it to the grave-like the two angels who received it in charge, and, seated, the one at the head, the other at the feet, kept silent watch over the precious treasure-justice and mercy are associated in the work of Christ; they are the supporters of the shield on which the cross is emblazoned; they sustain the arms of our heavenly Advocate; they form the two solid and eternal pillars of the Mediator's throne. On Calvary mercy and truth meet together, righteousness and peace embrace each other.

These remarks may prepare our minds for entering with advantage on the solemn subject of God's punitive justice; but, ere we open the prison, and look. down into the pit, I would further bespeak your can

did and affectionate consideration of this very affecting and awful subject, by remarking

I. That God is slow to punish.

"He executeth not judgment speedily against the workers of iniquity." He does punish; he shall punish; with reverence be it spoken, he must punish. Yet no hand of clock goes so slow as God's hand of vengeance. Of that, the world, this city, and this church, are witnesses; each and all, speaker and hearer, are living witnesses. It is too common to overlook this fact; and, overlooking the kindness, long-suffering, and warnings which precede the punishment, we are too apt to give the punishment itself our exclusive attention. We see his kindness impressed on all his works. Even the lion growls before he leaps, and before the snake strikes she springs her rattle.

Look, for example, on the catastrophe of the Deluge. We may have our attention so engrossed by the dread and awful character of this judgment, as to overlook all that preceded it, and see nothing but these devouring waters.

The waters rise till rivers swell into lakes, and lakes into seas, and along fertile plains the sea stretches out her arms to seize their flying population. Still the waters rise; and now, mingled with beasts that terror has tamed, men climb to the mountain tops, the flood roaring at their heels. Still the waters rise; and now each summit stands above them like a separate and sea-girt isle. Still the waters rise; and, crowding closer on the narrow spaces of their lessening tops, men and beasts fight for standing-room. Still the thunders roar and the waters rise, till the last survivor of the shrieking crowd is washed off, and the head of