A view of the glory of God humbling to the foul.

JOB xlii. 5, 6.

I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye feeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myfelf, and repent in duft and ashes.

MY

'Y brethren, we can have no experimental knowledge; and, indeed, we have not much distinct knowledge at all of the nature of religion, as it takes place among angels, and other intelligent beings, who have kept their first estate, and never were polluted by fin. From fome things, however, recorded in fcripture, we have reafon to believe that they appear before God with the greatest lowlinefs and felf-abafement, that they are at all times deeply penetrated with a sense of the infinite difproportion between themselves, as derived, dependent, limited, imperfect beings, and the eternal, immutable, omnipotent Jehovah. Thus, in the vision of Ifaiah, in the fixth chapter of that book, ver. 1, 2, 3. In the year that • King Uzziah died, I faw the Lord fitting upon a

⚫ throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it ftood the feraphims; each one had fix wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain 'he did fly. And one cried unto another, and faid, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hofts, the whole ' earth is full of his glory.' But, if this is the cafe with thefe exalted and happy fpirits, how much more muft a deep humiliation of mind be necessary to us, who, by fin, have rendered ourselves the juft objects of divine wrath, and whofe hope of falvation is founded only on the riches of divine grace? We ought never to forget, that every inftance of the favour of God to man, is not to be confidered as the exercise of goodness to the worthy, nay, not merely as bounty to the needy, or help to the miferable, but mercy to the guilty.

For this reafon, as repentance is necessary to every finner, in order to his reconciliation with God, fo thofe Chriftians preserve the justest views of their prefent ftate and character, as well as the foundation of their hope, who frequently renew this falutary exercife. I cannot help faying further, that thofe make the wifeft provifion for the prefervation of their inward peace, who frequently water that tender plant with the tears of penitential forrow. To affift you in this exercife, and to point out the proper grounds of it, I have chofen to infift a little on thefe words, in which you see the effect which a difcovery of the glory and majefty of God had upon his fervant Job: I have heard of thee by the hearing

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of the ear; but now mine eye feeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.

It is not neceffary to my prefent purpose, to enter far into the difpute between Job and his friends, although, no doubt, the words of the text have an e vident relation to it. The controverfy feems plain. ly to have turned upon this point. His friends find. ing him in deep distress, under the most complicated affliction, would needs have it, that no good man could be fo frowned upon by a righteous God; and therefore that his former profeffion must have been hypocritical and falfe. This is evident from the man. ner in which Eliphaz opens the charge against him, chap. iv. 6, 7, 8, 9. 'Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways? Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being ⚫ innocent? or where were the righteous cut off? Even as I have feen, they that plow iniquity, and fow wickedness, reap the fame. By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his noftrils ⚫ are they consumed.' In oppofition to this, Job afferts and maintains his integrity in general, and, with al, affirms their opinion to be false; for that God, in his juft and fovereign providence, brings affliction both on the righteous and the wicked. That this is the propofition which he all along endeavours to fupport, is plain, as from many other passages, so particularly from chap. ix, 22. This is one thing, there'fore I faid it, he deftroyeth the perfect, and the ' wicked.'

Thus ftood the matter, in difpute, between Job and his friends, in which, though that good man,

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had fupported the truth, on the fubject of divine providence; yet, in the heat of the debate, and the anguifh of his own fufferings, he had let fall fome expreffions, not only of impatience, but of disrespect to the conduct of the Lord his Maker. For thefe he was first reproved by Elihu, and afterwards, with unfpeakable force and majefty, by God himfelf, who afferts the fovereignty of his power, and the righteoufness of his providence. On this discovery of the glory of divine perfection, the fufferer was deeply humbled, and expreffes a sense of his own vileness and folly, in the 4th and 5th verses of the fortieth chapter: Behold, I am vile, what fhall I anfwer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth. Once have I spoken, but I will not answer; yea, twice, but I will proceed no further.' And, again, in the beginning of the forty-fecond chapter, concluding with the words of the text.

It is not improbable, from the beginning of the thirty-eighth chapter, that it pleased God to give Job fome visible reprefentation of his glory and omnipotence. This was not unufual, in antient times, before the canon of the fcripture was closed. But, no doubt, the discovery which chiefly affected him was inward and spiritual, carrying home, with irresistible force, the great truths which we ftill find recorded in a manner inimitably noble and fublime. I have heard of thee, fays he, by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye feeth thee. This implies, that, as feeing gives a more diftinct, full, and fatisfying knowledge of any thing, than hearing of it only by the report of others, the impressions which he then had of the majesty

and glory of God, were far stronger than any he had ever felt before.-Therefore, fays he, I abhor myself. It filled him with felf-lothing and abhorrence.-And I repent in duft and afbes. This is either, in general, a strong expreffion of deep penitence and forrow, of which duft and ashes were antiently the figns; or, perhaps, it has a particular reference to his prefent miferable and afflicted ftate, defcribed in chap: ii. 8. And he took him a potsherd to scrape him. felf withal; and he fat down among the ashes.' As if he had faid, Lord, I am deeply fenfible of the e vil of every rash word, of every rebellious thought. I confefs, that thou haft afflicted me in truth and faithfulness; and that, in this low and defolate cons dition, it becomes me to lay my hand upon my mouth, and to repent of that guilt which would have fully juftified thy providence in a still heavier ftroke.

The words thus explained, prefent to us this general and most important truth, That a difcovery of the perfection, glory, and majesty of God, has a powerful influence in leading us to repentance; and that the clearer this difcovery is, the more fincere will be our repentance, and the deeper our humiliation. In difcourfing further on this fubject, at prefent, I propofe, only, through divine affistance,

I. To make fome obfervations, at once to illuftrate and confirm the propofition above laid down, as to the effect of a discovery of the glory of God,, And, in the