he concludes with these dreadful aggravations, they not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. They were so naturalized in wickedness, that they delighted in nothing else. They were plunged into idolatry and superstition. Yet, did the Lord appear against them with fire and sword? "At the times of that ignorance he winked.”

3. The long-suffering of God was manifested to the Israelites. He suffered their manners forty years in the wilderness. He bore with that people above 1500 years, from their coming out of Egypt to the destruction of their commonwealth.

In particular this long-suffering of God is manifested, 1. In his giving warning of judgments before they are commissioned to go forth. The Lord speaks before he strikes, and speaks, that he may not strike. Wrath is published before it is executed, and that a long time ; the old world were warned 120 years before the deluge came on them.

The Lord does not come unawares. I will chastise them as their congregation hath heard. The Lord summoned by the voice of his prophets, before he confounded by the voice of his thunders. He seldom cuts men down by his judgments, before he hath hewed them by his prophets. Not a remarkable judgment but was foretold; the flood, by Noah; the famine to Egypt, by Joseph; the earthquake, by Amos ; (Amos i. 1.) the storm from Chaldea, by Jeremiah; the captivity of the ten tribes, by Hosea; and the total destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, by Christ. And he thus warns, that men may take the warning, and thunders again and again, before he crushes with his thunderbolt.

2. The long-suffering of the Lord is manifested in

his unwillingness to execute his threatened judgments, when he can delay no longer. He doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men. He takes no pleasure in it. When he came to reckon with Adam, he walked, he did not run with his sword, and that in the cool of the day. His exercising of judgment, is a coming out of his place. (Isa. xxvi. 21; Micah i. 3.) Hence every prophecy loaded with a threatening, is called the burden of the Lord. When the Lord punishes, he doth it with some regret; when he hurls down his thunders, he seems to do it with a backward hand. He created, saith Chrysostom, the world in six days, but was seven days in destroying one city, Jericho. When the Lord strikes, it is with a sigh. "Ah! I will ease me of my adversaries, and avenge me of my enemies. Oh Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? How shall I give thee up, oh, Ephraim ! And many a time (says the Psalmist) turned he his anger away."

3. His long-suffering is manifested, in that when he begins to send out his judgments, he doth it by degrees. His judgments are as the morning light. He doth not thunder all his judgments at once. First the palmer-worm, then the locust, then the canker-worm, then the caterpillar. (Joel i. 4.) A Jewish writer says, these came not all in one year, but one year after another.

4. His long-suffering appears, by moderating his judgments. He stirreth not up all his wrath. He doth not empty his quivers, nor exhaust his magazines of thunder. "He rewardeth us not according to our

iniquities."

5. His long-suffering further appears, in giving great mercies after provocations. He is so slow to anger, that

he heaps many kindnesses on a rebel; instead of punishment, there is prosperous wickedness. Israel quarrelled with his servant Moses at the Red Sea ; yet then the Lord stretched forth his hand and delivered them.

6. The long-suffering of God appears also when we consider the greatness and multitude of our provocations. Men drinking in iniquity like water. Rushing into sin. The imaginations of the thoughts of the heart only evil.

III. The ground and reason of this long-suffering to us-ward.

1. As a testimony of his reconcilable and merciful nature towards sinners. "Howbeit, for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering."

2. That sinners may be brought to repentance. "Not knowing, says the apostle, that the riches of his forbearance and goodness leads thee to repentance." The Lord is long-suffering to us-ward. "The longsuffering of God is salvation,” i. e. hath a tendency to salvation.

3, For the continuance of his church. "As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith destroy it not, for a blessing is in it." Isa. lxv. 8, 9.

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4. That his justice may be clear when he condemns the impenitent. I gave her space to repent of her fornication, and she repented not."

5. In answer to the prayers of his people, his longsuffering is exercised towards sinners. "Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom."

To conclude.

1. How is the long-suffering of God abused. May

we not say to the Lord as Saul said to David, "Thou art more righteous than I, thou hast rewarded me with good."

2. Is the Lord long-suffering? How much better, therefore, is it to fall into the hands of God, than into the hands of man: the best of men. Moses, a meek man, once cried, Ye rebels.

3. We may infer from the Lord's long-suffering towards sinners, the value of the soul; he not only died to redeem it, but waits with unweared patience and forbearance to receive it. "Behold I stand at the door."

Lastly, If the Lord be thus long-suffering to usward, who have so long and repeatedly rebelled against him, ought not Christians to exercise forbearance and long-suffering one towards another? "Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering." Eph. iv. 1—6.

THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD BY THE
LIGHT OF NATURE.

The living God, which made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein, &c.—Acts xiv. 15-17.

WHEN the apostle Paul gave authority to his ministrations at Lystra, by working a miraculous cure on a man who was born a cripple, the inhabitants imagined that he and Barnabas were gods, and were immediately preparing a sacrifice for them; but to divert this madness and superstition of paying Divine worship to the creatures, the apostles, with holy jea

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lousy and indignation, ran into the midst of them, and preached to them the living and the true God. “ say they, are utterly unworthy of these Divine honours; for we are men of such flesh and blood as yourselves, and are liable to the like infirmities: we preach to you, that ye should turn from these vanities to the living God who made heaven and carth," &c. From which words we may raise the following observations:

1. The light of nature may teach us, that there is one Supreme Being.

He hath not left himself without witness. The Being which made all things, or the first cause of all. And when I say, God may be known by the light of nature, I mean, that the senses and the reasoning powers, which belong to the nature of man, are able to give him so much light in seeking after God, as to find out something of him thereby, or to gain some knowledge of him. (Rom. i. 19, 20.) "That which may be known of God is manifested."

1. By the light of nature we may come to the knowledge of his existence. It is evident, that nothing could make itself. It is impossible that any thing which once had no being should ever give being to itself. Since, therefore, there is a world with millions of beings in it, which are born and die, it is certain there is some Being who had no beginning. This is the being whom we call God.

Of all the visible beings that we are acquainted with, man is the highest and most noble; but he is forced to confess he is not his own maker. Our parents, or our ancestors, were no more able to make themselves than we are.