conscious unworthiness of DIVINE Favour, to break forth in the forcible and expressive language of the holy Psalmist to The FATHER of Mercies and GOD of All Consolation, and to implore Him to Hide His Face from our sins; since His Face cannot but Regard with Aversion, every way and work of evil; and to Blot out by the Blood of The Sinless LAMB, (That Offering for Sin and the Propitiation of The DIVINE Pardon thereof,) all our iniquities, numberless as they have been, and still spreading perhaps their banefulness by their influence on Others. And oh! what Solace does the pious Soul reap from reflections on This Mystery of Mercy in CHRIST JESUS! Whereby the Immutable Justice and Holiness of The DIVINE NATURE are Satisfied, and the Assurance of DIVINE Pardon and Reconciliation is Extended to every faithful and penitent Believer in Him, and Whereby the garment of heaviness is exchanged for that of rejoicing, at the Promise of Peace and Perfect Bliss to the Soul thus Renewed by DIVINE Grace and Cleansed and Purified for Heavenly Communion. Great in Counsel and Mighty in Work! Thine Eyes, O LORD, are Open upon all the ways of the Sons of Men-Jer. xxxii. 19. We are not hid from Thy Face ; neither is our iniquity hid from Thine Eyes-Jer. xvi. 17.

The Sacrifices of GOD are a broken Spirit: a broken and a contrite Heart, O GOD, Thou wilt not Despise!--Psl. li. 17.

The Psalmist then proceeds to describe that character of repentance to which GOD (through the Merits and Mediation of JESUS, The SON of GOD and Man,) will be Reconciled. It is to the penitential prostration of him, who, having deeply examined all the ways of his Life, and having fully possessed his mind with the impression of their perversity and folly, is cast down to the Earth at his self-chiding recollections, and humbled to the dust at his offensiveness in the Sight of So HOLY A GOD; his Spirit almost dying within him, so deep and enduring is the contrition of his Soul. Yet utter despair is not suffered to overwhelm him; for he knows and has tasted, that GOD is Gracious and of the Tenderest Compassion;

and is not Extreme to Mark what is done amiss, and that through The SON of His Love, He is Ever Ready to Heal the broken Heart, and to Hush the sobbings of the contrite Spirit. The true Penitent looks to JESUS, The AUTHOR and FINISHER of his faith, and in Him finds Rest to his troubled Soul; the very anguish he endured at the remembrance of his unworthiness, ending in a repentance not to be repented of, tells him, that GOD, Who is A GOD of Mercy as of Truth, will not Despise him; but will in His Good Appointed Time, after Cleansing his wounds by the purifying Influence of just Chastisement here, Pour the Balm of Eternal Salvation into them. O that every Spirit were broken to contrition, as All have sinned, and come short of the Glory of GOD's Primary Formation of the Human Soul! Then would indeed The KINGDOM of GOD be Established in the heart; but until that take place, the Tender Mercies of GOD through CHRIST have not their Just Field for Action; for the need of Them is not adequately perceived by a Mind so darkened and insensible to the jeopardy it stands in, from not nurturing a Grace so indispensable as humiliation in its relation to its MAKER, REDEEMER, and SANCTIFIER. No heart truly devout, no understanding Spiritually Enlightened, can be otherwise than agonized and abased, when contemplating a Paradise of Purity and Holiness, which was lost by us through sin, though Recovered for us at Such A Cost by A SAVIOUR. For rarely have we, even from our youth up until now, walked in the fear of The LORD, and seldom have we yielded to the Admonitions of His SPIRIT; but have gone in the ways of our Worldly or sensual affections, as the lust of the eye, or the impulse of Pride have impelled us. But the peace of the Soul was not found therein; on the contrary, bitterness of anguish and evil surmisings, with a conscience restless and continually rebuking us for our folly. Well may it be, if when not too late for the Exercise of The DIVINE Clemency, and the Experience of The DIVINE Countenance, we feelingly and fervently bemoan our offendings, and fly to The Only SAVIOUR of Souls, to Cleanse us from them and Blot them out in

the Pages of Remembrance amidst The Record of Human Character For Thus Saith The HIGH and LOFTY ONE, That Inhabiteth Eternity, Whose Name is HOLY, 'I Dwell in the High and Holy Place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble Spirit, to Revive the Spirit of the Humble, and to Revive the heart of the contrite Ones'-Isa. lvii. 15; See also lxvi. 2.

Rend your heart, and not your garments; and turn unto The LORD, your GOD! For He is Gracious and Merciful, Slow to Anger, and of Great Kindness; and Repenteth Him of the Evil!--Joel ii. 13.

The Church Service having endeavoured to bring the mind to that sense of sin, which should manifest a heart-prompted self-condemnation and contrition, influencing to that humility, which is highly Acceptable unto GOD; and the Authors of that Service, well knowing the deceivableness of sin and depravity of the Human heart; and that but too often hypocrisy would put on the outward garb of Religion, and in the affectation of penitence and self-abasement, might tear their clothing to deceive Others, if not also themselves, selected this Passage from the Prophet Joel, in charity even to such Rebels against The DIVINE Forbearance and Goodness, to admonish them not to imagine in themselves, or strive to influence Others to suppose, that any such outward and unhallowed act of seeming manifestation of godly sorrow could be Acceptable to, or escape the Penetration of A Holy and Omniscient GOD. But virtually to rend the heart, that seat and fount of evil, to receive into their Souls the Grace and Gift of Repentance, under a deep impression of the heinousness of their offendings against So GOOD and HOLY A GOD, cherishing the truth of sorrow for all wherein they have been evil, and done despite to The SPIRIT of Grace; seeking by prayer, in the fervency of it, to have the heart changed, through The Love of CHRIST, and by The Agency of The HOLY SPIRIT, from a heart of stone and Spiritual insensibility to a heart of flesh, ready and willing to receive every Gracious Impression or Intimation of The DIVINE Will, and to cherish the Truth, as It is in JESUS, from

the perfect and reverential love of It; so bringing forth fruits meet for repentance by turning to The LORD in deed, as well as in word. And lest the consciousness of a sin so awful as to have lied unto The LORD, and to have set at nought His Omniscience, should utterly overwhelm the Soul, and sink it to despair of Pardon, though truly sorrowful for such misdoings, the Balm of Consolation is Held out in The DIVINE Mercy and Loving-Kindness; for GOD is Ever Waiting to be Gracious, and His Tender Mercies are over All His Works ; having Given us the most conclusive Proof of This, in Yielding up The SON of His Love to be The Free-Will Offering and Sacrifice for the Propitiation of our Pardon.——GOD is indeed both Gracious and Merciful. Gracious, for to Him we owe our very Being and All its Blessings; and to His Faithful Promises in CHRIST JESUS we look, in humble but holy hope, for the Blessings of a Life, which, opening in Heavenly Brightness, shall spread over a Day, that shall never close. And All These Benefits are Brought and Offered to us Freely without money and without price. Merciful, for how can we doubt His Unfailing Compassion, when He hath not Withheld His SON, His Only SON, from us! That He is Slow to Anger, we have Each of us inward conviction of, since we have the consciousness of guilt upon us; yet how Few of us have experienced the Extremity of His Displeasure! On the contrary, we have Each of us had frequent occasion to acknowledge the Wonder of His Forbearance, when instead of Dispensing to us Chastisement, as we merited, He has Ministered to us only Mercy and more than Fatherly Admonition and LovingKindness, Casting His Protecting Care around us, even when He was not in our thoughts; and in the Strong, but Figurative language of the Prophet, even Repenting Him of the Evil, in which we had involved ourselves; and of the Judgment that must have fallen upon our heads, had not The SON of His Love Paid the Price of our Pardon, and of our Reconciliation to DIVINE Favour. Not that Sorrow can enter into The DIVINE Mind, or the Perfect Felicity of It be in the least degree Disturbed, even were the whole World lost in iniquity;

and Sentenced to Everlasting Destruction. Yet The LORD is Just as well as Good; but Ready to Forgive, and Plenteous in Mercy unto All them, that call upon Him. Yea, He is A GOD Full of Compassion, and Gracious, Long-Suffering, and Plenteous in Mercy and Truth-Psl. lxxxvi. 5, 15.

To The LORD, our GOD, Belong Mercies and Forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against Him: neither have we obeyed the Voice of The LORD, our GOD, to walk in His Laws, Which He Set before us! Dan. ix. 9, 10.

In further Confirmation of the Merciful Disposition of our CREATOR, and of His Willingness to Compassionate our infirmities, and to Bring us to That Peace, Which is the Effect of CHRIST's Great Offering in Intercession for us, (a Peace, Which passeth the understanding of All not Blest therewith in the exquisiteness and enduring Perfection thereof, and Which the World and its satieties or privations can neither give nor take away), a Passage, equally Consoling as the Former, is selected from Another of the Prophets, who in the power of Inspiration declared, that to The LORD, our GOD, Belong Mercies and Forgivenesses; Attributes Which are almost unweariedly Exerted by Him for the Sake of The SON of His Love for us and for our Immortal Souls; though we have too often slighted These Offers of Mercy, and have outraged The DIVINE Law, and set at nought Its Threatenings. The Still Small Voice, Which Speaks by The HOLY SPIRIT to our consciences, has found us deaf, Spiritually deaf, to Its Gracious and Gentle Admonitions and Suggestions. The Light of Truth, That Beams throughout the Scriptures of the Prophets as the Word of GOD, has been frustrated by our averting the eye from It. And instead of walking in those Paths of Pleasantness because of Purity, whose end is Peace, we have wilfully strayed from Them, following the evil imaginations of our own hearts, and that continually, till we had well nigh surrendered up ourselves as willing Victims or Votaries of Satan to Destruction. Yet did not even then The DIVINE Compassion Fail; nor did The LORD Wholly Withdraw the Strivings of His SPIRIT from us. For, as saith the Psalmist, 'With The LORD there is