and there is nothing which he more ardently desires than to see them happy. To accomplish this first wish of his heart, what efforts will he not exert, what self-denial will he not practise, what hardships will he not undergo ! And God owns the character of a Father. He delights in the reflected representation of his moral image. The Lord taketh pleasure in the righteous: he beholdeth the upright with complacency: and it is his fixed, immutable purpose that the virtuous shall be happy. His goodness prompts him to this; his wisdom approves the design; and his promise by Jesus Christ has notified, and sealed the irrevocable decree. "Say ye 'Say ye to the righteous, it shall be well with him," is the great doctrine both of the old covenant and the new. "Glory, honour, and peace," are in reserve "for every one who doeth good." How happy they whom God delights to honour—whom Omnipotence is resolved to bless! Their heavenly Father is greater than all, and none can pluck them out of their Father's hand. Whatever changes may happen to them, whatever troubles they may experience, they can have no reason for dejection nor despondency. To them all things shall co-operate for good, and all vicissitudes shall terminate in uninterrupted peace. 2. The character of a Father includes protection. The child who is insulted, or injured, or threatened, has recourse to his parent as his best friend and protector. And God is the Father, and therefore the Protector of his faithful servants. He is their sure habitation, to which they may continually resort, and where they may at all times be safe and happy. And be it remembered, that the Being who avows himself as their Father and their Guardian, is the Lord Almighty. He has all the energies of nature under his command, and the hearts of all men are in his hand. Who can injure those to whom the Almighty has granted protection? He compasses them with his favour as with a shield. And though they may fall into apparent calamity, though they may be surrounded with hosts of enemies, though they may be ready to sink under the pressure of accumulated troubles, and though to outward appearance they may be deserted by God and man—if they are really virtuous, if they possess a truly filial spirit, not a hair of their head shall fall to the ground. He will be mindful of all his promises, and of the gracious relations which he sustains; he will preserve them from whatever would be eventually injurious; he will support them under every trial; he will carry them safe through all dangers and conflicts; and by the best means, such perhaps as were little thought of or expected, he will either prevent, or diminish, or terminate their perils, and" as their day, so shall their strength be." 3. The relation of a Father implies instruction. It is the duty of a parent to instruct a son; to teach him whatever may be necessary to form a virtuous, a useful, and an honourable character; and to qualify him to act his part in life with propriety, reputation, and success. But God sustains the character of a Father, and who teaches like him? He instructs those whom he vouchsafes to call his children in all the truths which it is needful for them to know, and in all the duties which he requires them to practise. He teaches them his own existence, attributes, and character, how wise, how holy, how good he is; how universal, and how beautiful his providence; how just his laws, and how mild and equitable his government. He also teaches them what they are themselves, what their nature, their faculties, and powers; what their high, and awful destination; what their expectations, prospects, and dangers; and how to conduct themselves so as to attain the great end of their existence. He points out to them both their duty and their reward. He convinces them that his yoke is easy and his burden light. And when discouraged under a sense of weakness and of frailty, they are apprehensive lest they should finally fall short of duty and of happiness, he teaches them by what means they are to recruit their exhausted powers, how they may renew their wasting strength, and by what powerful motives they may be stimulated to persevere in the way of duty. God has various methods of imparting instruction to those who are willing to receive it. The voice of enlightened reason is the voice of God, and those important moral truths which the light of nature suggests, are all taught by him. All nature proclaims with a loud and a commanding voice that God exists, and that the virtuous shall be happy. But these interesting and momentous truths are much more clearly and distinctly taught in the several revelations which God has been pleased to make of himself and of his will to man, but especially in the last and most perfect revelation of his purpose by Jesus Christ. The gospel teaches in the most clear and unequivocal manner the character and attributes of God, the rule of duty, and the sanctions of a future life. God also teaches |