without measure, and without a grudge; nay, permits us to take by force, and the more eager the more welcome-we should, therefore, be all eyes to behold the excellence of this rich treasure, all desire to carry off as much of it as we possibly can. We cannot but observe, that the apostle in the text has something great, surpassingly great, upon his mind upon the subject of grace; that he wants to communicate to us an idea of it, which shall at once delight and astonish us-he not only speaks to us of grace, but of" the riches of "grace;" and this phrase in scripture language denotes a very great and large abundance; but he does not rest satisfied even with this aggravation; but, as if unable to express all that he felt, he calls it the "exceeding riches of his grace," to signify an abundance, an excellence beyond conception; he wants to represent the grace of God in all its extent, without measure or boundaries, surpassing all thought or expression, such as

eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath en"tered into the heart of man ;" and in order to judge of it as he does, we must with him consider this grace of God, in his "kindness towards us "through Christ Jesus;" for we must join these two inseparably together, the grace of God, and his kindness in Christ; they are by no means separate and distinct articles, but one and the

For it is

same thing; the intention of the apostle being to explain the one by the other, and to shew us in what manner God hath testified to us the infinite riches of his grace, namely, " by his goodness to"wards us in our Lord Jesus Christ." in this instance, properly, that the grace, the free, unmerited, unsolicited love of God to men is displayed in all its abundance, in all its greatness, in all its excess, He has in many instances, and by various means, discovered his regard for us; but all these are nothing in comparison of his own son Jesus Christ, his greatest best gift, nay, all his other gifts in one. Let us weigh then this grace of God, in the true balance of the sanctuary, and we will find that it truly deserves the epithets which the apostle here gives it.For in the

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First place, if we consider the surpassing worth and value of this gift of God, what can equal it, what can come ever near it, what is there like it in all the treasures of eternity?-God, in the beginning, had given us a world by creating and fitting it up for our use and convenience, and no doubt it was an amazing instance of regard to have made so many glorious creatures on our account, so many bright luminaries to answer the purposes of light and heat to mankind-an earth

so fruitful and agreeable to support us, an air so pure and refined to refresh us, the vast ocean to be the channel of our correspondence and com merce, so many kinds of fruits for our nourishment, so great a number of animals to serve us, all the parts of the universe combined to administer to our wants, our comforts, and our pleasures; this was unquestionably a most surprising expression of love, but this was not " the exceeding "riches of the grace of God." He had something greater and better to bestow upon us than a world-and why should it be reckoned arrogance to say the earth, nay, the universe, was made for us, when God has undeniably bestowed upon us what is infinitely more, his Son, his own Son, "who is God over all, and blessed for ever;" his Son, who alone is of more value than ten thousand worlds, for ten thousand times ten thousand worlds would still be bounded and finite; but the eternal Son of God is altogether infinite, possessing in himself all the immensity of the divine nature? What is a world but the breath of his mouth, the effect of a single word, the sea but as "the small drop in the bucket," the earth as "the small dust in the balance?" What is the sun, but the shadow of his eternal light, and the heaven but as the veil and curtain of his glory. To have given us his Son then, is not only grace, but

the riches of his grace, nay," the exceeding riches “ of his grace;” seeing there is nothing equal or like to this in all the treasures of mercy and love, which will appear farther, if we consider in the

Second place, in what manner God has bestowed his Son upon us. For had he sent him here below to save us in all the dazzling splen dor of an angel, with the majesty of a king, with the pomp and glory of a conqueror, still we should Lave been infinitely indebted to him for making his Son leave heaven's glory to come into our world, to break cur bands and deliver us from our misery; but herein shines the excess, the superabundance of the divine grace and love-that the * Ancient of days” should become a babe of a day cid, that the mighty God, the everlasting Father," who is for ever blessed, should becorae a man of sorrows," that the Prince of * Peace," "the Lord of the kings of the earth," may, the Lord of angels, should be born of a mean woman, in a stable, and laid in a manger,—that * the heir of all things" should be ← without a

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place to lay his head." or a morsel of bread to support nature, and that the fountain and giver of life to all creatures should terminate his own in the most painful and ignominious manner, nailed to a cross-here all our thoughts are lost,

and swallowed up in an abyss of incomprehensible love, of which we are unable to measure the height, or sound the depth, or to conceive the length and breadth, for "it passeth all understanding." Parents naturally love their children as the lively images of themselves, as part of their own blood, as partakers of their own substance, as living pictures in which they hear, and see, and know, and love themselves— but never was earthly son beloved of a father as the eternal Son of God was of his; for earthly children have an existence out of, and distinct from their parents; but Christ was "in the Father, " and the Father in him," so as to make but one and the same essence with him. Betwixt parents and children there is always some difference, however near the resemblance may be; but Christ "was the brightness of the Father's glory, and "the express image of his person," so that to see him was to see the Father. Children have many faults and imperfections which frequently relax the ardour of a father's love; but Christ, the great Redeemer, was all perfect, was perfection itself, and it was as his "meat and drink to "do the will of his heavenly Father." What then must have been the inconceivable love of God to men, when he spared not such a son, but

gave him up for us all," an only son, the son of