found for them*. Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? who is like Thee; glorious in holiness. fearful in praises, doing wonders? Thou art as righteous as thou art wise, as good as thou art great. Thy name is Holy . Thou art righteous in all thy ways, and holy in all thy works §. Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne and when thy glorious angels praise thee, it is not only the magnitude of thy empire, thy boundless power, or thy infinite wisdom, which they celebrate; but as they bow before thee, in lowly adoration, they exclaim, Holy! holy! holy! ¶ Nor art thou less merciful than thou art holy. Why else didst thou send Christ? why else * Rev. xx. 11. + Ex. xv. 11. Is. lvii. 15. § Ps. cxlv. 17. ¶ Is. vi. 3. f are those, who were once sinners, now in glory? Thou art gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. Thou art good to all; and thy tender mercies are over all thy works*. Thou art a just God, and a Saviourt. Thy thoughts are not as our thoughts, nor thy ways as our ways; for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are thy ways higher than our ways, and thy thoughts than our thoughts . Thou dost delight in mercy §: and thou hast said, I am the Lord, which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight. Glory be to XX. THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. THOU, O Lord God, art the King of all the earth* Thy dominion is an everlasting dominion; and thy kingdom is from generation to generation: and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. And thou doest according to thy will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay thy hand, or say unto thee, What doest thou? † Sinners are absolutely in thy hands. Thou hast a perfect * Ps. xlvii. 7. + Dan. iv. 31, 35. right, in consistency with justice and goodness, to do with them what thou wilt. Thou hast mercy on whom thou wilt have mercy, and leavest whom thou wilt to their obduracy. As the potter has power over the clay, thou mayest elevate the sinner to holiness or happiness; or leave, him in his degradation and wickedness, to utter ruin *. Awful dominion! What if the universe could have been under the absolute power of an unjust or unmerciful autocrat? But it cannot. Thou art King. Thou, before whom saints and seraphs cry out, Holy! holy! holy and of whom the inspired Apostle said, God is love. Thou, who art so holy that thou wouldst let thy Son suffer, rather than that thy hatred of sin should be ques *Rom. ix. 18, 21. Is. vi.; Rev. iv. 1 John iv. 16. tioned; and yet so good, that thou wouldst let Him suffer rather than sinners should perish. Thou reignest; and as thy justice secures that all things shall be ordered right, so thy love must effect the largest amount of happiness, on the whole, to thy intelligent creation. Oh, what a joy it is that Thou art King! Nothing is fortuitous; nothing is under the supreme disposal of the evil one. Thy infinite love, wisdom, and power, determine all things. And this must be for ever. Alone, of all beings, Thou art the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever *. Thou alone canst say, I am the Lord; I change not †, A succession of ages beyond thought will still leave Thee as blessed in thyself, and as rich to bless thy sinless creatures, as thou *Heb. xiii. 8. + Matt. iii. 6. |