How often has Affection sheathed the sword which Justice drew! How anxiously has the Lord divested himself of those attributes which might serve to terrify the mind, or drive us to a distance, and clothed himself with those which might draw the soul into closer intimacy and fuller communion with himself! In order to obtain a stronger conviction of the fatherly tenderness of God, look carefully át a few of the incidents of your own history. and

Why, instead of suffering your to sleep ámidst your kindred atoms in the dust, dide the Lord take you from the earth, mould you into a human form, and breathe into your nostrils the breath of life? Why did he bear with the follies of your youth, and with offences for which, if committed against himself, an earthly master would have infallibly cast you off? Why has his kind providence watched over you, sustained you in trouble, preserved you from then pestilence that walketh in darkness, and the destruction that wasteth at noonday? Why does he still endure your infirmities and corruption-why is not the bolt of anger hurled and why does not

the storm of merited vengeance descend? Why, finally, when the guilt incurred by the family of man upon earth was so great, that without shedding of blood," and that the precious blood of the Lamb without blemish, and without spot," there could be no remission," did he not hesitate to ordain the required sacrifice blIs not the same simple and satisfactory reply to be given to all these queries because he is your Father?-How cheering and delightful my brethren, are the considerations which this topic suggests to the faithful followers of the Redeemer! The whole race of mankind, as his children by nature may approach the Lord in the character of a Father And if his son,bby adoption, and by the seal of his Spirit on your soul, you are infinitely privileged incana higher sensedto call him Abba, Father" You, if such be your state, are regenerated by his grace; are chosen into his family dare admitted into all the intimacies of his love; are made heirs of the kingdom which cannot be moved; and he who would break the bonds which sunite you to God must burst through the bar

rier of the tenderest affection, and snatch you from the bosom of a parent.—I am aware that these suggestions may be considered by some as exceedingly trite and obvious. But it is the conviction of my mind that the indistinct conception of God as a Father, and, especially, as " a reconciled Father in Christ," is one of the main sources of the too general languor and deadness of the soul in religion. While we approach God merely as an austere master, as the stern interrupter of our happiness, as the sovereign who controuls us with a rod of iron, how can we love Him, how can we serve Him? If he sends us nothing but laws, issued amidst thunders, and written in blood, our hearts must disown the allegiance which the mouth may acknowledge. But if we know it to be his sun which warms us by day, and his moon that lights us by night; his earth on which we tread; his eye that watches us in the hours of darkness; his air that breathes freshness around our dwelling; if especially the promises and hopes of the Go-. spel are his; if it was his angels who announced it to the world, and his Blessed

Son who sealed it with his blood; if the Lord is not the mere Judge, but the tender Father who bears with us, pities us, pardons us even unto seventy times seven; who, in spite of long rebellion, and deep ingratitude, is still willing to welcome us when penitent, to " guide us by his counsel, and at length receive us up into glory;" how can we any longer resist the just claims of so tender a parent, and how can we refuse to say "Thou art our Father"-take us, and unite us to thyself for ever!

II. But let us pass on, secondly, to notice THE GENERAL COMMAND, WHICH IS REPRESENTED IN THE TEXT AS ISSUED BY THE FATHER OF THIS GREAT FAMILY TO

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HIS CHILDREN.“ Go work," it is said, to-day in my vineyard.”

If it be true that the prominent feature of the Divine Government is that of fatherly tenderness and love, the tenderness is not of that false and mischievous character which manifests itself by indulgence to the sloth or corruption of the childs : I need scarcely tell you how strongly industry, even for the things of this life, is

inculcated in Scripture. You are directed to get your own bread," and to work with your own hands." Adam was to keep the garden and dress it.". St. Paul earned his bread by the sweat of his brow. So that, instead of its being the fact, as traducers of the Gospel would represent, that religion ministers to the indolence and supineness of mankind, a nation of real Christians would be a nation of the hardest workers in the world. Each man has, in a worldly sense, a part of the garden of the Lord to cultivate; and let him, as a servant or a labourer, as a teacher or scholar, as a father or child, listen to the language of the text, My son, go work today in my vineyard."

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But the text may be supposed to refer more especially to spiritual things. The image of a vineyard is continually employed in Scripture to describe the church of God. "The vineyard of the Lord of hosts," says the Prophet Isaiah, is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant." Brethren, that vast multitude scattered over the face of the world of so many complexions, and habits, and