Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1822-08-24

covery, and a mereinlday has been al
lorded him to render that provision ell
fectual to his salvation.
Is there one soul in his assembly,
trembling upon the very threshold ofsal-
walton, doubling the mercy of God in the
redemption by Christ Jesus our Lord
I" Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith your God !" The Lords arm is
not now shortened that he cannot save,
and save thee too, consistently with the
PROJECTIONS of his throne:
"Though thy sins like mountains rise,
And swell and reach to heaven;
His mercy above the skies
And thou may'st be forgiven"
For, q 90 the heaven is high above the
earth, so are his thoughts ofmercy higher
than thy thoughts, and his ways than thy
ways" +" He is able TO do exceeding
abundantly above all thou canst ask or
think" His mercy is far above thy
need: there is no parallcl--lhy line falls
infinitely short:
GA thousand 4porlas SO bought, were bought
too dear!'
Poor trembling publican !. let me tell
thee it is easier to fathom his omnipo-
tence than his mercy: there is no act OF
his power to which thou canst not con-
ceive greater, but thou canst conceive
no mercy greater than the gift Of Christ ;
imagination fails, and thou art los,
Why then despair? Oh could | but
break the unbelief which holds thee
spell-bound why, man, if The sins of all
the world were conferred On thy guilty
head, thou hast not got beyond " the
power" the mercDnl power of him who
bare them all in his own body on the
;ree. Look unto him, and live. The
circumstances of fifty or FIVE hundred
pence debtor are the same when the Sa-
viour is pleaded in sincerity and truth.
There is but one word between chaos
and creation: let that word be spoken,
and thou art become "a member Of
Christ, child of God, and an heir OF the
kingdom ofheaven." .
"Your Father is merciful !" One
would have thought that after the amaz-
ing apparatus of redemption had been
once brought forward after this stupen-
dous scheme had been disclosed to man,
and just so much time allowed as was ne
cessary to. offer i, for his acceptance, de-
liberation or postponement, on the par,
of him for whose benefit it was designed,
would have been his eternal ruin--mer-
cy would have been clear gone forever
But, hear it, O heavens; be astonishetl,
o earth . the very PROVISION which was
made, procured this very reshite. The
very wounds received on Calvary like so
many open mouths "speaking better
things than the blood of Abel" plead
the sinners cause and redemption it,
self has found thousand tongues to
plead for mercy ON its despisers. Be-
lieve me, man needs its thousand
tongues, for, so far has the turpilude OF
crime increased in shining against The
remedy, that nothing less could keep
him in existence. .5t4t
o, man! whosoever thou art, whose
motto has long been, "let US sin that
grace may abound" how shalt thou
escape, if thou neglect this great saliva
ton !" While l would fain break the
spell of doubt which straitens the bowels
of this mercy to returning sinner--l
speak not soft words to thee-I would
alarm thee to thy danger. Why has not
sentence against thy evil works been ex-
ecu,ed speedily Why hast a,ou been
spared in youth, in manhood, in old age !;
although in every stage thou hast pro-
voked his vengeance Does ne connive
at thy transgressions Is he Indifferent
to thy sin No: it is the abominablc
thing which he hates: thy Father has
been merciful not willing that thou
shouldst perish thy Father is merciful !!
" The long suffering Of our God is saliva
ton"
But the day of his wrath will come, and
who shall be able to stand ? The justice
Of God never sleeps: it may appear to
slumber, but it looses nothing thereby /:
it rather grows fresher by repose. 1t
will awake: it will shake itself, and put
on all its terrors; and wilt thou then be
able to endure the wrath of the Lamb
From the New-York Spectator.