85 Ps. 10v

8087 85 Ps. 10v 90 N./85 Ps/88th [H???]

The grand defect in all systems of religion not founded upon the Bible, is that they direct all their views to the salvation & happiness of the [????tate] race of man without any regard for the honour of God. It were as unreasonable a demand as could well be made of unearthly sovereign, to ask & expect him to receive into his favour a band of his rebellious subjects, who had trampled upon his lawn, [?] his authority, forgotten all his favours and openly defied him without any satisfaction for all ingratitude & rebellion on their part. No ruler who had any proper regard for the dignity of his exalted station, or the respect due to him as a sovereign, would listen for a moment to a proposition so monstrous & absurd.

And yet men in forming for themselves plans for the salvation of the human race now confessedly lost & ruined, in framing to themselves, answers to their mightiest of all questions - that question which is the one asked by the men of all time & of all nations - "How shall man be [?] with God?" invariably leave out of the view the maintenance of God's honour & glory [?] seek to fabricate a system which will save men without rendering any satisfaction to the insulted majesty of the God of Heaven! Another tower of man's invention, vainly designed to reach Heaven & ultimately destined to a more fearful confounding than that of Babel.

It is however the grand distinguishing characteristic of the Gospel Plan, that it makes provision for the honour of God - for the satisfaction of his violated law - for the [?] establishment of the eternal principles of his Justice & [?], while at the same time it abundantly and more effectually than any other plan secures the eternal salvation of every repenting & believing rebel. And here indeed is the test of true & false systems. Does any plan imply the safety of the Rebel at the expense of the supremacy of the moral Government of God? Reason as well as Revelation bid us to reject such a plan as wild & [?].

Does it establish both - does it illustrate the Being Wisdom Power [?] Justice Goodness and Truth of the infinite God & at the same time does it make safe & secure the salvation of man? Reason as well as Revelation bids us to embrace it as the only one worthy of God as our sovereign - as the only one safe for man. It may be [?] how it can be made to accomplish both these [?] - but since Reason itself tells us that both are necessary & Revelation assumes as it can be done and has been done and points unto the history of the planning and working out of the way of life - it commands itself to our deepest

deepest interests as a blessed and glorious mystery & the devout cry of every heart should be "Lord I believe! help throw mine unbelief."
It is to illustrate the glorious plan of salvation that the text recited has been selected. It is by the aid of that figure of speech called personification that the qualities of Truth [?] Mercy & Peace are here represented as being possessed of some of the attributes of human beings. They are said to meet together & to embrace each other as individuals hitherto at variances now become reconciled would be expected to do. It is in strict accordance with the oriental mode of writing - especially the state of the poetical parts of the Bible - that the verses usually consist of two clauses - the last of

which is seldom anything more that repetition of the sentiment contained in the first couched in [a] somewhat [a] different language. Accordingly we find here that Mercy and Peace are kindred qualities which stand related to each other in the different clauses of this verse & so of Righteousness & Truth it may be said that they are kindred attributes of the Divine Character.
The words of our text imply generally that God who is out rightful[ly] sovereign has been treated by [?] his subjects with rebellion and ingratitude and disobedience, which conduct on our part has brought about a state of variance, and that this variance has been reconciled by a full satisfaction to his Justice & Truth & [?] a possibility of peace being restored between God and man.

I. There is implied a state of variance which had rendered it necessary that God's Mercy & Truth could not meet together, nor could his Righteousness and Peace embrace each other in Reference to man. To show this it is necessary to take a view of the principles of God's Government. God being himself perfect - all that [em??????] from him as the author is also perfect. Hence in God's Law there is a brilliant reflection of all his own attributes. It bears the impress of the Divine mind in every feature - it is holy - it is just - it is true - it is Good - it is wise - it is omnipotent! By such a code as this then is God's Government directed. And a peculiarity about it is, that no one of these attributes of God & of His Law can be exercised at the expense of another - none of them can be established upon the ruin of another - but all must be exerted in perfect harmonious unison.

In the original constitution of man there were mingled no elements of discord towards this Government of God. But God's Law was man's delight & obedience was his nature! Being pleased however to test the will of man - God created him mutable but upright - with the freedom of will to choose or to refuse. The condition of Life & Happiness was obedience simple & easy. The penalty of disobedience was death. Man chose to brave the law of God with all the consequences full in view - he died spiritually & became liable to death temporal & eternal. And it is to no purpose that a sickly [?] sneering at the alleged simplicity of this statement, offered to find ground for a [?] in the vast disproportion between the crime and the punishment for it is not to the apparent

insignificance of the [?] and that we are to look, but to the authority upon which that command was founded. For however small a matter it might appear to be to eat a little fruit, yet let us not forget that this was as important to be obeyed as any other command which could have been [?], since the same Sovereign and Omnipotent Being who issued it, also issued the remaining commandments of the Law & to despise this, small though it be, is to cast contempt upon the authority upon which all the Law is built. If was there a grievous and aggravated offence and the very smallness of the command only tends to aggravate the guilt of the offender that for so small an object they should have defied God's authority, small as it may seem it was this which brought death into the world & all our woe. It was here then that the breach began - Here it was absolutely necessary that God's Mercy and His Truth should cease to dwell together in regard to man - Here it was that God's Justice & Peace parted their hitherto unbroken union & there was a fearful chasm [?] between them. A great gulf was fixed and there could not be found any connecting link at that time. And why? Because, my hearers, God's Law is perfect. It requires that his Law shall stand, and penalties threatened be inflicted. What then would have become of God's Government had he permitted it to be trampled under foot of man with impunity? It would have been crushed and the Universe would have presented but one wide scene of confusion & anarchy - one dreary pandemonium where Satan & his angels might have borne imperial & unrivaled sway! But God's Government must be upheld or He is imperfect - God's Government must be upheld or man must himself perish! Hence the anger of God - the holy indignation of God against man for his rebellion has rendered it essential that man should suffer. The same act too be it remembered which made man a rebel made him also the enemy of God because rebellion is transgression of God's Law & transgression is Sin, and Sin is [?] against God - & God cannot bear sin in his sight. & the carnal heart is [?] & cannot be subject to the Law of God & God is angry with the wicked every day. It is plain then that

there is a variance between God and man - such a variance as render it utterly impossible for Mercy and Truth to meet together or for Righteousness & Peace to embrace each other without some mediating process. The principles of God's Government make it impossible for an agreement to continue under such circumstances And [?] day God forbid that it should be otherwise! For if we could imagine such an absurdity as that God could do away his Justice and suffer sin without punishment, we would be imagining something that would subvert the Government & destroy the Universe & bear out Heaven and dethrone God himself. There is, then, a variance - wide as Eternity between God & the sinner.

Since then there is so great a gulf fixed between the parties, it is evident that a reconciliation cannot be brought about lightly or easily. The demands of the Law of God must be high to be in accordance with His Majesty and Holiness & to avenge the insulted purity of His Law a correspondingly precious [?] must be paid and a valuable atonement must be made. Let us remark then.
II. That there is implied here that some mediating processes necessary, that "Mercy & Truth may be able to meet" & that "Righteousness and Peace may embrace each other." For consider what was required by the Law. A pure & spiritual obedience is demanded [?] from the [?] heart

[?] from man in his estate of primeval purity. There basking in the eternal sunshine of Jehovah's Countenance as a beloved child before a kind indulgent parent, our forefather knew no happiness but in obedience to God's most pure & Holy Law. He was not only required but he was willing to surrender every thought and wish & every feeling to the obedience of the will of God. Surely then what was required of man in a state of [?] can not be expected to be revoked by the mere circumstances of man's rebellion. It has never been revoked; on the contrary the Law of God is more awful in its denunciation, more dreadful in its published sentences now than ever. It was originally given to man written upon his heart by the finder of God - since the fall, it has been published amidst thunderings

thunderings and lightnings and as earthquake and in the voice of the dreadful God himself from the brow of [?] - "the soul that sinneth it shall die" "Cursed is everyone that containeth not in all things written in the book of the Law to do them." The Law then requires a holy, constant perfect universal spiritual & endless obedience; holy in its motive, constant in practice, perfect in kind, universal in regard to every command, spiritual from the heart within & never never to cease in its duration! It is high indeed in its requirements! And yet beloved hearers, short of such an obedience as this nothing can ever bring about a union between Mercy & Truth so as to render it possible for them to be displayed towards the Sinner. But again, though the bare presentation of this view of the subject were of itself enough to elude

the heart of the sinner since he feels his incompetency to render such obedience, yet the Law stops not here in its demands. No! No! For not only has man failed to obey the Law but insult has been offered to its Great author in that his authority has been defied & his Law broken by man & so the Justice of God demands atonement for the violation. Now what [?] that atonement demanded? When you would measure its extent you must think of the extent of the Law which is infinite, when you would calculate its value you must bring your [?] to bear upon the Glorious personal [?] of its author - which is infinite - when you would measure its efficacy you must think of the evil of sin which is infinite and then you may easily understand that the atonement which might satisfy God's Law & reconcile his Mercy &

his Truth must be infinite in its value & infinite in its efficacy! It is obvious then that if the mercy of God who has been offended could ever meet his Truth and His peace embrace His Righteousness in reference to man it could not possibly take place unless because a perfect & sinless obedience had been rendered to the Law and an infinitely valuable atonement had been made for its violation.
But the text tells us that "Mercy & Truth have met together Righteousness & Peace have kissed each other" - We infer that the requisite obedience has been rendered and the atonement has been made. Where is this plan to be found which then makes provision for the establishment of God's Justice & for the exercise of his Mercy? Had man obeyed?

Can he obey perfectly? It is [?] a comparison of the heart with the high and Holy stand of the Law, to show the impossibility of a compliance . But on the supportive that man could obey now, it is manifestly impossible for present obedience to have in it virtue to reach back and obey for the past "God requireth that which is past." The obedience we render now is obliged to be rendered for the very moment and even if we could satisfy God's Law for the present & future, there remains a fearful catalogue of items against as undischarged and which cannot be paid by us by the merit of present obedience. Man then cannot obey as God's Law requires - God's Justice will never be appeased by such an obedience

as man can render. What atonement then can he make? His poor feeble Life must be given when it is time - the Law requires that, but will this atone - a finite Being make an infinite atonement. A worthless worm pay an infinite ransom? Alas! Alas! In vain may we expect to deceive God! No release will be granted to the captive sinner unless an infinitely valuable atonement has been made by Jesus Christ - such an obedience has been rendered by Him in his holy Life. It is here then in the Redemption of Jesus Christ in his obedience sufferings and death upon the cross, this was the cause, this the ground upon which the yearning mercy of a God of infinite Goodness might with consistency meet with his [?] Truth - and here too upon
God must have His Law magnified by death vengeance on the Rebel - the vindication of his insulted Honour was called for by His Truth - for God says "The soul that sinneth it shall die!" and death must be the penalty. But we have shown that man's death would not answer, and creation must be ransacked or man must die and yet God's honour not be saved. It was at a moment like this when we may imagine that all the glorious orders of bright intelligences were watching with intense interest the progress of events in The Kingdom of God in pursuance of the plan devised from all Eternity, voluntarily assumed the place of the sinner and entered into covenant with His Father, to render the required obedience to the Law &

then to make the necessary atonement. In this voluntary offering of [?] all things were done that were necessary to render it possible for God to pardon the sinner.
1. His truth was fulfilled. He had said that the wager of sin was death - [?] died. He had said that obedience would ensure Life to the sinner -[?] obeyed.
2. His Justice was satisfied & justice was done to all. His Law had been broken and atonement was demanded. [?] kept the whole Law which man had broken and died to satisfy divine Justice. Thus there is no fall from his high dignity as the Lord of Lords. A full perfect & entire satisfaction has been rendered to the Truth & Justice of God and an ample & glorious field for the display of his mercy.

It has been made a fruitful [?] of objection by infidels, that there was no justice in causing the innocent to suffer for the guilty. But the only answer necessary is, that it was voluntary in this whole transaction. It is also regarded as mysterious in all its parts. And so it is a mystery into which "angels desire eagerly to look" and yet it is a glorious mystery - one for the operation & exercise of a devout & humble faith. The conjoint nature of [?] - human & divine in a mystery to objections.
This, we contend (as all other parts of the plan are) was absolutely necessary. He who would obey must be of the same nature as the offender or else it would not answer hence his humanity - he who would obey must be subject to the Law which had

been violated - hence his humanity. He who would obey must live a human life among human beings - hence his humanity. But again he who would obey perfectly must be more than a human being - for it had been well established that a human being could not obey perfectly - and it is equally demonstrable that angelic nature cannot obey except in their own nature since they are God's creatures and owe him all their services in their own nature - hence his Divinity to perfect his own obedience.
But again, as the offender had to die as well as obey. It was necessary that he be possessed of human nature - hence [??'s] humanity. For s God he cannot die. But it was necessary that the death be of infinite value in order to make sufficient atonement, hence [??'s] divinity as order that his death might be infinitely precious.

The fact is that if it be a mystery, it is the most reasonable of all mysteries. And while we say that it is without controversy a great mystery of Godliness - "that God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels preached into the [?] believed on in the world, received up into Glory" we say it is a blessed mystery and one which calls for loud anthems of Praise from Heaven and Earth. Here then was the day of Triumph for God's Mercy and His Truth, for His Justice & his Love. Mercy rejoiced over her victim rescued from destruction - Truth rejoiced in the triumph of her cause - in the ratification of her voice. Peace the Peace of God - that Peace which angels

sung when Jesus was born "Peace on Earth & goodwill to man," waved her snowy banner on the top of Calvary - Justice triumphed in the establishment of her rights and the avenging of God's insulted majesty and so on the natal eve of the [?] of mankind angels with prophetic song proclaimed, Glory to God and peace to man and though on the dark day of crucifixion Justice had his dreadful hour - attested by the piercing cry of Jesus at the frown of His Father's face - yet the glorious triumph of mercy began on the 3 the auspicious morn when Jesus rose & left the cold prison of the tomb then the work was complete when on that bright cloud from the brow of [?] hw "ascended up on high, led captivity captive and gave gifts to [?]" then indeed the "Mercy & the Truth of God were met together His Righteousness & His Peace kissed each other."
This then my friends is the Plan of salvation in the abstract and by this means it has been rendered possible for God to spare the sinner. For by the obedience of Christ the Law has been magnified and rendered honourable and by his Death & previous sufferings the Justice of God has been satisfied and by the Resurrection of Christ he has achieved a triumph over Death and thus he has declared

himself to be the son of God with power - for mark you, dear friends, had Death maintained His hold upon the Savior - had such a thing been possible as that [?] have been held of Death a prisoner and a victim, then the whole plan would have been incomplete and man would have derived no benefit from all that had been previously done. But "he rose - he rose - he burst the bars of Death - he triumphed o'er the grave." He not only rose but he is seated at the right hand of God where as our mediator "he ever liveth to make intercession for us." And now let me say to you that all this vast array of means will be of no avail to any one of us without a personal and individual application of it to us by the spirit of God. And how is this to be attained? 'Tis a momentous question - dear fellow sinner.