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368
CHRISTIAN MORALITY, VIZ.
[SHIM.
74&61.
to
come
?
What
a load
of
calamities
would
at
once
come
upon
You,
and
overwhelm you
in
soul and body!
You. would
fall
under
universal distress
and wretched
Hess
in
this world,
and
have
no
hope
for
eternity;
and
yet if
you
are
careless
to fulfil
your
covenants,
or
wil-
fully break .your engagements,
why
should you.
expect
that
God
should
fulfil
any
on
his side
?
Or
why
should
his
kind providence incline
any creature
to fulfil
any
on
,their
side
?.
"
O blessed and holy
God,
how false
have
we
been
to
'thee
!
How
fickle
!
"How
unfaithful!
How often have
:we.
broken the
solemn engagements
under
which
we
have
laid ourselves
to thy
majesty
!
Our
comforts are
all
for-
feited.
into thy hands, and yet
we
have
food
and clothing
given
us;
the
mercies
of
the
night and
the day
are
con.
tinned
to
us;
thy
compassions
are
renewed every
morn-
ing,
and
in
the evening
thy
faithfulness
is
glorified.
We,
are
ready
to
charge
our
fellow-
creatures
with unfaithful
-
.i3ess,
and
reproach their
breach
of
promise, when
we
.v,urselves
perhaps
have been the
unfaithful
dealers,.
and
,bave
broken
all those
engagements and bonds of ,kind-
ness or duty,
which
are the foundation
of
their
promises.
,We
seldom
or never think
of our
own
unfaithfulness to
,them:
or
to thee,
but delight
ourselves
in
accusations,
while
thou delightest
in
forgiveness.
O
how
often
hast
.thou
pardoned our broken
vows,
and hast
been
slow
to
anger! But
we
'though
we
are wretchedly unfaithful
our-
selves,
yet are
slow
and backward
to forgive.
.
We have
been guilty of;many failures
in thy covenant, and
our
cverlaEting
hopes,
had been
utterly
lost,
if
thy
covenant
had
not
stood firmer
on
thy side than
it
has on ours.
Blessed
be the
name
of
Jesus, our
glorious
Surety,
our
Advocate
at
thy
right -hand, to
whom
thy promises were
first,given
!
Be
has
fulfilled all
his
sacred
engagements:
Thy: faithfulness
to him
can
never
fail;
in him
are
all
our
hopes established;
by
his
grace
we
are
kept
from
an
utter
renouncing of
thy covenant,
though
we
have
.so
often
wîetchedly
failed
in
the performance
Of
it.
Glory, ho-
nour, and praise
be
given to a
faithful God, to a kind
andfaithful Mediator."
I
come
now to
propose
a
rule
or
two
for
the preserva-
tion of our
constancy,.
,which
is
the third
part of
truth
or