476 / 514
46$
CxRTSTTAN
M63iAI;ITY,
VIZ.
[SERM.
XXVIII,
ing all
that
are near
us.
"Let
us then
be.
followers
of
Godi
as
.dear
children,"
Eph.
v.
1.'
He
is
,
the
original
beauty,
he
is
the loveliest and the
best
of
beings.
To
be
good,
and to
do good,
is
a
divine perfection, and
let
pis
remember
it
is
a
perfection
that
may be
imitated too.
He
causes:his sun
to
rise,
and
his
rain
to
fall on
the
just
and
the unjust,
and
fills
the
hearts
even
of
the
evil as
well as
the'good
with food
and
gladness, when he gives
them fruitful
.seasons,
Acts'
xiv..í17.
Let
ús
not dare
then; to
be rough, and quarrelsome, and
sullen,
and
ill
-
natured;
-while we
profess
;
to'1be
his offspring.
Let
there
be
something
lovely:
in our whole
temper and
conduct,
while
we
pretend
to
beimitators
of the
God.
of
love.
And
doeb
the light
of natúre
furnish
us
with all these
motives'
for
a
lovely
carriage? then
surely the light
of
scripture
enforces: them
all.
The
gospel
obliges
Christi-
ans
to this
practice
by
much
stronger
arguments, and
it
lays
on us
more
substantial
:obligations.
I; The.
blessed
and
ever-glorious Trinity; the
Father,
-the
Son,
and the Holy
Spirit,
give us
in-the
gospel
a
di-
vine example of this practice.
Has
God,
the great and
glorious
God,
manifested
a
lovely_conductin
his
works
of
creation, and
his
ways.
of
providence
;
how
much
more glorious a
pattern
has
he
set
us-in
the 'transactions
of
his
redeeming
love
!
What
condescension bath
he
here
shewn
!
What
gentleness'!
úivhat
patience and forbearance! what
forgiveness
!,
what
infinite and
endless discoveries
of
grace has
he
made in
tiis-gospel
r
.God.the
Father
reconciling
the
world to himself
by
Je-
sus
Christ, has
a
peculiar
sweetness
of
aspect, and most
amiable appearanée.
Here every
Christian
beholds
him
such
as he
revealed
himself to
Moses, when
he
caused
his glory
to
pass
before
him;
Ex. xxxiv.
6.
The
Lord,
the
Lord
God,
merciful
and
gracious,
long
-
suffering,
and
abundant.
in
goodness
and
truth,
&c..
The
Son
of
God
stooping
down to
take
flesh
and
blood
upon
him,
made
the most amiable
figure
in the
universe. Even
in
his
glorious
and triumphant state
in heaven, he
is
re-
presented
by
a Lamb
that
was slain, an emblem
of meek,
,Mess
and innocence. And
if
ever
the
blessed
Spirit ap-
peared
in.
the
shape
of
any living
creature,
it
was
in