sense of his majesty and glory, and with a deep sense of his own littleness and unworthiness, to be permitted to have such intercourse with God in prayer, he introduces his next petition with this observation, expressive both of his sense of the majesty of God, and his own unworthiness, "behold now I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, who am but dust and ashes; peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous, wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, if I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it. And he spake unto him yet again and said, peradventure there shall be forty found there; and he said I will not destroy it for forty's sake. And he said unto him, Oh, let not the Lord be angry and I will speak; peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said I will not do it, if I find thirty there. And he said, behold now I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord; peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said I will not destroy it for twenty's sake. And he said, Oh, let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak but this once; peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said I will not destroy it for ten's sake. And the Lord went his way as soon as he had left communing with Abraham, and Abraham returned unto his place." I would here observe, that this whole narration gives us the idea of a personal conference, and leaves no room to doubt, but that he, who is here called Jehovah, was the same who afterwards in human nature said, "I and the Father are one," and "he that hath seen me hath seen the Father." Hence we infer, that this was an anticipation of the future in

carnation of the Son of God-"God was manifested in the flesh." In this conversation with Abraham, God discovered his love to him as an individual saint, and in his gracious answers to his petitions, he manifested his love and care of the righteous in general. God taught Abraham, and indeed all the succeeding friends of God, that such is his delight in the righteous, who, considered in themselves, are fallen, guilty creatures, yet because they have "a little strength," he will restrain his anger from falling upon the wicked, rather than a few righteous persons should suffer in the calamity. For the sake of ten righteous persons, God would have spared all the wicked inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, consisting of many thousands. These words therefore contain the two following propositions,

I. God has a peculiar love to, and care over the righteous.

II. Such is God's love to the righteous, that the wicked are often spared, and their punishment delayed

for their sake.

1. God has a peculiar love, and care of the righteous. This implies, that there is a real difference between the characters of those who are called righteous and wicked. This moral distinction of character is the foundation of that love and regard, which God has ever felt and expressed towards the one, and of that displeasure, which he has felt and expressed towards the other character. Some have supposed that there is no such thing as true religion, that all the professions of love to God, for his excellency and glory,

are deceitful, and hypocritical. But our text, and indeed the whole bible, clearly hold up this difference, and the whole is false, or there is an essential distinction between the characters of men. There are persons, who really and truly love God, above every other object, and place his honour and the interest of his kingdom uppermost in their hearts. And there are others, who not only have no love to God; but in heart are unfriendly to him. His true character is the object of their aversion. The following is the character of all the impenitent world, "The carnal mind is enmity against God, is not subject to his law neither indeed can be." This is the source of all the wickedness in the world. This like a full fountain is continually pouring itself into a multitude of streams. Sin consists in an unfriendly heart to God, the fountain of all being, and sum of excellence and perfection. But were mankind universally friendly to God, they would of consequence be friends to holiness, and enemies to sin; and therefore would be objects of the divine approbation and delight. And in proportion to the degree of their love to God, sin would be banished out of the world. But when we attend to facts-the words and actions of men, we shall find, that in general, they are possessed of a very different character. Truly in many things all offend, and come short of that perfect love to God, which is his due; yet notwithstanding the great and general wickedness of the world, there always have been, and always will be those who love God sincerely and supremely. Such persons are the objects of the divine complacency and

care. That this is indeed true will appear from two sources of evidence.

1. From divine testimony. The precious promses made to all such characters are evidences of the love and approbation of God. The whole body of the godly in every age compose the church of God; and every good thing, which is any where promised in Scripture to the church, as a collective body, every pious man has an interest in; especially in all those promises of spiritual good things secured by promise, to the church. So on the other hand, in every thing of a spiritual nature, promised to any particular person, as a believer, the whole church is interested. This love and care of God for the righteous are exhibited in the titles which he gives himself, or in what he is to them. To the church in trouble he says, "Fear not for I am with thee, be not dismayed for I am thy God." When God entered in covenant with Abraham; this was its condition, "Walk before me, and be thou perfect." By perfect here is not meant legal perfection; if so, no flesh living could ever comply with its condition. But in a gospel sense, a man is said to be perfect, when he has a sincere and governing respect to all parts of duty, pointed out in the divine commands; though the degree and intenseness of his affections, with respect to their objects, fall short of the requirements of the law in every instance. And this kind of perfection is required of mankind, in order to their becoming parties in the covenant of grace. To such as comply with this condition of the covenant, God hath said, "I will be a God unto thee." This im

plies, that God will defend them by his power, and make every thing in this world work for their good, and at length will receive them to glory. This is the sum of what God promised to Abraham; and the Apostle considers the gift of Christ, and all the glorious blessings resulting to the church through him, as the fulfilment of this promise. There is no good thing promised in the bible, which is not implied in this promise, "I will be a God to thee and to thy seed after thee." In this promise, the church, in all ages, has had great support and comfort. In this sense God is not the God of the wicked. They have never taken hold of his gracious covenant, and have no part in its promises.

2. The love and care of God for the righteous may be inferred from the relation, in which he stands to them, which is that of a Father. A father has a peculiar affection for his children, and is never more happy, than when providing for the safety, health and happiness of his family. He lays up wealth for his children, and when he dies, makes them his heirs. God is the father of the righteous, and loves them with infinite tenderness; and the love of the kindest earthly parent can never equal the love of God to his people. Hence God says, "Can a woman forget her sucking child?" a thing very unlikely, yet not impossible; "yet will not I forget thee." "I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee." He has set his people "as a seal upon his arm, and as a seal upon his heart.” For this reason he warned Pharaoh of the danger of detaining

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