LORD our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him-IVe do not present our supplication before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies. O LORD, hear; O LORD, forgive; O LORD, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God. chap. ix. 4,-7, -9-18, 19. He did not suppose that God would be moved to pardon sinners, and receive them into favor, by any foreign consideration; but that he would do it from the mercifulness of his own nature, and for the glory of his own name.

Hosea, declared that God desired mercy, and not sacrifice: that he would betroth sinners unto himself in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving kindness, and in mercies: that he would withhold his favor till they acknowledged their offence: that if the people returned to the LORD he would heal them: that, if they sowed to themselves in righteousness, they should reap in mercy; if they sought the LORD he would rain righteousness upon them. chap.

ii.

19. & v. 15. & vi. 1-6, & x. 12. From such declarations nothing can be collected but that God acts from his natural placability, and accepts his creatures on the ground of their penitence and obedience.

Joel, when announcing the calamities which were coming on the people for their sins, delivered this message from God. Therefore also now, saith the LORD turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning. And rent your heart and not your garments, and turn

unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. chap. ii. 12, 13. Here no ground of hope is placed before a sinful people, but the mere mercy and grace of God, no method of averting punishment mentioned but repentance and turning to God.

Amos, after describing the manifold sins of the people, informed them that, if they would seek good and not evil, they should live, and God would be with them. He encouraged them to hope for the divine favor, if they returned to the paths of rectitude; but assured them that all their sacrifices were of no avail so long as they neglected moral purity. chap. v. 14, 15-21, 22. This was making obedience to God the only ground of acceptance with him.

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Jonah, was deeply impressed with the sentiment that God exerciseth mercy, and withholds the punishment threatened, simply in consideration of the repentance of sinners. It was this deterred him from going to Nineveh when first commanded and the truth of this sentiment was verified in the case of the Ninevites. chap. iv. 2.

Micah, shows the inefficacy of sacrifices, and teaches that what God requires of men, in order to their enjoying his favor, is, to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with him. chap. vi. 6, 7, 8. He declares that God pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by transgression, because he delighteth in mercy. chap. vii. 18.

Zephaniah, shows that the only way to escape punishment is by following after righteousness and meekness. chap. ii. 3.;

Zechariah, represented obedience as the only thing that can render men safe and happy. chap. i. 3, 4. & vii. 9-14. & viii. 16, 17.

All the Prophets bear witness to the mercifulness ofGod: they set forth his mercy as the only ground of hope to sinners, and speak of his acting merely from the dictate of his mercy in pardoning and saving the penitent. Without hesitation, they speak of God's rescinding his threatenings, when the threatened became penitent; not seeming to suppose that for him to do so could be the least violation of his justice. They leave the divine supremacy, his sovereign will, unfettered, and seem to conceive of no end in the threatenings of God but the reformation of the offender; if that end be obtained punishment is avert-ed. Of the efficacy of repentance, as the consideration of pardon, they seem never to have entertained a doubt. The penitent they always encouraged to hope in the divine mercy, and ever exhibited mercy and forgiveness to the rebellious, on the sole condition of their repenting and turning to God, without discovering the least apprehension that he required any thing more in order to his pardoning offenders. That God would not accept any who continued disobedient they constantly affirmed. That he would never fail to accept those who obeyed him, and that

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obedience is the condition on which his favor is enjoyed, they uniformly asserted. Such was the doctrine of the Prophets, such the views they had of God, and of the way in which man is accepted with .him.

As the writers of the New Testament were Jews, and received their first rudiments of religious' knowledge from the law and the Prophets; as they professed to teach none other things, as leading points of doctrine, than what Moses in the law, and the Prophets had written; and as they frequently brought the proof of their doctrine from the Old Testament; it is reasonable to conclude that, whatever particular forms of expression they might use on certain occasions, they agreed, in all leading points, with the ancient Hebrew writers. Hence we may suppose they would teach the same doctrine respecting the mercifulness of the Deity, the sufficiency of repentance, and obedience to the truth, as conditions of forgiveness and salvation, and the acceptableness of good works, as the Prophets had taught before them; nor ought passages to be detached from their writings and construed in a light contrary to their avowed principles.

On examination it will be found that the messengers of God, under the new dispensation of the gospel, taught the same things, respecting the way of acceptance, as all the Prophets had done before the coming of the Messiah.

The gospel is undoubtedly a system of divine mer

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су and grace; but in this system conditions are certainly comprehended. The conditions are repentance, faith, and obedience. Without a compliance with these conditions sinners cannot be saved. If it appear that Christ and his Apostles insisted on no conditions of acceptance, distinct from the divine mercy and grace, but what the creature himself is called to perform, it will follow that no other condition, or consideration, can be necessary, in order to the salvation of men, and their acceptance with God.

John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus, taught the efficacy of repentance, it was the grand theme of his ministry; he preached the baptism of repentance, for the remission of sins, and insisted on the necessity of real personal righteousness, in order to acceptance with God. Luke iii. 9-14.

God

Christ himself was a preacher of repentance and righteousness. He made known the love of God to men, published the riches of divine grace, and declared the mercy of God to a guilty world; but at the same time he insisted that without repentance there can be no salvation. Luke xiii. 3-5. sent him to bless mankind; but it was by turning them from their iniquities. Acts iii. 26. He declared that a leading object of his mission was to call sinners to repentance. Mark ii. 17. To deny the effica cy of repentance would be to render the mission of Christ anullity. In his sermon on the mount he pears altogether in the character of a practical prea

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