thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee." He said

moreover

for there And the

"Thou canst not see my face: shall no man see me and live." Lord said also, "Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock. And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock; and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by. And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back-parts: but my face shall not be seen." That is, he would vouchsafe to him a partial display, such as one enjoys who sees only the back of some royal person as he passes along in the pomp of his majesty. Then Moses was commanded to prepare two tables similar to those which he had previously broken, and to present himself with them on the following morning on the top of the mount, while no man was to go with him, nor be seen in any part of the mount, nay even the very flocks and herds were not to feed on it. And when Moses had done thus as he was commanded, then, as we read in the text, "The Lord

descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth; keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation."

This is a very striking display of several of the perfections of God. Let me invite you to a separate consideration of them, as they were thus proclaimed to Moses.

1. He proclaimed himself "The Lord, the Lord God." He announced himself as the one, the only God, in opposition to all the false idols of every other nation; the alone creator of all things, the sole disposer and governor of all; himself possessing supreme authority, and claiming the worship and service of all creatures. It expressed that whatever other lords many, or gods many,

there might be made or fancied, he alone had a right to the title, and to the adoration and obedience which belonged to it. He then proceeded to set forth his moral attributes, and the first which meets us is that which is the most necessary for the present condition of man as a fallen sinner, namely, his Mercy.

2. He announced himself " merciful." This attribute, leading the way of the others, is repeated again and again by all the inspired writers of the Old Testament, but we who live under the dispensation of the gospel, have seen the brightest display of it in that astonishing work of mercy which gave the infinite and eternal Son to die for our redemption. The Psalmist, who sings the praise of God in such lovely strains, tells of him that he is " plenteous in mercy," speaks again and again of the "multitude of his mercies," and assures us that his "tender mercies are over all his works." But he could not tell of this attribute as the Apostle Peter did, who wrote, "Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which

according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead;" nor again as the Apostle Paul, "God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus."

3. The Lord proclaimed himself gracious. This is a kindred attribute; they are united by the Apostle in the text just quoted, wherein he speaks of "God who is rich in mercy," and of "the exceeding riches of his grace." Grace is unmerited favour or kindness: and how powerfully is this shewn in the whole dispensation of the gospel as in these texts, "where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:" again, "we are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:" again, "by the

grace of God I am what I am." Oh! how gracious has God been to us in giving us his Son, when we were enemies! Oh! how doubly gracious in giving us his holy Spirit to quicken us when we were dead in trespasses and sins!

4. He proclaimed himself long-suffering. This is in consequence of his mercy and grace. Hence he beareth long and is kind, he is slow to anger, he spareth when we deserve punishment. Wonderful indeed is the patience of God with sinners. Look into the world. What floods of ungodliness! What mountains of iniquity! What troops of sinners! Justice cries, consume them as in a moment; but patience replies, spare them yet longer. Alas, the use, I should say the abuse, which men make of his patience: "Because sentence against their evil works is not executed speedily, therefore their hearts are fully set in them to do evil." How How powerful is the expostulation of St. Paul on this subject, "Despisest thou the riches of his goodness, and forbearance, and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth