Page:Sermons preached in the African Protestant Episcopal Church of St. Thomas', Philadelphia.djvu/16

thus hid from his church and people the smilings of his countenance. He has made a further revelation of his divine character in the inspired volume. The representations he has there made of himself, so far from being repulsive, are the most pleasing and attractive. They are calculated to excite hope and confidence, and thereby win our affections. For while we therein learn that he "will not at all acquit the wicked"^[1] we are also informed from the same divine oracles, that he is "the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, abundant in goodness^[2]—the God of all comfort,^[3] the God of all grace^[4], the God of peace."^[5] These titles, with others of a similar character that might be mentioned, are indicative, of not only what our Creator is in himself, but also what he is to us. In the words of the text,

1. Nahum. i., 3.
2. Ex. xxxiv., 6.
3. 2 Cor. i., 3.
4. 2 Peter v., 10.
5. Horn, xv., 33.