which we hope for, will be recognised by the decision of reason alone; and it is a truth which even an unregenerate heart may admit with fear and trembling. But a contented and hopeful dependance upon God, a cheerful acquiescence in all which He determines, a frame of mind which converts into an unceasing source of pleasure our recollection of that strength on which we rely, that wisdom which is conspicuous alike in every instance of good or evil fortune; such a feeling as I have described can proceed from love alone, and I can hardly admit the existence of a genuine love of God without it.

A sense of weakness and dependance without love is always miserable. But where love is, even in the imperfect attachments of the nether world, the recollection of snch dependance is never oppressive or melancholy. It is any thing but painful for a child to cling to the embrace, the support, the comfort and provident kindness of a tender and most dear parent. It is any thing but painful to unbosom our griefs, our trials, and our difficulties to a kind and experienced and powerful friend, who shares our thoughts, who sympathizes with our sorrows, and whose hand we trace in all the more conspicuous comforts and advantages of our situation. By the favours of those whom we love and venerate we are elated, not humiliated. We are proud, not ashamed, of the obligations laid on us by a gracious sovereign, or a wise and discriminating patron, because we delight in his benefits as evidences of his regard, and identify ourselves, in a certain degree, with the excellencies of him who honours us with such a friendship. And even so in the child-like leaning of a Christian on his God, not only is fear in a great measure cast out as knowing on whom we may depend, but enjoyment is enhanced for His sake, by whom all our enjoyments are bestowed; and all which we love becomes more lovely in our eyes when we say in our hearts," and this also is my Father's bounty!"

If, on the other hand, He who hath given should take away, however we may feel the smart, (and there is certainly no charm in religion which can make us impassive or insensible) a real love for God will be our best and most

efficacious comfort. It will recall to our minds all the blessings which we have received, and all the far greater blessings we look for; it will silence complaint by the recollection of past kindness; and withdraw our attention from present suffering by the anticipation of future and more abundant mercy. We shall deduce from our own love for God a confidence that this love is mutual, an assurance that His chastisements are mercies in disguise, and that the clouds under which our nature shudders, will, ere long, burst over our heads in blessing. "Perfect love," said he who of all men most loved Christ, and whom more than all other men, Christ in the time of His humiliation loved; "Perfect love casteth out fear;" ""* or if this painful but wholesome and necessary intruder must yet at times return, and be our occasional companion through our earthly pilgrimage, it will be a distrust of ourselves, not a doubt of God; it will be mingled with a trembling joy for the continued sense of His mercy and forbearance; by the recollection of our weakness it will bind us closer to His strength, and make the blessing of His presence more precious in our eyes, by the possibility that we may, hereafter, by our own faults, deprive ourselves of that blessing.

Such lives as these are, in themselves, a continued act of prayer and thanksgiving; yet even such a life as this would not excuse us from that which is another evidence of the love, for whose good all things are made to work together, "a frequency and regularity of private and public prayer, and a diligent perusal of the Holy Scriptures." It is in such acts as these that the soul draws nearer to its Maker; it is then that we speak to Him and hear His voice again; and that love would be a mere mockery of the name which should shun the conversation and neglect the correspondence of the person whom we most affected to esteem and honour. As the practice then of prayer, of praise, and the study of the Scriptures is the most availing and necessary course to kindle a love of God in our hearts; so is, on the other hand, a cheerful continuance in the same habitual piety the certain effect and the necessary

* 1 St. John iv. 18.

evidence that the flame thus excited is alive and yet glowing within us.

Another necessary proof of this love is the light in which we look on sin. I need not repeat what I have already urged against the incompatibility of gross and habitual transgression with the existence of genuine love for the Almighty. But if we take pleasure in the recollection of foregone, or the imagination of future or possible evil; if we feed our fancies with acts which we dare not perform, and witness with indifference or with unholy pleasure the transgressions of those around us; if we feel a regret for the indulgences which we are, by our situation in life, compelled to forego, and condemn as fanatical or enthusiastic all endeavours after a more rigid and excellent piety, a moment's consideration will show how little the love of God can dwell in us! It is a necessary part of affection to like and dislike the same objects with the person to whom we are united; and in truth, in that particular species of affection which I am now discussing, it is scarcely possible for any one, with a true conception of the causes which led to Christ's death, to read once attentively the details of that awful sacrifice, without experiencing, for the time at least, a loathing and horror of those sins which it was necessary to visit so severely on the guiltless; and something like a bitter indignation against himself as one whose of fences, amid the great mass of the foreseen offences of mankind, added sharpness to the thorny crown of Him who died to save us!

The last, however, and of all others the most decisive symptom of God's love residing in our hearts is, that the love of our neighbour also holds its dwelling there. It would occupy too much time (indeed I feel that I have already encroached too largely on your patience) were I to go through all the different bearings and details of this second great commandment: I would therefore merely direct your thoughts to the close connexion which exists between the two, and to the utter impossibility of keeping the one while we transgress or neglect the other.

Though it were possible, (and it is a possibility which can only be supposed for the sake of argument) though it

were possible, that all the other proofs of loving God. should be found apart from this last and greatest, yet would this one deficiency give all the rest the lie: "He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?"* Where our affections are so selfish and so cold as not to throw a kindly warmth around the little circle of our friends and neighbours, the kindred of our blood, and the poor who are always with us, how can their feeble rays extend to the depth and height and breadth of invisible and infinite existence, of Him who is seen by the eye of faith alone, and who reveals Himself only to the pure in heart and to the merciful? How can we love our Father while we hate His children? How can we love our Redeemer, while we are indifferent to the welfare of those whom He died to save, and lives again to intercede for?

He then who loveth not his neighbour as himself is never, whatever may be his other pretensions to sanctity, a sincere and genuine lover of God. But the opposite assertion is also strictly true, and he who loveth not God most of all, will never love his neighbour as he ought to do. He wants, as we have seen, the only motive of action which is either acceptable with God, or availing against the snares of our mortal condition, the only principle which can encourage us to look for the further gracious assistance of that Spirit through whom we are conquerors.

It is, indeed, no difficult task to be liberal of fair words to others. It is, thank God, no uncommon thing where wealth is abundant, and avarice despised, and liberality held in honour, to find men who, by no stretch of charity, can be supposed to care seriously for God, who yet are not insensible to the calls of kindness and of pity, and not unwilling to dispense some portion of their superfluities for the relief of their necessitous brethren. But of that charity which is self-denying as well as kind; of that charity which is solicitous for the souls as well as for the bodies of men; of that charity which can labour long and

*1' St. John iv. 20.

suffer much, as well as contribute largely; of that charity which "is not puffed up; doth not behave itself unseemly,-hopeth all things, believeth all things, endureth all things."* I wish to God the instances were more frequent than my experience leads me to believe them; and I am sure, so far forth as that experience extends, that no single instance has been found in which the philanthropy was not engrafted on some species of religious feeling.

The truth is, that our practice of the two great commandments can only be effectual and progressive where they reciprocally foster and increase one another. The more we grow in love to God, the more love we shall feel for His children; and the greater real kindness we cherish and practise towards mankind, the greater and warmer thankfulness we shall be inspired with towards Him, by whom the world has been created, preserved, and pardoned; to whose goodness we owe the comforts of society, the endearments of kindred, and the blessings of friendship; who hath in His mercy ordained men to be helpful one to another, and who has graciously made the discharge of this most necessary duty a source of the purest earthly happiness.

But of these two commandments, the love of God stands first; first in order, first in object, first in dignity; where this is really found, the other parts of holiness will, almost of necessity, follow; but where this is not sought after, their progress must be small who stumble on the threshold of religion.

Be it then your endeavour, brethren, to acquaint yourselves with all which God has done for you, with your own undeservings and his great and unfailing mercies. Be it your business to wait on Him in prayer, to converse with Him in the Scriptures, to renounce in your thoughts and actions whatever is displeasing to Him, and to practise towards His creatures, and for His sake, that mercy and meekness, that forgiveness and bounty which you hope yourselves to find from Him.

Nor fear, if you act thus, but that you will soon begin

1 Cor. xiii. 4, 5, 7.