CHRISTIAN CHARITY.

แ

twelfth chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians. "Now there are diversities of gifts, but the

THE OCCASION OF PAUL'S DESCRIPTION AND ENFORCE- Same Spirit. And there are differences of admin

MENT OF CHRISTIAN CHARITY.

istration, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which THE credibility of the Gospel, as a revelation from worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the heaven, was attested by miracles, as had been pre- Spirit is given to every man to profit withal: for to dicted by the prophet Joel. "And it shall come to one is given by the Spirit, the word of wisdom; to pass afterwards, that I will pour out my Spirit-upon another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall to another, faith by the same Spirit; to another the prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your working of miracles; to another prophecy; to anoyoung men shall see visions; and also upon the ther discerning of Spirits; to another divers tongues: servants and the handmaidens in those days, I will to another the interpretation of tongues." pour out my Spirit." This prophecy began to re- It is not necessary that we should here explain ceive its accomplishment when our Lord entered the nature, and trace the distinction, of these enupon his public ministry, but was yet more re-dowments-a task which has been acknowledged markably fulfilled, according to the testimony of by all expositors to be difficult, and which is Peter, on the day of Pentecost, when the disciples thought by some to be impossible. But vague and were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to general as is the idea of them which we possess, we speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them can form some conception of the strange and novel utterance;" and still continued to be fulfilled till the spectacle presented by a society in which they were power of working miracles was withdrawn from the in full operation. They constituted the light which Church. Our Lord Jesus Christ ceased not, dur- fell from heaven upon the Church, and to which ing his continuance on earth, to prove, by these she appealed, as the proofs of her divine origin. It splendid achievements, the truth of his claims as is not easy for us to conceive of any thing so strikthe Son of God; and constantly appeal to them in ing and impressive, as a community of men thus rehis controversy with the Jews, as the reasons and markahly endowed. We may entertain a general, the grounds of faith in his communications. By though not an adequate, idea of the spiritual glory him the power of working miracles was conferred which shone upon an assembly, where one meinber on his apostles, who, in the exercise of this extraor- would pour forth, in strains of inspired eloquence, dinary gift, cast out demons, and "healed all man- the profoundest views of the divine economy, and ner of sickness, and all manner of disease." Christ would be succeeded by another, who, in the exeralso assured them that, under the dispensation of the cise of the gift of knowledge, would explain the Spirit, which was to commence after his decease, mysteries of truth, concealed under the symbols of their miraculous powers should be so much en- the Jewish dispensation;-where one, known perlarged and multiplied, as to exceed those which had haps to be illiterate, would rise, and in a language been exercised by himself. This took place on the which he had never studied, descant, without hesi day of Pentecost, when the ability to speak all lan-tation and without embarrassment, on the sublimeguages without previous study was conferred upon est topics of revealed truth; and would be followed them. The apostles, as the ambassadors and mes- by another, who, in the capacity of an interpreter, sengers of their risen Lord, were authorized and would render into the vernacular tongue all that enabled to invest others with the high distinction; had been spoken; where one would heal the most for, to confer the power of working miracles, was a inveterate diseases of the body with a word, and prerogative confined to the apostolic office. This is another discern by a glance the secrets of the mind, evident from many parts of the New Testament.-- and disclose the hypocrisy which lurked under the But while apostles only could communicate this veil of the most specious exterior. What seeming power, any one, not excepting the most obscure and confusion, and yet what real grandeur, must have illiterate member of the churches, could receive it; attended such a scene? What were the disputaas it was not confined to Church officers, whether tions of the schools, the eloquence of the forum, or ordinary or extraordinary. It is probable that these the martial pomp, the accumulating wealth, the gifts were sometimes distributed among all the ori-literary renown of the Augustan age of the Ronan ginal members of a church: as the society increased, Empire to this extraordinary spectacle? Yea, they were confined to a more limited number, and what was the gorgeous splendor of the temple of granted only to such as were more eminent among Solomon, in the zenith of its beauty, compared with the brethren, till at length they were probably confin- this? Here were the tokens and displays of a preed to the elders; thus being as gradually withdrawn from the Church as they had been communicated.

sent though invisible Deity; a glory altogether unearthly and inimitable, and on that account the more remarkable.

These miraculous powers were of various kinds, which are enumerated at length in the epistle to the For the possession and exercise of these gifts, the Romans. "Having then gifts, differing according Church at Corinth was eminently distinguished.to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, This is evident from the testimony of Paul,-"I let us prophesy according to the proportion (ana- thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace logy) of faith; or ministry, let us wait on our mi- of God which is given you by Christ Jesus; that in nistering or he that teacheth, on teaching; or he every thing ye are enriched by him in all utterance, that exhorteth, on exhortation; or he that giveth, and in all knowledge; even as the testimony of let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with Christ was confirmed in you: so that ye come bediligence; he that showeth mercy, with cheerful- hind in no gift:" and in another place he asks them ness." They are set forth still more at length, in the "What is it, wherein ye were inferior to other

and a susceptibility of offence; while on the other
we shall witness an equally offensive exhibition of
envy, suspicion, imputation of evil, exultation over
failures, and a disposition to magnify and report of-
fences. Such passions are not entirely excluded
from the Church of God, at least during its militant
state; and they were most abundantly exhibited
among the Christians at Corinth. Those who had
gifts, were too apt to exult over those that had none;
while the latter indulged in envy, and ill-will to-
ward the former: those who were favored with the
most distinguished endowments, vaunted of their
achievements over those who attained only to the
humbler powers; and all the train of the irrascible
passions was indulged to such a degree, as well.
nigh to banish Christian love from the fellowship of
the faithful. This unhappy state of things the
apostle found it necessary to correct, which he did
by a series of most conclusive arguments; such, for
iustance, as that all these gifts are the bestowments
of the Spirit, who in distributing them exercises a
wise but irresponsible sovereignty-that they are
glory-that this variety is essential to general edifi-
cation-that the useful ones are to be more valued
than those of a dazzling nature-that they are de-
pendent on each other for their efficiency; and he
then concludes his expostulation and representation,
by introducing to their notice that heavenly virtue
which he so beautifully describes in the chapter un-
der consideration, and which he exalts in value and
importance above the most coveted miraculous
powers. "Now, ye earnestly desire (for the words
should be rendered indicatively, and not impera-
tively,) the best gifts, but yet I show unto you a
more excellent way." "Ye are ambitious to obtain /
those endowments which shall cause you to be es-
teemed as the most honorable and distinguished
persons in the Church; but, notwithstanding your
high notions of the respect due to those who excel
in miracles, I now point out to you a way to still
greater honor, by a road open to you all, and in
which your success will neither produce pride in
yourselves, nor excite envy in others. FOLLOW AF-
TER CHARITY, for the possession and exercise of this
grace is infinitely to be preferred to the most splen-
did gift."

Churches?" It is, indeed, both a humiliating and
an admonitory consideration, that the Church
which, of all those planted by the apostles, was the
most distinguished for its gifts, should have been
the least eminent for its graces; for this was the
case with the Christian Society at Corinth. What
a scandalous abuse and profanation of the Lord's
Supper had crept in! What a schismatical spirit
prevailed! What a connivance at sin existed!
What resistance to apostolic authority was set up!
To account for this, it should be recollected, that
the possession of miraculous gifts by no means im-
plied the existence and influence of sanctifying
grace. Those extraordinary powers were entirely
distinct from the qualities which are essential to
the character of a real Christian. They were pow-
ers conferred not at all, or in a very subordinate
degree, for the benefit of the individual himself, but
were distributed according to the sovereignty of the
Divine will, for the edification of believers and the
conviction of unbelievers. Hence saith the apostle,
"Tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe,
but to them that believe not: but prophesying serv-bestowed for mutual advantage, and not for personal
eth not for them that believe not, but for them which
believe." Our Lord has informed us, that miracu-
lous endowments were not necessarily connected
with, but were often disconnected from, personal
piety. "Many will say unto me in that day, Lord,
Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in
thy name done many wonderful works? And then
will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart
from me ye workers of iniquity." Paul supposes
the same thing in the commencement of this chap-
ter, where he says,-"Though I speak with the
tongues of men, and of angels, and have not charity,
I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cym-
bal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and
understand all mysteries and all knowledge-and
though I have all faith, so that I could remove
mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing."
This hypothetical mode of speech certainly implies,
that gifts and grace are not necessarily connected.
This is a very awful consideration, and, by show-
ing how far self-deception may be carried, ought to
be felt as a solemn admonition to all professing
Christians, to be very careful and diligent in the
great business of self-examination.

It is evident, both from the nature of things, and Admirable encomium-exalted eulogium on from the reasoning of the apostle, that some of the Charity! What more could be said, or be said miraculous powers were more admired, and there- more properly, to raise it in our esteem, and to imfore more popular, than others. The gift of tongues, press it upon our heart? The age of miracles is as is plain from the reasoning in the fourteenth past; the signs, and the tokens, and the powers! chapter, appears to have been most coveted, because which accompanied it, and which, like brilliant eloquence was so much cultivated by the Greeks: lights from heaven, hung in bright effulgence over to reason and declaim in public, as a talent, was the Church, are vanished. No longer can the memmuch admired and as a practice, was exceedingly bers or ministers of Christ confound the mighty, common schools were established to teach the art, perplex the wise, or guide the simple inquirer after and places of public resort were frequented to dis-truth, by the demonstration of the Spirit, and of play it. Hence, in the Church of Christ, and especially with those whose hearts were unsanctified by Divine grace, and who converted miraculous operations into a means of personal ambition, the gift of tongues was the most admired of all these extraordinary powers. A desire after conformity to the envied distinctions of the world, has ever been the snare and the reproach of many of the members of the Christian community.

Where distinctions exist, many evils will be sure to follow, as long as human nature is in an imperfect state. Talents, or the power of fixing attention and raising admiration, wil! be valued above virtues; and the more popular talents will occupy, in the estimate of ambition, a higher rank than those that are useful. Consequently, we must expect, wherever opportunities present themselves, to see on the one hand, pride, vanity, arrogance, love of display, boasting, selfishness, conscious superiority,

power: the control of the laws of nature, and of the spirits of darkness, is no longer intrusted to us; but that which is more excellent and more heavenly remains that which is more valuable in itself, and less liable to abuse, continues; and that is, CHARITY. Miracles were but the credentials of Christianity, but CHARITY is its essence; miracles but its witnesses, which, having ushered it into the world, and borne their testimony, retired for ever;-but CHARITY is its very soul, which, when disencumbered of all that is earthly, shall ascend to its native seat the paradise and the presence of the eternal God.

CHAPTER II.

THE NATURE OF CHARITY,

IN the discussion of every subject, it is of great importance to ascertain, and to fix with precision, the

meaning of the terms by which it is expressed; more especially in those cases where, as in the present instance, the principal word has acquired, by the changes of time and usages of society, more senses than one. Formerly, the English word charity signified good-will or benevolence: when restricted to this meaning, it was significant enough of the Greek term employed by the apostle in this chapter; but in modern times the word charity is often employed to signify almsgiving-a circumstance which has thrown a partial obscurity over many passages of Scripture, and has led, indeed, to the most gross perversion of Divine truth and the circulation of the most dangerous errors. That the charity which is the subject of the present treatise cannot mean almsgiving, is evident from the assertion of the apostle, where he says-" Though I give all my goods to feed the poor, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing." The meaning of the term is Love, and so it is rendered in many other passages of the New Testament; such, for instance, as the following: "Love worketh no ill to its neighbor." "The fruit of the Spirit is love." "Love is the fulfilling of the law." "Faith which worketh by love." It is the same word in all these texts, which in the present chapter and in the following passages, is rendered charity.

our brethren? Or, may we be envious, passionate, proud, and revengeful, towards " those that are without," though not towards those "that are within?" We have only to consider the operations and effects of love as here described, and to recollect that they are as much required in our intercourse with the world, as with the Church, to perceive at once, that it is love to man, as such, that is the subject of this chapter. Nor is this the only place where universal philanthropy is enjoined. The apostle Peter, in his chain of graces, makes this the last link, and distinguishes it from "brotherly kindness," to which, says he, add "charity," or, as it should be rendered, "love." The disposition inculcated in this chapter is, that love which Peter commands us to add to brotherly kindness; it is, in fact, the very state of mind which is the compendium of the second table of the moral law. "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."

The temper so beautifully set forth by Paul, is most lively, luminous and eloquent exposition of this summary of duty to our neighbor, which is given us by our Lord.

Strange, indeed, would it be, if Christianity, the most perfect system, of duty as well as of doctrine, that God ever gave to the world, should contain no injunction to cultivate a spirit of general good-will. "The end of the commandment is charity."- Strange, indeed, if that system, which rises upon the Charity covereth a multitude of sins." The cm-earth with the smiling aspect of universal benevo ployment of the term charity, instead of love, in the lence, did not breathe its own spirit into the hearts last quoted passage, is peculiarly to be regretted, as of its believers. Strange, indeed, if, while God loved in consequence of the modern meaning attached to the world, and Christ died for it, the world in no it, many have taken up the false and dangerous no- sense was to be an object of a Christian's regard.tion, that pecuniary liberality to the poor will make Strange, indeed, if the energies, the exercises, and an atonement for human guilt; an error which propensities of true piety, were to be confined withcould have had no countenance from Scripture, had in the narrow boundaries of the Church, and to be the word been rendered as it is in other places.- allowed no excursions into the widely extended re"Love covereth a multitude of sins." This is not gions that lie beyond, and have no sympathies for the only case in which our translators, by the ca- the countless millions by which these regions are pricious employment in different places of two peopled. It would have been regarded as a blank English words for the same Greek term, have helped in Christianity, as a deep wide chasm, had philanto confuse the English reader of the Holy Scriptures.thropy gained no place, or but a small one, amidst We shall in this treatise substitute for charity the its duties; and such an omission must ever have word Love, which is a correct translation of the presented a want of harmony between its doctrines original. If, however, the word charity should be and its precepts; a point of dissimilarity between occasionally used to avoid a too frequent repetition the perfection of the divine, and the required comof love, we beg that it may be understood as syno- pleteness of the human, character. Here, then, is nymous with that term. the disposition inculcated: a spirit of universal love; good-will to man; a delight in human happiness; carefulness to avoid whatever would lessen, and to do whatever would increase, the amount of the felicity of mankind: a love that is limited to no circle; that is restricted by no partialities, no friendships, no relationships; around which neither prejudices Nor is it, as many have represented, the love of nor aversions are allowed to draw a boundary; the brethren. Without all question, we are under which realizes, as its proper objects, friends, strangspecial obligations to love those who are the child-ers, and enemies; which requires no recommendaren of God, and joint heirs with us in Christ. "This is my commandment," says Christ, "that ye love one another." By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye love one another." Our brethren in Christ should be the first and dearest objects of our regard. Love to them is the badge of discipleship-the proof, both to ourselves and to the world, that we have passed from death unto life.And although we are "to do good to all men," yet we are especially to regard "the household of faith." But still, brotherly love, or the love of the brethren as such, is not the disposition, any otherwise than as included in it, which is here enjoined.

Of what kind of love does the apostle treat? Not of love to God, as is evident from the whole chapter, for the properties which are here enumerated have no direct reference to Jehovah, but relate in every instance to man. It is a disposition founded, no doubt, upon love to God, but it is not the same.

tion of any one but that he is a man, and which searches after man wherever he is to be found. It is an affection which binds its possessor to all of his kind, and makes him a good citizen of the universe. We must possess domestic affections, to render us good members of a family; we must have the more extended principles of patriotism, to render us good members of the state; and for the same reason, we must possess universal benevolence, to render us good members of a system which comprises the whole human race. This is the generic virtue, the one simple principle out of which so many and such beautiful ramifications of holy benevolence evolve. A far more comprehensive duty is laid down, All the actings of love, so finely described by the which is LOVE TO MANKIND IN GENERAL. As a proof apostle, may be traced up to this delight in happiof this I refer to the nature of its exercises. Do they ness; they all consist in doing that which will pronot as much respect the unconverted as the convert-mote the comfort of others, or in not doing that ed; the unbeliever as the believer? Are we not as which will hinder their peace;-whether they conmuch bound to be meek and kind, humble, forgiv-sist in passive or in active properties, they have a ing, and patient, towards all men, as we are towards direct bearing on general well-being.

the exercise of philanthropy, as it is for piety; and
the former is no less a part of religion than the lat-
ter. Love is the Divine nature, the image of God,
which is communicated to the soul of man by the
renewing influence of the Holy Ghost.

It will be proper to remark here, that by universal benevolence, we mean nothing that bears the most distant resemblance to the spurious philanthropy advocated some few years since by a school of modern infidels, who resolved all virtue into a chimerical passion for the public good; and the characteristic feature of whose system it was, to build up general benevolence on the destruction of individual tenderness. Reason and revelation unite in teaching us, that in the development of the passions we must advance from the private to public affections, and that extended benevolence is the last and most per-" Add to your faith-love." It is certain that there fect fruit of individual regards.

But although we represent this love as consisting in a principle of universal benevolence, we would remark that instead of satisfying itself with mere speculations on the desirableness of the well-being of the whole, or with mere good wishes for the happiness of mankind in general; instead of that indolent sentimentalism which would convert its inability to benefit the great body into an excuse for doing good to none of its members-it will put forth its energies, and engage its activities, for those which are within its reach: it would, if it could, touch the extreme parts; but as this cannot be done, it will exert a beneficial influence on those which are near; its very distance from the circumference will be felt as a motive to greater zeal in promoting the comfort of all that may be contiguous; and it will consider that the best and only way of reaching the last, is by an impulse given to what is next. It will view every individual it has to do with as a representative of his species, and consider him as preferring strong claims, both on his own account and on the account of his race. Towards all, it will retain a feeling of good-will, a preparedness for benevolent activity; and towards those who come within the sphere of its influence, it will go forth in the actings of kindness. Like the organ of vision, it can dilate, to comprehend, though but dimly, the whole prosIpect; or it can contract its view, and concentrate its I attention upon each individual object that comes under its inspection. The persons with whom we 1 daily converse and act, are those on whom our benevolence is first and most constantly to express itself, because these are the parts of the whole, which give us the opportunity of calling into exercise our universal philanthropy. But to them it is not to be confined, either in feeling or action; for, as we have opportunity, we are to do good to all men, and send abroad our beneficent regards to the great family of man.

2. This love is the effect of faith: hence it is said
by the apostle, "In Christ Jesus neither circum-
cision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but
faith which worketh by love." And by another in-
spired writer, it is represented as a part of the su-
perstructure which is raised on the basis of faith:-

can be no proper regard to man, which does not re-
sult from faith in Christ. It is the belief of the truth
which makes love to be felt as a duty, and which
brings before the mind the great examples, the pow-
erful motives, furnished by the Scriptures to pro-
mote its exercise. Nothing spiritually excellent can
be performed without faith. It is by faith alone,
that any thing we do is truly and properly religion:
this is the identifying Christian principle, separate
and apart from which, whatever excellence men
may exhibit, is but mere morality. By faith we
submit to the authority of God's law; by faith we
are united to Christ, and "receive from his fulness
and grace for grace;" by faith we contemplate the
love of God in Christ; by faith our conduct becomes
acceptable to God through Christ.

3. This love is exercised in obedience to the authori ty of God's word. It is a principle, not merely a feeling; it is cultivated and exercised as a duty, not yielded to merely as a generous instinct; it is a submission to God's command, not merely an indulgence of our own propensities; it is the constraint of conscience, not merely the impulse of constitutional tenderness. It may be, and often is, found where there is no natural softness or amiableness of temper: where this exists, it will grow with greater rapidity, and expand to greater magnitude, and flourish in greater beauty, like the mountain ash in the rich mould of the valley; but it still may be planted, like that noble tree, in a less congenial situation, and thrive, in obedience to the law of its nature, amidst barrenness and rocks. Multitudes,/ who have nothing of sentimentalism in their nature, have love to man; they rarely can melt into tears, or kindle into rapture-but they can be all energy and activity for the relief of misery, and for the / promotion of human happiness: their temperament / of mind partakes more of the frigid than of the torrid, and their summer seasons of the soul are short and cold; but still, amidst their mild and even loveNor are we to confound this virtue with a merely winter, charity, like the rose of Pæstum, blooms natural amiableness of disposition. It is often our lot to witness a species of philanthropy which, like the painting or the bust, is a very near resemblance of the original; but which still is only a picture, or a statue, that wants the mysterious principle of life. From that mere good-will to man, which even unconverted persons may possess, the love described by the apostle differs in the following particulars.

1. It is one of the fruits of regeneration. "The fruit of the Spirit is love." Unless a man be born of the Spirit, he can do nothing that is spiritually good. We are by nature corrupt and unholy-destitute of all love to God-and till renewed by the Holy Ghost in the spirit of our mind, we can do nothing well pleasing to God. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature;" and this love of our species is a part of the new creation. It is, in the strictest sense of the term, a holy virtue, and one great branch of holiness itself; for what is holiness, but love to God, and love to man? And without that previous change which is denominated being "born again," we can no more love man as we ought to do, than we can love God. Divine grace is as essentially necessary for the production and

in fragrance and in beauty. This is their motto-
"God has commanded me to love my neighbor as
myself; and in obedience to him I restrain my na-
tural tendency, and forgive the injuries, and relieve
the miseries, and build up the comfort, and hide
the faults, of all around me."

4. It is founded upon, and grows out of love to God.
We are to love God for his own sake, and men for
God's sake. Our Lord has laid down this as the
order and rule of our affections. We must first
love God with all our heart, and soul, and mind,
and then our neighbor as ourselves. Now, there
can be no proper religious affection for our neigh-
bor, which does not spring out of supreme regard
for Jehovah; since our love to our neighbor must
respect him as the offspring and workmanship of
God: "and if we love not him that begat, how can
we love him that is begotten of him ?" Besides, as
we are to exercise this disposition in obedience to
the authority of God, and as no obedience to his au-
thority can be valuable in itself, or acceptable to
him, which is not an operation of love, no kindness
to our neighbor can come up to the nature of the
duty here enjoined, which does not arise out of a

1

proper state of heart towards God. We love any that any motive is absolutely necessary to make a thing more truly and properly, the more explicitly command binding upon our conscience, beyond we acknowledge and love God in it; upon the view God's right to issue it; the obligation to duty is of those strokes and lineaments of the divine beauty, complete, in the absence of every other consideraand the characters of his glory, which are discerni- tion than the rightful authority of the command: ble in all his creatures, our love should someway be but as man is a creature capable of being moved by commensurate with the occasion, and comprehend appeals to his gratitude, as well as by motives adthe universe in its large and complacential embraces. dressed to his fear, it is both wise and condescendThough, as any thing is of higher excellency, and ing, on the part of Jehovah, thus to deal with him, hath more lively touches and resemblances of God and to "make him willing in the day of his power." upon it, or, by the disposition of his providence and He thus not only drives us by the force of his terlaw more nearly approaches us, and is more imme-rors, but draws us by the cords of his love. diately presented to our notice, converse, use, or The great evangelical inducement to mutual engagement; so our love should be towards it more affection between man and man, is God's love in explicitly, in a higher degree, or with more frequen- Christ Jesus to us. God has commended and mancy. As man, therefore, hath in him more of divine ifested his love to us in a manner that will fill imresemblance of God's natural likeness and image-mensity and eternity with astonishment: He has good men, of his moral holy image-we ought to "so loved the world as to give his only begotten love men more than the inferior creatures, and those Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not that are good and holy more than other men; and perish, but have everlasting life." This stupendous those with whom we are more concerned, with a exhibition of divine mercy is presented by the samore definite love, and which is required to be more cred writers, not only as a source of strong consolafrequent in its exercise: but all from the attraction tion, but also as a powerful motive to action; we of somewhat divine appearing in the object. So are not only to contemplate it for the purpose of joy, that all rational love, or that is capable of being re- but also of imitation. Mark the beautiful reasongulated and measured by a law, is only so far right ing of the apostle John-" Herein is love, not that in its own kind, as we love God in every thing, and we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son every thing upon his account, and for his sake. to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God The nature and spirit of man is, by the apostacy, so loved us, we ought also to love one another."become disaffected and strange to God-alienated Similar to this is also the inference of Paul-" And from the divine life-addicted to a particular limit- be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving ed good, to the creature for itself, apart from God; one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forwhereupon the things men love are their idols, and given you. Be ye therefore followers (imitators) men's love is idolatry. But when, by regeneration, of God, as dear children, and walk in love as Christ a due propension towards God is restored, the uni- who hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an versal good draws their minds; they become in- offering and a sacrifice to God, for a sweet smelling clined and enlarged towards it; and, as that is dif- savor." How forcible, yet how tender is such lanfused, their love follows it, and flows towards it guage! there is a charm in such a motive, which every where. They love all things principally in no terms can describe. The love of God, then, in and for God; and therefore such men most, as ex- its existence and arrangements from eternity; in cel in goodness, and in whom the Divine image its manifestation in time by the cross of our Lord more brightly shines.* Jesus Christ; in its topless height, its fathomless depth, its measureless length and breadth;-is the grand inducement to universal affection: and is it not enough to soften a heart of stone-to melt a heart of ice? The love spoken of in the chapter under consideration, is that impulse towards our fellowmen which is given us by the cross of Christ: it is not mere natural kindness, but it is love for Christ's sake; it is not the mere operations of a generous temper, but it is the feeling which moved in the apostle's breast, when he exclaimed, "The love of Christ constraineth us;" it is not natural religion, but Christianity; it is, so to speak, a plant which grows on Calvary, and entwines itself for support around the cross. It is a disposition which argues in this way: "Has God indeed thus loved me, so as to give his Son for my salvation? and is he kind to me daily for the sake of Christ? Has he forgiven all my numberless and aggravated transgressions? Does he still, with infinite patience, bear with all my infirmities and provocations? Then what is there, in the way of most generous affection, I ought not to be willing to do, or to bear, or to sacrifice, for others? Do they offend me, let me bear with them, and forgive them; for how has God forborne with me, and blotted out my sins? Do they want, let me be forward to supply their necessities; for how has God supplied mine!" Here, then, is love-that deep sense of God's love to us, which shows us the necessity, the reasonableness, the duty, of being kind to others; the feeling of a heart, which, laboring under the weight of its obligations to God, and finding itself too poor to extend its goodness to him, looks round, and gives utterance to its exuberant gratitude in acts of kindness guimos 1100 blot indw