all its parts, and in all its bearings, seems expressly devised to exclude boasting; the means by which it asserts that the renovation and sanctification of the human heart are carried on, and its security to eternal life established even by the effectual operation of a divine agency; the sovereignty which it proclaims, as regulating the dispensations of celestial mercy; the examples which it holds forth, of the astonishing lowliness and self-abasement of others, so far superior to man in their mental and moral natures, such as the profound abasement of the angelic race, but especially the unparelleled humiliation of him, who, though he was in the form of God, was found in the form of a servant;-these considerations, which are all drawn from the scriptures, supply incentives to humility, which demonstrate, upon Christian principles, that pride is the most unreasonable, as well as the most unrighteous, thing in the universe. Pride is opposed, and humility is supported, by every possible view that we can take of divine revelation. An acquaintance with these great principles of inspired truth, at least an experimental knowledge of them, will bring down the loftiness of men's looks, and silence the tongue of arrogant boasting. Surely, surely, he that is conversant with these things, will see little cause for self-valuation, as Mr, Hume calls pride, or for that self-publication, which is the essence of vanity.

While every true-hearted Christian is thankful that the Son of God stooped so low for his salvation, he will rejoice that his state of humiliation is past. "If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said,

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unto the Father." The eclipse is over, the sun has resumed his original brightness, and the heavenly world is illuminated with his rays. That man, in whom was no form nor comeliness for which he should be desired, sits upon the throne of the universe, wearing a crown of immortal glory, and is adored by angels and by men. His humility has conducted to honour; his sorrow has terminated in unspeakable joy. "His glory is great in thy salvation; honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him; for thou hast made him most blessed for ever: thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance." Similar shall be the result in the case of those who follow his steps, and tread the lowly path in which he has commanded them to walk. The crown of glory is reserved for the humble, but shame shall be the reward of the proud. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

There is no operation of Christian love more beautiful, none more scarce, than this; let professing Christians set themselves to work with their own proud hearts, and their own boasting tongues, remembering that they who sink the lowest in humility in this world, shall assuredly rise the highest in honour in the world to come.

CHAPTER X.

THE DECORUM OF LOVE.

"Charity doth not behave itself unseemly.”

A STATION for every person, and every person in his station; a time for everything, and everything in its time; a manner for everything, and everything in its manner;-is a compendious and admirable rule for human conduct, and seems to approach very nearly to the property of charity, which we are now to consider. There is some difficulty in ascertaining the precise idea which the Apostle intended by the original term. Perhaps the most correct rendering is "indecorously," "unbecomingly," i. e. unsuitably to our sex, rank, age, or circumstances. Love leads a man to know his place, and to keep it ; and prevents all those deviations which, by disarranging the order, disturb the comfort, of society. This is so general and comprehensive a rule, that it would admit of application to all the various distinctions which exist in life. It is absolutely universal, and binds with equal force the monarch and the peasant, and all the numerous intermediate ranks. It imposes a consistency between a man's station

and his conduct, viewed in the light of Christianity. It says to every man, "Consider your circumstances, and fulfil every just expectation to which they give rise." By the common consent of mankind, there is a certain line of conduct which belongs to every relation in life, and which cannot, perhaps, be better expressed than by the word "becomingness;" and which may be called the symmetry of the body politic. We may select a few of the more prominent distinctions of society, and see how love preserves them without giving offence.

The relation of monarch and subject is one of the social ties; and, in reference to this, love would prevent the former from employing the kingly power to crush the liberty, subvert the interests, or impoverish the resources, of his people; while it would equally prevent them from despising the person, exposing the defects, evading the authority, disturbing the peace, or embarrassing the reign, of the monarch: tyranny on the part of the prince, and rebellion on the part of the subject, are equally unbecoming, and both are hostile to that love which seeks the happiness of the whole.

'The distinction of male and female is to be supported by all propriety of conduct. On the part of the man, if he be single, all trifling with the affections, all familiarity with the person, all taking advantage of the weakness of the other sex, is explicitly forbidden; as is all neglect, oppression, and unkindness towards his wife, if he be married. What a horrid unseemliness is it on the part of a husband, to become either the slave or the tyrant of his wife; either in pitiful weakness to abdicate

women.

the throne of domestic government, or to make her a crouching vassal, trembling in its shadow; and how disgusting a spectacle is it to see a husband abandoning the society of his wife for the company of other females, and flirting, though, perhaps, with no criminal intention, with either single or married On the other hand, how unseemly in unmarried women, is a bold obtrusiveness of manner, an impudent forwardness of address, a clamorous and monopolizing strain of conversation, an evident attempt to attract the attention of the other sex. Modesty is the brightest ornament of the female character, its very becomingness. And women, if married, should be stayers at home, and not gossips abroad; should look well to the ways of their household, and preside over its affairs in the meekness of wisdom; for domestic indolence and neglect is, in a wife and a mother, most unseemly: nor is it less offensive to see the female head of a family usurping the seat of government, and reducing her husband to the rank of mere prime minister to the queen. Women never act more unseemly than when they become busy meddling partizans, either in politics or church affairs. Nothing can be more offensive than to see a female busy-body running from house to house to raise a party, and to influence an ecclesiastical decision; forgetting that her place is home, and her duty to learn in silence of her husband. Whatever admiration has been bestowed on the heroic females of Sparta, who fought by the side of their husbands, no such eulogy can be offered to ecclesiastical heroines, whose martial ardour leads them into the arena of church contentions.