manity, and can never be the love enjoined in so many places in the New Testament. No: Christian charity is not a poor old dotard, creeping about the world, too blind to perceive the distinction between good and evil; or a fawning sycophant, too timid to reprove the bold transgressor, and smiling with parasitical and imbecile complacency upon the errors and iniquities of the human race;-but a vigorous and healthy virtue, with an eye keen to discern the boundaries between right and wrong, a hand strong and ready to help the transgressor out of his miserable condition, a heart full of mercy for the sinner and the sufferer; a disposition to forgive rather than to revenge, to extenuate rather than to aggravate, to conceal rather than to expose, to be kind rather than severe, to be hopeful of good rather than suspicious of evil,-but withal, the inflexible, immutable friend of holiness, and the equally inflexible and immutable enemy of sin.

We are not allowed, it is true, to be scornful and proud towards the wicked, nor censorious towards any; we are not to make the most distant approach to the temper which says, "Stand by, I am holier than thou !" we are not to hunt for the failings of others, nor, when we see them without hunting for them, to condemn them in a tone of arrogance, or with a spirit of acerbity; but still we must maintain that temper which, while it reflects the beauty of a God of Love, no less brightly reflects his glory as a God of holiness, and a God of truth.

CHAPTER IV.

THE INDISPENSABLE NECESSITY OF CHRISTIAN

LOVE.

A DISTINCTION has been introduced into the subject of religion, which, although not wholly free from objection, is sufficient to answer the purpose, for which it is employed; I mean that which exists between essentials and non-essentials. It would be a difficult task to trace the boundary line by which these classes are divided; but the truth of the general idea cannot be questioned that there are some things, both in faith and practice, which, for want of perceiving the grounds of their obligation, we may neglect, and yet not be destitute of true religion; while there are others, the absence of which necessarily implies an unrenewed heart. Among the essentials of true piety, must be reckoned the disposition we are now considering. It is not to be classed with those observances and views which, though important, are not absolutely essential to salvation: we must possess it, or we are not Christians now, and shall not be admitted into heaven hereafter. The Apostle has expressed this necessity in the clearest and the strongest manner. He has put a hypothetical case of the most impressive kind, which I shall now illustrate,

"Though I speak with the tongues of men or of angels, and have not CHARITY, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal."-Verse 1.

By the tongues of men and of angels, we are not to understand the powers of the loftiest eloquence, but the miraculous gift of tongues, accompanied by an ability to convey ideas according to the method of celestial beings. Should a man be invested with these stupendous endowments, and employ them in the service of the Gospel; still, if his heart were not a partaker of love, he would be no more acceptible to God, than was the clangor of the brazen instruments employed in the idolatrous worship of the Egyptian Isis, or the noise of the tinkling cymbals which accompanied the orgies of the Grecian Cybele. Such a man's profession of religion is not only worthless in the sight of God, but disagreeable and disgusting. The comparison is remarkably strong, inasmuch as it refers not to soft melodious sounds, as of the flute or of the harp --not to the harmonious chords of a concert,—but to the harsh dissonance of instruments of the most inharmonious character: and if, as is probable, the allusion be to the noisy clank of idolatrous musicians, the idea is as strongly presented as it is possible for the force of language to express it.

"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." -Verse 2.

Paul still alludes to miraculous endowments. Prophecy, in the Scripture use of the term, is not limited to the foretelling of future events, but means, to speak by inspiration of God; and its exercise, in this instance, refers to the power of explaining, without premeditation or mistake, the typical and predictive parts of the Old Testament dispensation, together with the facts and doctrines of the Christian economy. "The faith that could remove mountains," is an allusion to an expression of our Lord's, which occurs in the Gospel

history. "Verily I say unto you, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove." This faith is of a distinct nature altogether from that by which men are justified, and become the children of God. It has been called the faith of miracles, and seems to have consisted in a firm persuasion of the power or ability of God to do any miraculous thing for the support of the Gospel. It operated two ways the first was a belief on the part of the person who wrought the miracle, that he was the subject of a divine impulse, and called at that time to perform such an act; and the other was a belief on the part of the person on whom a miracle was about to be performed, that such an effect would be really produced. Now the Apostle declared, that although a man had been gifted with prophecy, so as to explain the deepest mysteries of the Jewish or the Christian systems, and, in addition, possessed that miraculous faith by which the most difficult and astonishing changes would have been effected, he was nothing, and less than nothing, without love.

"And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not CHARITY, it profiteth me nothing."--Verse 3.

This representation of the indispensable necessity of love is most striking; it supposes it possible that a man may distribute all his substance in acts of apparent beneficence, and yet, after all, be without true religion. Actions derive their moral character from the motives under the influence of which they are performed; and many which are beneficial to man, may still be sinful in the sight of God, because they are not done from a right inducement. The most diffusive liberality, if prompted by pride, vanity, or self-righteousness, is of no value in the eyes of the omniscient Jehovah; on the contrary, it is very sinful. And is it not too evident to be questioned, that many of the almsdeeds of which we are the witnesses, are done from any motives but the right ones? We can readily imagine that multitudes are lavish in their pecuniary contribu

tions, who are at the same time totally destitute of love to God and love to man; and if destitute of these sacred virtues, they are, as it respects real religion, less than nothing, although they should spend every farthing of their property in relieving the wants of the poor. If our munificence, however great or self-denying, be the operation of mere selfish regard to ourselves, to our own reputation, or to our own safety, and not of pure love, it may do good to others, but will do none to ourselves. "And though I give my body to be burned,” i. e. as a martyr for religion, " and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing." Whether such a case as this, ever existed, we know not; it is not impossible, nor improbable; but if it did, not the tortures of an agonizing death, nor the courage that endured them, nor the seeming zeal for religion which led to them, would be accepted in lieu of love to man. Such an instance of self-devotedness must have been the result either of that self-righteousness which substitutes its own sufferings for those of Christ, or of that love of fame which scruples not to seek it even in the fires of martyrdom; -in either case it partakes not of the nature, nor will it receive the reward, of true religion. It will help to convince us, not only of the necessity, but of the importance, of this temper of mind, if we bring into a narrow compass the many and various representations of it which are to be found in the New Testament.

1. It is the object of the divine decree in predestination. "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love."-Ephes. i. 4.

2. It is the end and purpose of the moral law. "The end of the commandment is charity (love.") "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it-Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the prophets.”—Mat. xxii. 37— 40. "Love is the fulfilling of the Law."