happiness. This divine affection directly tends to assimilate us to its glorious and blessed object; to enlarge, purify, and elevate our minds; to improve us in the various branches of moral goodness, which constitutes the health, the perfection, the felicity of our rational nature. Divine love unites us to God its object, and gives us the happifying enjoyment of him. As

God is the sovereign good, the adequate portion of our souls, so love introduces us to the possession of this good; it introduces us to an object, sufficient to employ, to entertain, to absorb all our faculties of contemplation and enjoyment. It unites us to a Friend, who is in finitely wise, faithful, and good; who has no unkindness to be suspected, no sorrows to be condoled, no change to be feared; who is forever glorious and happy, and forever our own, and is always at hand to guard, assist, and comfort us. How great the happiness arising from an intercourse of love with such an object even in this state of distance and imperfection! But how unspeakably greater the bliss of seeing him face to face in the light of future glory; of beholding, loving, and enjoying him in an immediate, perfect, progressive manner forever and ever! Well might the Psalmist in the view of this blessedness exclaim, "As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake, with thy likeness; for in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore."

In the review of this subject, it is natural to reflect on the goodness as well, as propriety and justice of that divine constitution, which makes love to God the first duty of man, The divine Legislator herein has equally consulted and inseparably united his own rights and dignity, and our interest and happiness; for this pious regard to the Deity is the main qualification for and ingredient in rational felicity.

We likewise infer the destructive tendency of impiety and atheism, both to societies and individuals, by undermining the foundation of order, virtue, and rational felicity. We infer too the dangerous error of those moralists, who place the whole duty of man in the personal and social virtues, while they overlook, and per. haps ridicule, as mere superstition or enthusiasm, the exercises of love and devotion towards God. It appears from our doctrine, that piety is the basis and soul of moral excellence and human happiness; that it is perfectly fit in itself, is necessary to the uniform, persevering, and acceptable discharge of social and private obligations, and is essentially pre-requisite to the final approbation and enjoyment of God. Let our accomplishments in other respects be ever so amiable or splendid, if we are eminently just and kind, generous and honourable towards our fellow men, and our character to human view is quite unexceptionable and noble; yet if we treat the original beauty and good, the supreme Parent and Benefactor, with cold indifference or pointed opposition, we betray a very unnatural and monstrous state of mind, which is utterly inconsistent with real honesty and goodness. Let those, who have hitherto lived as without God in the world, labour to feel their guilt and danger, and earnestly seek the recovery of that divine temper, which is the root of human perfection and felicity. Let those, who possess it, be daily employed in feeling the sacred flame; let the daily breath of their hearts and of their lives echo that becoming and elevated language of piety, "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth, that I desire, besides thee. My flesh and my heart faileth; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."

Sermon V.

On the Love of our Neighbour.

MARK Xxii. 31.

And the second is like unto it, namely, this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

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THIS and the preceding verse present to our view a

beautiful compend of true religion. They contain the answer, which our Saviour gave to this important question, "Which is the great commandment in the law?" His first reply is, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart;....this is the first and great commandment." This verse holds up the superior obligation and importance of piety, or an inward governing regard to the Deity. Accordingly, the prime duty and excellence of love to God were the theme of our late meditations in this place. The words, fixed at the head of this discourse, call our attention to the second great duty of man, which is of similar importance as well, as inseparably connected with the first. "And the second is like unto it, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."

In illustrating the subject before us, we will consider the object, the nature, the standard, and the reasons of the duty enjoined.

First. The object of this duty is our neighbour. But who is designated or included in this appellation? If a Jew in our Saviour's day had been asked this question, he would have replied, those of my own kindred and

nation, of my own religious sect or denomination; these, and these only, are my neighbours, and the proper objects of my charitable affection. And if some bigoted professors of Christianity were interrogated in the same manner, I fear their hearts would echo the same reply, though perhaps they would blush to avow it with their lips. But if we apply to our divine Lord for a decision of this question, we shall find him determiné it on a plan infinitely more noble and enlarged. When a Jewish lawyer asked him, "And who is my neighbour?” he relates to him the story of a certain Jew, who, falling in, to the hands of robbers, was stripped, wounded, and left weltering in his gore. He was found in the road by two Jewish travellers; a contracted, unfeeling priest, and a Levite of the same mean, and barbarous temper; who, instead of commiserating and relieving the wretched object, though one of their own country and religion, only gave him a cold, distant look, and passed by on the other side. At length a Samaritan, one of another nation, and of a quite different religion, with whom the Jews disdained any kind of intercourse, finds the unhappy stranger, and his heart is instantly struck at the pitiable sight; his compassionate, beneficent love bursts forth through every barrier of national prejudice or party distinction; he embraces a professed enemy in the arms of fervent benevolence, and treats him with all the tender and generous kindness of a brother. "Which, now, (says our Saviour) which of these three was neigh, bour to him, that fell among thieves?" The lawyer readily answers, "He that shewed mercy on him.” Then said Jesus, "Go thou, and do likewise, Look upon thyself a neighbour to every man, and every man a neighbour to thee. Let the stream of thy extended and active good will flow out to all, whom thou art capable of serving, whether they be strangers or ac

quaintance, friends or foes, just or unjust." Thus the gospel holds up all mankind, as the object of our neighbourly and fraternal regards.

Secondly. We are now to inquire into the nature of the affection here required to this object. And it is obvious to remark, that there are many things, which wear some appearance of love to mankind, which yet fall essentially short of the spirit of the duty before us. There is an instinctive and painful sympathy awakened by the sight of a fellow creature in distress, which engages our immediate efforts for his relief. There is

a strong natural affection towards our kindred, especially towards our tender offspring. There is a characteristic sweetness and goodness of temper, which forms an early and constitutional feature in human characters. There is also an artificial politeness and generosity, the product of civilization and refinement, or at best of merely rational and philosophical considerations. There is likewise a warm affection to others, which grows out of a likeness or union of sentiment and disposition, of party or country, or which is nourished by the enjoyment or the hope of their partial friendship and beneficence to us; not to add, that there is sometimes an affected display of kindness and munificence to individuals, or of noble patriotic zeal for the public, which is prompted by merely vain or selfish motives, and sometimes by views very base and iniquitous. It is evident, at first sight, that neither of these apparent instances of benevolence, nor all of them combined, fulfil the extensive precept in the text. If you ask what further is included, we reply, genuine, virtuous love to our neighbour is ever founded upon and connected with piety, or a religious and prevailing regard to our Creator. If we love God with a supreme affection, we shall naturally love his rational offspring for his sake, on account of their near