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your trials and distresses: "The eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.” (Ps. xxxiii. 18. ciii. 13.) The Saviour shall often come unto you with his light and consolation, with a sense of his pardoning love and mercy: for "unto you that fear my name, says the Lord, shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings.” (Mal. iv. 2.) Beyond the grave there is secured to you a felicity worthy of the tenderness of that God whom you fear and love, worthy of that Redeemer in whom you confidently trust: for "surely his salvation is nigh unto them that fear him ;" (Ps. lxxxv. 9.) and "the Lord hearkens and hears, and a book of remembrance is written before him for them that fear the Lord; and they shall be mine, saith the Lord, in that day when I make up my jewels, and I will spare them as a Father spareth his own son that serveth him." (Mal. iii. 16, 17.)

These are but a small portion of the promises made to you; but are not these abundantly sufficient to make you cry out with David, "O how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for those that fear thee?" (Ps. xxxi. 19.) Bless God, who by his Spirit and his grace has implanted this disposition within you; thank him for those privileges annexed to it; cultivate it by prayer and communion with the Lord; and, fearing God, rise superior to all other fear.

And you, whose consciences attest that you are destitute of this sentiment, at last awake to a sense of your condition. Does not God deserve these emotions from you? Does he not sustain to you all those relations that are calculated to excite a reverential and filial fear? Would it not make your life

more safe and happy, and your death more serene? Must you not hereafter tremble at his bar, if you now do not fear him? Oh! then, no longer trifle with the living God! earnestly implore from him this blessing, and use those means calculated to procure it in humble dependence upon him.

SERMON CIII.

LOVE TO GOD.

MARK Xii. 30.

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.

SUCH, according to the declaration of our blessed Redeemer, is "the first and great commandment.” The indispensable necessity of complying with it cannot for a moment be doubted by a reasonable man or a Christian. It is the compendium of all our duty; it is the object for the attainment of which both the law and the gospel are designed; it is at once "the old, the new, and the great commandment, and all the commandments, since it is, according to St. Paul, the fulfilling of the law." It is the

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vital principle of every Christian grace and virtue; it is love, beholding the combination of all that is great and glorious in God, which inspires holy veneration and reverence; it is love, considering his mercies and promises, that prompts the ardent tribute of gratitude; it is love, that leaning on the arm, and glorying in the goodness and pledged protection of the greatest and best of beings, inspires confidence and trust in the midst of dangers; it is love, that in adversity creates resignation; without it there could be only a servile and constrained submission; but love smooths the brow of affliction, puts God in the place of the friends or the comforts we have lost, quiets all our griefs and our cares, and is contented with the portion that our Father has assigned us; it is love, that, regarding the excellence of the Most Bountiful and Most Gracious, causes the tears of godly sorrow and evangelical repentance to flow for our offences against him.

It is also the soul and the spring of obedience. No sacrifice can be acceptable that is not kindled by this heavenly fire; no offering is pure that is not preserved by this holy salt; no action is agreeable to God that does not flow from this principle rooted in the heart; no obedience is sweet and constant that has any other source; for though fear may impel to the performance of some duties and hope to others, yet love alone can steadily and cheerfully influence the soul. However splendid may be our acts, however self-denying our performances, without love to inspire them, they are only a beautiful carcass without any animating principle; the bestowal of all our goods to feed the poor, the submission to all the tortures of martyrdom, without love, says the apostle, would "profit us nothing."

Without love to God it is as impossible, from the nature of things, as from the appointment of the Lord, that we could enjoy the felicity of heaven. Even if the justice and holiness of the Eternal had not debarred those who love him not, from the king dom of purity; even if they were permitted to mingle with the inhabitants of that blessed world, yet still they would be unhappy, if they carried thither a heart averse from God, uninflamed with love to him. All the occupations, pursuits, and enjoyments of heaven, would be so discordant to their feelings, so inconsistent with their moral taste, that in the midst of the raptures of seraphs and redeemed sinners, they would find nothing to delight them: for heaven is not so much a place, as the state of the soul, and in proportion to our love is the foundation of heaven laid within us, or rather, so much of heaven is already let down in our soul.

But why do I insist so much on the necessity of this precept? There is not one of you who will not acknowledge that reason requires it, that God commands it, that the scriptures enjoin it, under penalty of eternal perdition. Let us rather, since this duty is of such infinite consequence, carefully examine its nature, that we may discover our true state, and ascertain whether indeed the love of God be in us.

A true love to God has three principal constituent parts:

I. The love of desire, which terminates upon him as the sovereign good, as the author, the foundation, and the support of our happiness.

II. The love of gratitude; arising from a sense of the goodness and beneficence of God towards us; and,

III. Disinterested love, having as its motive and foundation, the moral beauty, the excellence, and the

perfections of God, considered in themselves, and without any reference to the advantages which we derive from them...

I. The love of desire takes its origin from the wants and necessities of man, and the fitness and willingness of God to supply these wants, and relieve these necessities. From the constitution of our nature, we are impelled to seek happiness; our desires of felicity are strong and unconquerable: they commence with our first breath; they endure till our last sigh. But our nature is so limited, our needs so multiplied, that we cannot find enough in ourselves to satisfy the capacities of our souls, to fill the void in our hearts, and to quench our raging thirst for happiness. To be self-sufficient is the prerogative of God, and belongs to no creature; especially to no sinful creature. Man then being animated by desires for felicity, and not finding within himself any thing on which his desires may fix as their rest and their end, is obliged to have recourse to outward objects as their rest and delight, and as props to the feebleness of humanity. And in observing the choice which is made among different and opposite outward objects, we find the first mark of discrimination between him who loveth God and him who loveth him not. The latter seeks among the creatures for that happiness after which he pants. In hopes thus to attain it, he labours for wealth, he pursues honour, he riots in sensual indulgences. Disappointed in his expectations, he does not desist in his vain attempt to extract felicity from earth; he does not say, "Where is God my maker, who filleth the soul with gladness, and giveth songs in the night?" he still eagerly follows those objects which are either difficult or impossible to be obtained, and which, were they attained, could

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