SERMON XIII.

ON THE LOVE OF GOD.

PART I.

ON THE NATURE OF THE LOVE OF GOD, AND THE MARKS BY WHICH IT MAY BE ASCERTAINED.

JESUS said to him: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. MATT., c. xxii. v. 37.

In these words is contained the reply made by our Divine Saviour to a Jewish doctor, who, wishing, as appears from the context, to convict him of ignorance or of error, applied to him for his decision on the following question:-" which is the great commandment of the law ?" But the answer returned by the Redeemer of mankind was so replete with wisdom, and so perfectly satisfactory in every respect, that it did not leave the smallest room for cavil, and frustrated completely his wicked design. "Thou," says he, "shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest, and the first commandment." And truly, my friends, in whatever point of view we consider it, we must allow it to be a commandment which challenges, above every

other, an indisputable pre-eminence. It is a commandment which, in the sublimity and excellence of its object, stands unrivalled in the code of moral precepts. It is a commandment, which may be said, in reality, to be engraven in deep and indelible characters on the heart of man, in that in-bred thirst after happiness, which nothing created is proved, by experience, to be capable of satisfying. It is a commandment which enforces its obligation on the glorified spirits of the just made perfect, who feel themselves irresistibly impelled to manifest their willing and unreserved obedience to this divine law. And bold as the expression may perhaps be thought, I will venture, nevertheless, to use it,-it is a commandment which binds Omnipotence itself; since even the Eternal can no more cease to love himself, than he can cease to exist. Such, my friends, is that greatest and first commandment, on the subject of which, I purpose this day to address you. I have now, therefore, to solicit the favor of your indulgent attention, whilst I humbly endeavour to explain to you its nature, and to describe to you the marks by which it may be ascertained.

It is not unusual for persons of a religious frame of mind, and who are distinguished by their assiduity in the service of the Almighty, to be, in no small degree, disturbed by dejecting apprehensions that they have not that true love of God which it behoves them to entertain. They compare the affection which they bear towards God with that which they are accustomed to feel for terrestrial objects;

and the difference which they discover between them oftentimes gives rise to the most distressing disquietudes and alarms. In their attachment, they say, to creatures, their bosoms glow with an ardor which cannot be described. They then experience all those lively emotions which are the unequivocal marks of strong and vehement passion; whilst their love of him, whose intrinsic excellence is not to be paralleled, who has a paramount claim on the the warmest tribute of their affections, and to whom, indispensably, they are commanded to give a decided preference above every created object, is, comparatively, cold, languid, and inanimate. Hence are they led to conclude, that the love of their Creator, apparently so inferior to that which they are wont to manifest to the creatures of his hand, cannot have attained that high degree of fervor which is prescribed to them in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But let not persons of this description who are thus piously disposed, and who wish and endeavour to the utmost of their abilities, aided by divine grace, "to work out their salvation with fear and trembling," suffer themselves to be dispirited by any such groundless and delusive apprehensions. Let them not imagine that, because their love of God may not be accompanied with those violent and enthusiastic transports of passion, which their attachment to creatures may sometimes produce within them, they do not comply with the precept of the law. Let them remember that divine and human love-the love of God, and the love of creatures,

are, in their very nature, operations essentially distinct; that the former originates in the intellectual part of our being; the latter in the sensitive: that the first, under the influence of divine grace, being occasioned by reflections on the excellencies of a Being, who, though infinite in every perfection, is invisible to the human eye, may, nevertheless, be easily conceived to be more calm and temperate; whilst the second, being excited by the impressions of corporeal objects on the organs of sense, may naturally be expected to be more tumultuous and impassioned.

I know, indeed, full well, that the pious servants of God have sometimes felt as warm and lively sentiments of affection for the Divine Author of their existence, as ever animated the souls of the most enamoured votary of passion for the beloved object of his fondest partiality and attachment. Of this, the royal Psalmist was, amongst others, a memorable example. The rapturous expressions of love, admiration, gratitude, delight, which abound in those inspired writings, in which he poured forth so tenderly the effusions of his heart, in his devout intercourse with his Supreme Good, bear evident testimony to the truth of this observation. And yet we learn from himself, that he was not always affected in the same manner. For he oftentimes describes, in the most pathetic strain, the wretched state of dejection and sadness to which he was reduced. He sometimes complains, that "his soul is like earth without water," that the Lord had con

cealed his countenance from him, and that he is encompassed around with impenetrable darkness. But will any one tell me, that in these sorrowful moments of depression and distress of mind, his love of God was less sincere, less genuine, or less acceptable, than when it was accompanied with all the most ravishing feelings of delight? Surely not. Away then with those false and erroneous notions on the subject of divine love, which have so pernicious a tendency to perplex the understanding, to wound the heart, and to extinguish in devout souls that engaging cheerfulness and serenity of disposition, which are so admirably calculated to recommend the cause of religion, and to make it appear amiable in the eyes of the world.

What, then, is to be understood by the love of God? What are the distinguishing characteristics of this most exalted and august of virtues? By what marks are we to recognise its existence within us? The first and most obvious mark, and which constitutes the very foundation of the love of God -is a proper and just conception, as far as the weakness of our nature will permit, of his adorable perfections, of all those excellent and endearing attributes so eminently inherent in the divine nature, and so munificently displayed for the benefit of mankind. For such is the constitution of the human heart, that it cannot withhold its affection from an object which recommends itself to it by so admirable a combination of lovely and attractive charms. If the notions, therefore, which you have