is to be found in the protracted period of childhood, indicate the existence of an intelligent Designer, who is thoroughly acquainted with all the secret springs of the human mind, and who has employed a wisdom truly Divine, in the provision He has made for calling them forth and exercising them.

EIGHTH WEEK-SUNDAY.

ON CHRISTIAN LOVE.

CHARITY, says an apostle, is the bond of perfectness; that strong and important tie, by which, among believers, heart is united to heart. The Christian faith is no less remarkable in this respect, than in respect of what has been more emphatically called its peculiar doctrines, that it places the foundation of morality, as well as religion, on the principle of love. In the two preceding papers, I have adverted to the Providential arrangements by which the affections of the heart, which constitute this principle, so far as it is naturally inherent in the mind, are called into action and cultivated. Let us now regard it as a religious duty.

I shall at present confine myself to the consideration of the love which we owe to our fellow-creatures; merely observing, with regard to this duty, as relates to the Author of our being, and the Saviour of our souls, that it is the cultivation of that higher principle which gives to the social affection its most ennobling character; and, indeed, to speak more correctly, it is from love to God that love to man must flow, before it can deserve the name of a Christian principle. God is our Creator, Preserver, and Governor, or, to state all in one word, our Father; we are, therefore, bound to each other by the endearing relation of brotherhood. Christ is our common Saviour; and this forms a new tie, of a still closer

and more tender kind. If, on the natural bond which unites the members of a family together, and thence extends to the great family of mankind, this more exalted principle be superinduced, a union will be formed which may well be called the cement of society. The love thus called forth, was so conspicuous for its strength and disinterestedness among the early followers of Jesus, as to excite the admiration and envy of their heathen neighbors, and gave rise to the wellknown exclamation, "Behold how these Christians love one another !"

The sentiment is of a similar nature among believers in the present day, though its intenseness is no longer exhibited by persecution, nor its highest exercise called forth by sympathy with common dangers and impending death. It is the union of a great family in love to one Father and elder Brother, whence the mutual affection descends in the kindliest influences on the whole household. There is a remarkable figure by which an apostle illustrates the union thus formed; he represents Christian society under the image of a human body, of which Christ is the head, and every individual believer is a member, and hence he infers, that "we are members one of another;" that each member has its own particular office assigned to it, which, if properly employed, is of benefit to all the rest; and that the whole being fitly joined together, and compacted," forms "a perfect man." This beautifully shows forth and enforces the various offices of Christian love. There are "many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee; nor, again, the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more, those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary." "God hath tempered the body together," "that there should be no schism;" "but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it."

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A similar sentiment is expressed by our Saviour, himself, when he says, "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that

ye also love one another." There is a natural affection which men, as the descendants of a common parent, should entertain for each other; but here is a stronger bond formed between believers, by the love of Christ. It is a new commandment.

What a happy society would the Christian world form, if that spirit of love were diffused over it, of which the great Founder of our faith exhibited so eminent an example. There are, indeed, many unavoidable evils of life; but how few and trifling are these, compared with the calamities which men bring on themselves by vicious indulgences, and especially by giving way to the malevolent passions. The winter may be stormy, but it is counterbalanced by the delights of spring, summer, and autumn. Disease may sometimes afflict us, but how small is the proportion of sickness to health. Loss of friends may distress us; but here religion comes with its consolations, and the Christian does not sorrow as others, who have no hope. Though evil exist in the world, then, it does not naturally preponderate in the world; and, if we are unhappy, this must be owing either to the evil passions of our own hearts, or the malignity of others. Were we but to fulfil toward each other the perfect law of love, even this present sublunary state would be full of enjoyment.

It is surely superfluous to use many words, in order to show how necessary mutual love is to happiness. We need only look among our own acquaintances to be convinced, that domestic harmony or discord is of more weight in the scale of social happiness or misery, than all other circumstances connected with our lot in this world, taken together. Who can pass a single day without having the truth of Solomon's observation forcibly impressed on his mind, "Better is a dinner of herbs, where love is, than a stalled ox, and hatred therewith." Pleasures and pains of this kind have a powerful tendency to diffuse themselves. A benevolent countenance sheds beams of joy on a whole circle, while a lowering and discontented brow brings gloom, and blights enjoyment. "A greater punishment could not be inflicted on any rational being," says Dr. Enfield, "than that he should be rendered incapable

of loving; nor can a more lively idea be formed of the wretchedness, as well as the depravity, of the prince of evil demons, than that suggested by the poet, when he makes him say,

Evil, be thou my good." "

The converse of this sentiment is no less true, that. there is no pleasure so great as that which arises from the cultivation of the affections. Of these, the highest of all are the religious; but it is of the benevolent that I at present speak. David was deeply sensible of this, and has beautifully expressed his feelings with regard to both. Speaking of the latter, he says, "Behold how good and how pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." He compares it to the holy ointment with which Aaron was consecrated to the service of God, at once graceful and ennobling; and to the dew which descended on the mountains of Zion, sparkling in the beams of the morning, and shedding refreshment and fertility around. Paul has equally extolled this virtue, in that celebrated passage in his Epistle to the Corinthians, in which he describes it under the name of charity. His last characteristic of this principle is that which crowns the whole. It survives death, and is perfected in heaven. "Charity

never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away." "And now abideth faith, hope, charity,-these three; but the greatest of these is charity!"

Love is, indeed, the perfection of our being, and the source of our highest happiness. It is the very soul of angelic natures; and the cultivation of it on earth, is the best preparation for the heavenly society, when time shall be no more. The various arrangements, therefore, alluded to in former papers, by which the domestic and social affections are called forth and exercised, have a far higher ultimate object than that of binding society together, and contributing to our enjoyments in our present imperfect

state. They have reference to eternity, and the faculties which they cultivate shall find their noblest exercise in heaven.

But the union of heart to heart, of which I have here spoken, is not attainable by man, in his present state, without the infusion of a higher principle; and it is in the purification of his affections, that the change induced on the mind by Divine grace, chiefly consists. The mere natural feeling, although one of the purest and most tender which inhabit the hearts of the race of Adam, is yet tainted and debased. It is the Holy Spirit restoring the image of God to the soul, which alone can ennoble it. Under His influences, friendships of earth are converted into a heavenly brotherhood, and, becoming Divine, are rendered immortal.

EIGHTH WEEK-MONDAY.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE OPERATIONS OF REASON AND INSTINCT, AS AFFORDING ARGUMENTS IN FAVOR OF THE DIVINE PERFECTIONS.

IN turning, as we are now about to do, to the effects produced by the exercise of the rational faculties of man, in aiding the productive powers impressed on Nature, it will be necessary to attend to some circumstances, which serve, in a certain degree, to give a new character to our reasoning. The instincts by which the lower animals perform the important offices necessary for the production and rearing of their young, are obviously contrivances with which they have nothing to do, further than to execute a task assigned to them by a Superior Power. It is clear that there is a great end to be attained, that they perform certain actions necessary for the attainment of that end, and yet that they are altogether unconscious of the part which they are acting, and even entirely ignorant of the end itself; and it hence follows, that every movement which they make, tending to the preservation