thee to us as the God of love, and invoke thee farther in his name: Our father, &c.

I JOHN iv. 16.

And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him.

IT

T is one great excellence of the chriftian doctrine, and a token of its celeftial origin, that it con tains but few maxims, and preferibes but few commandments to its profeffors; but maxims calculated to furnish mankind with all needful and falutary information, commandments that are adapted to conduct them fafely in all the circumstances of life. God is thy father; he is effential love; his fon Je fus is a helper out of all diftrefs; death a paffage into life; to death fucceed judgment and retribution: this is the whole purport of chriftianity. Love God, love thy neighbour, truft in Jefus and follow his example, look not folely at the prefent, but also at the future this is the fum of all its commandments, But how much do thefe few maxims and command, ments contain! How rich in momentous, foothing confequences to the chriftian, who believes them with inward conviction, and makes them the ruling principle of that he conceives and does. Take for example the propofition laid down in our text. What confequences flow from the grand, fublime idea:

God is love! What matter for reflection, what luminous results, what blissful fenfations it imparts to the christian! We will make this the subject of our confideration at prefent, my pious hearers, and thus exercise ourselves in reflecting on the doctrines of christianity. Let us then proceed to inquire: what follows, if God be love.

It embraces No truth is more fertile than this. every thing, explains every thing, fheds light and comfort and felicity on every thing. Whoever is pervaded and animated by its force, muft of neceffity be good and happy and be always becoming better and happier. Indeed we can only indicate a few confequences refulting from this inexhaustibly confequential truth, but even thefe may inform, pacify, confole and gladden us in many of the trying fitua tions of life.

I. God is love: therefore his commands are not the commands of an auftere, capricious defpot, if fued to fhew his power and fupremacy, or to make us feel his authority, but directions to the attainment of that happiness for which he has defigned us, and which we abfolutely cannot attain unless we feek it in the way which he has pointed out, and do that which he has enjoined us to do. Therefore neither are his prohibitions the prohibitions of an envious, jealous, malignant being, determined to be joyful alone, alone free, alone happy, but admoni tions of love, ever watchful to guard us from whatever would be hurtful to us, to keep us from every

devious

devious and intricate path, from every action which we fhould hereafter repent, from every pleasure which would end in pain, and protect us from every danger, from the forfeiture of good, and from lapfing into mifery. Yes, this and nought elfe is the purport of all the precepts, which God has given us : their bafis is benevolence and love, their obfervance is the means and the way to felicity - frequently the actual enjoyment of it, in the very keeping of them there is great reward. Certainly he who does not rejoice in being under the fceptre of God and fain would withdraw from his infpection, knows him not, takes him not for what he is, and blafphemes the God of love as a mifanthropical tyrant. He who fighs under the eafy yoke of his laws, and looks upon them as a reftraint and a burden and would fain be abfolved from the obfervance of them, is blind to his own intereft, and prefers the fevereft bondage to perfect freedom. Oh let this never be forgotten by us, my dear friends, and when our confcience, when the teacher of religion fays to us on the part of God: let go that unjust advantage, deny that deceitful luft, facrifice that innocent pleasure to the benefit of thy brother, restrain thy anger, fupprefs thy revenge, requite evil with good, the fuggeftion will be always reinforced by the confideration: this is required of me by God, who is pure love, this must affuredly be useful and profitable to me, it is impoffible that I can lofe any thing by it, to obey him is to be happy.

II. God

II. God is love: therefore not only the goods that he bestows, but likewife the evils that he inflicts upon us, not only the fatisfactions which he allows us to enjoy, but also the afflictions that he lays upon us, are benefits, effects and proofs of his love or may and are defigned to be fo." Never, imprint this deeply in thy mind, o man, thou who wouldst conceive worthily of God, form right apprehenfions of his difpenfations and make the proper use of them, never does he suffer any evil to overtake thee, because it is an evil and is difagreeable or diftreffing to thee, never any pain to feize thee, because it racks thy nerves, never any forrow to opprefs thee, because it oppreffes and afflicts thee! That would not be benevolence, not love, it would be malice and cruelty. But he causes calamity, pain, trouble to come upon thee, in order to warn thee, to admonish, to correct, to exercise thee; that thou mayft not be deprived of other, far more confiderable benefits; in order to ward off ftill greater evils more pungent fufferings; in order to make thee capable of fuperior, more durable fatisfactions and benefits. Fain would he spare thee these calamities, these pains, thefe fufferings; fain would he give thee to inherit pure unmingled joy, if it were confiftent with thy nature, with thy capacities, with thy conduct, with thy present fituation, if thou couldft thereby become as intelligent, as wife, as virtuous, as happy, as thou canft thus become. Be then the way which God leads thee,

ever fo rugged and dreary, beset with ever so many rubs and difficulties, ftill however it is the road that leads direct to perfection and happiness. If thou follow it, thou canst not poffibly be wrong, not poffibly fail of the prize. Never forget this, o man, whether it fare with thee well or ill. Revere all, all the difpenfations of thy God as the difpenfations of fovereign love. Accept the ill no less than the good with gratitude from his hand; the former is a benefit as well as the latter, if thou use it according to his will and to the furtherance of his views.

III. God is love: therefore he never punishes, for the fake of punishing, never chastises for the fake of chaftifing; therefore his chastisements and punishments have not revenge, not fatisfaction for his injured honour, not compenfation for any lofs fuftained, but fimply correction and caution in view ; correction of the finner if he be yet corrigible, caution to the innocent, who may likewife err, and to the wavering and infirm, who are already ftumbling and ready to fall. It is not thy tears, not thy fighs, o man, not the anguifh of thy heart, not the bitter remorfe which torments thee, when thou haft finned, not the confufion and forrow, not the distress and mifery, in which thou haft involved thyfelf by thy follies, that are pleafing to the deity, whofe laws thou haft tranfgreffed. He is effential love; faid would he have exempted thee from thefe difagreeable, thefe woeful fenfations, fain have averted the baneful effects of thy follies from thee! But his