scripture taught to imitate the universal benignity of the Deity, whose tender mercies are over all his works, and who causes his sun to rise and shine on all the nations, and on all classes of persons, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. And Christians are further taught in that very Letter of St. Paul, in which our text lies, to imitate not only the extent, but the degree of the Saviour's benevolence; if we can apply the word benevolence to the inex pressible and utterly inconceivable charity, which induced him to look upon our lost and ruined world, and interfere to effect our eternal salvation. Let the same mind, says St. Paul to the Christians at Philippi, be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, (although in the form of God-and incomprehensibly glorious and blessed-and equal with God-still, although thus rich in glory and blessedness ;) for our sakes emptied himself, and became poor, and made himself of no reputation; and assumed the form of a servant, and the likeness of men; and laid himself low, and submitted to death, even the ignominious and cruel death of the cross. Now it was in pity to all ranks and conditions of men, and for polluted, guilty, wretched, creatures in all nations, and amongst all peoples and languages, that he thus humbled himself and shed his blood; and never can benevolence so disinterested, or to such a degree, or to such an extent, be equalled, any more than the infinite beneficence of the Deity can be equalled by the puny efforts of feeble man: but still, you perceive the Bible commands Christians to imitate the one as well as the other; to cherish the same mind that was in Christ Jesus, when he looked on the affairs and died for the redemption of the world. Universal benevolence, then, is a scriptural idea; and to cherish such a sentiment, a christian duty.

And how wonderfully comprehensive is the precept that requires this duty-Be ye imitators of God and of the Saviour! The natural perfections of the Deity are indeed inimitable; we cannot imitate omnipotence and create a world; nor can we imitate omniscience, and therefore should not affect to judge the world: but we are commanded to

imitate the moral perfections of God Almighty, Father, Son, and Spirit ;-to be just as God is just; to be holy as he is holy; pure as he is pure; merciful as he is merciful; and in benignity and charity to resemble him; to forgive as he forgives us; to be patient as he is patient to us; and every one of us to look on the affairs of others, as Christ Jesus looked upon ours;-with similar mercy, and with similar exertions; to bear with others; to labour for others; to suffer deprivations and insults; and, if necessary, death for the sake of others.

Be ye imitators of God, and like-minded with Christ.Oh, what a rule of Christian ethics is this! and how gloriously peculiar is our holy religion in this! Neither ancient nor modern Pagans could say to the people, "Be ye imitators of your gods," without saying with the same breath, "Be ye vicious, or impure, or cruel;" nor can the priests of Mahommed tell the Musselmen to imitate their prophet, without implying the same absurdity.

Did that principle of benevolent concern for others generally prevail, it would prevent, and in every instance in which it does exist, it does prevent injustice and injuries, and the withholding of rights, and it insures the bestowment of positive good. If the people of Europe called Christians, had looked with a benevolent eye on the affairs of the sons of Africa, how could the abominable Slave-trade ever have been suffered to grow to that horridly cruel and malignant height that it did? If the people of this land called Christians, had looked with a benevolent eye on the poor families around them, how could their children have remained, generation after generation, growing up, and living, and dying in gross ignorance and vice; whilst those who had it in their power to instruct gratuitously, and those whom the funds of the country maintained for the purpose of instructing the people, very generally stood by unconcerned? If at this day the christian churches cherished the principle of benevolent concern for others, to the degree which comes at all near to an imitation of the Saviour, would they view with that, apathy which they still do, the situation of hundreds of millions of

few who seem carried forwards to personal sacrifices, and disinterested labours, by the constraining power of our Lord's love! How few of the disciples live to him who died for them! There are some, blessed be God! we deny it not. The associated efforts of many individuals and many churches to educate the young, to visit with the Gospel destitute villages, and to carry the glad tidings of salvation to the ends of the earth, indicate the existence of much love to the Saviour in the land, which is a foundation on which to build the hope of still brighter and better days. Yet, alas! among the baptized and professed Christians of this land, how large is the number of those who still continue the devotees of amusement and frivolity; who spend on mere self-gratification their time, and their property, and the exertions of their minds. Day after day, and night after night, do the trifles of fashion and amusement occupy their thoughts and their conversations; and yet are they to be found in churches or in chapels at least once of a Sunday. In such cases, how evident the defect of Christian love and living to the Saviour. How little evidence have they that they are indeed Christians.

And there are, too, men in Christian societies, whose hearts are wholly set on the accumulation of wealth and fortune. How industrious, how laborious are they. Early and late do they fix their attention on schemes of gain, laying up treasures on earth, anxious to leave riches to their children or near relatives, whilst Christ's cause is either neglected, or receives some scanty crumbs from their well-spread table; they live to themselves, and not to him who died for them.

Again, the lettered men of this land, who profess the Christian name, what do they study to promote the diffusion of Christ's gospel throughout the world? Alas! this is but rarely their object. Their own fame, or the agreeable or the fashionable pursuits of literature, are those to which they attend; and the living languages of mankind, amongst nations to which the gospel has not yet reached, are left to here and there a solitary individual; and scholars and divines will spend their lives in perusing,

or in translating dead pagan books into English, whilst the translation or composition of Christian books, for the instruction of hundreds of millions of living pagans, is by them totally neglected. These instances will convince every pious mind that much yet remains to be done, to evince the general existence of the love of Christ in the hearts of his professed disciples throughout the Christian churches of this land. But I must close:

This subject should lead us all to self-examination, and to put to ourselves this question :-To what has the love of Christ constrained me? and, first of all, has it constrained me to hate sin? for they were the sins of men which crucified the Lord of Glory. A hatred of sin is the first and the best evidence of the love of Christ being efficacious in producing a corresponding love in our hearts; for a love to the Saviour and a love of sin cannot exist together in the same heart. He that loves sin, hates the Saviour; therefore, the first effect of the love of Christ being shed abroad in any heart, is inducing it to crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts. Take St. Paul's reasoning and advice on the subject: "In that Christ died, he died unto sin once; but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God: likewise reckon ye yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, that ye should fulfil it in the lusts thereof." And take St. Peter's admonition: "Forasmuch as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind, for he that hath suffered in the flesh bath ceased from sin, that he should no longer live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God." Thus you see that the love of Christ must constrain us, in the first place, to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, adorning the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things, and by well doing putting to silence the ignorance of foolish men. This first effect of the Saviour's love terminating in ourselves is essential to the Christian character, and without it the utmost apparent zeal for the enlargement of the visible church, for the increase of education,

or for the conversion of the nations to Christianity, will not prove any real attachment to the Saviour. Wilful and habitual sin in professed disciples is like crucifying the Son of God afresh, trampling his blood under foot, and exposing him to open scorn. It will, at the great day of judgment, be in vain to say, "Lord! Lord! have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name done many wonderful works," and shewn great zeal for thy cause in the world, if we love and serve sin. He will say, Depart from me, all ye that work iniquity, I never knew you: they that loved me kept my commandments, but ye despised and disobeyed them. True zeal and ardent affection to the cause of our Lord, is not shewn by assailing the sins and ignorances of other men, and indulging our own; but since, humanly speaking, our own sins are most within our own reach, they will be first cast away, whenever our hatred of sin is real. And ministers, and parents, and teachers have need most especially to regard this, when attempting to communicate moral and religious instruction to the young, if they would have God's blessing rest on their labours.

There have been periods of the church, when pious good men seemed to neglect the external diffusion of Christian principles, and to retire within themselves, and let their love to Christ terminate in holy contemplations, and devout admiration of his infinite and ineffable grace. The present is an age of external effort and exertion, and as man, weak and wicked, is ever prone to go to extremes, there is a danger of being hurried onward to activity by the impulse of men's opinions, instead of being actuated by an internal principle of love to Christ. I may, therefore, be permitted to suggest to you, my fellow Christians, the propriety of self-examination on this point, to see whether you are drawn by the cords of divine love, or with the bands of man's opinion. Alas! if man's opinion only, or chiefly, or the importunity of zealous individuals, are the things which carrry us forward to support schools, and to advocate the cause of education, and the building of chapels, and the raising up of ministers, and printing Bibles, and sending forth missionaries, and all the while