and the society of his dearest friends. No longer should we see a hard-hearted creditor doom a poor unfortunate man, for the sake of a few shillings or pounds, to rot in a jail, while his family, deprived of his industry, were pining away in wretchedness and want. No longer should we hear the harsh creaking of iron doors, ponderous bolts, and the clanking of the chains of criminals; nor the sighs and groans of the poor slave, fainting under the lash, and the reproaches of a cruel master. The bands of the oppressed would be loosed, the captives would be set at liberty, the iron fetters would be burst asunder, and a universal jubilee proclaimed throughout every land. The haunts of riot and debauchery would be forsaken, and their inmates hissed from the abodes of men. The victims of seduction would no longer crowd our streets at the dead hour of night, to entice the "simple ones" into the paths of vice and destruction; but purity, righteousness, and peace would "run down our streets like a river," distributing safety, happiness, and repose.

The tongue of the slanderer and the whisperings of the backbiter would no longer be heard in their malicious attempts to sow the seeds of discord and contention among brethren. Falsehood in all its ramifications, with the numerous train of evils it now produces, would be banished from the intercourses of society; nor would treachery prove the ruin of families and societies, and interrupt the harmony of the commercial and the moral world. No longer should we hear of the embezzling of property by unfaithful servants, nor the blasted hopes, the cruel disappointments, and the ruin of credit and of reputation now produced by the votaries of falsehood. "The lips of truth would be established for ever," and the liar and deceiver would be hissed to the shades of hell. Our property would remain sacred and secure from the thief and the midnight robber, and our persons from the attacks of the murderer and the assassin. We should no longer hesitate to prosecute our journeys by day or by night for fear of the foot-pad or the highwayman, but should recognize every passenger as a friend and protector. Plunder and devastation would cease from the earth; "violence would no more be heard in our land; nor wasting nor destruction in all our borders." Exe. crations and malicious insults would never harrow up the feelings of our fellow-men, nor would a single instance of revenge he heard of among all the inhabitants of the earth.

Pride, which now stalks about with stately steps and lofty looks, surveying surrounding intelligences with feelings of contempt, would be for ever banished from the world. Ambition would no longer wade through slaughter to a throne, nor trample on the rights of an injured people. Wars would cease to the ends of the earth, and the instruments of human destruction

would be beaten into ploughshares and pruninghooks. That scourge which has drenched the earth with human gore-which has convulsed every nation under heaven-which has produced tenfold more misery than all the destructive elements of nature, and which has swept from existence so many millions of mankind-would be regarded as the eternal disgrace of the human character, and the most shocking display of depravity in the annals of our race. No longer should we hear the sound of the trumpet and the alarm of war," the confused noise of "the horseman and the bowman," and of the mighty armies encamping around" the city of the inno cent," to hurl against its walls the instruments of destruction. No longer should we behold the fires blazing on the mountain tops, to spread the alarm of invading armies; nor the city, which was once full of inhabitants, " sitting solitary," without a voice being heard within its dwellings but the sighs of the disconsolate and the groans of the dying. Human wolves thirsting for the blood of nations, would cease to prowl among men. Nation would not lift up sword against nation, neither would they learn war any more. The instruments of cruelty, the stake, the rack, the knout, and the lash, would no longer lacerate and torture the wretched culprit; cannons, and guns, and swords, and darts would be forged no more; but the influence of reason and affection would preserve order and harmony throughout every department of society. The traveller, when landing on distant shores, and on the islands of the ocean, would no longer be assailed with stones, spears, arrows, and other instruments of death, and be obliged to flee from the haunts of his own species, to take refuge in the lion's den, or on the bosom of the deep; but would be welcomed as a friend and a messenger of peace. The animosities which now prevail among religious bodies would cease; the nicknames by which the different sects of religionists have been distinguished, would be erased from the vocabulary of every language; Christians would feel ashamed of those jealousies and evil surmisings which they have so long manifested towards each other, and an affectionate and harmonious intercourse would be established among all the churches of the saints.

These, and a thousand other evils, which now render this world a vast wilderness of perturbation, wretchedness, and sorrow, would be com pletely eradicated, were the principle of holy love in incessant operation; and in their place a scene of loveliness and moral beauty would burst upon the view, which would diffuse joy and ecstatic delight through every bosom.

Every family would become a mansion of peace and love-a temple consecrated to the God of heaven, from which the incense of prayer, and praise, and pious aspirations, would daily ascend in sweet memorial to the throne above.

Domestic broils and contentions would cease; brothers and sisters would be cemented in the closest bonds of holy affection; the law of kindness would swell their hearts and dwell upon their tongues; serenity and joy, and a desire to please, would appear on every countenance; a mutual exchange of sentiment and generous affections would circulate joy from father to son, and from children to parents; and all the members of the family circle, animated by the same benevolent spirit, would "dwell together in unity." To communicate useful knowledge, to train each other to piety and virtue, to point out the different spheres in which benevolence should act, to assist in every kindly office, to sooth each other in distress, and to direct each other in the path to an endless life, would be the unceasing desire and endeavour of every inmate of the family mansion. From every such mansion, the radiations of love would fly from family to family, from one hamlet and village to another, from one town and city to another, from one nation to another, and from one continent to another, till all the families of the earth were converted into "the dwellings of the God of Jacob."

In larger communities the principle of love would effectuate a mighty change. That spirit of jealousy and selfishness, of avarice and monopoly, which now produces so many jarrings, contentions, and collisions of interests among town councils, corporations, and other smaller associations, would cease to operate. Every one would see and feel, that the prosperity of the whole is also the prosperity of every portion of the general community. Boisterous disputations, sneers, hisses, reproaches, and angry passions, would be banished from the deliberations of every society; and candour, good-will, and kindly affections would animate the minds of all its members. Righteous laws would be enacted, and distributive justice equitably administered. Every nation would form one great and harmonious family; ali its members being linked together by the ties of kindness and reciprocal affection. Its magistrates would become "nursing fathers" to the whole body of the people, to promote their peace, their domestic comfort, their knowledge, and their general improvement; and throughout all ranks of the community nothing would appear but submission, obedience, reverence, and respect.

The mutual intercourse of nations would be established on the principles of friendship and affection, and on the basis of immutable justice and eternal truth. Raised above petty jealousies, secure from the alarms of war, and viewing each other as branches of the same great family, and as children of the same Almighty Parent,every nation and empire would feel an interest in promoting the prosperity of another, and would rejoice in beholding its happiness and improve ment. Commerce would be free and unshackled,

and the productions of nature and of art would quickly be transported into every nation from every clime. Travellers and navigators would visit foreign shores without danger or alarm from insidious or hostile tribes, and would land on the most obscure island of the ocean, fully assured of protection and comfort, and the wel come of friendship and affection. Every vessel that ploughed the deep would become a floating temple, from which incense and a pure offering would daily ascend to the Ruler of the skies: and its mariners would join, with one heart and one mind, in imploring upon each other the bless ing and protection of the God of heaven. The beams of love and affection would gladden every land, and add a new lustre to the natural beauties of its landscape. The inhabitants of China and Japan would be hailed as benefactors when they arrived on our coasts with their cargoes of tea, sugar, silk, and porcelain; and the natives of France and Great Britain, when they transport. ed their manufactures to these distant empires, would be welcomed as friends, and conducted, without the least jealousy or suspicion, through all their cities and rural scenes, to survey the beauties of nature and art with which those countries are adorned. The natives of Papua and New-Zealand would land on our shores without spears, or darts, or other hostile wea. pons, and be recognized as friends and brethren: and our countrymen, when traversing the dif ferent regions of the globe, would always meet with a cordial reception when landing on their coasts. For national jealousies and antipathies would cease; and instead of selfish and revengeful passions, reason would be cultivated, and its powers expanded; the smile of benevolence and the hand of benefice nce would gladden the inhabitants of every clime, and "righteousness and praise would spring forth before all the nations."

Under the benignant influence of the spirit of love, useful intelligence of every description would be rapidly and extensively communicated; the sciences would be improved, and carried forward to perfection; the jealousies which now exist among scientific men would cease to operate, and every fact on which science is built would be impartially investigated, and exhibited in its true aspect; the arts would flourish, and be carried to the highest pitch of improvement; no secrets in arts or trades would be locked up in the breast of the discoverer; but every useful hint would at once be communicated to the public; every invention would uniformly be applied to the promotion of a benevolent object, and the arts of destruction would cease to be cultivated, and be held in universal detestation. Under the hand of art, the habitations of men would be beautified and adorned, to correspond with the purity and improvement of their moral feelings, and a new lustre would

be thrown over the face of nature. Towns and villages would be built on spacious plans, divest ed of all that gloom and filth which now disgrace the abodes of millions of human beings, and which form an emblem of their physical and moral wretchedness; and the landscape of every country would present a scene of grandeur, fertility, and picturesque beauty. Those immense treasures which have been so long expended in the arts of war and devastation would be employed in turning immense deserts into fruitful fields, in beautifying the aspect of rural nature, in planting orchards and vineyards, in forming spacious roads, in establishing seminaries of instruction, in erecting comfortable habitations for the lower orders of society, and promoting their domestic enjoyment. What an immense variety of objects of this description would be accomplished within the limits of Great Britain by means of a thousand millions of pounds, which we all know have been lately expended within the space of twenty-four years, in carrying for ward the work of destruction!

Under the influence of the reign of love, the instruction of all ranks, in every department of useful knowledge, would be rapidly promoted; ignorance and error, with all their attendant evils, would soon evanish from the minds even of the lowest orders of society; seminaries would be erected and established on a liberal basis, for instructing every class of mankind in all those branches of science which tend to expand the capacity of the human mind, and to extend the range of its contemplations; the hours of active labour would be abridged, in order that they might have leisure for the cultivation of their understanding and the exercise of their moral powers. To add to their stock of knowledge, and to increase the sum of happiness around them, would be considered as interesting and as delightful as it now is to the sons of Mammon to" add house to house, and field to field," and to riot on the gains of avarice. Societies would be formed for mutual improvement in knowledge and virtue; lectures delivered on every interesting and useful subject; experiments performed to illustrate the order and mechanism of nature; and instruments of every description procured for exhibiting the wisdom and omnipotence of the Creator and the glories of the universe. The revelation of heaven would be studied with intelligence in all its aspects and bearings, and every passion, affection, and active exertion would be directed by its moral requisitions. The human mind, thus trained and carried for ward in wisdom and holiness, would shed a moral radiance around it, and be gradually prepared for entering on a higher scene of contemplation and enjoyment.

Among all ranks of men, a spirit of selfishness and avarice would be extinguished, and in its stead a spirit of noble generosity and benefi

cence would pervade the whole mass of society. That divine maxim inculcated by our Saviour, "It is more blessed to give than to receive," would be engraven on every heart, and appear in every action. This sublime principle forms a prominent trait in the character of God, and in all his arrangements towards his creatures; and it animates the minds of superior intelligences in their associations with each other, and in their occasional intercourses with the inhabitants of our world. In imitation of these glorious beings, the human race would consider it as the grand end of their existence, not merely to acquire wealth, knowledge, or power, but to employ themselves in the unceasing diffusion of beneficence to all around. To communicate happiness throughout all the ranks of their fellow-men with whom they mingle, to sooth the disconsolate and the desponding, to relieve the distressed, to instruct the ignorant, to expand the intellect, to animate and direct the benevolent affections, to increase the enjoyments of the lower orders of the community, to direct the opening minds of the young, to lead them by gentle steps into the paths of wisdom and holiness, and to promote every scheme which has a relation to the public good, would form the constant aim of all conditions of men from the highest to the lowest. Every house would be open to the weary and benighted traveller, every heart would welcome him to the refreshments and repose it afforded, every countenance would beam benignity, every comfort would be afforded, every wish anticipated, and every stranger thus entertained would "bless the mansion," and implore the benediction of heaven on all its inmates. The houseless child of want would no longer wander amidst scenes of plenty, tattered and forlorn, pinched with poverty, exposed to the piercing blasts, and obliged to repose under the open canopy of heaven, for want of more comfortable shelter; the poor would soon cease out of the land, every one would be active and industrious, and every one would enjoy a comfortable portion of the bounties of Providence. And what a happy world would it be were kindness and affection the characteristic of all its inhabitants! The face of nature would wear a more cheering aspect," the desert would rejoice and blossom as the rose," the flowers would look more gay, the "little hills" would be encircled with joy, the light of heaven would appear more glorious and transporting, a thousand delightful emotions would spring up in the mind amidst every rural scene, and every social intercourse would be a source of unmingled bliss. Paradise would be restored, heaven would descend to earth, and an emblem would be presented of the joys of the blessed above.

O blissful and auspicious era! When wilt thou arrive to still the restless agitation of malignant passions, to promote peace on earth and good will among men? When will the benevo

lence of angels and archangels descend to dwell with man upon earth, to expel selfishness from the human breast, to hush every disordered affection, and to restore tranquillity and order among the bewildered race of Adam? When will the spirit of love, in all its beneficent energies, descend from the Father of light to arrest the convulsions of nations, to heal the wounds of suffering humanity, to transform fields of slaughter into regions of tranquillity, to soften the ferocious tempers of "the people who delight in war," to unite in one holy and harmonious society men of every language and of every tribe? Not till Christianity shall have shed its benign influence on every land; not till "the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth," and the cannons, and swords, and spears, and battle-axes of the warrior shall be broken to shivers, and forged into ploughshares and pruning-hooks. "Then shall the wolf dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them." "Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness in the fruitful field. And the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for ever. And all people shall dwell in peaceable habitations, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting-places." In fine, under the reign of love, most of the evils, both physical and moral, under which men are now doomed to suffer, would be either greatly mitigated or completely abolished. It is scarcely too much to affirm, that nine-tenths of all the evils that affect humanity are the result of the malice and unkindness of mankind towards each other. If all the sorrow and wretchedness produced by fraud, falsehood, avarice, extortion, injustice, oppression, perjury, seduction, treachery, litigations, slander, pride, ambition, revenge, robbery, murder, plunder, and devastation, were extirpated, little would remain besides the incidental evils which occasionally flow from the elements of nature. And even these would be greatly mitigated by the benevolent operations of art, directed by the discoveries of science. By clearing the surface of the globe of immense forests, by draining stagnant marshes, and by the universal cultivation and improvement of the soil, the seasons would be meliorated, and storms and tempests would be deprived of their wonted violence and fury; and the partial physical evils which still remained would be almost annihilated to the sufferer, by the sympathy, and tenderness, and the kind and fostering hand of universal benevolence. Where virtue, temperance, serenity of mind, and social joy reigned triumphant, and where none of the ghastly phantoms of skepticism and superstition haunted the mind, disease would seldom invade the human frame; the span of mortal existence would be extended; death would become calm and tran

quil, and every one would "come to his grave, like as a shock of corn cometh in his season." In short, under the influence of the emanations of love, malignity would be transformed into be nevolence, vice into virtue, oppression into jus tice, cruelty into sympathy and tenderness, sel fishness into beneficence, contention into unity and friendship fraud inte honesty, avarice into generosity, pride into humility, wretchedness into comfort, sorrow into joy, war into peace, and this spacious globe, now the receptacle of misery and vice, would be transformed into the temple of concord, happiness, and peace.

Such are some of the beneficial effects which would be experienced in the social state of the human race, were a principle of benevolence to pervade the minds of mankind. The immense mass of moral evils, under which the earth now groans, would be removed; the moral aspect of society, in every nation, would assume a new lustre of loveliness and excellence; and nature herself would be arrayed in new robes of gracefulness and beauty. For it would be easy to show, were it at all necessary, that every parti cular now stated, and a thousand similar effects, would be the natural and necessary results of love, when it becomes the mainspring of human actions

I shall now shortly trace some of the effects of love, considered as directed more immediately towards God.

Supreme love to God would excite compla cency in his character and perfections; and piety, in all its fervent and delightful emotions, would naturally flow upwards to the fountain of all purity. His glorious character would be venerated, and his name revered over all the earth; trophies would be erected to his honour, and temples consecrated to his worship in every land. Crowds of worshippers, beaming benignity and devotion, would be held in every region, con verging towards the "dwelling-place" of the Most High, and encouraging one another in such language as this: "Come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths." With enlightened views of the attributes of Jehovah, with glowing affections, and with profound reverence, would they join in the sublime exercises of the sanctuary, and listen to the intimations of his will.

All voices would be tuned to melodious strains, and the solemn organ, and those instruments of music which are now devoted to the gratification of the sons of fashionable folly and dissipation, would harmonize in exciting devotional affections, and in swelling the song of salvation "to Him who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb who hath redeemed us to God by his blood." Every landscape, in every point of view, would present a noble edifice devoted to the worship of the God of heaven, adorned with every majestic decoration suitable to its sanctity, and

rearing its spacious dome above all the surrounding habitations of men. Its gates "would be open continually; they would not be shut day nor night," that men might have access at all seasons to bring "incense and a pure offering" to the shrine of Jehovah. The whole earth would soon be converted into one universal temple, sacred to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from which, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody, and the holy aspirations of gratitude and love, would ascend to heaven without intermission, and in every direction, from the regions of the north to the regions of the south, and "from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same." Solemn seasons would be appointed, and spacious plains consecrated for the assembling of ten thousands of "the sons of God," not for carnage and devastation, as when the warrior" mustereth the armies to the battle," but "to rehearse the mighty acts of the Lord," to exchange sentiments and feelings of affectionate regard, and to swell the song of triumph over sin and misery, with the harmony of human voices and musical instruments, in one loud chorus to the skies. Then the name of Jehovah would be One throughout all the earth. "All his works would praise him, and his saints would bless him. They would abundantly utter the memory of his great goodness, they would speak of the glorious honour of his majesty, and sing of his righteousness."

Among all ranks of men cordial submission to the will of God, and contentment under the arrangements of his providence would be uniformly manifested. Every one would consider the situation in which Providence had placed him as the best possible for promoting his present improvement and his future felicity, viewing it as the allotment of infinite wisdom and benevolence. In adversity he would sustain his afflictions with patience, and derive from them "the peaceable fruits of righteousness." In prosperity he would acknowledge God as the source of all his enjoyments, and devote the wealth and influence he possessed to the promotion of religion, and the best interests of his fellow-men. By day, and by night, and at every returning season, the overflowings of gratitude, in every heart, would burst forth in songs of thanksgiving to the Giver of all good. Every comfort would be recognized as "coming down from the Father of lights," and every pleasing sensation produced by the scenery of nature, as the result of his wisdom and beneficence. His wonderful works, which are now overlooked, or gazed at with apathy by nine-tenths of the inhabitants of the globe, would be contemplated with enlightened understandings, and with emotions of reverence, admiration, and delight. The majestic movements of the planetary orbs, the glories of the starry sky, the light beaming from a thousand suns through the immeasurable voids of space, the

mighty ocean with all its wonders, the numerous rivers rolling into its abyss, the lofty ranges of mountains which encircle the earth, the treasures of the fields, the riches of the mines, the beauties which adorn the hills and plains, the wonders of the atmosphere, the admirable structure and economy of the numerous tribes of animated beings,-these, and thousands of other objects, considered as manifestations of the attributes of Deity, would supply topics of conversation in every social circle, on which every heart would dwell with increasing delight. They would speak of the glory of his kingdom, and talk of his power, to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom." The work of human redemption, in its origin and progress, in its connexions and bearings, in the lustre it reflects on the perfections of the Deity, in its relation to the angelic tribes, and in its glorious and happy consequences on thousands of millions of human be ings throughout an eternal round of existencethe person of the Redeemer, his amiable character, his grace and condescension, and the glories of his exalted state-the joys of departed saints, the general resurrection, with all its solemn and transporting scenes, the new heavens and the new earth, and the boundless scene of grandeur and felicity which will open to the view when death shall be swallowed up in victory, and all things subjected to the moral order of the universe, would afford subjects of sublime contemplation, and themes for social converse, on which enlightened and renovated minds would expatiate with ever-growing improvement and ever-growing pleasures.

The providential dispensations of God towards the human race, would form another subject of investigation, which would be prose cuted with feelings of astonishment, admiration, and reverence. The history of all nations would be carefully perused-not for the purpose of admiring the exploits of mighty conquerors and barbarous heroes, and feasting the imagination on spectacles of human slaughter and devastation-but for exciting abhorrence of those depraved passions which had drenched the earth with blood-for drawing forth the tear of pity over the graves of slaughtered nations--for stimulating the exercise of those holy affections which restored peace and tranquillity to the world-for acquiring a display of the rectitude of the moral character of God, and the equity of his administration among the nations-for tracing the accomplishment of divine predictions-for illustrating the long-suffering and forbearance of God, and for exciting admiration of that inscrutable wisdom by which the whole train of events was conducted, so as to set restraining bounds to the wrath of man, and to make it subservient to the introduction of the reign of happiness and peace. In all the revolutions of past ages, and