Imatges de pàgina
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as it was intended to preserve the harmony and to secure the felicity of the intellectual beings that people the earth and the heavens, the fabric of universal nature must be destroyed, before this law can be set aside or cancelled. For we have already seen, (Sect. IV.) that, were it reversed, the whole intelligent system would be transformed into a scene of confusion, misery, and horror. For the purpose of affording an immense theatre, on which the operations of this law might be displayed, the earth with all its furniture and decorations, and the heavens, with all their hosts, were called into existence; and, therefore, were it either cancelled or reversed, neither the glory of the Creator would be displayed, nor the happiness of his intelligent creation secured. The mighty expanse of the universe, enclosing so many spacious worlds, would become one boundless moral desert, in which no "fruits of righte eousness" would appear, nor any trace of the beauty and benevolence of the Eternal Mind.-In the same discourse, our Saviour enforces the duty of love towards even our most bitter enemies and most furious persecutors. "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies; bless them that curse you; do good to them that hate you; and pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you. That you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven; for he maketh his sun to arise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." This is one of the most sublime exercises of the principle of love, in reference to our fellow-men; and it is enforced from the most sublime motive and consideration-the conduct of Benevolence itself towards a race of rebellious and ungrateful

creatures.

All the other instructions of this Divine Teacher-his parables, exhortations, admonitions, warnings, and consolatory addresses, though referring to particular cases and circumstances-had the same general object in view. When his disciples would have called for fire from heaven, to consume the Samaritans, he kindly, but with energy and decision, reminded them, that a principle of malignity was embodied in their unhallowed desires, which is directly opposed to the law of love. "Ye know not what

manner of spirit ye are of; for the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." Among his last instructions to his followers, when he was about to depart from the scene of his earthly pilgrimage, love was the grand theme on which he repeatedly expatiated. "A new commandment give I unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." "These things I command you that ye love one another."

And, as the promotion of the spirit of love was the great object of his instructions, so his whole life was an uninterrupted exemplification of the purest benevolence, both towards friends and towards enemies. Never did that holy affection which unites the angelic tribes, and

diffuses joy among the pure inhabitants of all worlds, appear, within the confines of our world, so amiable, so disinterested, and so ardent, as during the period of the public ministry of Jesus, and particularly towards the close of his earthly career. In the immediate prospect of sufferings, dreadful beyond our conceptions, his love to mankind was (( strong as death," which the many waters of affliction which surrounded him were unable to quench. His whole soul seemed to be absorbed in affection towards his disconsolate disciples, and in a desire to cheer and animate their drooping spirits. His last addresses, as recorded by the Evangelist John, breathe a spirit of tenderness and compassion, and of Divine benignity, of which we have no parallel in the annals of

our race.

To display his kindness and condescension, and to teach his disciples to perform with cheerfulness the humblest offices of friendship, he rose from supper; he laid aside his garments; he took a towel; he girded himself; he poured water into a bason; he began to wash his disciples' feet; and he wiped them with the towel wherewith he was girded. He then addressed them in such language as this:"Let not your heart be troubled; in my Father's house are many mansions; I go to prepare a place for you. And, if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself; that where I am there ye may be also. I will not leave you comfortless;

I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter, even the Spirit of truth, which shall abide with you forever. Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, I will do it. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." In his last prayer, which accompanied these benedictions, the same ardent flow of affection burst from his benevolent heart-"Holy Father! keep, through thine own name, those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one as we are." But his love was not confined to the select few with whom he was surrounded at this interesting hour. His mental eye surveyed the various tribes which people this department of creation-it pierced through all the succeeding generations of mankind-and he embraced in his expansive affections, the whole race of the faithful till the close of time. "Neither pray I for these alone; but for them also who shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee; that they also may be one in us." Even

towards his bitterest enemies his benevolent emotions flow ed out, in earnest supplications for their forgiveness. Neither "the floods of ungodly men," which compassed him, nor the torrents of abuse which were poured upon him while he was nailing to the cross, could overpower that heavenly flame which burned in his holy breast. In the midst of all the mockeries, insults, and indignities which he endured, when he was made "a spectacle to angels and to men," his affectionate desires ascended, with the smoke of the evening sacrifice, to the throne of God, in behalf of his murderers-"Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." O, what a striking contrast is here presented, to those scenes of pride, malignity, and revenge, which have so long disgraced the race of Adam, and spread lamentation, and mourning, and terror, among families, societies, and nations! What a happy world would this become, were it peopled with such amiable characters, and were all who profess to be followers of Jesus, instead of contending about " questions which gender strife," to vie with each other in imitating his mild and benevolent spirit! Then Christianity would appear in its native lustre, and receive the homage due to its divine character; and

the name of Jehovah would soon be proclaimed throughout all the earth, and the joys of his salvation felt in every clime.

Again, it is one great end of the death of Christ to destroy the principle of malignity in the human heart, and to promote the operation of the law of love. "While we were enemies (says the Apostle Paul), we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son." "We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." "He loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood." "They who were enemies in their mind, and by wicked works, he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present them holy and unblameable, and unreproveable in his sight." Love to his heavenly Father, and love to mankind, impelled him to "humble himself, and to become obedient to death, even the death of the cross." And, in order that this divine principle might be kept alive, and form a bond of union among all his followers, he appointed an ordinance, consisting of sensible signs, in commemoration of his death, to be observed in all ages as a memorial of his love, and to remind his friends of the indispensable obligation under which they are laid to love one another. To promote the same benevolent design, he arose from the dead, ascended to heaven, sent down the Spirit of Holiness to abide in the Church, and now presides in the celestial world as "a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance and the remission of sins."

And, as the instructions and the example of Jesus Christ were calculated to exhibit the principle of love in all its interesting aspects, and to promote its practical influence, so the preaching and the writings of his Apostles had the same important object in view, as the ultimate scope of all their ministrations. The one half of every epistle to the Christian churches is occupied in delineating the practical bearings of this holy affection. Like the lines which proceed from the centre to the circumference of a circle, the various radiations of Christian affection are traced from love, as the grand central point, and exhibited in all their benign influence on individuals, families, churches, and the diversified relations which subsist in civil and Christian society. "Above all things," says the Apos

tle, "put on love, which is the bond of perfection. Though we speak with the tongues of men and angels, and have not love, we are become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though we understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and bestow all our goods to feed the poor, and have not love, it profiteth nothing. Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not, vaunteth not itself, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil. Prophecies shall fail, languages shall cease, earthly knowledge shall vanish away, but love never faileth." "Love worketh no ill to his neighbour; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. All the law is comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. "The works of the flesh," or those which flow from a principle of malignity, "are these: fornication, uncleanness, idolatry, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, envyings, murders, revellings, and such like. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, fidelity, meekness, and temperance." "Let love be without dissimulation, and walk in love as Christ also hath loved us. Be kindly affectioned one toward another with brotherly love, in honour preferring one another. Distributing to the necessity of saints, given to hospitality. Bless them who persecute you; bless, and curse not. Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church; children, obey your parents in the Lord; fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Servants, be obedient to your masters, with goodwill doing service as to the Lord, and not unto men; and ye masters, do the same thing unto them, forbearing threatening, knowing that your master also is in heaven." "Put on, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering; forbearing one another in love, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any; even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.”

Such is the general scope of the instructions which the Apostles delivered, in all their communications to the Christian churches, whether composed of Jews or of Gen

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