Christian brother, and shall I not love him? Is he actuated by the same Spirit, and does not my heart vibrate to the strings of his ? Brethren! dear Brethren, would that we re... membered more the union of the soul with God in Christ; and then should we remember more the union of the soul to all besides who also are in God through Christ. To dwell in Him is to dwell in one another also. To be one with Him is to be one with one another. O for more therefore of this in-dwelling! drink more deeply of this same Spirit! O to draw nearer to the primal fount, that we may thus draw nearer to each other and commingle into one!

O to

For, yet more than this. Our brother Christian, too, has not only felt the same need,—and experienced the same favour,-and partaken of the same spirit, but he is filled also with the same gratitude. His feelings towards God are even as our's;-feelings of adoring praise ;his love has been excited as ours has been excited his heart has expanded as ours has expanded he is open to sympathy and affection, even as we are open. And what a strange mysterious interchange of feeling, therefore, must take place. Have you felt what it is to find another full of the same sentiments, warmed

with the same admiration, as yourself? Have you felt how your own sentiment has been increased thereby tenfold, while, as if almost by instinct, you have recognized each other, understood each other, penetrated each other. And, is the recognition less in spiritual likeness and agreement? Is the inter-penetration of mind less in Christian sympathy? And will the result less powerfully prove, that he who loveth God will love his brother also? Nay, rather the very key-note of our nature has been struck in each mind, and they must respond in unison, and chorus forth his praise!

I know not, Brethren, what you may think, but I believe that there is no source of genuine affection but in affection itself; no exercise of it upon many, but as the result of its first life and exercise towards one; no extension of it in its true spirituality to man, but as it has been felt towards God. We must take, therefore, this, the Scripture method of attaining it, and point you to its higher source. We must view the intimate connexion, the identity of principle, of goodwill to God and man, as St. John has viewed it; and thus, the more we cultivate the one, the more abundantly shall we exercise the other.

Have I this fruitful in all

God's love to

Let me then pray you, in conclusion, to enquire, Have I this love of God? primary emotion which is so others that are right and good? us has been revealed to win our love to Him; and this love to Him will issue in an universal charity. Therefore, would we have the results, we must have the beginning; would we keep the commandments of God, we must begin with the Gospel of God. There, we find exhibited God's love to us; there, we are told of the gift of his own dear Son; there, we are invited to accept the salvation which is freely offered us in Him; there, all that can attract the heart is manifested to us. Are our hearts attracted, Brethren? Do we love Him who first loved us? O remember, there is none of this blessed feeling for the worldly and impenitent, the careless and the disobedient! Till you submit to Him in true repentance, till you come back to Him in that faith which trusts in reconcilement, and which can spring from honest penitence alone, how can you love the great and jealous, the severe and holy God?—And till you love God, how can you love man? How will the heart expand to others when with itself, and with its God, it is not, and it cannot be at peace ?

But lastly, Let us ask, Have I this love of man? The feeling itself will spring from simple love to God; but the exercise of this feeling will require a constant energy and selfdenial. We must not, therefore, take for granted that we have it, because our love to God may prompt its first emotion. We must ask ourselves, have these first emotions been realized in practice? been kept up against opposition; been cherished against unkindness and evil treatment; been carried on triumphant over coldness, disappointment, opposition, and ingratitude; and thus have shown themselves to be something more than the indulgences of sympathy, to be the steady workings of a true and an unwearied Charity. Have we patience, have we forbearance, have we long suffering? Are we "kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven us ?" Then, and then only, have we fulfilled" the Commandment that we have from Him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.”

SERMON XXIII.

PROVIDENCE.

ROMANS viii. 28.

We know that all things work together for good to them that love God.

ONE of the most important topics to a Christian mind is the Providence of God. When we have learned to know Him as our Father, and see so clearly as we do his tenderness in the revelation of mercy by Jesus Christ, we naturally expect to find this character equally manifested in the circumstances which befall us. But we turn to the things around us; we contemplate the state of the world; we consider our own experience; and we begin to be almost staggered. We see Him not so clearly as we expected; we discern not his goodness so manifestly as in that great act of Redemption in