knowest all things, Thou knowest that I love Thee;" and all shall be well; in due time the blessing will come, and you will be able in the spirit of adoption to cry, "Abba Father." But, beloved, never forget the origin of love. "We love Him," says the beloved Apostle John, "because he first loved us." 1 John iv. 19. Look more, beloved, to the gracious origin of love, the source from whence all true love flows-the love of God to us; and that will kindle yours to Him, for love begets love. This is the origin from whence all our love springs-that we love God because He first loved us. He first set his love upon us from all eternity, from before the foundation of the world. He brought about this his eternal purpose of love in time, by the effectual calling of his grace and Holy Spirit; drawing our souls to Himself by the sweet endearments of his love, making us willing in the day of his power, to submit to all the dispensations of his grace, separating us from the world as his secret ones, his jewels, his redeemed people; "washed and sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of the Lord;" setting us apart as a peculiar people for his service, that we might for ever shew forth the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into his marvellous light. We must then, beloved, go to this fountain of love if we wish to love; if we desire to have a "full assurance of hope," that God is "ours;" if we desire to glorify Him here by obedience to his will, and hereafter as monuments of his grace and mercy for ever; if we desire to arrive unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; and looking back through eternal ages, to apprehend that saying of the Prophet's: "The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, I have loved 'thee' with an everlasting love: therefore, with loving kindness have I drawn thee." Jer. xxxi. 3. And now, dear brethren, this is my last Sunday morning's sermon. It has pleased God to continue my ministry among you for nearly nine months; from the death of your late pastor, to the appointment of a new incumbent. And what can I more earnestly desire, and pray, for you, (as I trust I shall); than what the Apostle desired, and doubtless prayed, for the Hebrew Christians; namely, that you do shew the same diligence to the "full assurance of hope unto the end;" that you abound in works and labours of love, that you "be followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises," that your love to God abound more and more, until it arrive at the full assurance of knowledge, that Christ is "yours," and that you are Christ's. Surely, nothing in the world is comparable to this knowledge. It appears to us that the full assurance of hope, of faith, of knowledge, is in proportion to our love. For, says St. John, "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." 1 John iv. 16. Beloved, the time is short. Be diligent, be prayerful. Above all things, avoid spiritual sloth. Slacken not your hand in some daily work and labour of love. Yet a little while is the light with you, walk as children of light. "And whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest." Eccles. ix. 10. If it has pleased God to bless my short ministry among you-to Him be all the glory. We are but earthen vessels, to whom is committed the priceless treasure of the Gospel; and we labour on in much weakness; and many infirmities and trials peculiar to us as ministers; and not the least the anxiety to present every one of you, whom God has blessed by our ministry-perfect in Christ Jesus; of which this sermon is a proof, which is now sent forth to the Church universal, in the hope that it may receive a blessing; if it please God so to prosper the endeavour, and make it useful. I bid you farewell in the name of the Lord; and if we see not each other again in this world, may we all meet at the last day at Christ's right hand; and sit down together with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, at the marriage supper of the Lamb. "And now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and for ever. Amen." Jude 24, 25. SERMON II. THE LOVE OF GOD. Psalm cxlv. 20. "THE LORD PRESERVETH ALL THEM THAT LOVE HIM." "THOU shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might,”-Deut. vi. 5,-is what God requires of his people, and enjoins as a command to be obeyed, and in which consists our highest happiness and glory. The duty all will acknowledge; but, alas, we come sadly short of it in practice. Perhaps this want of love to God is a greater proof of our fall than anything besides. The Lord's great controversy with us is that we have withdrawn our love from Him, and given it to the creature; and with mankind in general, that they worship and serve the creature more than the Creator, who is God, blessed for evermore; the only object worthy of our love and worship. Love to God, however, is the chief and principal, the first and greatest commandment of the Decalogue. Indeed, without this divine affection there can be no true worship and service to God, as the Apostle Paul in the 1 Cor. xiii. doth testify; and though all our love to God comes from Himself, the fountain of all goodness; for we love Him, because He first loved us; yet doth He graciously, and of his infinite goodness, and above all our deserts, assign it as a reason why He loves his people; namely, because they love Him. "I love them that love Me; and they that seek me early shall find me:" Prov. viii. 17: and so in the text; "The Lord preserveth all them that love Him." I. The object of our love-"God Himself." III. The happiness of being loved of God. May the Spirit of God, who alone can reveal the love of God to us; be present, and manifest his love to our souls for Jesu's sake. I. The object of our love: "God Himself." And herein do we especially need divine help; lest, in handling so great a subject, we darken it by words without knowledge. Nevertheless, in dependence upon his grace, let us notice, (1) that God is to be loved for Himself; for his own ineffable nature, and the perfections of it, which render Him amiable and lovely. For if, as the Scriptures declare, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him," 1 Cor. ii. 9; how ineffable and glorious must He Himself be, the source of all. And, if He is exalted above all blessing and praise of men or of angels, how is it possible to set forth his glorious nature and perfections; or, in mortal words, express the desirableness of his character and goodness, as the object of our highest love and adoration. Besides, what is there that is really amiable and lovely, or desirable in the creature, that does. not exist in God, the Creator, in a far higher |