never ask the assistance of any congregation for the purpose of planting the fear of the Lord in the breasts of the rising generation, without feeling as if I were recommending them not to let their own possessions lie waste for want of prudent care; or rather, as if I were urging them to prevent an enemy from heaping up combustibles at the very foundation of their dwellings. We all know, that the Lord never fails to glorify himself, in rewarding, for Christ's sake, those who dedicate their possessions to his honour. But if we become unmindful of his honour; if we think that the children of the poor can be safely suffered to grow up in ignorance of his name; we do no less, than let loose all the unruly elements of our fallen nature, to fight against the ordinances of God, and the establishments of man. We arm the powers of darkness themselves against our altars and our homes. We sit watching and counting our gains, while he, who was a traitor and murderer from the beginning, is collecting and piling up beneath our very chambers the materials for our destruction! If the fear of the Lord be the only thing by which men depart from evil; and if the mass of our population do not learn the fear of the Lord; the inference is obvious to the dullest head, and most callous heart. The multitude will not depart from evil. They will live and move and have their being in it. And if so, what a place must this world become! We see (as it is) sufficient approaches to that misery, which is the heritage of them that forsake not evil. We sometimes see

enough, almost to conjecture what must be the torment, and confusion, and anarchy of hell itself. We see enough, surely, to convince us, that without some commanding principle of restraint, all monstrous and unutterable mischiefs would break loose, and make this world a fit residence for none, scarcely, but restless and impenitent spirits. And can we hesitate for a moment to cherish those institutions, whose object is (under the Divine blessing) to stop the breaking forth of such ruin and desolation? Can we hesitate to consign ourselves to the protection of Him, who alone is mighty to save? And can we dream that his arm will be stretched out, and his hand uplifted, for our protection, if we adopt the language of the adversary of God and man; and presume that the fear of the Lord may be forgotten, in our designs for the prosperity and safety of our country, or our neighbourhood? Let me remind you, that every charity school, for the instruction of the poor in the principles of our church, and for their discipline in habits of industry and godliness, is to be considered as one of the bulwarks of your country; as a fortress, which it would be madness not to keep in repair; as a monument of the zeal and piety of your forefathers, which cannot, without sacrilegious neglect, be suffered to decay. Blessed be God, there never yet, within my recollection of you, was an occasion, when such an appeal to your Christian principles was made in vain: and I trust it will not be made in vain this day.

THE LOVE OF GOD.

1 JOHN, iv. 18.

There is no fear in love: but perfect love casteth out fear; because fear hath torment.

ON

He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

N a former occasion it was my endeavour to show, that no motives are sufficient effectually to reclaim from evil, but the fear of the Lord. In considering the subject, we admitted the essential distinction between right and wrong, which SO many have contended for. We allowed, too, that man might possess the faculty of perceiving that distinction. And yet we could not but discern that something more was necessary: that there was wanting some grand overpowering principle, which should secure to society the virtuous and steady fidelity of her members, and to God their reasonable service. We adverted to the moral sense, on which many have professed themselves contented to depend; and we found it, as it exists in the generality of men, to be practically little better than a taste, an inclination, an instinct; or scarcely any thing so strong or so unerring as instinct. We considered, too, the rule of general usefulness and expediency, and found it, at best, to be a law which, however excellent, is left to execute itself; and

which can, therefore, do little to set men free from the bondage of iniquity. Neither of these powers can hurl back the fiery darts of the wicked one. Neither of them can grapple with the powers and principalities of darkness. The enemy of man has their authority in derision. Nothing but the fear of a Supreme and ever present Judge is ponderous enough to overthrow the strong holds of vice and wickedness, and shake them to their foundations. Nothing but this can decide the contest between self-interest and holiness, or stamp obstinate transgression with the mark of insanity and desperation.

But though this assertion contains the truth, it by no means contains the whole truth: it tells only one portion, and that, perhaps, the least interesting portion, of what concerns us, as beings that have to meet their God at the bar of judgment. The fear of the Lord, most assuredly it is, which drives men from evil: but what is to enamour them of that which is good? The terrors of the Lord may shake the inmost souls of those who are traitors to Him; but what is to bind men in loyal and glad submission to his service? Never was it yet known that fear alone wrought a hatred of sin, and a desire of that which is opposite to sin. Another principle must follow, or we remain in the gall of bitterness. The love of God must be established in the soul, or the agonies of alarm will have been endured in vain. It is this which must heal the wounds inflicted by the fires of the divine wrath. It is this which must raise up the soul from the ruin into

which it has been shaken by the thunderbolts of God's righteous displeasure. It is this which must repair and purify the shattered and polluted temple, and make it meet for the residence of the consoling and sanctifying Spirit.

If it were true, that the fear of the Lord is the end, as well as the beginning of wisdom; that a dread of vengeance is the only force by which the Christian is impelled throughout the whole of his career; if this were true, there might be some reasonable ground for a slander, sometimes directed against the Gospel; namely, that the virtue which it teaches is taught upon low and abject motives : upon motives little adapted to refine or to elevate the soul, or to render it fit for the presence of Him, who is the fountain of all perfection. But most injuriously do they degrade the worth of genuine piety, who imagine it to consist in a cold and reluctant choice of what is good, extorted from the fears of a corrupt and selfish spirit. Most profanely, too, do they deem of the Divine Nature, as disclosed to us by revelation, who suppose that it can be satisfied with a sordid and unwilling service; with the homage of a soul still wedded to its own impurities; and regarding the rewards of heaven, not as a prize and a crown of rejoicing, but merely as a lesser evil than the penal sufferings of hell. A slave crouching under the lash of an unfeeling master; bound to his service by no ties but those of terror and despair; groaning under his daily toil with sullen indignation; this is no fit picture of the Christian