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sanctification of internal feeling and social affection, and outward deportment, and can we be insensible to the evidence which will thereby be afforded that the kingdom of God has been formed within us? Knowing from the greatness of the change, whose work it is, as well as from the testimony of scripture, can we fail to be persuaded that we have therein the witnessing of the Spirit of God with our spirit, that we are the children of God? Besides, will not the nature of our internal experience be such-have so much of heaven in it, as to prove its celestial origin, and thereby our personal adoption? Will not the love be so pure, so disinterested, so divine? Will not the joy be so placid, so elevating, so animating, so satisfying? Will not the peace be so well-founded, so stable, so gratifying? Will not the long-suffering, the gentleness, the goodness, the fidelity, the meekness, the temperance, be so opposite to our former, and so congenial to our present character, as to convince us that they could not spontaneously, could not by any mere moral training, become the product of our depraved nature? Will they not be such that we will feel as if the Divinity had taken up his abode within us? But why say, as if? 'Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" "Ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.'

SIXTH DAY.-MORNING.

'Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us,' Eph. v. 1.

ONE of the advices usually given to those who desire to arrive at superior excellence in any walk of science, or art, or life, is, to keep habitually before them some eminent example of the excellence after which they aspire. The advantage of such an example is, that it gives distinctness, individuality, embodiment, to the object at which they aim. It also guides as a light, allures as an attractive influence, and prompts by the love and admiration which it inspires. But the Christian is an aspirant after the highest of all excellence, whether in kind or in degree. If wise then, he will imitate the worldling, though not in the object of his pursuit, yet in his policy. He will keep habitually before him the perfect exemplar of the excellence after which he aspires-be a follower-an imitator of God.

An example is more influential the more nearly the exemplar is allied to us by the ties of kindred, affection, or benefaction. The virtues of a father are more constraining to a son than to a stranger. To the son the virtues of the father are better known, in their fruits he has more largely shared, in the honour attached to them he feels a deeper personal interest, and he lives in closer contact with their assimilating influence. Believers then, are not 'strangers and foreigners.' They are 'dear children,'-beloved of God. They know their Father's excellencies, and have experienced their blessed fruits, in a sense, and to an extent, that the world knows not of. Their Father's honour they feel to be their own, and they live in intimate and habitual communion with Him, by meditation and by prayer. Great therefore are their encouragements, facilities, incitements, obligations, to be imitators of God. The points in which He can be imitated are indeed few in number: but they are cardinal points, and they embrace the whole circle of human duty. They are such as these: 'Be ye holy, for I am holy. Be ye merciful even as your Father which is in heaven is merciful. Love one another as I have loved you.'

Of all the moral perfections of the Godhead, that of love and its kindred sentiments is the most imitable. Holiness and love may be viewed as comprehending all the other moral perfections of the divine character, and they are the two great elements of Christian perfection. But there is this difference between them.

Holiness

is more a description of character than a principle of action. Love is more a principle of action than a description of character. And besides being more a principle of action, it is that perfection which most readily commends itself to our affections, and to which we are most indebted. Accordingly, it is with respect to love that the Apostle says, Be ye imitators of God, as dear children. As dear children ye are beloved. Love in return. Loving children are beloved children. Show therefore that you are loved by loving.

And walk in love: that is, in all your walking be actuated by it. Walk in it as an atmosphere, surrounding you wherever you go, and imparting vitality, health, and vigour, to all your practice. Walk in it as in a way, turning neither to the right hand nor to the left, but allowing it to direct and hedge in your path, whether it may lead you to the sanctuary or the infected chamber, to the society of friends or the society of foes, to the house of mourning or the house of feasting.

Walk in love, and take Christ along with you

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as your pattern and prompter. Like his, let with it.' Being one body, they are filled and your love be purely disinterested, for, when he actuated by one Spirit, have one hope, one Lord, was rich, for our sakes he became poor.' Like one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of his, let your love be self-denying, for, Hereby all, who is above all, and through all, and in all. perceive we the love of God, because he laid Ties so numerous, so close, so sacred, so strong, down his life for us; and we ought to lay down make mutual love a natural and inevitable result our lives for the brethren.' Like his, let your of true faith in Christ. Hence the test of sincere love be practical, for He went about doing discipleship-brotherly love. We know that good,' and we ought not to be weary in well-we have passed from death unto life, because doing. Like his, let your love be forbearing and we love the brethren: he that loveth not his forgiving, 'Putting on, as the elect of God, holy brother abideth in death.' and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any; even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.'

Let us be prompted to such a love by considering what we ourselves owe to it deliverance from the wrath to come, our present peace and hope, and a future inheritance among them that are sanctified. And it was Christ that loved us and paid the price of such deliverance. May we love Him, because he first loved us. It is all the return that He requires of us. It is a self-enriching return. Shall we then make it?

SIXTH DAY.-EVENING.

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‹ And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment,' 1 John iii. 23.

A SINGLE Commandment, but a twofold injunction, enforcing both faith and love, and a commandment comprehending every other; for faith embraces all that is necessary to the justification and acceptance of our persons in the sight of God; and love is the sum of human duty,-is its most actuating, its everlasting principle. The commandment is first faith, then love,-faith to reconcile, and love to manifest the reconciliation, and beatify by the heavenliness of the sentiment. But it is faith in his Son Jesus Christ, and then, love one to another. And rightly so: for faith in the Son of God not only reconciles to God, but to our fellow-christians. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God; and every one that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him.' The household of faith are one body,' and 'are members one of another:' so that whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice

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Few things are more difficult than to control the faith and the affections Some falsely magnify the difficulty into an impossibility. Yet here we have a positive command to control our faith and our affections. And why? Because difficulty of obedience does not abrogate the authority of the lawgiver; otherwise, the more we become enslaved to sin, the more do we become emancipated from the restraints and responsibilities of righteous government. Neither does difficulty of obedience render an expression of the will of the lawgiver unavailing. On the contrary, an expression of his will in the form of command, is the very thing which helps us to obedience, especially if the command be the utterance of legitimate and acknowledged authority, prescribe what in itself is right, contain directions, and present powerfully constraining inducements to render the required obedience. A command from the father of lies, to believe a lie, could give us no command over our faith. The command, ‘love your enemies,' from a bitterly persecuting foe, could give us no command over our affections.

But can the same be said of the God of truth, when commanding us to believe the truth-of the God of love, when commanding us to imitate his love, or rather, to repay the great love wherewith he loved us even when we were enemies?

And is it no assistance to our obedience, when it is not merely his commandment, 'That we should believe on his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another,' but that we should do so, as he gave us commandment? That is, that with respect to faith, we should obey his commandment, intelligently, searching the scriptures;-ingenuously, judging not according to appearance, but judging righteous judgment;-in the way of obedience to truth and duty already known, and willingness to follow new discoveries of truth and duty; for, if any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine;-finally, prayerfully, saying, 'Lord, help mine unbelief.' And with respect to mutual love, his commandment is, that we should obey it in the manner which his word prescribes, and from all the considerations which his word suggests.

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SEVENTH DAY.-MORNING.

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!' Psal. cxxxiii. 1.

UNION among brethren is here affirmed to be both profitable and pleasant; and in the remainder of the psalm, these properties are illustrated by apt and beautiful similitudes which, in accordance with the usage of Hebrew poetry, are arranged in an order inverse to that of the properties themselves.

to the manner which his word prescribes, his commandment is, that love should be 'unfeigned, 'without dissimulation,' 'with a pure heart, 'fervently;' that it should be with meekness and forbearance,' and should lead us 'to esteem others better than ourselves;' that it should be a self-propagating love, 'provoking unto love;' that it should be an active love, 'by love serving one another;' that it should be a lasting love, 'letting brotherly love continue.' As to the considerations which his word suggests, his commandment is, that we should love one another from a consideration of the dignity and blessedness of the For brethren to dwell together in unity is sentiment, Beloved, let us love one another, for obviously pleasant-most pleasant! How gratelove is of God, and every one that loveth is born ful to the senses must have been the odoriferous of God, and knoweth God,'-from a consideration unguent, when it was poured out on the head of of the congeniality of the sentiment of love to the the high priest on the day of his consecration, renewed and sanctified soul, Seeing ye have and went down over the whole of his splendid purified your souls in obeying the truth through vestments, diffusing fragrance as it went! Equally the Spirit, unto unfeigned love of the brethren, pleasant to the soul is the spectacle of a harsee that ye love one another with a pure heart monious brotherhood, whether that brotherhood fervently, from a consideration of the example be a family, a nation, the collective human and obligations of the love of God and of Christ, race, or that more exalted relationship which is 'Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to formed by regeneration and adoption through love one another;' and walk in love, as Christ Christ Jesus! Where unity exists, mutual conalso hath loved us and given himself for us ;'-fidence is easily maintained; and with confidence from a consideration of our common frailties, are sure to be conjoined kindness and love-the 'Let brotherly love continue, remembering them very elements of happiness. Nay, the play of the which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also benevolent affections assimilates their possessors in the body;'-from the consideration that love to God himself; for 'God is love, and he that is the distinguishing and most commendatory dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in badge of the Christian profession, By this shall him!' all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.' It is thus that He has given commandment with respect to faith and love; and how depraved the heart, and how obdurate the will, which can withstand the force of such rules and considerations! What but positive hostility to Him who gives the commandment, and the dislike of the unregenerate heart to the commandment itself, can be the cause of difficulty in rendering obedience? And who could dare to urge hostility and dislike as an excuse for not obeying? Who too, that feels the difficulty, and is willing to encounter and overcome it, would not ask for that assistance from on high which is so freely offered to all that will but submit to ask it?

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But it is good as well as pleasant for brethren to dwell together in unity; delightful as 'ointment poured forth,' it is also profitable as the refreshing and fructifying dew.

How good is it for brethren, the children of the same parents, to dwell in unity! Let a family be united, and all their burdens will be lightened by being shared; all their sorrows alleviated by the interchange of mutual sympathy; all their enterprises made to prosper by the energy of hearty co-operation.

How good is it for fellow-citizens of the same country to dwell in unity! What but the prevalence of mutual respect and good will among all classes of its inhabitants can secure a nation's prosperity during peace? What but a united people can form an impregnable bulwark during war?

How good is it for the whole family of men to maintain the relations of amity and peace! O! what a happy world we should behold-how fast would civilization spread-how gloriously would religion prosper-were men of every tribe and tongue to unite in causing wars to cease under

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zain the attitude of rivals towards one another. In such a case is it possible that their work can go on prosperously? Prosperously! Why, not a single convert will be added to the faith! Their end heathen auditors will be more affected by their Christian practice than by their preaching; and the concluader and sion drawn in regard to the claims of the gospel applicable to will just be this: "This religion is indeed a relithe Chris-gion of love in name, but it is a religion of strife busy them- in reality! It professes to breathe only the spirit So which they of the gentle dove, but it inspires its subjects with verities on which the temper of the tiger! It cannot be from God! ar enemies will easily It must be an imposture! Away with it!' All Su let them maintain the experience proves, that the cause of Christ can ac oud of peace, and strive make rapid advances only when its adherents a questions of disputation, 'stand fast in one spirit, with one mind,' and to the Redeemer's new com- display a temper which compels spectators to acy will present a front to the exclaim, 'Behold, how these Christians love one is onsets will be unable to break! another!' taly, moreover, does union tend to a copious descent of divine influence on Casca! Not a few of the most precious Ce in scripture are suspended on unity as Faca condition; *If two of you,' says the Saviour, had agree on earth touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done to them of my Facher which is in heaven.' The more numerous the signatures attached to the petitions we soud to the celestial throne, the greater, it would seem, is the influence of our petitions there. While, on the other hand, the surest way to turn aside our prayers, and shut up the windows of heaven against us, is to cherish unbrotherly sentiments. The Spirit, like the peaceful dove, resolutely forsakes every scene of confusion and strife. And let a religious revival be proceeding ever so prosperously, you have only to start a spirit of disunion, in order to drive off the hallowing influence, and transform the seeming garden into a blasted desert!

Nor are the benefits of brotherly union limited to believers themselves. Such union helps them to bring others under the influence of their religious principles. Even in Christian lands the divisions which unhappily exist among the faithful, present a formidable obstacle to inquirers, and furnish a powerful handle to enemies; and they must be still more influential for evil in heathen countries. Imagine the case of three or four missionaries, of different sects, labouring in the same district; and suppose that, instead of giving exclusive prominence in their public teaching to the essential truths on which they are at one, and evincing in their private intercourse a constant anxiety to fulfil the Saviour's new commandment, they make their differences their principal theme, and main

Such being the pleasantness and profitableness of unity, how important that I should maintain and promote it! But how is this to be done? If I would be one with my brethren, I must begin by becoming one with Christ. If I would see my home the abode of love; my country a land of peace; the world a united community; the church a scene of brotherhood; I must commence the work by first giving myself to the Lord, and striving to induce all within the sphere of my influence to do the same. The moment a man believes in Christ, he acquires such new views of his own character, of his relationship to his brethren, and of his obligations to love and benefit them, as must constrain him to dwell with them in unity! In a world whose inhabitants are so variously endowed by nature, so differently trained in youth, so oppositely circumstanced in after years, it would be unreasonable to expect the same opinions, the same tastes, the same forms of worship and government, everywhere to prevail. But uniformity is not essential to unity. The sons and daughters of a human parent may differ widely in taste, and pursuit, and outward condition, and yet all alike cherish the warm family affection which they imbibed in early years at the same mother's knee and around the same father's hearth. And so the children of the one great Father in heaven need not be precluded, by their inevitable diversities in minor and external things, from loving the same adorable Redeemer, and dwelling as brethren one with another. Let no obstacle, then, discourage me from making universal union an object both of pursuit and of hope! Union is heaven's first law. The works of God in creation are all marked by unity. The scheme

of providence is arranged on principles of perfect | Was it not that of a Mediator, and minister of harmony. And redemption has for its first and reconciliation? And shall the disciple who bears last object to reconcile and heal-to unite man his name, and professes to be his representative, with God, and heaven with earth! Is such decline the honour of treading, in this respect, in indeed the constitution of the universe? And the Redeemer's steps? shall man persist in forming the only exception to the beautiful design-the only note of discord in the glorious anthem of harmonious praise? Perish the impious thought!

SEVENTH DAY.-EVENING.

For this vocation the believer is also peculiarly qualified. Being himself reconciled to God by faith in the Mediator, he lives in an element of constant peace, which cannot but dispose him to seek the peace of others. Being favoured, moreover, with the continual presence and help of that Spirit whose office is to form him to the love of God and of man, he is, or ought to be, a proficient in the exercise of the charity which hopeth

faults and infirmities of others, delights to cast a veil over their errors, and to draw out to view their latent excellencies. In a word, the believer carries, or ought to carry, within his bosom, a copious fountain of brotherly-kindness, which being perpetually fed from the love and grace of heaven, may well be expected to flow forth in streams of healing charity among his brethren on earth!

Blessed are the peace-makers: for they shall be all things, and which, so far from dwelling on the called the children of God,' Matt. v. 9. DISCORD and its baneful effects are unhappily too rife in families, in the church, and in the world, to render it at all doubtful that 'peace-makers' are a class of men much and urgently needed. But where are we to look for these ministers of reconciliation? Christian! it is thy duty to assume the office! To discharge the function of a peace-maker is one, and a most essential, part of every believer's mission. As a follower of Jesus, he is required not only to follow peace himself, but also to use his influence for allaying feuds among others; not only to avoid planting himself the thorns and briars of strife, but also to root out those which other hands have planted. He would not, as a man, behold a neighbour's dwelling on fire without assisting to extinguish the flames; and no more must he, as a Christian, stand idly by, while the fires of vindictive passion are consuming the happiness and virtue of his fellow-men. Let others, if they will, be the apostles of strife: His mission is to heal and harmonize—to mediate between friends and reconcile foes—to nip quarrels in the bud—to prevent disagreements from ripening into rancour to make peace descend, with halcyon wing, on every scene of stormy contention-to transform earth into the image of heaven! Beautiful office! Who would not aspire to perform it? who would not account it an honour to discharge its duties with success?

To this noble vocation the believer is invited by the highest of all examples. When Jesus left the bosom of the Father to suffer with men on the earth, what was the office he came to perform? Was it not that of a 'peace-maker' between God and man? And when, after enduring the cross and despising the shame, he returned to his Father's right hand in heaven, what was the function which in the plenitude of his love he chose to assume, and has ever since fulfilled?

Although furnished with such motives and qualifications for undertaking it, the Christian must not expect to find the office of peace-maker an easy one. Few tasks, indeed, are beset with more difficulties and discouragements. The evil spirit of discord is emphatically of that 'kind which goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.' An irascible temper is too prone to self-justification, and too impatient of rebuke, to be easily brought under the dominion of calm reason. And party-spirit, whether it appear in society or in the church, takes too many disguises, and is fenced with too many palliations, to 'come forth' in obedience to the ordinary forms of exorcism. The peace-maker must also lay his account with misconstruction of his own motives and objects. Is he not certain to incur the open hostility of the violent and narrow-minded; and to be stigmatized as a 'meddler with other men's matters,' even by persons more open to reason? If it is a familyquarrel in which he attempts to mediate, he undertakes what is proverbially a thankless office, If it is a difference in his own religious sect or party, he has nothing to expect but to be branded as a disguised adversary by some; a lukewarm friend by others; an unsafe and timorous counsellor by all. Let it be added, that he has to contend with the further difficulty, surely no imaginary one! of making peace without any sacrifice of principle. Could he but soften a little the demands of truth and justice, so as to adapt them to the views of contending parties, how

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