qualification, necessary to enable us to abide in him. Indeed, to have a perfect knowledge of the excellency of his character, and the purity of the principles which his Gospel inculcates, and not to love him, is utterly impossible with any one, whose heart is at all susceptible of moral virtue, His meekness towards his enemies, his forbearance with his friends, his charity towards the poor, his sympathy with the afflicted, his contempt of all that the world admires, the humility of his deportment, the fervency of his devotion, must call forth, in the bosoms of all who know how to value moral worth, sentiments of the most endearing admiration. While the sublimity of his doctrine, the splendour of his supernatural power, and the divine glory of his beneficent actions, must awaken in the soul, a profound respect and veneration, above every other character that ever appeared in our world. Like his Father in Heaven, of whom he was the express and sensible image, all his intercourse with men was intended for their good. Whereever he appeared, the bitterness of anguish was assuaged, and the sorrowful heart was made glad. And wherever the influence of his Gospel prevails, the bosom is cheered by the smiles of peace, and the soul is prepared for

for heavenly enjoyments. Thus is he to us, in the moral world, what the Sun in the Heavens is in the natural. He is the way, the truth, and the life: altogether able and sufficient to save to the uttermost, all who come unto God through him. Who, then, can be acquainted with the character of Jesus, and the excellency of his Gospel, without loving him? Who can adore the attributes of the Godhead, without reverencing such a display of their sensible fulness ? Such is the light which shone in darkness, though the darkness admitted it not. Such is the light, and such the moral glory, with which the Gospel illumines our world, and by which we are called upon to love and reverence him, who is to us, the source of so much good. For, as is the vine to the husbandman, so, in the dispensation of Grace, is Jesus to the Father: And as are the branches to the vine, so are his followers to him. If, then, we would honour and love the Father, so must we honour and love the Son. For he that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father who sent him.*

3. Such knowledge, and such love, will necessarily awaken another disposition in the

*John v. 23.

breast, without the exercise of which it is impossible for us to abide in Christ. As he who loveth is born of God, so every one who is created anew in Christ Jesus must walk in newness of life, by imitating him, who hath set an example for him. In this manner is that mind to be preserved in us which was in him, as the natural consequence of that imitation, which a due love and respect for the character of the Redeemer would ever dispose us to maintain.

The immediate objects of this imitation are all those moral perfections, which were practically exhibited in the conduct of Jesus. In his intercourse with his enemies, as well as his friends, in moments of danger as well as of safety, in confidential retirement, and in the devout exercises of religion, he has left us an illustrious example. Such a splendor do they cast around his character, that no one can make them the subject of his pious meditation, without awakening in his breast a flame of holy emulation. Who can behold his patience and forbearance under persecution; who can hear the lessons of benevolence which he inculcated; who can see him weeping with those who weep, and pouring

the oil of consolation into the bosom of the

afflicted; who can hear him exclaiming, in all the devotion of his soul, "Not my will, but thine, O Father, be done!" without feeling himself forcibly drawn to the imitation of such endearing and exalted virtue? Surely there is an attraction in virtue; there is a beauty in truth; there is a loveliness in piety; which the deepest depravity must find it difficult entirely to evade. Between Heaven and Earth, throughout the wide expanse of the intelligent universe, a congenial, if not a mutual, influence is felt, which, ever directing its subjects towards the source of perfection, constitutes the support and the glory of moral being. Are we not impelled to admire the virtuous conduct of each other? Do we not feel a disposition, spontaneously rising in our souls, to emulate the example of the great and the good? How excellent, then, to the truly pious, must appear the character of Jesus! And how strong the impulse to imitate those virtues, which shone with so much splendor in his conduct! Awake, then, to righteousness, and sin not. Let those who would abide in the Lord Jesus Christ, imitate his example.

4. Obedience is also necessary to the Christian. This grows out of the same disposition

that influences us to imitation. If ye love me, said Jesus to his Disciples, keep my commandments. Thus the obedience which the Gospel requires, is the obedience of love. That, which is the consequence simply of the fear of punishment, is dastardly and pusillanimous, compared with the service which God requires. The horrors of a guilty conscience may drive many to make a profession of Religion; but their Religion too often consists, it is to be feared, in words and forms, rather than in those devout affections of the heart, which alone can constitute an acceptable sacrifice to God. As that heart which is filled with divine love constitutes an altar, whence holy incense of praise is ever rising ; so he only, who truly loves the Saviour, can render that obedience to the holy precepts of his Gospel, which is required of all who profess to be his followers.

The extent of Christian obedience is such as becomes a Religion whose origin is divine. The demands of the Gospel are worthy the Father of the Universe, worthy the Son of God who proclaimed them in our world, and admirably adapted to rational and moral agents, sinful and dependant as we are. embrace, not only our external actions, but

They