see the beauty of his truth, and awake from the dream of sinful indulgence, to obey his voice: that being thus all of one heart and one mind, united in one fold, and under one Shepherd, we may serve him in sanctity and justice all our days, and be happy together with him in heaven.

SERMON XLIV.

TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST.

ON THE DUTY OF THE LOVE OF GOD.

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbour as thyself. (Luke x. 27.)

In considering the present gospel, two important objects present themselves to our view, on which (as our Lord and Legislator declares in another place) the law and the prophets wholly depend; the love of God and the love of our neighbour. It is my intention, in the discourse of this day, to confine myself to a consideration of the duty of divine charity, or the love of God; for this is the greatest and first commandment; (Matt. xxii. 38.) and if this be fulfilled, the second will not be neglected; because it is impossible not to love our neighbour, if we truly love God. We are required to love the Lord our God with all the

ardour of affection: on him ought we to think with gratitude and delight; with love of him our hearts ought to be all on fire; to him our souls should tend, as to their centre, and be preserved from every deviation by the irresistible attractions of his infinite perfections. 0, my brethren, let us wish that we could love him as he has loved us! O that we could say with the loving penitent St. Augustine, and with the same spirit : “I love thee, my God, and I desire still to love thee more. O fire, ever burning and never decaying! O love, always glowing and never cooling ! inflame me; that being all on fire with thee, I may be all in love with thee!" (Solil. c. 8.) Let us love this loving God, by seeking him in all things; in prosperity and in misfortune, in sickness as in health; let us love him above all, preferably to all, and love no creature but in reference, and with subordination to him. If we do not thus love him, let us at least desire so to love him; let us pray that we may so love him; that the fire of divine love may consume our souls, and that we may die to the world for the love of him, who has died upon a cross for the love of us. To enkindle in our hearts this sacred flame, we will consider some of the motives which should induce us to love the God who made us, and commands us to love him.

To be convinced that God merits all our love, nothing more is required than to turn our eyes to ourselves, and to use that reason which he has bestowed upon us. Let him, who feels not a sentiment of love for his God, look back to his original state, and trace his progress to the present period of his existence. While yet lost in the abyss of his primitive non-existence, unconscious and unknown, the eye of God was upon him only his Almighty hand could draw him into being; of ourselves we could do nothing, for we were nothing; existing beings, themselves created and dependent, could effect nothing in our regard; nothing less than God, the self-existing, independent, supreme Being, eternal and omnipotent, could have called us into life. He alone can preserve his own work; to him we are indebted for innumerable and ineffable favors bestowed upon us: in him we live, and move, and exist. (Acts, xvii. 28.) If from ourselves we direct our view to all that surrounds us; the wisdom, the power, the love of a God towards his creatures are eminently conspicuous: and, while we observe his wonders in the vegetable and animal world, the prodigies that are discoverable in the elements, the mysteries of nature, all combining to promote our welfare; we ought to remember that, constituted as we are, the lords of the creation, and,

as it were, presiding over the works of God on earth, and deriving advantage from them, we ought to love him with unbounded affection, as possessing superior dignity and merit, and created for an end infinitely superior to theirs. The heart of man is therefore made for love; love is the life of the heart, says St. Augustine, and if its love be directed to any object below God, so as to make it the principal object of its affections, it degrades the soul, that noble and immortal principle which cannot be satisfied with aught that is not God. For whom can you live with greater justice and propriety, than for him to whom you are indebted for life? Has he not, as St. John observes, loved us first? he not gone before us in affection? and without any need of our homage, affection, or life, has he not created a world where we may pass the short space of our earthly existence; a world, not devoid of beauty and splendour, because he wished not our misery for a moment; but a world, as much inferior to that which he has prepared for our eternal residence, as he is superior to every temporal good. He desires to unite himself with us; and when united with us, he will not withdraw himself from us, unless driven away by our ingratitude. His love is not to be subdued even by our ingratitude; even in our worst outrages he wishes our salva

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