-desire after fellowship with him in the closet, in the family, and in his public institutions,-supreme regard to his authority,-a sacred and constant regard to his glory,-zeal for his cause-and humble and cheerful submission to his will. Psalm xvi. 5. Mark i. 35. John ii. 17. and xviii. 11.

They are likewise admirably calculated to produce the love of our neighbour, by the display which they afford of the interest which our common Father has taken in our welfare, in the plan of our redemption, from the evil in which all of us are involved. Titus iii. 3. 2 Cor. v. 14. We feel that in our fallen state there is a sad companionship of woe; but in the Gospel we see an animating communion of hope, The grace of God excites in us a particular interest in those who are fellow-heirs with us of the heavenly inheritance; but it also produces regard for even blasphemers and persecutors, by the consideration that they may yet be changed by the same mercy which we have experienced. When we remember that some, even of the worst of characters, may go before us, and others of them follow us into the heavenly temple, we learn to pity them, to pray for them, and to treat them with kindness.

You know that friendship formed by fellow-sufferers, and by the subjects of a common deliverance from a calamity which threatened to ingulph them all, are among the very strongest on earth. No friendships equal those which are cemented by tears of sorrow and of joy. When such a common deliverance has been effected by a particular character, distinguished by generous and brotherly kindness, he becomes a bond of union and corresponding affection, of the most close and endearing nature. And will not the consideration of our common ruin, as sinners, and our common deliverance by the Redeemer, unite us to his truth, and to one another for his sake? It is on this principle that

we are exhorted to walk in love, as Christ also loved us, and hath given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God, for a sweet smelling savour. Ephes. v. 2. What a force there is in these words-" Thy brother, for whom Christ died." Rom. xiv. 15. 1 Cor. viii. 11. Is he dear to the heart which was pierced for our sins, and is he graven on the hands of him who achieved our redemption, and shall we not love him?

Nothing in the Gospel tends to cherish selfishness. The joy of the Christian loves to see itself multiplied and reflected. Our inheritance admits of participation without being diminished. It resembles truth, which suffers no change or diminution how many soever know it. When the mind is placed at ease in regard to eternity, it must extend abroad a tenderness of feelingmust experience an expansion of heart, an outflow of affection, which assimilates it to the God of all love.

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Now, since" love is the fulfilling of the law," we are conformed to it when brought to love God and our neighbour. Our love to the Father of glory is implanted and cherished by the manifestations of his unutterable and free love in the Gospel. In our helpless and guilty condition, a vivid view of the divine majesty and holiness must overwhelm us with terror and dismay: but the mercy revealed in in Christ commands our confidence. The fear which hath torment is banished; but there succeeds to it a sacred reverence for the c racter of God, and a holy fear of offending him. That same cross which exhibits him as the God of love, exhibits him as also light without darkness; and while it exalts his mercy, it shows him to be a consuming fire. 1 John i. 5; iv. 8. Heb. xii. 29. When we contemplate the history of Emmanuel, and trace his progress from heaven to the cross, and back from the cross to heaven, that he might redeem us from the curse, and elevate us to glory, what must be the effect but over

whelming admiration, the warmest gratitude, and humble prostration of spirit before our Benefactor!The fear of which I speak, so far from being opposed to love, is in fact proportioned to it; for in the same degree as a child loves his father, he will fear his frown. Neither is it incompatible with happiness; for even in heaven, where there is fulness of joy, the inhabitants exclaim, "Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name, for thou only art holy !" Rev. xv. 4.

The Gospel detects all those unscriptural notions which derogate from the majesty and grandeur of Jehoval, and which are utterly inconsistent with holy and devout reverence; and it gives us such a consistent and stupendous manifestation of his peerless glory, that the mind can no longer raise itself against him, but drops all its high thoughts and proud imaginations. To bring us back to our original principle, the love of God and of every creature in him and for him, is the grand object of the Saviour. In this consists the spiritual health of our nature, and the new heart which is promised in the covenant of peace. It is the very element of our life and of our joy. Springing, as it does, from just apprehensions of the character of God, and from a sense of his mercies, it cherishes the most honourable sentiments regarding his law. Services the most unwearied, are cheerfully performed; sacrifices of the most painful nature are willingly made, and sufferings the most distressing are patiently endured, when this principle rules in the heart. What hath not faith working by love effected! What a triumph have the doctrines of the cross gained over all the unhallowed passions of the heart!

These doctrines are the power of God to salvation. Rom. i. 16. They are that sound or healing instruction, of which so much is said in the epistles of Paul to Ti

mothy and Titus 2 Tim. i. 13; iv. 3. Titus ii. i. 8. 1 Tim. vi. 3. Psal. xix. 8.; and they are to be stated clearly and constantly, that men may be brought under their salutary influence, and that such as are Christians may be excited by their powerful energy to be careful to abound in good works. Titus iii. 3-8 It is true, that if stated as a mere theory, without being applied, they cannot produce the desired effect; but if taught in union with the other parts of revelation, they must, by the divine blessing, prove truly salutary. Agreeably to this, the Scriptures identify the new creature with the principle and the purifying influence of faith."Faith, which worketh by love," is represented as the root of all holy dispositions and behaviour Gal. v. 6., and of course the Gospel believed is the effectual cure of the depraved heart of man; and from this practical and healing tendency, the Scriptures infer its utility and its importance. 1 Tim. iv. 16. and vi. 3. 2 Tim. iii. 16. It is not by transient impressions, or incidental visitations of Providence, but by a permanent principle, that the heart is drawn out to obedience, dissolved in gratitude, or blessed with happiness. He who is born of God overcometh the world, and the principle which is thus declared to be of divine origin, and to be the means of our victory, is faith. 1 John v. 4. In a word, by the truth of God, and the agency of his Spirit, we are regenerated at first, John i. 11, 12, and by it thus written upon the heart, are we also progressively sanctified; John xvii. 17.; and when in heaven the change shall be perfected, although there we shall not stand in need of Bibles, yet even there it will be by the full revelation to us of that character now unfolded to us in the Scriptures, that we shall become completely like to God; for the word of the Lord, and the relation into which it brings us, and the character which it forms in us, shall endure for ever. 1 Peter i. 23. The nature

of the

agency which will then disclose to us this transforming light, it were vain to inquire after.-I am, &c.

LETTER XXV.

THOUGHTS ON THE REASONING OF JAMES, ON THE JUSTIFICATION OF ABRAHAM.

Justification used to denote two things in Scripture-Is used by James to express the means of the renovation of the character, and the approbation which follows it-The trial of Abraham's faith exercised and strengthened it-His holy character was formed by it, and obtained the Divine approbation-The same indoctrine taught by Paul-The forgiveness of Abraham, the pattern of that of believers His character, the pattern of that of believers-The reasoning of James respecting Faith-The Jess of 1 f having the Divine e approbation-The duty of imitating the father of the faithful.

Didi HAVE dwelt for some time on the ground of forgiveness, and the_means of a change of character. The latter is connected with every part of the truth; for the whole of divine revelation is designed for practical purposes. He who has been pardoned by the grace of God, will lament his contrariety to the character and will of his Benefactor, and will be anxious to become like Him, and to obtain his approbation. These desires are met in the Gospel, and provision is made to gratify them: Allow me, in illustration of this subject, to call your attention to what I formerly stated respecting the meaning of the term justification, as it bears on the reasoning of the apostle James, in regard to Abraham.