Hence an uniform and sincere endeavour to obey Ilis Heavenly will, is the only real evidence of the possession of the love of God, which when unfeignedly exercised, implies the existence of all the other Christian virtues.

It is for this reason that the love of God is sometimes put for the whole of religion, for none can truly love God without at the same time believing in Him, fearing Him, worshipping Him, and giving Him thanks; and none can so love Him without serving Him truly all the days of their life.

Besides, wherever the true love of God exists it will always be accompanied by that charity towards man, which as it is the very bond of peace and of all virtues, so does the possession of it imply, a due performance of all those other duties which we owe to our fellow creatures.

The appeal which will now be made to the fidelity with which the Church of England has taught the importance of unfeigned love to God will, it is believed, be unanswerable.

In the Litany she teaches us to pray That it may please thee to give us an heart to love and dread thee, and diligently to live after thy commandments.' In the catechism she states it to be part of our duty towards God, 'to love Him with all our heart, with all our mind, with all our soul, and with all our strength;' and she puts into our mouths the highest expressions of love to God in that noble hymn in the Communion Service, which begins, Glory be to God on high, &c.'

The following extracts from the Collects will be found strongly to confirm what has been advanced in the preceding essay.

"Graft into our hearts the love of thy name."

"Pour into our hearts such love toward thee, that we loving thee above all things may obtain thy promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Lastly, in appealing to the practice of the faithful and devoted sons of the Church of England, the first two passages are taken from the Autibiography of Bishop Patrick.

66

Upon March the 24th, I had the most pleasant day that I had of a long time enjoyed. For I was so highly delighted in the thoughts of God, and found my spirit so free, so clear, (for I had fasted that day,) so pleased, that to be always in that blessed temper, I thought I could be contented to be poor, nay, to lie under any misery.

"So much satisfaction I found in the sense of God, and of His love, and of our blessed Saviour, that I could have been contented to eat and drink no more, If I could have continued in that sweet disposition of mind, which I wished my little one might inherit, rather than all the riches of the world.”—Page 91.

"On the 31st of this month, I was much affected at evening prayer, as I was on the 24th before; I find by sweet experience how good it is to keep in memory those gracious touches that are upon our spirits, and the pious dispositions that are at any time wrought in our hearts. Particularly I felt what it is to have a soul lifted up to God (as the words of the Anthem were Psalm lxxxvi) above the body, above all things here in this world. And I saw how frivolous all the powers on earth are, in comparison with Him, who doth wondrous things, and is God alone, over-ruling all their motions as He pleaseth. I thought also how happy I should be, could I have my heart always knit unto Him, by hope in His mercy, by perfect satisfaction in His love; and by joy from thence flowing abundantly."-Page 95.

My retirement in this solitary place hath been, I hope, of some advantage to me as to the state of religion, in which I am yet but a novice, but by the goodness of God I see fine things before me whither I am contending.

"It is a great, but a good work, and I beg of you to assist me with your prayers, and to obtain of God for me that I may arrive to that height of love and union with God, which is given to all those souls who are very dear to God."-Letter of Bp. Jer. Taylor.

"With such humility did the author of "Holy Living and Dying" regard his own attainments in religion, and such were his impressions of the happiness and consolation, even in this life, conferred by a pure and exalted piety"

"His devotion through life, appears to have continued as we have hitherto seen it, however intense, however unremitted, (I had almost said) seraphic, yet practical, peaceful, energetic, and orderly; of a kind which instead of seeking food in visions of enthusiastic rapture, or displaying itself in a fantastical adoption of new toys and instruments of theopathy, made him the better friend, the better parent, the better servant of the state, the better member and governor of that Church which he had defended in her deepest adversities." Bp. Heber's Life of Bp. Jer. Taylor.

ESSAY THE SEVENTH.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.”—Matt. v. 3. *WHEN we consider that pride is the greatest of all evils, and the fountain head, as it were, of those dreadful things which have brought ruin upon the whole world; we shall easily see that no genuine religion can exist without true humility or poverty of spirit.

Indeed, pride in any form and true piety cannot co-exist. For the Devil not being at first what he now is, by means of pride became a Devil, as St. Paul plainly shews when he says 'lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the Devil.' The truth of this proposition will further appear by considering the case of Adam, who having been puffed up by a vain and proud hope through the evil suggestions of the Devil, was hurled headlong from the pure state in which he was created, and became subject to misery and to death.

For by believing that he should become, as God, and by being guilty of disobedience through the pride of his heart; he lost at once that happiness which in a state of innocence he possessed, and falling into the condemnation of the Devil, he lost at the same time the favour and blessing of the Lord.

With the vain, proud, and unholy thought of being, as God, the Almighty reproaching him, and, as it were, mocking his wicked folly, said, "lo, Adam has become as one of us;" and the unhappy descendants of Adam following but too closely in the steps of their guilty forefather, have too often suffered their hearts to be inflated with pride, and, by vainly imagining themselves to be 'as God,' have in too many instances brought themselves to destruction both of body and soul.

Since, therefore, pride is thus undeniably proved to be the great citadel of evil-the root and fountain, as it were, of all wickedness and ungodliness, our Blessed Redeemer in preparing a remedy which should be effectually opposed to the disease, caused the seat of its operation to be the heart, and for that purpose declared in the words which stand at the head of this essay, "Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the

kingdom of Heaven."

And in so acting, He laid down this law of true and unfeigned humility as a strong foundation and a safe ground-work upon which to build all the other virtues of a holy, a Christian, and a self-denied life.

* For some of the ideas expressed in this essay the author is indebted to St. Chrysostom's XVth Homily on St. Matthew.

The grace of humility then being thus laid as a foundation by our Blessed Lord Himself, the Christian builder may put all other things upon it with safety; but wherever true humility is wanting, even if you could come almost to the gates of heaven by the practice of other Christian virtues, yet all the goodly fabric would be easily overturned, and when the floods shall come and the winds shall blow, must fall, and great will be the fall of it.

And that this is truly the case, will appear from our Blessed Lord's declaration concerning the Pharisee in the parable.

For after the Pharisee had reached a very high place in the practice of virtue and godliness of living, he lost all and fell down because he possessed not humility, because he was not poor in spirit, and meek and lowly in heart.

Hence we may learn that as pride in any form is the foundation of all evil, so humility is the foundation of all true religion and virtue.

Rightly and divinely then does our Blessed Lord begin His instructions for a good and holy life, by tearing up pride by the roots, by pronouncing a blessing upon those who are poor in spirit, and by assuring them that of theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

On the whole then, it is plain that we must be humble in heart and poor in spirit, if ever we would enter through the Redeemer's merits into His kingdom of glory in heaven.

And when we reflect, in the first place, that without unfeigned humility there can be no religion; and then go on to consider how much our stubborn hearts are opposed to this meek and lowly disposition of mind, we shall be thankful, or at least we ought to be thankful, if we knew our best interests, at any means employed by God for humbling our pride, for breaking down our stubborn self-will, and for leading us to submit with patient resignation to the arrangements of His providence in all things, saying 'The will of the Lord be done.'

And when we further remember that the High and Lofty One, who inhabiteth eternity will only dwell with the man who is of a humble and contrite spirit,; that 'God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble; and that to that man only will God look who is humble and contrite in heart, and who trembleth at his word; surely we shall not be satisfied till we have humbled ourselves under the mighty hand of God, trusting to Him to exalt us in due season; surely we shall make it our continual endeavour, assisted therein by the grace of the Holy Spirit, to subdue every imagination which exalteth itself against God, and to bring every thought into captivity, unto the obedience of Christ.

And now let the appeal be made to the fidelity with which the Church of England continually enforces the necessity of this indispensable grace of humility.

At the very beginning of every service she directs the minister to exhort the people to confess their sins with an humble, lowly, penitent, and obedient heart.

Humble expressions :

"But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders.”

"We thine unworthy servants do give thee most humble and hearty thanks."

"We humbly beseech Thee, O Father, &c."

"From pride, vain-glory, and hypocrisy, &c., Good Lord deliver us." "Most humbly beseeching thee to grant."

"We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy table."

The following passages will shew how fully the grace of humility so faithfully taught by the Church of England, has been acted out in the practice of some of the most devoted of her sons.

"This parsonage, of Borne, is from Canterbury three miles, and near to the common road that leads from that city to Dover; in which parsonage Mr. Hooker had not been twelve months, but his books and the innocency and sanctity of his life became so remarkable, that many turned out of the road, and others (scholars especially) went purposely to see the man, whose life and learning were so much admired: and alas! as our Saviour said of St. John the Baptist, what went they out to see? A man clothed in purple and fine linen? No, indeed; but an obscure, harmless man; a man in poor clothes, his loins usually girt in a coarse gown or canonical coat; of mean stature and stooping, and yet more lowly in thoughts of his soul; his body worn out, not with age, but with study and holy mortifications."

"At his entrance or departure out of any house he would usually speak to the whole family and bless them by name; insomuch that as he seemed in his youth to be taught of God, so he seemed in this place to teach His precepts, as Enoch did, by walking with Him in all holiness and humility, making each day a step towards a Blessed Eternity.'

Dr. Spencer, the dear friend and companion of Hooker's studies, thus writes of him :

"What admirable height of learning, and depth of judgment, dwelt in the lowly mind of this truly humble man; great in all wise men's eyes except his own." The following lines are from Hooker's Epitaph:

Ambitious man, learn hence to be more wise,
Humility is the true way to rise;

And God in me this lesson did inspire,

To bid this humble man- Friend, sit up higher.'

Walton's Life of Hooker.

"The exuberance of this humility appeared on all other occasions of instance: particularly about this time a letter being sent unto him, in which, among many expressions of great value, there was added an intimation, that 'there was now hope the days were come when his desert should be considered, and himself employed in the government as well as the instruction of the Church;' at this he was hugely discomposed, and expressed a grief and anguish, beyond that his sickness, however sharp, had extorted from him."-Life of Dr. Hammond.

ESSAY THE EIGHTH.

"In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins." -Colos. i. 14.

AMONG the important truths which have obtained the general consent of mankind, none seems to have more universally prevailed among all nations of the world, than a belief in the necessity of some sacrifice being made before human guilt could be done away, and the need of offering an atonement to the Most High by the shedding of blood, before man could possibly obtain remission of his sins, or be reconciled to his offended Creator.

If we turn our attention to the religious practice of the Ancient Heathens

we shall find, that from the prevalence of evil and misery which they saw and felt, there universally prevailed amongst them the conviction that the supreme Being had become offended with mankind, and held a controversy with the creatures of his hand, and therefore the first act of piety which their reason led them to perform was the attempt to propitiate his anger, to recommend themselves to the divine favour, and to recover the approbation of Heaven by the means of oblations and sacrifices.

Nor does a more perfect knowledge of the existence as well as the cause of the divine displeasure, enable us to say that they were wrong, either in the belief of the existence of the divine anger, or in the attempt to reconcile themselves to an offended God; although they entirely failed, as was likely, in the means of reconciliation.

Neither, considering that they were destitute of direct Revelation, was there anything unreasonable in their conduct. For the act of piety next in order to a belief in the existence of a supreme Governor of the universe, would naturally be the attempt to become reconciled to that Great Being, whom, from the presence of evil and misery in the world, they knew to be offended with them.

And since they not only perceived that He was offended, but also were pretty generally convinced that a just cause for His displeasure had been given by mankind, who had disobeyed His laws, and rejected His authority; the idea of making restitution and satisfaction seems universally to have occurred to them, and the first act of satisfaction which reason suggested was that of sacrifice, by the offering of which they hoped not only to escape the punishment due to their guilt, but also to be able to purchase the favour and good will of heaven.

And since no immediate Revelation of God's will had been made to them, it is no wonder that they endeavoured to propitiate the Deity by sacrifices and vows, and thereby to hope not only for pardon for the past, but also for favour and approbation for the future.

And if we consult their practice, we shall find that they willingly surrendered the very best of their worldly goods to their false gods, in the hope that they would be favourable to them, and in some cases it was even thought necessary 'to give the fruit of the body for the sin of their soul.'

And if we pass on from the consideration of those sacrifices which the light of nature led the Ancient Heathens to perform, to the numerous sacrifices of the Jewish ritual which were performed by the express commandment of God himself, we shall find the same great truth forced by the most undeniable evidence upon our conviction; that sacrifice is necessary before punishment can be remitted, pardon gained, and man reconciled to his offended Creator; and that without the shedding of blood there is no remission.'

That it was impossible the blood of bulls or of goats, whether offered by Heathens or by Jews, should take away sin St. Paul has clearly shewn in his epistle to the Hebrews; and therefore all the shedding of blood which took place before the coming of Christ must be considered as pointing to that great event which took place when the Eternal Son of God' offered himself up as a lamb without spot unto God,' and appeared once in the end of the world to take away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

That sin when once it has been committed has effects which no after repentance can do away, we might have learnt from the voice of nature,