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the general expectation of persons of all characters in all nations, is an instinct implanted by God to warn us of a coming storm. Not one nation, but all; not one class of thinkers, but all,-they who fear, and they who hope, and who hope and fear things opposite; they who are immersed in their worldly schemes, and they who look for some coming of God's kingdom; they who watch this world's signs, and they who watch for the next-alike have their eye intently fixed on somewhat that is coming; though whether it be the vials of his wrath or the glories of his kingdom, or whether the one shall be herald to the other, none can tell. They who calculate what is likely, speak of it; they who cannot, feel its coming. The spirits of the unseen world seem to be approaching to us, and 'awe comes upon us and trembling, which maketh all bones to shake.' There is "upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity, men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming upon the earth." Times of trouble there have been before; but such a time in which everything, everywhere, tends in one direction to one mighty struggle of one sort-of faith with infidelity, lawlessness with rule, Christ with Antichrist, there seems never to have been till now." "God warneth us, by the very swiftness with which all things are moving around us, that it is He who is impelling them. Man cannot impart such speed, nor rouse the winds from the four quarters of the heavens, nor bring men's varying wills into a uniform result; and therewith he warns us to beware how we attempt to guide what he is thus manifestly governing."

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The end of many things seems indeed approaching. Popery, though making convulsive struggles, must ere long expire. Babylon is repairing her battlements, only to make her fall the more signal. The long captivity of Israel is drawing to its close. The Mohammedan delusion is effete. The idols are about to be abolished. The sanctuary is about to be cleansed. Political despotism and ecclesiastical tyranny are doomed. But before the end of these things, what wars and rumors of wars," what siftings of men and systems! What struggles, what sacrifices, what sufferings are coming, are at hand! What need of faith and patience, of dependence and exertion, of caution and vigor! Never since the destruction of the Jewish economy was there a louder call to Christians to attend to the inspired declarations, "Be sober, and watch unto prayer."

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DISCOURSE XIX.

ON THE MAINTENANCE AND MANIFESTATION OF BROTHERLY

LOVE.'

1 PET. iv. 8-11.-And, above all things, have fervent charity among yourselves; for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. Use hospitality one to another without grudging. As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth; that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ: to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

HOLY brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling! In the sacred services of the forenoon, we have, in the most solemn manner, recognized the intimate relation in which we stand to each other as Christians. We have declared, that "though many, we are one body, having partaken of one bread," "the bread which came down from heaven, and has been given for the life of the world;" and "having all drunk into one Spirit," "the Spirit of love, and power, and of a sound mind," which Jesus being glorified has given to all who believe in him. We have, over the instituted emblems of the holy, suffering humanity of our Lord, made the good profession, that we have one God and Father, Jehovah; one Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ; one faith, the faith of his gospel; one baptism, the baptism of his Spirit ; one hope, the hope of his salvation. We have avowed ourselves brethren in Christ, and pledged ourselves to perform all the mutual duties which rise out of a relation so intimate and so sacred.

It cannot, then, be inopportune to direct your attention to an inspired account of some of those duties; and such an account is contained in the paragraph I have just read, which plainly refers to the temper and conduct towards each other by which Christians should be characterized. The whole truth on this subject may be briefly stated. The entire duty of Christians to each other is summed up in one word, love; brotherly love. The maintenance of brotherly love, that is the temper by which Christians should be characterized; the manifestation of brotherly love, that is the conduct by which Christians should be characterized.

In the text, both of these are plainly enjoined and powerfully enforced. The maintenance of brotherly love is thus enjoined: "Above all things, have fervent charity among yourselves." And it is thus enforced: "for charity shall cover the multitude of sins." The mani

1 This discourse was delivered immediately after the administration of the Lord's Supper.

festation of brotherly love is thus enjoined: "Use hospitality one to another without grudging. As every man hath received the gift, so let him minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth." And it is thus enforced: "that God may in all things be glorified through Jesus Christ." The maintenance and manifestation of the love of the brethren, enjoined and recommended, are thus obviously the substance of the text; and to unfold the meaning of the injunctions, and to point out the force of the recommendations, are the objects I shall endeavor to gain in the following dis

course.

I-THE MAINTENANCE OF BROTHERLY LOVE.

§ 1. The duty explained.

And first, of the maintenance of brotherly love. "Above all things, have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins." The injunction first calls for our consideration: "Above all things, have fervent charity among yourselves." 1

In the ordinary use of language, charity is expressive either of almsgiving, or of that disposition which leads a man to take fully as favorable a view of the character and conduct of other men as facts will justify. In Scripture, however, it is never employed in either of these senses. It is uniformly used as equivalent to the word "love" in its highest sense; and it would have prevented some hazardous misapprehensions and misinterpretations had the original term been uniformly thus rendered. I have had occasion to remark elsewhere, that "there is a love which every man owes to every other man, without reference to his spiritual state or character, merely because he is a man, a sincere desire to promote his welfare." This is the love which the Apostle Paul, with obvious propriety, represents as "the fulfilling of the law," so far as it refers to our duties to our fellow-men; for he who is under its influence can do no ill to any man; he cannot interfere injuriously with another's personal property or reputation, but on the contrary must, as he has opportunity, "do good to all men." Good-will is the essence, indeed the sole component element, of this love.

The love referred to in the text is obviously more limited in its range, and, for that very reason, much more comprehensive in its elementary principles. It is not love towards all men that the apostle here enjoins, but "love among themselves." This affection is called "the love of the brethren," "brotherly kindness," to contradistinguish it from the benevolent regard which should be cherished towards all human beings; for though all men are brethren, as they

The subject of this section has already been considered in Discourses VI., XII., and XV. I have preferred laying myself open to the charge of self-repetition, rather than either, by mere reference to these discourses, giving this discourse a mangled appearance, or, by studiously seeking novelty in the form of expression, running the risk of injuring the substance of the illustration of brotherly love, Similar reasons have led to similar repetitions in other parts of these volumes.

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have one Father, "one God has created them," they are not all brethren in the christian sense of that expression. The appellation is limited to what has always been a comparatively small class of persons, genuine Christians. The affection spoken of in the text can be exercised only by them; it can be exercised only to them. who is unchristian, who is anti-christian, in his opinions, and temper, and conduct, may highly esteem, may tenderly love a true Christian, but he cannot cherish to him the love which Christians have "among themselves," "brotherly kindness:" he loves him not because he is, but notwithstanding that he is, a Christian. A Christian may love, he ought to love, he does love, all mankind; he desires the happiness of every being capable of happiness; he esteems what is estimable, he loves what is amiable, he admires what is admirable; he pities what is suffering wherever he meets with it; but he cannot extend beyond the sacred pale the love which those within it have “ among themselves;" he cannot regard with brotherly kindness any one but a christian brother. None but a Christian can be either the object or the subject of this benevolent affection. None but a Christian can either be the agent or the recipient in the kind offices in which it finds expression.

This limitation is matter not of choice but of necessity. Most gladly would the Christian regard all his fellow-men as fellowChristians, if they would but allow him to do so, by becoming Christians; but till they do so, it is in the nature of things impossible that he should feel toward them as if they were what they are not. This affection originates in the possession of a peculiar mode of thinking and feeling, produced in the mind by the Holy Spirit, through the knowledge and belief of christian truth, which naturally leads those who are thus distinguished to a sympathy of mind and heart, of thought and affection, with all who, under the same influence, have been led to entertain the same views and to cherish the same dispositions. They love one another "in the truth, for the truth's sake that dwelleth in them, and shall be with them forever." 1

This circumstance, which necessarily limits this principle as to its sphere of operation, gives it a greater intensity and activity in that sphere, as well as much greater comprehension of elementary principles. It includes good-will in its highest degree; but to this it adds moral esteem, complacential delight, tender sympathy. This it does in every instance; but the degree in which these elementary principles are to be found, in individual cases of brotherly kindness, depends on a variety of circumstances; and chiefly on the degree in which he who exercises it, and he to whom it is exercised, approach the completeness and perfection of the christian character. Every Christian loves every other Christian, when he knows him; but the more accomplished the Christian is, whether the subject or object of brotherly love, the more does he put forth or draw forth its holy, benignant influence.

The end of all love is the good or the happiness of its object, as that happiness is conceived of by its subject. The great end which christian brotherly love contemplates, is the well-being of its object,

1 1 2 John 2.

viewed as a christian man; his deliverance from ignorance, and error, and sin, in all their forms and all their degrees; his progressive, and ultimately his complete, happiness, in entire conformity to the mind and will of God; the unclouded sense of the Divine favor, the uninterrupted enjoyment of the Divine fellowship, the being like "the ever-blessed" Holy, Holy, Holy One. It does not overlook any of the interests of its object; but it views them all in reference, in subordination, to the enjoyment of " the salvation that is in Christ, with eternal glory."

This is "the love among themselves" of which the apostle speaks; and his injunction with regard to it is, "Above all things, have fervent love among yourselves." The original word rendered "fervent" is a very expressive one. Its primitive and proper signification is, extensive and wide-reaching; and, when applied to love, it describes a benevolent affection, which takes a wide view of the capacities for happiness of its objects, and which seeks its gratification in having all these capacities completely filled; the love expressed in the words of the apostle-" this also we wish, even your perfection;" or, in his prayer, "that ye may be filled with all the fulness of God." Nothing short of the perfect holiness, the perfect happiness, of its objects, can satisfy it.

This term is also used to signify intensity; as when it is said of our Lord, that, "being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly." The love which the apostle calls on Christians to maintain, is not cold, not even lukewarm; it is fervent love; an active principle like fire; not lying dormant in the mind, but influencing all the powers of action; a love which will make the exertion or suffering necessary to gain its purposes, be readily engaged in and submitted to.

This word, too, is employed to signify continuance, as when it is said, that "prayer was made without ceasing for Peter," when Herod had cast him into prison, intending that he should never come out but to his execution. The love here referred to is love that is to last for life, and which even death is not to extinguish. It is an extensive, intense, permanent affection, which the apostle exhorts Christians to maintain towards each other.

The precise import of his exhortation differs somewhat, according to the place you give to the epithet "fervent" in it. If, with our translators, you read "Have fervent charity among yourselves," the word have has the sense of hold. He takes for granted that as Christians they were in possession of this fervent love, and his exhortation is to hold it fast. Let not your fervent love wax cold. If, with other interpreters, and fully as much in conformity with the construction of the original text, we read, "Have love among yourselves, fervent," the apostle takes for granted that they had love among themselves; if they had not they were not Christians at all; and his exhortation to them is, See that your love be in extent, in intensity, and in continuance, what it ought to be.' In this case, the passage is exactly parallel with that in chapter i. 22, where he takes for granted, that they had "purified their souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren ;" and exhorts them to "see that

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