have they that love thy law, and nothing shall offend them." Our lives must be conformable to the sacred precepts, that we may "walk in love, as he also hath loved us, and given himself for us."

Obedience implies a readiness to do the will of God, which must be our rule, and his honour and glory the end of all our actions and efforts. "I will run in the way of thy commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart."

Obedience includes active effort in the Saviour's cause. Love is not a dormant but an active principle; and, to achieve any great amount of moral good, decisive action is the pre-requisite. It does not require a great stretch of intellect to conceive the necessity of personal effort to destroy the works of the devil, promote the prosperity of the church, and the regeneration of the human race.

The path of enterprise the christian must pursue is marked out. Numerous and powerful impediments may lie across the path; therefore, to accomplish his object, faith and courage are absolutely necessary. When one of the six-winged seraphs took a live coal from off the altar, and laid it on the lips of Isaiah, and the voice of the Lord fell on his ear, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" he answered, "Here am I; send me." He did not hesitate; he made no inquiries; he did not particularise; nor object on the ground of difficulty, danger, or expediency. He did not say, send me if the work is easy; send me if there is no cross to bear; send me if there are no difficulties to encounter; send me if there is no persecution to endure; send me if there is ample compensation for the work. No; he was willing to venture, ready to obey, prompt to comply.

One writer remarks-"It is the nature of love to seek its highest gratification in the happiness of its object. Love lives in the enjoyments it bestows. This is the element of its existence. It delights in occasions of

manifesting its strength by the extent of its sacrifices in promoting the good of those that are loved. The eye can linger upon nothing more beautiful than the manifestation of this affection. The heart can be subjected to no influence richer in the purest enjoyment."

To be obedient is to follow the Saviour, not only when the road is smooth and the elements are placid, but when the way is rough and the storm high; not only when men speak well of you, but when your characters are branded with infamy; not only when the sun of prosperity shines upon you, but when the gloom of adversity gathers around you. "Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me," Matt. xvi. 24.

2. Love to others indicates our love to Christ. Love is comprehensive in the objects it embraces, and diffusive in the principles it inculcates. There must be the outgoings of pure affection. "These things I command you," said the Saviour, "that ye love one another." It is the badge of our discipleship: "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye love one another." It is one of the evidences of our conversion : "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren," 1 John iii. 14. "Beloved, let us love another: for God is love; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God." It is impossible to enjoy religion if we love not one another. a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also," 1 John iv. 20, 21.

"If

Love to others must be manifested in words and acts of kindness; we are to be humane and generous in our dispositions and deeds. "For whosoever shall give you

C

a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward." Paul writes to the Galatians: "By love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” John writes: "Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren, and to strangers; which have borne witness of thy charity before the church."

We have a touching exemplification of this principle in the conduct of Obadiah, "when he took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water," 1 Kings xviii. 4. The primitive christians sold their possessions and goods, and distributed them to meet the wants of the needy.

The apostle Paul urges the observance of christian sympathy. "Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep." Christians should sympa

thise with each other. "The members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it," 1 Cor. xii. 25, 26. This sympathy must extend to the unconverted. "Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves in the body," Heb. xiii. 3.

"How softly the tear of sympathy falls on the heart bruised and broken by sorrow! It assures the sad and weeping soul that it is not alone in a wilderness of cold hearts; that there are those who can feel for the troubles of others; and oh! what is more cheering to an aching heart than such a thought? The desire to be loved is common to human nature. It is the first impulse of the opening heart, and it lives and breathes in the bosom of all until the hour of death. A look of love, a word of kindness, a tear of sympathy costs us nothing; why then withhold them from those who would prize them as bles

sings winged with the fruitful dews of heaven? The tear of sympathy never falls in vain. It waters and fertilizes the soil of the most sterile heart, and causes it to flourish with the beautiful flowers of gratitude and love. And as the summer clouds weep refreshment on the parched earth, and leave the skies more beautiful than before, with the rainbow of promise arching in the cirulean dome; so the tear of sympathy not only refreshes the heart on which it drops, but it elevates and beautifies the nature of him from whom it springs. A sympathising heart is like a spring of pure water, bursting forth from the mountain side. Ever pure and sweet in itself, it carries gladness and joy on every ripple of its sparkling current."

Not only is this love manifested in relieving the destitute and sympathising with the afflicted, but also in efforts to promote their spiritual welfare. The claims we have upon each other are obvious; especially, when we consider that we are created by the same God, redeemed by the same sacrifice, and must stand at the same tribunal in the final judgment. But to be regardless of those claims and socialities of life is criminal, and calculated to disorganize society and negative our fraternity. Let our language be—

"All that I am and all I have,

Shall be for ever thine;
Whate'er my duty bids me give,
My cheerful hands resign."

"What

3. Gratitude is also an evidence of our love to God. The psalmist recorded his gratitude to God: shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me?" And have we not equal cause for gratitude? Think of the blessings he hath bestowed upon us; are they not innumerable and unmerited? There are benefits bestowed upon us in creation, in the exercises of his

providential administrations, in the provision for our sustenance, in our redemption, and in the plenary effusions of the Holy Spirit on our hearts and the labour of our hands. Besides, we have our sabbaths, the ministry of the word, the ordinances of religion, and, if faithful, the assurance of a home in the skies. Every blessing we receive from God should inspire us with gratitude and praise. David invokes the celestial, terrestrial and all rational creatures to praise God; and concludes his incomparable psalms with a general exhortation:"Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord." And it appears as though John heard them in the delightful exercise, for saith he, "Every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever," Rev. v. 13. Notice, III. THE MEANS BY WHICH OUR LOVE TO GOD MAY

BE PROMOTED.

1. By contemplating the Divine character.

"My meditation of him" saith the psalmist, "shall be sweet: I will be glad in the Lord." He was anxious to act and think according to the will of God; hence he prayed," Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer," Psalm xix. 14.

To contemplate the Divine character affords peculiar interest and spiritual profit to every christian. The more we know of God and the excellencies of his character, the more we shall be constrained to love him. Do we contemplate His power? It is illimitable and eternal. He not only flashes the lightnings out of His quiver, and rides upon the wings of the storm, but He can bind the elements and hold the winds in His fist. The prophet Isaiah describes the omnipotence of God.