"shall be able to separate them from his "love. For whom he once loveth, he loveth "unto the end; and they shall never perish, "neither shall any be able to pluck them "out of his hand. Fear not then, little "flock; fear not, for God is with you; be "not dismayed, for he is your God. He "will strengthen you, yea, he will uphold

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you with the right hand of his righteous"ness."

But while the grace of the gospel ought thus to lead us to commit, with unbounded confidence, our souls and all our concerns to the protection and guidance of God, it ought also to prompt us to imitate his character, by being mild, and merciful, and gracious to one another.-This amazing grace, we are ready to acknowledge, commands our liveliest gratitude; we should, at this moment, experience it kindling within us a never-dying flame of love. But how can we be grateful to Heaven, if we be unfeeling to our brethren? How can we love God, if we hate his children? It is a contradiction: It is impossible. Can light have fellowship with darkness? Can ever Christ have concord with Belial? Then,

and not till then, may gratitude to the Lord consist with want of brotherly kindness and charity towards men. Whomsoever we sincerely love, we must desire to please, and delight to imitate. If then we really love God; if his abundant grace excite within us the genuine sentiments of gratitude, we must be zealous to imitate this goodness which we adore; we must delight to be merciful as our heavenly Father is merciful, and perfect as he is perfect. Hath he been slow to anger against us? Then, surely, we ought to suffer long and be kind to our brethren. Hath he ransomed our race from death, and proclaimed pardon and peace to all, even the chief of sinners? Then surely ought we to put on, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, forbearing one another, forgiving one another, even as God, through Christ, hath forgiven us. Hath he restored to our souls joy through life, enabled us through faith in Jesus to triumph in the hour of death, and prepared for us perfect and immortal happiness in heaven? Then, doubtless, we are pressed, in a manner impossible to be resisted, to imitate, to the utmost of our power, this diffusive,

boundless beneficence; to study unity of will and design with our supreme Benefactor, and with our whole heart and strength, to pursue, with him, the perfection and felicity of the universe. Unless these celestial dispositions be in us and abounding, we have received the grace of God in vain. Alas! alas! it hath profited us nothing. For what say the Scriptures? "In this "the children of God are manifest, and the "children of the devil;-whosoever doth "not righteousness, is not of God, neither "he that loveth not his brother. If a man

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say I love God, and hateth his brother, "he is a liar; he is a murderer, and ye "know that no murderer hath eternal life "abiding in him." Let us take heed then, that an evil, malignant heart be not within us. O! let all bitterness and wrath, and anger and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from us, with all malice, and if there be any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the spirit, if any bowels and mercies, O! let us fulfil the royal law, be of one accord and of one mind, and as God hath loved us, so let us love one another.

But let the grace revealed in the gospel, not only make us grateful, not only make us confide in heaven, not only make us love and do good, as we have opportunity, to our brethren ;-let it not confine its influence to these, or to any other particular class of sentiments or duties; but let it operate upon the general tenor of our conduct : let it constrain us carefully to observe all things, whatsoever God hath commanded us. If the marvellous grace of the Lawgiver prompt us to keep any one part of the law, let it also prompt us to keep the whole. As all its precepts come enjoined to us from the same gracious authority, let them all, therefore, receive the same sincere and uniform regard. By this, however, I mean not to say, that from the unspeakable grace with which we have been favoured, it is expected that our services should be perfect. Alas! there is not a perfect man upon the earth; none "that doeth good and sinneth not." I mean only to say that our obedience, though necessarily defective, must nevertheless be faithful and general, be cordial and unreserved. If we profess to be the children of God: if like them we profess to be grateful for the grace which he hath given us, though we may be surprised into the com

mission of a fault, yet we must never habitually offend. Though, through ignorance or weakness, we may fall into occasional transgressions; yet we must keep our hearts with diligence, we must ponder our paths, and never go on in presumptuous sin; but take delight in keeping every one of the commandments. If, then, at any time, we fall, let us not obdurately remain in that state; if we transgress, let us immediately repent, and let not our repentance be a transient effervescence of compunction; but a lasting renewal of integrity, Then shall “the beauty of the Lord our "God be upon us: He will establish the "work of our hands." He will bless us with the richest communications of his grace; we shall" rejoice and be glad all our days. -Come then, all ye faithful servants of the Lord; all ye who prize the exceeding riches of his grace; come let us now praise his blessed name, and without a moment's delay, and without the least reserve, let us give up ourselves to his government. Like good and grateful subjects, let us stand at his footstool, in everlasting readiness to fulfil his word; to do whatever he commands, and to bear whatever he inflicts; to