gers to which our good resolutions are exposed, there may be some who will find an excuse for hesitation and delay. Who, they may ask, is sufficient for these things; who but must shrink from the fearful hazards of declension and apostacy from their plighted resolutions? But though I cannot conceal from you, and would not lessen in your eyes, the duties, the responsibility, and the dangers, of a christian profession, I am sure, that if you examine the subject as you ought, you will find from it motives to quicken you, rather than arguments to excuse and encourage delay, in the performance of your duties as believers in Christ. True, there is danger that your resolutions, if you form them, may be unstable and transitory, but there is danger also, and the greatest danger, if you form them not. Will his condition be worse, think you, who has attempted to do his duty and failed, than his, who has voluntarily and wholly neglected it? Will he fall under a heavier condemnation, who has sincerely and conscientiously entered on a course which he believes to be right, even though he may not pursue it always with the same vigour, than he will, who with a bold impiety turns away from the course of duty, and is deaf to the invitations of his Saviour?

But this danger of infirm and transient resolutions, which deters you, is not such as need to alarm heart be humble, your watchfulness unintermitted, and your prayers to God

if you,

your

sincere and persevering. you all the aid you ask. ask. and inexorable master.

He will vouchsafe to You do not serve a hard He measures our characters by our endeavours, more than by our success. He knows our frame; He remembers we are but dust. No sincere endeavour, no humble desire, no virtuous exertion, is ever lost with him. He forgives the weakness which cleaves to our poor natures, when he sees that we struggle against it, and that our prevailing desire is to please Him, and conform to the gospel of his Son. You have no ground for depressing apprehension in the service of such a master, and no just excuse for neglecting or delaying to obey his commands. Be exhorted then, my friends, you who have never yet entered with resolution on a religious life, and dedicated yourselves to God; be intreated to taste and see that the Lord is gracious. And you, my beloved brethren, who own the sway of our merciful Prince and Saviour; who have enrolled yourselves as servants of the cross, as aspirants after the purity and happiness of heaven; you, dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and my crown, may God enable you ever to stand fast in the Lord, and thus to make your calling and election sure.

SERMON VII.

LOVE TO OUR NEIGHBOUR.

ROM. XIII. 9.

And if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Or those dazzling qualities, which receive most of the world's admiration, it has pleased the Almighty Disposer to make an unequal distribution among his creatures. And if it is right that we should exist in this world in a state of trial and discipline, it seems impossible that this inequality of advantages should be wholly avoided. Many temptations, in resisting which the purity of a good character is most displayed, and many virtues of the fairest form and highest dignity, owe their existence wholly to that state of things, which is produced by this unequal distribution.

But though for wise purposes, God permits this inequality to exist, yet even in this world, there are some things, which tend to reduce it within

narrower limits than we might at first suppose. The advantages of wealth, and power, and knowledge, may be measured out to different men in very unequal portions. But there is one distinction, and that too of the highest lustre, which is equally open to the attainment of all; I mean that which is given by the possession of a benevolent heart. You may not be able to follow one man in the eagle flight of his genius; you cannot perhaps aspire to that dignity and preeminence to which the wisdom of another is justly entitled ; you cannot vie with a third in opulence and splendour, or in that power of doing good which is given to him by his wealth. But there is one thing in which, humble though you may be in your powers, and restricted in your means, there is one thing in which you may yet equal, nay, surpass them all. It is in being delighted to contemplate, and as far as in your power to increase, the happiness of others. Nor will any one think this quality unimportant, who observes the dignity which is attached to it in every page of the gospel. It is one of the two commandments on which hang all the law and the prophets. It is the virtue, which under the name of benevolence, or love to our neighbour, implies all others. It is the charity without which we are nothing; the charity which never fails; which when the gems of monarchs shall grow dim, and the laurel of earthly renown shall wither, will still endure in undecaying lustre; the charity,

which when faith itself shall be lost in sight, and hope be swallowed up in fruition, shall still survive, and constitute the happiness of heaven itself.

Let us give our present attention to the nature, extent, and limitations, of this all important virtue, and to the motives which we have to attempt its acquisition.

"Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." This statement of the doctrine of benevolence, like all the precepts of our Lord, is admirably simple, comprehensive, and practicable. He does not tell us to fix our affections on an abstract and metaphysical idea of "being in general." Nor does he, with those in modern days who have attempted to improve on his precepts, confound the motive with the rule and criterion of action, and destroy all the particular affections toward father, brother and friend, by telling us that in every action we are to be governed by a consideration of its effects on the general good of the whole human race. Nor does he, with other moralists, narrow virtue to the mere love of country, or an exclusive attachment to our relatives and friends. But a rule is given of universal application, which extends to every possible case, and comes home at once to the feelings and comprehension of every man. "Thou shalt love thy neighbour;" that is, your love must commence with that part of mankind, with that part of your country, which comes within the sphere of your influence.