all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Love never faileth.”*

"If these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."..... Wherefore... give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."+

O! what a happy world would this be, did all, who profess and call themselves Christians, live under the happy influence of these gospel precepts. Then men would beat their swords into plough-shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks, and learn war no more, when the knowledge of the Lord, thus manifested by it fruits, should cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea.

There is a faith which God abhors: "The devils believe, and tremble." But, "Satan cannot love." "Simon himself believed;" but Peter said to him, "I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity."§

There is a faith which God approves-"the faith of God elect," which is according to godliness; -a faith which purifies the heart, overcomes the world, and works by love. This loving faith was displayed in all its subduing power, when Jesus dined at the house of Simon the Pharisee. While a brokenhearted penitent was manifesting by her actions her love to the Saviour, Jesus "turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman, since the time I came in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my

· 1 Cor. xiii. 4-8. + 2 Pet. i. 8, 10, 11. James ii. 19.

feet with ointment. Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much but to whom little is forgiven the same loveth little. And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.... Thy faith hath saved thee; go in

peace.

Many are superstitiously attached to outward ceremonies; many, also, are as violently opposed to them. Both may be equally destitute of that faith which worketh by love. If bitter envyings and strife tear their bosoms, and disfigure their profession: if anathemas are hurled against each other, with all the fury of the Roman Vatican: is this, I would ask, the religion of the meek and lowly Jesus? Is this the spirit which he imparts to his followers? Is this the faith which leads to heaven?

In a spirit of love we must declare to the blinded formalist, that Christ will not accept of the form for the power of godliness, nor the bending of the knee for the prostration of the heart. Religion without love is a mere shadow; yea, a fatal delusion. It is a road of Satan's making; and many, alas! are walking in it. Man is naturally legal. The sinner labours to save himself. No privations are too great to be endured; no mortifications too painful to be suffered, if only the tormented conscience can find rest. But, the severer the penance, the severer is the sting. Peace flies from the wretched soul which seeks for reconciliation with God, by the endurance of self-inflicted austerities. Never can rest be found till the awakened sinner casts himself without reserve on the crucified Redeemer, looking for pardon only through the merit of his blood. Then ceremonies, when used, will be used only as a means to an end. He will not rest in them, as though they possessed some saving virtue to be obtained by the mere observance of them. Or, if he worships God by some simpler form, he will not ascribe any merit to himself, by adopting what he supposes to be a

* Luke vii. 44-50.

purer mode of worship, knowing that "in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature, " but "the keeping of the commandments of God."+

The garment of Christ was a seamless vest, emblematical of what his church should be. But alas! in every age it has been rent by schisms and divisions. St. Paul deeply lamented over this evil in the Corinthian church: "Is Christ divided ?"+ "Ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal and walk as men ?"S

+

O!

In this our day, the same rending of the Church proves the carnality of our hearts, and manifests the absence of that faith which worketh by love. when will Christians love as brethren! Tares alas cover the gospel field! We know what enemy hath done this.

Blessed Jesus, in the midst of abounding iniquity, in the midst of prevailing errors, in the midst of schisms and divisions, heart-burnings and angry contentions, enable me to embrace thy truth as revealed in thy word; to worship thee in spirit and in truth; to walk in truth, and to follow Thee with a single eye, who art the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Whilst drawing nigh to thee in the great congregation, may my affections be spiritualised, that I may ever escape the sin of those who draw nigh to thee with their lips, while their hearts are far from thee, and who, having the form of godliness, deny the power thereof. Preserve me from the extremes of contending religionists. Keep me in the path of thy commandments. Increase in me more and more that faith which worketh by love, and which assimilates my soul to Thee :

How bless'd is the saint who can trust in the Lord,
Whose heart and whose hope can repose on his word;

Gal. vi. 15.

+ 1 Cor. vii. 19.

1 Cor. i. 13.

§ 1 Cor. iii. 3.

Though tempests and storms shall his vessel assail,
His peace is secure, and his joys never fail.

His house is well founded, 't is built on a Rock,
Though mountains may fall, he can stand the rude shock ;
'Midst burnings and wastings of earth and of sky,
He lifts up his head, for his Saviour is nigh.

Can riches, can honour, can pleasures afford
Such joy, and such peace, as our merciful Lord
Vouchsafes to his people, and now will impart,
To all who approach him with faith in the heart?

How bless'd is the man, who, redeemed from sin,
Has Christ in the soul, and the witness within;
His walk will be steady, through faith in the word,
His heart will be steadfast, through trust in the Lord.

Thus keep me, bless'd Saviour,-whate'er may betide,
Thy presence can cheer, and thy Spirit can guide ;
And when life is o'er, and its sorrows are fled,
Unite me to Thee, as my glorified Head.

XVII. WALKING WITH GOD.

"Enoch walked with God."-Gen. v. 22.

THE Word of God, unlike any other book, has this remarkable feature-that materials for a volume are often compressed in a few words: "God is love." Here is matter for eternal contemplation. All the understandings of men-all the capacities of angelswill never exhaust the inexhaustible fulness of this short sentence.

"Enoch walked with God," expresses in its condensed form the principles and practice, the privileges and perseverance, of the true believer. These few words may be expanded, till volumes are written to display in all its loveliness the character so con

:

cisely exhibited by the apostle. "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”*

Enoch possessed a principle of faith. He believed in the great sustaining promise of the patriarchal age-in the seed of the woman who should bruise the serpent's head. "He pleased God;" but without faith it is impossible to please him, therefore Enoch was a believer. He was justified by faith, and by works was his faith made perfect. His practice condemned the world; so also did his prophecy. For, saith St. Jude: "Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these," (of the apostates in the latter days) "saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment upon all; and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him."+ St. Paul declared the same truth. "The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe."‡

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St. John saw in vision the same overwhelming judgment: "I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had Heb. xi. 5, 6. + Jude 14, 15.

2 Thess. i. 7—10.