sign in full, it will be necessary to inquire what the pleasure of God is touching the salvation of man. The prophet Ezekiel can give us some light on this point (xxxiii. 11): As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live.". Thus the pleasure of the Lord is in the life, not in the death of the wicked; or, in other words, in their happiness, not in their misery. So Paul informs Timothy (1 Tim. ii. 4), that God "will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." Interpret this scripture as you will, it cannot be made to mean less than that it is God's desire that all should be saved. Thus it for ever settles the question of his pleasure on this point.

It only remains, therefore, for us to consider the Scripture teachings on our third principle of judging, which is comprised in the certainty of the accomplishment of his pleasure. By the mouth of the prophet Isaiah (xlvi. 10), God says, "I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure." To the same purpose is Paul's declaration to the Ephesians (i. 11), that God "worketh all things after the counsel of his own will." Thus do the teachings of Scripture coincide with the deductions of reason. And though it be not given us to "know the times and the seasons which God hath put, in his own power," it is given us to enjoy the holy consolation of believing that God "in wisdom has made all his works."

One or two remarks on the practical bearings of this subject, and I close. In the first place, the truth of the text is calculated to beget in our hearts

confidence toward God. We learn to look upon all his dealings and providences as wise and good. We submit cheerfully to his will, knowing that he "doeth all things well." So that, though we may be called to mourn the loss of friends, though we ourselves may be prostrated upon the bed of sickness and of death, it matters not. God" in wisdom has made all his works," and if it has pleased him thus to "subject us to vanity," shall we not trust him that he will ultimately" deliver us from the bondage of corruption unto the glorious liberty of the children of God?" May we not believe that our light-affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory?" Such is surely the Christian's privilege, and such is the view of God's providences our subject naturally leads us to entertain.

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I remark in the second place, that our subject not only teaches us to submit confidingly to the providences of God, but also to obey implicitly his commands. Man is by nature a religious being. The moral law is woven into his very constitution. To be happy, he must obey that law. To love is heaven, and to hate is hell. The written law is little else than a revelation of this law of our natures, and when we obey the one, we obey the other, and are happy. Now should we destroy the Bible, should we prove Christianity false, and should the whole world turn infidel, our duties, in the main, would still be the same they now are. We could not change our constitution, or eradicate from our natures those laws that demand obedience. There might no longer be a written law commanding us to be temperate, but the same law would rule in our natures, that now ensures health to temperance, and misery and death to intemperance. There might

no longer be, as it were, an audible voice, bidding us to "love the Lord our God, with all our souls, and our neighbor as ourselves," but it would still be true that the exercise of love would give us a holy delight, and create a pure and heavenly joy in the soul. Thus, would our happiness then as now lie in obeying the commands of God.

My brethren, let it be our meat and our drink to do the will of our Father in heaven, and faithfully to discharge all those duties he in his wisdom has made to devolve upon us. AMEN..

SERMON III.

BROTHERLY LOVE.

BY REV. ASHER MOORE.

"Let brotherly love continue."-HEB. xiii. 1.

VARIOUS and contradictory systems of doctrine and of ethics have been conceived by the human mind; and in every instance the system brought forth has borne evident marks of its true parentage. Although the framers of the different modes of faith that have obtained credence among men, have been prompted by the workings of the same natural religious feelings, their several productions have invariably partaken of their own peculiar characters. No feelings of our nature are so strong and unyielding as those which constitute, us religious beings-none so powerfully influence the thoughts and actions of the whole man. The haughty, selfrighteous, and narrow-minded theorist never devised a system of impartial doctrine, that placed all men upon a level with himself, and contemplated the human race as heirs of a common inheritance. His selfishness and pride are blended with all his thoughts and feelings; and must give a distinctive character to the whole system of his religious belief. The influences which actuate all the operations of his mind, cannot be separated from the products of his labor; and the fruits brought forth will attest the nature and qualities of the tree.

And whatever may be the pretensions of men sustaining this character and indulging these feelings, with them,

"Hell is built on spite, and heaven on pride."

A single glance at the diversified systems of doctrine to which human ingenuity has given birth, will sufficiently establish the truth of these statements. The Jewish people, after they had forsaken the good old way of their fathers, imbibed the errors and superstitions of the heathen, and invented new doctrines, to please their own fancy, and conform to their cherished prejudices. And in the doctrines which they devised, their own feelings and character were as strikingly delineated, as they were exemplified in practical life. Did they possess exclusive feelings and a self-righteous spirit? Their religion taught them that they should eternally enjoy the favors of Heaven, to the utter exclusion of all others. Did they view the Gentiles as a mass of living pollution, utterly unfit for. their holy com munion? They held that, in the world to come, the whole horde of the Gentiles would be made fuel for an unceasing fire!

The church of Rome, when it apostatized from the simplicity of Christian truth, and began to form new doctrines and establish its own peculiar institutions, moulded all the novel inventions by the pride and selfish corruption which characterized its ungodly priesthood. Did they, in possession of civil power and worldly honors, esteem themselves infinitely exalted above the rest of mankind?

The

same haughty and exclusive spirit was blended with all their religious faith, and even carried beyond the peaceful grave! In the world of spirits they pictured to their contracted minds a little