superstructure; but it is no part of the foundation. The conviction, that our interest is connected with the possession and exercise of love to Christ, may quicken our endeavours to maintain and to display it, but can never be the spring from which it flows. Love founded on self-interest is infinitely beneath that which the divine law prescribes, and which must be formed in the character of every saint-" Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with "all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might."* If, indeed, we love Christ chiefly for the good which we have received, or which we expect from him, then we are plainly more enamoured of the gift than of the giver, and prefer our own profit to his worth. In such a case, even a fellow creature would not value our attachment. Nay, the words of Jesus, when inculcating benevolence to men, shew that such love is not beyond what the wicked can display-" If ye love them "which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners "also love those that love them."+ Can that indeed be called love to Christ, which is rather the desire of our own happiness, than complacency in him? -Such was the foundation on which the devil accused the devotion and the love of Job as resting: "Doth Job fear God for nought? Put forth thine "hand now and touch all that he hath; and he will curse thee to thy face." And the trial, which divine providence saw meet to make of his piety, shews that, could these allegations have been proved, they would have afforded a just objection to the genuineness of his religion. * Deut. vi. 5. and Matt. xxii. 37 + Luke vi. 32. U U ↑ Job i. 9, 11. 3. True love to Jesus arises from the contemplation of the transcendent excellencies of his nature and character: its object is his perfections. Even allowing this, however, to be in a great measure true, there are some who still derive the love of Christ from the love of self: for, say they, it is by contemplating, loving, and being like him, that we are rendered happy.-And there is no doubt that, in this manner, a christian's bliss is formed. But how did we learn that herein our blessedness consists, and whence came we to place it here? Surely we do not love him that we may be blessed; but we are blessed in loving him. When faith is formed in the mind, there is a change produced in its views, and in the relish of the heart, which makes the excellencies of Jesus appear infinite in beauty, and supremely good. Thus are our affections won, previously to any consideration of personal enjoyment. And then, by finding happiness in loving him, and by obtaining more enlarged views of his perfections, the believer is led to abound more and more in love. There are others who, also, without denying the position which we have laid down, yet by confounding love with gratitude, make it still originate in self. It arises, they contend, from the experience of Christ's love and grace to men. But in this case, it is not difficult to see that the agreeable experience is more highly prized than the Redeemer's excellence; and that this experience, rather than his excellence, is the object of our complacency. If so, the affection is not truly love.-But, it may be argued, does not his apostle affirm that "we love him, "because he first loved us?"* Most true-Had not he first loved us, we had never possessed a capa city, or felt a motive to love him. Besides, his love is itself the chief of those perfections, the contemplation of which, we have asserted, awakens love to him in us and it is in the manifestation of this, that all his other perfections are most brightly, most fully and amiably displayed. Yet when, by the discovery of his love; and of its kindred excellencies, love to him is formed in his people's hearts, it doubtless is confirmed and increased, by the new discoveries obtained in their personal experience of his comforting and sanctifying grace.-In short, we derogate at once from the glory of Christ, and from the purity of his people's love, when we represent it as purchased by considerations centering in self. Love, even from a brother mortal, cannot be attracted by a bribe. "If a man would give all the "substance of his house for love, it would utterly "be contemned." It must be the free-will offering of one mind to another; of a mind capable to discern and value excellence, to a mind believed to possess it. Love to the Redeemer, then, is the first move. ment of a soul illumined to discern his divine and moral beauties. Those only reject the report of his gospel, to whom the arm of the Lord is not revealed; and those only fail to love him, who see no beauty or comeliness in him: but to them" which "believe he is precious;"‡ "He is the chiefest among ten thousand; yea, he is altogether "lovely."§ What, then, christian, are those excellencies in the Saviour which captivate thy affections? In ? 1 John iv. 19. + Cant, viii. 7. 1 Peter ii. 7. § Cant. v. 10, 16. "what is thy beloved more than another beloved?" -Do you delight to contemplate him as uniting in himself the perfection of wisdom and of power, conjoined with immensity and immutability of being? Yes: his power is from everlasting; and though infinitely exceeding our comprehension, the certainty of its existence is a theme of unceasing satisfaction to his saints; and in all its manifestations, it is worthy to be remembered and admired. He spake; and in the boundless void, so immediate are his acts, the heavens and the earth arose, He created, he upholds, he governs all. And he is" Christ the "wisdom," as well as "Christ the power of God."* In his boundless mind, the plan of the universe was conceived and when he willed, confusion heard his voice; order, beauty, and usefulness appeared: the fixed succession of days and nights, of months and years began to each creature, its proper nature was assigned; and to each, a station adapted to its nature. Nor is it a small addition to the complacency with which his people consider these perfections, that the immensity of his being assures them that their lot can never be cast, in the world which now is, or that which is to come, where his power shall not be present to overrule, and his wisdom to order all events. While in contemplating his immutability, they behold the glorious evidence that, in the revolution of eternal ages, that power and wisdom shall experience no alteration or decay. Yet these perfections alone cannot excite our love. Were Christ adorned by none but these, his character would be without comeliness: were they connected with a principle of malignity and in Cor. i 24. justice, they would become objects of horror, instead of complacency; creation would appear worse than the uncreated void; and better had it been not to have known so much of him, or rather that we had never been formed to know at all. But, combined with these, we see in him every moral excellency: they are adorned with all the beauties of holiness. In his character, as in his salvation, "Mercy and "truth are met together; righteousness and peace "have kissed each other."* On the one hand, we contemplate and adore impartial and unerring justice, unshaken faithfulness, incorrupt truth; on the other, goodness unbounded, mercy ever ready to pardon and to spare, compassion the most tender, long-suffering the most unwearied, generosity the most liberal. These are the excellencies which render him glorious beyond compare; and which give form and grace, in the intellectual eye, to his wisdom, his power, his omnipresence and immutability. How goodly the sight, and what divine satisfaction does it yield, to behold these, all these, harmoniously united in every act, and mutually promoting each other's ends! If, singly considered, they be interesting and glorious; when regarded together, each renders the other doubly glorious; doubly interesting; till the saint, as he successively combines them in his view, feels sentiments awakened which all the names of admiration, reverence, and love, that mortal speech affords, are too weak to utter. But do the saints dwell only on the excellencies of their Lord? Do they never meditate on the beauties of his created nature, when he was " found Psalm lxxxv. 10, |