for it gives its only tone, impulse and direction, to every commendable thought, word or deed: it is certainly desirable that we should, as much as possible, discourage the one and encourage the other. Good depraved, becomes positive and substantial evil. This was verified at the Fall, when sin cast its pollution upon the soul, warping all its moral tendencies from right to wrong. It has plunged mankind into misery; polluted that pure spring of affection opened in the human heart, thus causing contaminated streams to flow from this once unmingled and transparent fountain. We are now perpetually quaffing from these corrupt currents, which, though impregnated with the bitters of sin, bear on the surface of their sparkling waters the cloying sweets of carnal enjoyment; and, while they furnish these in destructive profusion, whirl us rapidly onward from the "well of water springing up into everlasting life," to that dark and fathomless gulf, over which, if we are once hurled, we must descend to those unillumined depths, where the darkness will be eternal. Upon the authority of inspiration, it has been declared to us, that "love is of God." Revelation records, and our experience confirms it. Love then must be the source of all good. That of which God is the source, must be excellent, being from Him who is the essence and concentration of all excellence.

As His Holy Spirit actuates us in all the

good we do, and in all the evil we avoid, it behoves us to strive for its attainment, since it is He who communicates the Divine principle upon which I have been enlarging, whenever we become fit, under his merciful guidance, for the reception of such a blessing. It is a blessing indeed, and one that will never fail us, so long as we "seek it earnestly." Without it, we may be assured that we shall never advance "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." With it we shall " grow in grace," and proceed gradually in the acquisition of "that wisdom which is from above," and which alone can bring us to the light "that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." In His love, God created us; reflected the lustre of His own image upon us; and so joyment of immortal bliss. is a beautiful feature of His love, "He redeemed us," after we had fallen in Adam, under the bondage of the tempter. Thus, to the Divine love, we are indebted, both for our creation and redemption. Was ever affection like His! By what scale shall we measure it?" It is longer than the earth and broader than the sea," having no bounds, for it compasseth the universe, and extends through the endless course of eternity. Let us, then, imitate Him, at our distance, in the exercise of those spiritual graces with which he has endowed us, in order that we may reflect back something

fitted us for the en

"In His pity," which

of the brightness of His image, through which our only true endowments shine. "Let us love one another, as He has loved us," and let our love be" without dissimulation." This is necessary to the "fulfilling of the law." Let us then not" love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth."

SERMON IV.

ON SELF-LOVE.

MATTHEW, CHAP. Xxii. VER. 37, 38, 39, 40.

"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the Prophets."

LOVE, of whatever kind, must arise out of selflove, either in its appropriate or criminal application. Self-love may, no doubt, be abused, yet, properly applied, it is the governing agent of life. This is no paradox, but a philosophical, and therefore a religious, truth; for, religion being the sum and substance of truth, all truth, whether philosophical or otherwise, must be religious, religion being the fundamental principle of all moral good.

Self-love is the elementary law of our humanity.

Out of it all the finer sympathies and