ciples of ethics and religion. Blessed is he who fulfils these precepts, for he thereby wholly conforms to the will of God. If a man can love God with his whole heart, and his neighbour as himself, he will have discharged all duties incumbent on him, Love God" with all thy heart"—that is, with all the warmth and tenderness of feelings; "with all thy mind❞— that is with all the light of wisdom and knowledge "with all thy soul"-that is, with all thy devotional sentiments and aspirations; " and with all thy strength"-that is with all thy energy and practical earnestness. We must, in other words, love God so thoroughly that our feelings, our reason, our faith, and our will may be entirely surrendered to Him, and be in unison with His holy nature. It is not abnormal sentimentalism or mystic attachment which is here meant, but the loving union of man's entire being with the Divine nature. In all the departments of life, intellectual, emotional, spiritual, and practical,in thoughts and feelings, words and deeds, we must be in constant communion with Him. Such union is the highest aim of our life, the highest consummation of piety and righteousness. In such an attitude of loving union the soul not only discharges all its duties faithfully towards God as the Father and Master, but rejoices in such service; purity then becomes its natural condition, and nothing pleases it so much as God and His holy company. The second doctrine is the love of man; it follows naturally from the first. Whoso loves God with his whole heart as the Father must love every man his brother. If all mankind love their common Father, harmony and spiritual fellowship will for ever prevail among them, and there will be no discord under the cloak of religion. All the rancour, bitterness, and hatred which have divided the religious

as

world, and made the various churches and sects violently antagonistic to each other, will be swept away. Errors and prejudices will excite pity, and benevolent anxiety to rectify them, but not sectarian antipathy. All sects will then look upon each other as brethren, and humbly unite to learn truth and seek salvation at the feet of their common Father; and all unimportant differences of opinion. will be swallowed up in a community of feelings. and interests. The love of man, besides uniting men religiously, tends also to adjust the moral, political, social, and domestic relations of society, and thus promotes all the virtues and checks all the vices incident to our dealings with each other. When we understand our true relations to God and to each other, when our love towards our Father makes us love every man as brother, we instinctively try to serve each other as we serve ourselves. As true filial love to God means the fulfilment of our duties to Him, so true brotherly love comprises the whole round of our duties to each other. As children of the same Father, as members of the same family, we must feel that our best interests are identical; and casting away selfishness and misanthropism, we readily offer our services for mutual welfare and happiness. Brotherly love calls forth all the benevolent feelings of our nature-patriotism, philanthropy, charity, compassion, and forgiveness, and all the domestic affections. It encourages all undertakings and movements calculated to promote the material, intellectual, social, and moral improvement of mankind. It curbs all malevolent propensities which tend to separate man from man, and counteracts all attempts to injure the temporal and spiritual interests of society. In a state of brotherhood all oppression and tyranny, pride and envy, ingratitude

and injustice, dishonesty and deceit, must inevitably disappear. Such brotherhood among all mankind will be realized in the church of the future. Its cardinal doctrines will be "the Fatherhood of God. and the brotherhood of man." It will adopt this simple creed as embracing the whole of morality and religion-the whole "law and prophets ;" and will not seek salvation in tedious articles of faith and elaborate dogmas. This simple creed of the love of God and the love of man will effectually knit together the diverse races and nations of the world, as members of the true church of the future, and will also effect the regeneration of their souls by delivering them from all manner of sin against God and man. Thus the wise and illiterate, the rich and poor, the strong and weak, shall dwell together in the holy tabernacle of God, rendering mutual services, under the inviolable covenant of brotherhood, for each other's temporal and spiritual welfare, and sharing with each other the blessings vouchsafed by their com-. mon Father. Thus shall love purify the soul, and realize " peace on earth and good-will among

of

What shall be the gospel of the future church? I answer, the gospel of God's infinite mercy. What else do we sinners need for our salvation, but to be assured of His saving mercy ? Talk you a God of absolute holiness and purity? The more I think of such a Being, the more I shrink and recoil from His awful majesty. He is wholly inaccessible and unapproachable. I cannot, as a sinner, venture to stand in His presence. I cannot bear the sight or the thought of His holiness. My conscious sin places me at infinite distance from Him; and I feel myself altogether cast down, there being no hope of reconciliation with Him. His

men.

infinite holiness seems to have closed for ever the doors of salvation against rebellious and wicked But behold, there is mercy in the holy God! The God of Righteousness is a kind Father. O how refreshing and encouraging is this thought to us! What a sweet gospel of consolation and joy it is to fallen sinners! It infuses new life into our dead hearts. The glad sound of the Father's love brings joy and hope and enthusiasm into our dejected hearts, and we rise up, in spite of our sins, to magnify and worship Him, and to seek salvation at His feet. Though we are guilty of repeated violations of His will, though wickedness of the foulest type has defiled our body and soul, though we are painfully conscious of having defiantly rebelled against His authority, and returned ingratitude for His manifold gifts, we feel encouraged and privileged by the Gospel of His mercy to draw near to His footstool, and pray for His blessings. Though unable to bear the dazzling sun-like effulgence of God's holiness, we feel invited to approach the serene and sweet moon-like light of His mercy. Remember that God's mercy towards us is boundless, just as His holiness is infinite. None can measure the height and depth, the length and breadth, of such mercy. None can comprehend the magnitude of such love, He not only saves sinners, but seeks and saves them. His love is active, and shows marvellous anxiety, watchfulness, forbearance, and condescension in the salvation of sinners. The beautiful Parable of the Prodigal Son-unsurpassed in the literature of Divine grace -best represents the riches of that love. The son has gone astray, viciously abused the gifts of the father and has ultimately become a poor penniless beggar. He repents and goes back, and lo! the father has

already come out to welcome the son; he affectionately embraces him, rejoices in having found the lost child, and showers his choicest blessings and special gifts on him whose separation he so keenly felt, whose return he so anxiously awaited. So the Heavenly Father treats us, His erring and sinful children. We forsake and forget Him, but He never forsakes or forgets us. Plenteous in loving-kindness, and anxious to save us, He is ever ready to receive us back and to be reconciled to us, provided we repent. The most degraded sinner will find the doors of the Father's house open to receive his penitent spirit. Society may have excommunicated him, and deserted him as a loathsome foul thing, whose very presence is contamination; but the Lord is so merciful that He condescendeth to do what men consider mean and contemptible, and welcometh the meanest and most abhorred sinner. He rejoices in saving sinners. Nay, He goeth about in quest of the lost child. Deserted and hated by all, wretched and penniless, he may be starving and crying in some lonely wilderness,-none takes care of him, none ínquires after him, none seeks his reformation; but the merciful Father feels deeply for that lost child, and hastens to relieve his sufferings. Yes your father, with true fatherly love and kindness, is always moving about among us, seeking sinners in order to save them. Daily He visits us with the blessings of salvation in His hands, and tenderly asks us to receive the same. Wickedly do we spurn such offers day after day; yet His mercy fails not. Again and again He tries, in all possible ways, to bring back the lost sheep into the fold. However rebellious and ungrateful we may be, and however persistent