not, as we see, openly to bury him by day; and, when all hope is over, he confesses him publicly before the world. And then, when the grave has opened itself, when the cross, this star with shorn rays, touched with the beams of the Easter morning sun, once more is clothed with radiance, how does the hope that was buried with their Jesus, together with their Jesus again arise! How does the little spark of faith, almost smothered by the burden of the cross, shoot up again heavenward in a flame that was never more to subside. In view of these things, may we not affirm that if one great drama of humanity was being enacted upon the cross, there was still another at the same time acted out beneath it, of hardly less significance! Thus it happened that over against the noblest manifestation of humanity, as well as in it and through it, is there made known to us what is in man.

We have been able thus far only to sketch our subject in some of its most general features. In our subsequent discourses we will take our stand under the cross, and meditate on such revelations of the human heart as we there shall witness.

If it has been shown that the manifestation of Christ was a touchstone of the hearts of men, O how should our love toward him, and also toward his true believers, kindle with fresh earnestness! for it is according to the measure of our affection for him, that we shall be judged in the end. thou blessed Saviour, thou hast demanded that we love thee better than father or mother. Thou wouldst not have demanded of us this, had not thy glory, thy grace, and thy truth been indeed deserving of such affection. Reveal thyself to us, then, O thou worshipful Redeemer! Reveal thyself to us in thine incomparable glory and beauty, in order that we may be strengthened to love thee with that all-excluding love which thou requiredst! And fill us anew with love toward thy members on earth! Yea, may all who in this world but confess thy name, and are subject to thee in love and sincere devotion, be also sacred to our hearts; for thou, Lord, art the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth! Amen.

DISCOURSE II.

JULIUS MÜLLER, D.D.

PROMINENT among the most profound and scientific theologians and eloquent preachers in Germany, stands Professor Müller, the intimate friend and colleague of Dr. Tholuck. He is, like him, a native of Breslau, in the province of Silesia, Prussia; and, contrary to the rule of the German divines, first labored in practical life before entering upon his academic career. Karl Ottfried Müller, the eminent Greek scholar and archæologist, who died in 1840, was a brother of his. In 1825 he became pastor at Schönbrunn, and in 1831 university preacher at Göttingen. In 1835 he received a call to Marburg as professor. Thence he removed to Halle in 1839, where he has since labored as teacher of the various branches of systematic and practical theology, and as member of the Consistory for the province of Magdeburg. It is said that the students call him, humorously, "Sunden Müller," with reference to his work on the "Christian Doctrine of Sin."

This great work, which will ever remain a sufficient monument of his philosophical and theological learning, was published in its third and perfected edition, in 1849, in two volumes; and is one of the standard publications (though not well translated) of Clark's Foreign Theological Library, Edinburg.

The British Quarterly Review held the following language respecting this book: "The most weighty and important contribution to the cause of dogmatic theology which Germany has recently produced. It unites, in a high degree, depth and comprehensiveness, with practical earnestness and clearness. It is profound even to the contentment of a German mind, yet rarely obscure and uninstructive; the author evinces his thorough metaphysical training, and his work is pervaded by the pressure of a shining and disciplined intellect, and the rare mastery of a large and skillfully argumentative grasp." Should the author's life be spared, we may expect from him, by-and-by, a complete exhibition of the system of Christian dogmatics and ethics.

In 1854 this author put forth a book on Evangelical Union: its nature and divine right. Its aim is to unite existing discordant elements. "To unite," he says, "what is internally divided, is an unprofitable work; but to divide what belongs together, is still more unprofitable." Besides these works, he has written many solid and valuable reviews for the Studien und Kritiken, and other publications.

Next to Tholuck, Professor Müller forms the chief attraction of the University of Halle; and throughout Germany, owing to his practical wisdom, his piety and great moral worth, he stands a kind of umpire amid the theological conflicts of the day. In personal appearance, he is described as a tall, dignified, fine-looking, earnest, courteous, and amiable Christian gentleman, whom it is impossible not to

love and esteem. By some misfortune he lost one eye long since, and quite recently a shock of apoplexy has injured his memory, and threatens to interfere materially with the prosecution of his labors. His loss or disability would be widely and deeply felt. He is now only 56 years of age.

As a preacher, Professor Müller occupies a high rank. Some ten years since he published a volume of sermons on "Testimony in Relation to Christ, and the Way to Him; for Inquirers." Since then he has published other sermons. None of his discourses have appeared in English. They are often longer and more argumentative than is common with German preachers; but if this be to their disadvantage, it is fully compensated in the polished and tasteful style in which his thoughts are uttered. The arrangement, also, is generally distinct, natural, and happy, and he glides into the several parts of his subject with peculiar ease and gracefulness. The following affords a favorable specimen of the style of his eloquence.

LOVE THE SUBSTANCE OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE.

Thou, O God, who art thyself love, hast called us to love. All thy servants should be one in love to thee, to thy Son, and to one another. But thou, who art acquainted with hearts, knowest how love in us must evermore the struggle with selfish impulses, how, indeed, it often appears as if it were wholly overmastered by them. O be thou near to us with thy Spirit of love. Let not the glimmering wick go out; kindle the spark to a bright flame, which may, more and more, consume all that is ungodly, that thy image may appear in us, ever purer and clearer. Amen.

"And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear; because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him because he first loved 15. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God, love his brother also."— 1 Joпs, iv. 16–21.

THEY are simple thoughts, my beloved friends, which our text contains, and they are plainly exhibited. In general he would very much err, who would seek in the Epistles of John a great variety of attractive subjects, elevated by the ingenious connection of the most diverse modes of treatment. Everywhere is it the aim of the apostle to impress deeply upon the hearts of his readers, certain fundamental truths of Christianity-before all, the truth that love is the innermost substance of all Christian feeling and of all Christian life. Therefore, with him the development of thought moves upon a narrow path; he ever seeks to place these truths, from new sides, in the light; from every digressive discussion he quickly comes back to his main points, without being anx

ious to avoid repetitions. Such a mode of representation will surely gratify him who is convinced of the highest truth and infinite importance of these doctrines; to the other class, they may, indeed, on account of their uniformity, be rather wearisome than affecting. And is not this, after all, everywhere the case with the divine doctrine? He who will be amused and entertained by a graceful change of subjects, seeks not the gratifications of this desire in the divine word and its preaching; it is the earth which, in its unspeakably rich variety, offers him that which he desires. What is revealed to us of God and his will and working, and of the future world, however inexhaustible in its depth, is still, in comparison with that variety, very simple, and confined to a few themes. The lofty beauty of a clear starry night, too, consists not in the fascinat ing change of objects, and yet its impression upon the soul is the mightiest and most majestic.

As these remarks were suggested by a glance at the text, they should at the same time serve as an introduction, to justify the simple and plain reflections which we will now offer upon it. For so great and lofty is the divine simplicity in the discourse of the apostle, that we must only be fearful of injuring and dissipating its impression, when we seek to adorn its interpretation with rhetorical art. Let us only unfold the holy import of our text and candidly lay it to heart. That great theme of the apostle, love-that love is the substance of the Christian life-this is the kernel of our text; so let it be also the middle point of our meditation. We will try to persuade ourselves that LOVE IS THE BEGINNING, THE PROGRESS, AND THE CONSUMMATION OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE.

I. If an old pious proverb bids every work, even in earthly affairs, to begin with God, surely and most of all must the beginning of our Christian life proceed from God. Our relation to God must, before all, be right, that then, from this strong root, our Christian life may grow.

But when is our relation to God right? When we glanced about us upon the beautifully adorned earth, and looked into the immeasurable depths of the starry world, a thousand voices made known to us the almightiness and omniscience of God, for whose sake all things have their being and subsist in wonderful order. When we observed the divine control in the history of the human race, and then turned back the reflective glance into our own inmost soul, there met us the awful holiness and justice of God, as they adore what is good, and cherish it with approbation, but abhor what is evil and destroy its work. Agitated with mysterious awe, our soul bowed before the inconceivable greatness of its Creator, before the holy loftiness of its lawgiver. The thought of God had become in us a luring one; but from God himself an immeasurable chasm still parted us. The Eternal dwells in a light that no man can approach; no one has beheld him: his nature was hidden from us. The Christian life had not yet begun in us.

Then we heard how the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the

Father, came down to men and was made known to them; that these hidden depths of the nature of God are naught else but love. We now heard the apostle speak out the great word, the solution of the deepest riddle of existence-GOD IS LOVE.

Man can experience, my friends, nothing greater in his life than when he gains this blessed knowledge. God is love. In order that he might communicate to creatures himself and his blessed life, he has called the world into existence; then he has so loved the world, the world sunk in sin, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that all who be lieve in him, might not perish but have everlasting life. Such a knowledge, when with living power it penetrates the soul, when the soul is able truly to appropriate it to itself, is necessarily the turning-point to a new life; for we see ourselves now in an entirely new relation to God. The unknown God is now known to us, for him who has no name, have we found a name, the sweetest name of Father. If before, fear and awe kept us remote from the lofty, the inaccessible One, we can now draw near to him with a childlike confidence and say, "Abba, beloved Father." "See," exclaims John, "what love the Father has shown to us, that we should be called the children of God." In the possession of this holy privilege, a still peace spreads itself over our soul, as it once sank upon the soul of Elias, when the Lord, after the storm, and flame, and earthquake, drew near to him in the still soft breeze. It is in this privilege that we recognize our highest dignity. It allures us with holy pride to announce to the world that God loves us. If before, the thought of God only evoked in us the consciousness of our own nothingness, now it exalts us to the boldest assurance; for we are conscious that God loves us. Now let no one say more, that man can render nothing to God. Is God the subject of this love, he certainly can render him one thing-love; for it lies in the innermost nature of love that it desires love in return.

And this is the second element that belongs to the beginning of the Christian life. The rays of its dawning light beamed forth brightly when we learned that GOD IS LOVE; but the sun of the new day rose, when we said with John, "Let us love him, for he has first loved us"— when the resolve in our soul was strong. Henceforth we will no more live for ourselves, but for him who has loved us, and out of love sent his Son for our reconciliation. To please him, this is our holiest endeavor; his will is the law of our action and omission. My friends, to partial improvement, to the abandonment of single crimes, to the attainment of single good qualities even he may come, whose soul as yet knows nothing of childlike love to God. Placing ourselves upon the stand-point upon which the virtues appear as isolated, we shall in general, seldom find a man who can not show one or another virtue; but a true regeneration and thorough renewing of the whole feeling and life, is only possible when the soul, penetrated by that love which springs from faith,