spoken of, by circumstances which, without amounting to the enormity of vices, produce in many cases an effect scarcely less injurious.RUSTICUS injured his usefulness by his utter ignorance of life, and of those decencies and civilities which often make it more placid and attractive, even where it does not become substantially more virtuous, FLAVIA rendered two or three charitable institutions unpopular in her neighbourhood, by ill-timed solicitations. Instead of consulting the "mollia tempora fundi," she would besiege a merchant's counting-house, or the busiest corner of a tradesman's shop, or a servants' hall while the dishes were rattling for dinner, to force a subscription. For aftime, she ap. peared to succeed; but the reluctant shilling or guinea was almost always accompanied with a silent and obstinate resolve that another should never be obtained by these or similar means; and so well has the resolution been adhered to, that wherever Flavia now appears, not an individual is to be found at home to attend to her solicitations. -FIDELIS was not aware, till several years after he had entered on the pastoral duties of his parish, how much he had impeded his own future efforts by want of attention to circumstances, which, though in different in themselves, were not so in their influence. Several of the principal families in the parish left his church on account of his persisting in using an extempore prayer,instead of a collect, before his sermon; and not a few took offence at his fondness for what they denominated "cant expressions:" both which customs, be himself has since confessed, might quite as well have been avoided.-LORENZO brought the charge of undue ostentation on several excellent institutions with which he was associated, by his eagerness for newspaper publicity; while FLORELLO, by his culpable shyness and timidity, produced almost as evil an effect, though of

an opposite kind. His next-door neighbour might have associated with him for twenty years without even hearing of those very institu tions which he most anxiously wish, ed to patronize. The former ruined the cause of a valuable, society in his neighbourhood, by convening a public meeting before any person but himself felt sufficiently interested to attend it; and the latter, by postponing it till after all interest had subsided.

But the increasing length of this paper obliges me to stop. How different to all this was the conduct of FIDELIA! So far from having her good evil spoken of, even her most indifferent acts assumed a character of goodness. Amiable and concili ating in her manners, sensible and prudent in her conversation, serene and even cheerful in her temper, with a heart ever open to pity and a hand to relieve, with an under standing that could convince an opposer, a firmness that commanded his respect, and a patience and meekness under opposition or mis-> apprehension which were sure to win his kindness and esteem; she became, in every place where she alighted, the most powerful guara dian of every charitable and religious institution, whether for the temporal or spiritual necessities of her fellow-creatures. The poor. loved and the rich courted her so ciety, though neither to the one: nor the other did she ever disguise! her principles or her intentions. There was at once a seriousness and a frankness in her manner of communicating religious knowledge, so totally devoid of every thing resembling coarseness, or im becility, or ostentation, that no per son could ever take offence at her remarks, or be prejudiced against true piety by her example. Her most zealous efforts never entrenched upon the decorum of feminine modesty, or overstepped the boundary of Christian discretion. Not a word escaped her lips, or an action marked her conduct, that

could give rise to any association of sentiments or feelings adverse to that ballowed cause which she -bad, espoused. Her great secret was to walk humbly and closely with her God, and this necessarily diffused a holy radiance around shier path. Her virtues began in her closet, and exhibited themselves in her life. She cultivated the graces of the Christian character. Her faith raised her above the world, and fixed her affections on things above. Thus was she enabled to bear with resignation every adverse occurrence of life, and to labour with cheerfulness and zeal in the cause of her Saviour, notwithstanding all the difficulties or disappointments that might attend her exertions. She did not look for her reward from man, and consequently she was not discouraged if she did not find it there. Yet she ardently loved as well as benefited her fellow creatures, and evidenced in her whole deportment that her charitable efforts were not less the dictates of her feelings than of her sense of religious obligation. She inseparably connected zeal for God with good-will towards man. She was happy in her religion, because she lived under the influence of Christian hope: she was firm and undaunted in it, because she was strong in faith: she was kind, and merciful, and forbearing, and charitable, because having first loved her Redeemer, she had learned to love with new ardour of religious affection those for whom, in common with herself, that Redeemer died.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer. IN my former paper (inserted in your last Number), I considered several of the scriptural motives to Christian obedience, of all which it appeared that Love is the principal and most efficacious. It is, therefore, an important question-How is the love of God produced in the

soul? It certainly does not exist there as an indigenous plant; nor is the soil or the climate suited to its culture; it is an exotic of celestial growth. By the Spirit of God must the heart of man be prepared to receive the heavenly scion: by the same Spirit must that scion be engrafted; and by the same Spirit must it be watered with the dew of God's blessing, while it ripens under the beams of the Sun of Righteousness.

But since the Divine Agent usually works by instruments, it is a useful inquiry-What are the means by which the love of God is implanted and brought to maturity in the soul? The reply is, "We love God, because he first loved us." It is by infusing into our souls a sense of the love of God to us, that the Holy Spirit sheds abroad in our hearts the love of God: and by meditating on the love of God to us, with prayer to him that he would enable us to understand it in all its length, and breadth, and heighth, and depth, which pass our knowledge, we may hope to grow in grace and love.

1. The goodness of God, as dis played even in the works of creation, is an inexhaustible source of love and gratitude. "He openeth his hand, and satisfieth the desire of every living thing." (Ps. cxlv. 16.) Could we but for one instant witness the happiness which fills the boundless regions of heaven, and satisfies with joys unspeakable the innumerable inhabitants of those blessed mansions, we should have such a sense of the goodness of God, as would leave no room for any other feeling throughout all eternity than that of adoring love. But this sense is at present veiled from our eyes: nor are we in any degree capable of comprehending such happiness, except so far as we are transformed by the grace of God into the Divine image. Yet God hath "not left himself without witness" (Acts xiv. 17), even to the inhabitants of this earth, polluted as it is by sin, and alienated from

Thim by rebellion. Even here "the heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handy work." (Ps, xix.) He is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works." (Ps. cxlv. 9.) "The earth is full of the good ness of the Lord,” (Ps. xxxiii. 5.) Whether we contemplate the celes1tial luminaries, and the wonderful arrangement by which (though probably fulfilling some still higher eud) they are made to contribute to our welfare; or consider our own frame, how fearfully and wonderfully we are made; or meditate on the profusion (if I may venture so to express myself) with which God has provided for us not only what is needful for our sub sistence, but a rich variety of blessings fitted to gratify and delight our → mind and senses;-which way so"ever we turn, whatever we contemplate above, beneath, around, or within us, we are constrained to "say, that "God is love.”

2. Each one of us, again, has tabundant cause to say, not only generally, that " God is love," but that God has been good and gracious to himself in particular. To advert only to the mercies of Provi→dence-Who cannot call to remembrance almost numberless blessings which he has enjoyed, and evils * which he has escaped; blessings of which he well knows that he was unworthy, and evils which he had well deserved? Who, then, but a God of inexhaustible love has be"stowed upon him these blessings, and preserved him from these evils? 3. But in the great work of human redemption is the love of God most gloriously displayed. This is Ta mystery of heavenly beneficence into which the angels themselves >desire to look. “In this (emphatically) was manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitia

CHRIST, OBSERV. No. 190.

tion for our sins.” (1 John liv. 9, 10.) Whether we consider the love of the Father in sending his Son to undergo the awful weight of suffering due for the expiation of man's rebellion; or the love of the Son in leaving his Father's bosom, and the glory which he had with the Father before the world was (John i. 18, xvii. 5)-to take upon him our nature (Heb. ii. 16, Philip. i. 7) to give himself for our sins (Gal. ì. 4)-to die for the ungodly (Rom. v. 6)-to suffer for sin, the Just for the unjust (1 Pet. iii. 18)—to bear our griefs, and carry our sorrows to be wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities (Is. liii. 4, 5); we cannot but confess with the Apostle, "Herein truly was love." And can that heart, which remains untouched with love like this, be in tune to join with the celestial choir? The angels have no personal concerns in this great salvation; yet it forms the perpetual theme of their praise. Shall it, then, raise no emotion in the children of men; in those for whom it was planned and executed? Shall an individual who feels how deeply he has offended the Divine Majesty, and how completely he has ruined himself for ever, unless delivered from the bondage of Satan by an Omnipotent Saviour, yet who perceives, at the same time, with the eye of faith, that such a Saviour is provided who is able and willing to accept all that come unto him, exhibit no symptom of love and gratitude for so great a benefit? His own hopes may not at first be remarkably strong, or his joys very vivid; yet if but one ray of light break upon his path, this ray, however faint, will cheer him in his earthly pilgrimage: he will rejoice in it; he will love and praise his Creator for it; and having such a hope, he will purify himself even as God is pure. His faith, however feeble, will work by love;" and this love will produce holy and «cheerful obedience, moss ES

4. The Christian, who has

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arrived thus far has a still further motive for love to God. He loves Him, not only because God gave his Son to die for the sins of the world, but because he hopes that his own sins are forgiven; because the Spirit of God witnesseth with his Spirit, that he is the child of God, and heir to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away. He is conscious that he loves God; and he thence infers that God first loved him; and, being persuaded that God first loved him, he is led thereby to love God more fervently, and to serve him with more zeal, more diligence, and more fidelity.

This motive, however, to the love of God, which arises from a hope (whether that hope be feeble, or whether it have advanced to persuasion, confidence, full assurance) of a personal interest in the blessings of salvation, belongs exclusively to the true Christian, in whom it will be strengthened in proportion to his advances in the Divine life. Till a person has been enabled to make some observable progress in holiness, till he begins manifestly to bring forth "the fruits of the Spirit," till he exhibits unequivocal symptoms of love to God, he can have no scriptural warrant to hope that he is a child of God; he must till this period rest in those general, though infinitely merciful, declarations, which the Scriptures contain, of the willingness of Christ to receive all that come to him. Come unto me all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matt. xi. 28.)“ Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out." (John vii. 37.) ́"Christ died for all." (2 Cor. v. 15.) "He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." (1 John ii. 2.) It is on such general declarations as these, that the sinner, when first aroused to a sense of his unhappy condition, begins to fix his rising hopes: he flees to the Refuge set before him; he believes in

Jesus Christ as able and willing to save him; he then learns to love and obey that Saviour. As he advances in holiness, and the fruits of the Spirit more evidently grow and abound in him, he acquires a clearer evidence of having passed from death unto life: his hope of salvation becomes brighter; his faith in Christ more assured; his love more fixed and ardent. Thus faith, hope, and charity grow together, mutually promoting each other's advancement; till faith is swallowed up in sight, hope fulfilled in enjoyment, and love for ever perfected by the immediate presence and uninterrupted enjoyment of that "God of Hope" from whom it sprang.

FAMILY SERMONS.-No. CVI. James i. 27.-Pure religion, and undefiled before God and the Father, is this, To visit the fatherless children and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. THE most important question which it is possible for man to ask is, What is truth? We hear of diversities of doctrine, and various modes of faith: which then, amidst all, is that which shall bring a man peace at the last? It would be a great means of unity of opinion, as well as of charity of life, if, in their differences on these subjects, men would learn to appeal for an answer to that sacred page which alone can give a true reply; and, without prejudice or controversy, would determine, by the grace of God, to yield themselves humbly to the guidance of his Holy Spirit, and the declarations of his revealed word. Thus inclined, they would not long wander in darkness and uncertainty; for he that will do the will of God, shall know of the doctrine which our Lord taught; whereas, without a teachable spirit and a renewed heart, the powers of an archangel

would not be able to guide us into those things in which the best affections of the soul are as much necessary as the faculties of the understanding. It is for want of having really felt the necessity of personal religion, for want of having perceived ourselves to be transgressors in the Divine sight, and exposed to the Divine anger, that we so often fail to inquire seriously, What is the nature of that Gospel which we profess to believe? What connexion has it with ourselves? What bearing has it upon our own case? Content with the things of the present world, and thoughtless or ignorant respecting another, men suffer themselves to put off their repentance, and go on calmnly in their sins; which, because they may not perhaps have been very open and notorious, they often imagine to be of little consequence. While the heart is thus unaffected, and the conscience thus unalarmed, the inquiry, "What is true religion?" can appear of little consequence; and if we examine into it at all in this disposition of mind, we shall do so only for the sake of argument or mere curiosity, but without any true sense of its importance to ourselves, as being that which is connected with our own eternal happiness or misery.

But there are other persons, who, by the grace of God, have become better disposed to ask the question, and are far more anxious for the reply. There are those, perhaps, among us who are thinking within them selves, No subject appears to me so important as religion; I feel my need of it; I know that without it I must perish for ever; I desire above all things to possess it ;-but I know not what it is; I am perplexed with the different opinions which have gone abroad in the world respecting it; I dread lest I may be deceived. Would to God, therefore, that I could ascertain its nature and become partaker of its influence! Would to God that I could live under its power, and die

with all its hopes; that I knew how to be a Christian in reality here, on earth, and consequently a partaker of the joys which remain for the Christian in the world to come! Such a prayer, directed toGod from a humble and penitent heart, shall not ascend in vain. He who endued you with that desire to learn shall become your Teacher; and he hath himself given us the words of the text, as an answer to this mo mentous question. May he be with us by his gracious influences, while we examine into its signification!

Let us consider

I. What are the marks of true religion, as presented to us in the text. It. What are the principles on which this true religion depends.

1. What are the marks of true religion as presented to us in the text, "True religion, before God and the Father, is this, To visit the fatherless children and widows in their affliction, and to keep ourselves unspotted from the world." Here are two moral duties mention. ed, each of which is of high importance and necessity; but it would evidently be most incorrect and unscriptural to suppose that these are placed here to the exclusion of all others. On the contrary, St. James had himself just mentioned various other graces of the Christian character; such as patience, simplicity, firmness in religion, refraining from anger, and purity of heart and life. He proceeds also, in the succeeding chapters of his Epistle, earnestly to enforce several other religious duties, and to inculcate, with considerable minuteness, the obligations of our holy profession.

Since, then, it appears that the Apostle did not intend to overlook other Christian graces, why, it may be asked, did he confine himself to the mention of two only in the text; as if implying that visiting the fatherless children and widows, aud keeping oneself unspotted from the world, were all the obligations