SUBLIMITY OF THE PRINCIPLE OF LOVE. 



lence and for contributing, along with them, to 

 the order and prosperity of God s everlasting 

 kingdom. It secures to us the friendship and 

 affection of all the virtuous inhabitants of the 

 universe, and renders us fit for affectionate in 

 tercourse with . them, wherever we may after 

 wards exist, throughout the boundless expanse of 

 creation. Should we ever be permitted, during 

 the lapse of eternal duration, to wing our flight 

 from world to world, in order to enlarge our 

 views of God s unbounded empire, the exercise 

 of this holy affection would secure to us a friendly 

 reception and an affectionate intercourse among 

 all the pure intelligences within the range of his 

 moral administration : for, as this principle is 

 founded on the nature of God, who is eternal 

 and unchangeable, it must pervade the minds of 

 the inhabitants of all worlds that have retained 

 their primitive integrity. It is this divine affec 

 tion which excites the rapturous flame that 

 glows in the breasts of the angelic tribes, which 

 enlivens the songs and the adorations of the 

 cheruoim and the seraphim, which inspires 

 them with a noble ardour in executing the com 

 mands of their Creator, and which animates 

 them in their flight from the celestial regions to 

 this obscure corner of creation, when they min 

 ister to the heirs of salvation. It was this noble 

 principle which impelled the angel Gabriel in 

 his rapid flight through the celestial spaces, 

 when he descended to announce to Daniel the 

 answer to his supplications, and to Zacharias and 

 Mary the birth of the Saviour; which animated 

 the angels who unbarred the prison doors to 

 Peter, and gave assurance to Paul of the divine 

 protection, while he was tossing on the tem 

 pestuous billows of the Adriatic sea ; and which 

 fanned the flame of devotion in the heavenly host, 

 when they sung, in the plains of Bethlehem, 

 &quot; Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, 

 and good will towards men.&quot; 



In fine, this sublime affection assimilates us to 

 God, who is benevolence itself, who supremely 

 loves his own character, and who is incessantly 

 displaying his benevolence, in all its infinitely 

 diversified effects, throughout the intelligent uni 

 verse. It assimilates us to Jesus the Son of 

 the Highest, who is &quot; the brightness of the Fa 

 ther s glory ,and the express image of his person,&quot; 

 and who is for ever actuated with fervent zeal 

 for the honour of God, and for the happiness of 

 man. It constitutes the foundation of all felicity ; 

 it opens the gates to perpetual enjoyment ; it 

 secures its possessor of eternal happiness, as its 

 natural and necessary result, and prepares him 

 for mingling in the employments of the &quot; innu 

 merable company of angels and the spirits of 

 just men made perfect:&quot; for all the transporting 

 scenes of glory, and all the avenues to felicity, 

 whjoh will be opened to the immortal spirit, 

 while ages, numerous as the sand, are rolling on, 



while mighty worlds are emerging out of no 

 thing, and innumerable orders of beings are 

 starting into existence, may be considered as so 

 many infinitely diversified streams flowing from 

 supreme affection to the blessed God, as the 

 spring of every rapturous enjoyment. Possessed 

 of this divine principle, we secure the most ho 

 nourable connexions, become benefactors to the 

 intelligent universe, participators of the enjoy 

 ments of seraphic natures, agents for carrying 

 forward the plans of Infinite Benevolence, and 

 &quot; workers together with God,&quot; in accomplishing 

 his eternal designs. Without it, we became 

 nuisances in the kingdom of God, rebels against 

 his government, pests to fellow intelligences, 

 destitute of the noblest of all affections, deprived 

 of substantial enjoyment in the present world, 

 and exposed to misery, without interruption, in 

 the world to come. 



If such be the native effects of supreme love to 

 God, and if this principle lie at the foundation 

 of all genuine morality, how foolish and pre 

 posterous is it for Christian moralists to wander 

 through the dark labyrinths of Greek and Romar 

 literature, and the intricate mazes of modern 

 skeptical philosophy, in search of any other prin 

 ciples of moral action ? It is like groping for the 

 light of the sun in the windings of a subterraneous 

 grotto, and preferring the glimmering of a tape 

 to the full blaze of the orb of day. It is, to fo-- 

 sake &quot; the fountain of living waters, and to 

 hew out to themselves broken and empty cisterns, 

 that can hold no water.&quot; 



In order to invigorate and expand this affec 

 tion in the mind, it. is requisite that we take a 

 comprehensive view of all the manifestations of 

 that Being towards whom it is directed, as exhi 

 bited in the history of his operations recorded in 

 the volume of inspiration ; in the details of his 

 moral government among the nations, both in 

 ancient and in modern times, which may be col 

 lected from the writings of historians, voyagers, 

 travellers, and missionaries ; in the economy of 

 the inferior tribes of animated beings ; in the 

 diversified scenery of nature around us in our 

 terrestrial system ; and in the sublime move 

 ments that are going forward, among distant 

 worlds, in the firmament of his power , for, the 

 more we know of the manifestations of the 

 Creator, the more acquaintance shall we have of 

 the Creator himself; and, in proportion as our 

 knowledge of his character is enlarged, in a 

 similar proportion will our love be ardent and 

 expansive. Such extensive views and contem 

 plations are indispensably requisite, in order to 

 a full recognition of the divine injunction 

 &quot; Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy 

 heart, and with all thy strength, and with all thing 

 understanding,&quot; This is the first and the great 

 commandment. 



