ILLUSTRATIONS FROM SCRIPTURE. 



73 



novah would soon be proclaimed throughout all 

 the earth, and the joys of his salvation felt in 

 every clime. 



Again, it is one great end of the death of Christ 

 t.o destroy the principle of malignity in the hu 

 man heart, and to promote the operation of the 

 law of love. &quot;While we were enemies, (says 

 the Apostle Paul,) we were reconciled to God 

 by the death of his Son.&quot; &quot; We are sanctified 

 through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ 

 once for all.&quot; &quot; He lored us, and washed us 

 from our sins in his own blood.&quot; &quot; They who 

 were enemies in their mind, and by wicked works, 

 he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, 

 to present them holy and unblameable, and unre- 

 provable in his sight.&quot; Love to his heavenly 

 Father, and love to mankind, impelled him to 

 &quot; humble himself, and to become obedient to 

 death, even the death of the cross.&quot; And, in 

 order that this divine principle might be kept 

 alive, and form a bond of union among all his fol 

 lowers, he appointed an ordinance, consisting of 

 gensible signs, in commemoration of his death, 

 to be observed in all ages as a memorial of his 

 love, and to remind his friends of the indispen- 

 sibie obligation under which they are laid to love 

 one another. To promote the same benevolent 

 design, he arose from the dead, ascended to 

 heaven, sent down the Spirit of Holiness to abide 

 in the Church, and now presides in the celestial 

 world as &quot; a Prince and a Saviour, to give re 

 pentance and the remission of sins.&quot; 



And, as the instructions and the example of 

 Jesus Christ were calculated to exhibit the prin 

 ciple of love in all its interesting aspects, and to 

 promote its practical influence, so the preaching 

 and the writings of hjs Apostles had the same 

 important object in view, as the ultimate scope 

 of all their ministrations. The one half of every 

 epistle to the Christian churches is occupied in 

 delineating the practical bearings of this holy af 

 fection. Like the lines which proceed from the 

 r.entre to the circumference of a circle, the va- 

 i lous radiations of Christian affection are traced 

 from love, as the grand central point, and exhi 

 bited in all their benign influence on individuals, 

 families, churches, and the diversified relations 

 which subsist in civil and Christian society. 

 &quot; Above all things,&quot; says the Apostle, &quot; put on 

 love, which is the bond of perfection. Though 

 we speak with the tongues of men and angels, and 

 have not love, we are become as sounding brass, 

 or a tinkling cymbal. And though we under 

 stand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and be 

 stow all our goods to feed the poor, and have not 

 fove, itprofiteth nothing. Love suffereth long, 

 and is kind ; love envieth not, vaunteth not itself, 

 doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her 

 own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil. 

 Prophecies shall fail, languages- shall cease, 

 earthly knowledge shall vanish away, but love 

 foileth,&quot; &quot; Love worketh no ill to his 



neighbour ; therefore, love is the fulfilling of die 

 law. All the law is comprehended in this say 

 ing, namely, Thou shall love thy neighbour as 

 thyself. The works of the flesh,&quot; or those which 

 flow from a principle of malignity, &quot; are these : 

 fornication, uncleanness, idolatry, hatred, vari 

 ance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, envy- 

 ings, murders, revellings, and such like. But 

 the fruit of the spirit, is love, joy, peace, long-suf 

 fering, gentleness, goodness, fidelity, meekness, 

 and temperance.&quot; &quot; Let love be without dis 

 simulation, and walk in love as Christ also hath 

 loved us. Be kindly affectioned one toward 

 another with brotherly love, in honour preferring 

 one another. Distributing to the necessity of 

 saints ; given to hospitality. Bless them that per 

 secute you ? bless, and curse not. Rejoice with 

 them that do rejoice, and weep with them that 

 weep. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ 

 also loved the church ; children, obey your parents 

 in the Lord; fathers, provoke not your children 

 to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and 

 admonition of the Lo d. Servants, be obedient to 

 your masters, with good will doing service as to 

 the Lord, and not unto men ; and ye masters, do 

 the same thing unto them, forbearing threatening, 

 knowing that your master also is in heaven.&quot; 

 &quot; Put on, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, 

 bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, 

 meekness, long-suffering ; forbearing one another 

 in love, and forgiving one another, if any man 

 have a quarrel against any ; even as Christ for 

 gave you, so also do ye.&quot; 



Such is the general scope of the instructions 

 which the apostles delivered, in all their com 

 munications to the Christian churches, whether 

 composed of Jews or Gentiles. And, had it not 

 been for the strong prejudices of the Jews, and 

 the erroneous conceptions of the Gentiles, which 

 the apostles had to combat, it is probable, &amp;gt;hat 

 the whole of their epistles would have been soiely 

 occupied in delineating the practical effects of 

 love to God, and to our brethren of mankind, 

 and its glorious consequences in the future 

 world. And, as it was the great aim of the 

 apostles themselves, in their writings and per 

 sonal administrations, to illustrate the numerous 

 bearings of Christian love, so they gave solemn 

 charges to their successors in the work of the 

 ministry, to make all their instructions subser 

 vient to the promotion of the same important ob 

 ject. Almost the whole of the epistles addressed 

 to Timothy and Titus, which relate to the du 

 ties and the objects of the Christian ministry, has 

 a reference, not to the discussion of metaphysical 

 questions in theology, which &quot; are unprofitable 

 and vain,&quot; but to the illustration and the inculcat 

 ing of those practical duties which flow from the 

 spirit of love, and to the counteracting of those 

 proud, malignant, and speculative dispositions 

 which are opposed to the meekness and benignity 

 of the gospel of peace. 



