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came as the regenerator of man's nature, as the Creator of a new world. He came to destroy the works of the devil,—to make an end of sin,-to redeem us from our vain conversation, to deliver us from this present evil world, and purify us unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works,-to make us holy, holy as God is holy,-and, in short, to diffuse through the souls of men the light, the purity, and tenderness of the Divine Being.

We have no right, therefore, to reckon ourselves saved by Christ, any further than we are saved from the pollutions of sin, and restored to the likeness of God. We have no right to call ourselves Christians, any farther than we are cured of our natural selfishness, and brought to be merciful as our Heavenly Father, is merciful. To be a Christian is to be like Christ, and to be like Christ is to be like God, for Christ is "the image of God." To have in us the mind of Christ, and to walk as Christ also walked, is to have in us the mind, the benevolent nature, of God, and to be imitators of his love. If we have not this likeness to God in our souls, and if we do not thus imitate the goodness of God in our conduct, we are strangers to true religion, and the end of all that Christ has said, and done, and suffered for us, is frustrated; the plan of redemption and all the arrangements of the Christian dispensation, so far as we are concerned, are in vain. "Be ye therefore merciful as your Father also is merciful."

3. To be like God, and to imitate Him in the exercise of his goodness, constitutes our perfection. This is our true greatness and glory. Man's worth and excellence are not to be reckoned according to the strength of his understanding, the extent of his knowledge, or his powers of speech, much less according to the beauty and vigour of his outward form; but according to the purity, the fervour, and the activity of his benevolent affections. However active and powerful may be a man's intellect, however vast his stores of knowledge, however great his powers of speech, and however vigorous or comely in body he may be, he is still but a heap of ruins, if destitute of love. "Though I speak with the tongues of

men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all know. ledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing." 1 Cor. xiii. 1 2. But they whose souls are inspired with ardent and unbounded love, and whose ceaseless endeavour it is to promote the welfare of their fellow-creatures, are great, though but children in other matters. Their worth surpasses all other worth; they stand at the head of the whole creation; they are the loveliest of all God's works.

Hence the Redeemer speaks of perfection, and of the imitation of the divine goodness, as one thing. In the words of our text he says, "Be ye merciful as your Father also is merciful," but when he inculcates the same principle in the Sermon on the Mount, Matt. v. 48, he says, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." The perfection of man is the perfection of love. If, therefore, you would rise to true greatness; if you would attain true worth and excellence; if you would be clothed with true glory, and take your place in the highest rank of beings, "Be merciful, as your Father which is in heaven is merciful."

4. It is only in resembling God, and in imitating his goodness, that we can find our true, our full, and our eternal happiness. Happiness is not to be found in wealth: a man may have wealth without end, and yet know nothing of true happiness. Some of the wealthiest men in the world are among the most miserable beings in existence. Nor is happiness to be found in rank, or fame, or in any earthly good. A man may be born a prince, he may be nursed and reared in palaces, he may wear the crowns of a hundred empires, and receive homage in a hundred different languages, and yet be miserable. He may do what the world may call great things, and fill with the fame of his exploits a hundred lands, and yet be miserable. He may have a healthy body; he may have a comely form; he may be loved, and courted, and admired; he may have at his bidding all the indulgences which

flesh and fancy can covet or enjoy, and yet be miserable. A man's happiness does not consist either in the abundance of the things which he possesseth, or in the freedom with which he indulgeth himself: it consists in the state of his mind, and in the relation in which he stands to God, and to the eternal world. Happiness and indulgence are very different things. Those who indulge themselves most, generally enjoy the least; while those who most deny themselves, out of respect to the will of God, and to the welfare of their fellow-men, enjoy the most. The man that lives to indulge his flesh and to please his fleshly mind, enjoys nothing truly while the man who denies himself of fleshly pleasures, that he may please his Maker and benefit his fellow-men, enjoys every thing.

The imitation of the divine goodness contributes to our happiness in various ways. The exercise of love is itself a pleasure. Love is a pleasant affection, full of delightful, happy feeling. The love of a mother for her children, the love of children for their parents, the mutual love of brothers and of sisters, the love of friends, and more especially that deeper, higher, and more devoted love, from which all other domestic loves derive their origin and strength; that love which perfects friendship, and unites and mingles in one ardent flame the souls of man and woman, when joined by God in bonds of honourable marriage; all are SO many springs and fountains of delight. But that love which yields the fullest measures of delight, is that pure and heavenly affection which the Saviour inculcates, when he commands us to be merciful as our Father which is in heaven is merciful." And the pleasures which flow from this fountain never fail. Other fountains of delight are often dried up, and at times, the streams which flow from them are turned to grief and anguish; but this fountain pours forth its streams for ever, and the streams increase in sweetness, and become more copious, world without end.

Nothing yields such pure and full delight as ardent and unbounded love. Love is, in fact, the measure of felicity both on earth and in hea

ven. Those beings that excel in holy love, excel in happiness; and those that are most estranged from love, are the most miserable. The most happy of all beings is God, and He is the most loving of all beings; and in proportion' as we resemble him in love, shall we resemble him in felicity. The most miserable of all beings are the spirits of darkness, and they are the farthest removed from love. In proportion as we resemble God in love, in such proportion shall we resemble him in felicity; and in proportion as we resemble the spirits of darkness in selfishness and malignity, in such proportion shall we resemble them in misery. The perfect and ceaseless exercise of love, is the perfection of felicity. Never till we are freed from malignity and selfishness, and filled with pure and ardent love to all mankind, shall we enjoy those pure and full delights for which our souls were created. But let malignity and selfishness expire, let love to God and love to man fill our whole soul,-let us e merciful as our Father which is heaven is merciful,—let us in all our plans and labours aim at promoting, to the utmost of our ability, the welfare of all our fellow-men, and we shall enjoy the bliss of heaven itself.

The exercise of benevolence promotes our happiness in other ways. It keeps us from innumerable evils. Two of the greatest causes of misery are idleness and intemperance. Most of the miseries with which some classes of society are tormented, come from one or another form of these vices. The exercise of the benevolence inculcated by the Saviour would entirely destroy those causes of misery. It would find us abundance of employment, both for the body and the mind, and employment of the right kind; and it would take up all our time and treasures, and leave us neither leisure nor resources for intemperate indulgences.

The exercise of Christian benevolence raises us higher in the favour of God. The benevolent are God's favourites, and they are his only favourites. God cannot love those who are selfish, and the selfish soul that dreams of his favour is under a dreadful delusion. There is nothing in the universe that God loathes and

abhors so much as selfishness and malignity. Satan himself might as well imagine himself in the favour of God, as the man who loves not his brother. But on the souls of those who bear his image, and who, in imitation of his goodness, devote themselves and all their wealth and powers to promote the welfare of their fellow men, God looks with love unutterable. And the more ardent their love, and the more abundant their benevolent labours and sacrifices in the cause of human happiness, the more abundantly does God delight in them, and the more abundant evidences does he afford them of his love. He makes their peace to flow as a river, and their blessedness to abound as the waves of the sea.

The happiness of those who imitate the divine goodness is increased by the success of their labours. Every evil they are enabled to remove, every benefit they are enabled to bestow, every want they are enabled to supply, every error they are enabled to correct, every drunkard they are enabled to reclaim, and every sinner they are enabled to convert, gives them fresh joy. As the mother when her lost babe is restored to her, and as the father when his prodigal son returns home, are filled with unspeakable delight, so it is with the truly benevolent, when they see men brought from their guilt and wretchedness, and made happy in the enjoyment of religion. And when they see the light of truth spreading, through their instrumentality, over the dark nations, and the softening influences of religion diffusing themselves through the habitations of cruelty,-when they see whole tribes casting away their idols at once, and beginning to worship the one true God, and exchanging their pollutions and cruelties for the purity and tenderness of the Gospel, their joy is unbounded.

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And they look forward to the time when their joy shall be full. They expect, ere long, to be called to take their places in the worlds above, and to mingle in the society of heaven! They expect to be favoured with the company of Prophets and Apostles, of reformers and martyrs, and of the multitudes of holy, loving souls, that have sighed and toiled in the cause of God and human happiness in every age and country. They expect to enjoy the presence and the friendship of the Saviour, and to live in fellowship with him for ever. They expect to understand the mysteries of Providence, and to be enraptured with clearer and fuller revelations of God's goodness, world without end. They expect to be admitted into closer fellowship with God, to be favoured with more abundant measures of wisdom and power,-to be employed by God in higher ways and on a vaster scale, in carrying out his plans of boundless and eternal love. They expect "fulness of joy, and pleasures for evermore:" "a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." And their expectation shall not be cut off. God will raise them to the worlds above; he will enrich them with its pleasures, and he will open to them fresh worlds of light and blessedness for ever and ever. If ye wish for those high and eternal enjoyments, "be merciful as your Father who is in heaven is merciful."

5. Again, it is to assist us in thus imitating the goodness of God, that all our powers and resources are given to us. Our powers both of mind and body, and all our property and influence are the gifts of God, and they are entrusted to us on purpose that we may employ them in the service of our fellow-men. employ them for purposes of foolish or selfish gratification, is to grieve God, and, so far as in us lies, to frus

And the truly benevolent rejoice in the good that is done through the instrumentality of others. If men trate the purposes of his love. are blessed, it is enough for them, whoever be the instrument. They look on all who labour for the good of others, as their brethren; they look, in fact, on all the children of men as their brethren, and every one's happiness is their happiness.

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It is only while we employ our talents for God in doing good to mankind, that our talents can be rendered a blessing to ourselves. If suffered to be idle, or if spent in sin and folly, they will become curses to us, and bring on us eternal miseries.

6. The law of love is the law of all God's universe, and on its observance depends the welfare of every thing that God has made. So far as this law is broken, the world is subjected to disorder and misery; so far as this law is observed, the world is blessed with order and happiness. All the darkness, and disorder, and wretchedness in existence, may be traced to the want of benevolence, or to its limited and imperfect exercise. If men would duly cultivate the spirit of love, and be merciful as their Father which is in heaven is merciful, there is not an evil that afflicts the world but what might be speedily brought to a close. A great part of the world is harrassed and torn in pieces by wars; and millions upon millions of our fellow-men are crushed and tormented by slavery. The greater part of the nations are kept down by oppression, and countless multitudes are burdened and bowed down by excessive toil, and afflicted and distressed with want. There are countless multitudes that are without habitations, or that have habitations scarce fit for the brutes. Great portions of our large towns are little else than vast masses of filth and wretchedness; and even in the country, though appearances are not so bad, there are numberless cases of deep and heart-rending distress. Trade is bad, and it appears to be continually growing worse. Commercial panics tread on each other's heels, shaking all ranks, and thousands are every year thrown down from circumstances of comfort and plenty, into want and beggary. Fraud and injustice mix themselves to such a fearful extent with social intercourse, that confidence is almost destroyed, and the simple and unsuspecting make themselves a prey. Even the most prosperous nations on earth are in perplexity, and fearfulness takes hold of men in highest stations. Tears are shed, and sighs are heard on every hand; and the earth is still a vale of tears, and much of it a field of blood. Over a great part of the world hang the thick clouds of Pagan darkness, hiding from the miserable inhabitants all knowledge of God, and all prospects of blessedness in the world to come. Cruel superstitions and abominable idolatries prevail among

them, and fill their souls with terrors, and their lives with pain. How are these evils to be remedied? How are the oppressions and wars, the wants and the miseries of mankind to be brought to an end? Some think that better forms of government would remedy those evils, and others think that the advancement of philosophy and the general spread of knowledge would put things right, while others, driven by their hatred of the truth to madness, dream that the world is to be regenerated and made happy by the overthrow of religion, and by the universal prevalence of licentiousness and infidelity. They are all wrong. The simple remedy for the miseries of the world is love. Lét love be cherished and exercised as it ought, and it would rectify the disorders of the world at once. Let men be merciful as their Father which is in heaven is merciful, and war, and slavery, and oppression, and fraud, and want, and murderous toil would be no more; and freedom and peace, and plenty and joy would bless the whole family of men. If all the inhabitants of this land were to begin to be merciful as our Father which is in heaven is merciful, our country would become a perfect paradise. And if we were to continue to be thus merciful, the light and blessings of salvation would go forth to the ends of the earth. The darkness of paganism would pass away as a cloud; the millions of our race that are enslaved by cruel superstitions and abominable idolatries, might be blessed with holy liberty and joy, and the light and blessings of the Gospel might be placed within the reach of every soul of man.

There is nothing but the universal prevalence of holiness necessary, to make earth one vast and glorious paradise. There is nothing but the universal prevalence of holy love, accompanied with vigorous faith, necessary to bring down to earth the joy of heaven itself. If we wish for a happy world, let holy, godlike love be the ruling principle in our soulsand let labours of benevolence be the great business of our life. Let us be merciful as our Father which is in heaven is merciful.

7. Again, the exercise of benevo

and ever.

lence, in imitation of the Divine Being, will form our employment, our glory, and our felicity, for ever Heaven is not a place of inactivity; nor have we any reason to expect that our blessedness in heaven will be a blessedness of ease and indolence. The angels are represented in Scripture, as employed in carrying out the benevolent purposes and plans of the Almighty; and for any thing that we can learn, their high and holy employment constitutes their bliss. And we have reason to believe, that this will be the case with ourselves. Christ will not take our talents away from us when we enter heaven: he will give us more: he will not dismiss us from his employment, but employ us on a larger scale, and in a higher sphere. After having found us faithful over a few things, he will make us rulers over many things. He will admit us to a share of his own glory; he will welcome us to a participation in his own joy; and to co-operate with him in carrying forward his plans of eternal and unbounded goodness will form a portion of our blessedness, world without end.

We leave these observations with you. We beseech you to lay the words of our Saviour to heart, and to reduce them faithfully to practice. Let love to God, and love to man, fill your whole soul; and let labours of benevolence fill your whole life. Let your time, and property, and influence, without reserve, be consecrated to God for the service of mankind. Labour to be like God. Aspire after that glory and perfection, for which you were created and redeemed. Rest not till your soul becomes one holy flame of love; rest not till your life reflects, in all its tenderness and glory, the benevolence of your Heavenly Father. For the sake of your Saviour, who died for you; for the sake of a dark and miserable world, that is languishing and dying for want of your help; for the sake of yourselves, that you may live a happy life, and die a happy death, and enjoy the happiness of heaven for ever, we beseech you, "Be ye merciful as your Father which is in heaven is merciful."

THE CIRCULAR EPISTLE OF THE CHURCH OF SMYRNA,

ON THE

MARTYRDOM OF ST. POLYCARP. THE Church of God which is at Smyrna, to the Church of God which is at Philadelphia; and to all the other Assemblies of the Holy Catholic Church, in every place; mercy, peace, and love from God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, be multiplied.

I. We have written to you, brethren, both of what concerns the other martyrs, but especially the blessed Polycarp, who by his sufferings put an end to the persecution; setting as it were, his seal to it. For almost all things that went before were done, that the Lord might show us from above, a martyrdom truly such as became the Gospel. For he expected to be delivered up; even as the Lord also did, that we should become the followers of his example : considering not only what is profitable for ourselves, but also for our neighbours' advantage. For it is the part of a true and perfect charity, to desire, not only that a man's self should be saved, but also all the brethren.

II. The sufferings then of all the other martyrs, were blessed and generous; which they underwent according to the will of God. For so

it becomes us, who are more religious than others, to ascribe the power and ordering of all things unto Him. And indeed who can chuse but admire the greatness of their mind, and that admirable patience, and love of their Master, which then appeared in them? Who, when they were so flead with whipping, that the frame and structure of their bodies were laid open to their very inward veins and arteries, nevertheless endured it. And when all that beheld them, pitied and lamented them; yet they showed so great a generosity of mind, that not one of them let so much as a sigh, or a groan, escape them: plainly showing that those Holy Martyrs of Christ, at the very same time that they were thus tormented, were absent from the body; or rather, that the Lord stood by them, and conversed with them. Wherefore, being supported by the grace of Christ, they despised all the torments of the world; by the

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