and excitement to our duty, we must pray. for the work of the divine Spirit in our souls, to form them more and more to the temper of peace and love, and thus to fill them with hope and joy.

The wisdom, which is pure, peaceable, gentle, easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, is wifdom from above. If we lack wifdom, let us afk it of God, who giveth liberally and upbraideth not; remembering, that every good gift, and every perfect gift cometh down from above, from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, nor fhadow of turning.

If we of his good will have been begotten by the word of truth, it is that we may be a kind of firftfruits of his creatures. Let us therefore be fwift to hear, flow to speak, flow to wrath; for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. And let us lay apart all filthiness and fuperfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meeknefs the ingraft ed word, which is able to fave our fouls.

Thus may peace and love with faith be multiplied to us, from God the Father and the Lord Jefus Christ. Amen.

SERMON L.

EPHESIANS vi. 24.

Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jefus Chrift

in fincerity.

ST. PAUL, though a man of liberal

education, feems not to have been expert in writing the Greek characters; for which reafon he ufually employed an amanuenfis. He fpeaks of it as fomething extraordinary for him to write with his own hand, a letter fo large as that to the Galatians. But though he ufually dictated his letters to a Scribe, yet he always took care to fubjoin to them, with his own hand, a form of falutation, by which the genuineness of them was afcertained. His fecond epiftle to the Theffalonians he thus concludes, "The falutation of Paul, with mine own hand,” a hand well known, or eafy to be known by comparing it with his other writings, "which is the token in every letter, fo I write The grace of our Lord Jefus Chrift be with you." When this falu. tation, in Paul's hand, was feen at the clofe of an epiftle, it was known that the epiftle was from him.

As Paul, fo doubtlefs the other facred writers, took immediate care to prove their works to be genuine, and to prevent fpurious writings from be

ing palmed on the churches under their names. Hence we may conclude, that the churches from the beginning, had fufficient evidence, that the facred books were written by the men, whose names they bear.

The books of the New Teftament appear to have been written in the time when their reputed authors lived. They were at that time publicly known and received as the genuine works of those men. They were acknowledged as fuch in the next age, both by friends and enemies. They have been conveyed to us by an uninterrupted feries of vouchers. They muft therefore be regarded as the genuine works of the men, to whom they are afcribed.

This fignature, which Paul affixes to his epiftles, fpeaks the goodness and benevolence of his heart. "The love of Chrift be with you all." But while he wishes to all the grace of Chrift for their eternal falvation, he reminds them, that in order to ob. tain this grace, they muft love the author of it in fincerity. "If any man love not our Lord Jesus Chrift, he will be accurfed when the Lord fhall come."

Our text leads us to confider, in what refpe&s Christ is an object of our love-what it is to love him in fincerity-how a fincere love to Chrift will difcover itfelf-and the benediction connected with this love.

I. We will confider on what accounts Chrift is entitled to our love.

Love, which is the inclination and attachment of the foul toward an object, fuppofes an apprehenfion of fomething which is good and excellent in ⚫ that object.

Jefus Chrift once dwelt on earth, and there were those who saw him and beheld his glory. But he is now gone to the invisible world, and we behold

him only by faith: And the ground of our faith is the exhibition made of him in the gospel.

Chrift is a divine perfon. The fcripture calls him "the true God;" afcribes to him divine perfections and works, and pays him religious honors, Love to him, in this view of him, is the fame as love to God; for, in refpe&t of his divine nature, "He and the Father are one."

The gofpel teaches us, that God was manifeft in the flesh"-that "the word was made flesh, and dwelt with men"-that "in Chrift dwelt the ful nefs of the godhead bodily." In the man Christ Jefus, appeared every virtuous quality which can dignify and adorn human nature. Benevolence, humility, condefcenfion, patience, refignation, fortitude, contempt of the world and a heavenly converfation, were confpicuous in his character. In this view he is an object worthy of our love: And love, regarding him in this character, is the fame as love to our fellow Chriftians, only with the difference refulting from the want of that perfection in them, which we contemplate in him.

The Apoftle fays, "No man hath feen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bofom of the Father, hath declared him." As God is a Spirit invifible to the eye of fenfe, we can have no direct view of him: But in Jefus Chrift, who became man, the divine character is rendered vifible. An immediate difplay of the glory of God would overpower our feeble nature: In Chrift the glory of God fhines upon us in a foft and gentle light, being kindly mitigated in paffing through the veil of his flefh. He is "the mighty God:" But as he appears in human flesh, the terrors of divinity are prevented. He, as God, is full of power and juftice; but, as man, he can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. As God, he is infinitely above us; but as man, he is familiar The bright beams of divine glory, thus.

to us.

blended with the fofter rays of human virtue, exhibit to our view an object of peculiar amiableness and delight.

Farther: Chrift's mediatorial offices entitle him to our love.

A fenfe of our wants adds worth to an object fuited to relieve them. An apprehenfion of our guilty and helplefs condition in ourselves, will lead us to esteem and admire Chrift in the character of a Redeemer. When Paul perceived the vanity of that righteoufnels of his own, in which once he trufted, he could fuffer the lofs of all things to win Chrift, and be found in him.

Jefus is fuch a Savior as we need. His offices and powers are adapted to our weakneffes and neceffities. Confcious of guilt, we may rely on his atonement for pardon. Surrounded with enemies, we may apply to his power for protection. Preffed with affliction, we may lean on his grace for fupport. Feeling our weakness, we may repair to his throne for help. Senfible of our unworthiness, we may come before God in his name. It hath pleafed the Father, that in him all fulness should dwell; and of his fulness we may all receive even grace for grace. In this view of Chrift, as a fuffi cient and fuitable Savior, love operates by complacence and joy.

Again Chrift is an object of our love on account of his kindness to us. "We love him, because he firft loved us." "We know his grace, that, though he was rich, yet for our fakes he became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich." When we contemplate this heavenly friend, early covenanting with the Father to make his foul an offering for fin, and in the fulness of time affum. ing our nature, fubmitting to labor and forrow, enduring the contradiction of finners, bearing our fins in his body, fuffering a dreadful death in our place, rifing from the dead and afcending to heav