for exercise, they flourish as in a climate congenial with their nature; and such, on the whole, is eminently the condition of this favoured and distinguished country.

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But the difference between the most moral and the most flagitions of natural characters is less than the difference that subsists between the subjects of Jesus Christ and the children of this world; because the latter is the difference between the spiritually dead and living. "The wisdom of God" is discovered to those only who believe in Jesus Christ; all others sit in darkness: for, after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." We see this verified in all the history of nations. Without pretending to determine how far human reason may proceed alone, it may be safely affirmed that the least instructed portion of every country in which Christianity is professed possess far juster views of the leading truths of religion,— such as the character of God, the nature of sin, the obligation of virtue, the eternal world,—than ever were entertained by the most inquiring pagans. The great abstractions of the gospel were never touched by man, they remained shut up in the bosom of Deity; and there they must have remained for ever, had not He disclosed them by Jesus Christ, the Light of the world. They surpass the natural mind in its widest excursions, its profoundest researches, its sublimest elevations. Yet these are the vital, essential principles of the soul,these are the germs of all excellence and happiness, these, wherever they are known, are found to have a purifying and an exalting influence upon mankind,―these effectually tend to moralize and beautify society. The gospel empire possesses in itself interminable energies, and tendencies to benefit its subjects. No other reason can be assigned why our country and Europe should differ so greatly from the ancient nations, and should so far excel the most cultivated among them, regarded in a moral estimate; no other reason than this, that the light of Jesus Christ has shone upon us like a finer Sun-the "Sun of Righteousness." All those elysian images of prophecy, which paint with so much beauty the latter days of the world, are nothing, in their substantial fulfilment, but the impress of Jesus Christ on the minds and manners of mankind, the image of Christianity imbodied in society," the earth filled with the knowledge of the Lord," and righteousness dwelling in the new-created universe.

5. The fifth and last requisite of a well-constituted government is stability: this is the crown of all its other advantages. Nothing can be wanting to such a reign but that it should last; and this is what the text emphatically expresses," Thy throne shall be established for ever" as the Psalmist says of the Messiah, " He shall reign as long as the sun and moon endure." In this the kingdom of David was an emblem, however faint, of that which would be erected by Jesus Christ; wonderfully preserved as was the throne of Judah, while the greatest monarchies were marked by perpetual vicissitudes: the kings of Israel were ever changing in their line, while the descendants of David maintained a direct succession. No Roman emperor, with the

exception of Vespasian, was followed by his proper successor during a hundred and fifty years from the time of Julius Cæsar: they passed and chased one another like shadows. Here, meanwhile, "in the house of Judah," was a preternatural stability, destined as an image (though an imperfect image) of the fixed, indestructible empire of Jesus Christ. His throne has never been shaken for a moment; He has appeared without a rival in the field. Who has ever dared to question His pretensions? who has dared to challenge a comparison with Him in prophecies, in miracles, in virtues, in doctrines? Not a doubt has been entertained among competent judges of His being the true Messiah: all the servants of God have been ready, in reference to His dominion, to adopt the well-known exclamation of an excellent man, "Esto perpetua !"* Of His kingdom let there be no end. We 'may truly say, "Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the world stand up, and the rulers take counsel against the Lord and his Messiah; but He shall break their bonds asunder, and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." There has appeared on earth no other universal interest than this; none which has bound all hearts together as the heart of one man. In minor points we may follow a thousand different paths; but when the question is, whether JESUS CHRIST shall reign, whether the kingdom of JESUS CHRIST shall be extended,— we are ready to forget all our distinctions, we are all united,-we are all one man. Not that the stability of His kingdom depends merely on human exertions: God has staked his character and all his perfections upon its establishment; He has pledged his word and oath for its success:-"The jealousy of the Lord of Hosts will do this, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” ·

Nothing but the extension of this empire is necessary to change the wilderness into a paradise, and exalt the condition of earth into a resemblance of heaven. And we have reason to hope the destined period is not remote: our children's children may live to witness the cessation of wars under the sceptre of the Prince of Peace; to witness the expectation of eternity and heaven diffused among all the partakers of our nature. Lend your helping hand to the promotion of such an object. Convert base riches, "the mammon of unrighteousness," into the means of imparting spiritual treasure, the instrument of conveying "an exceeding and eternal weight of glory," into a link, an important link in the chain that connects earth with heaven. You are not called out to endure the burden and heat of the day; you are permitted, while sitting under your vine and fig-tree, to assist, in a way at once easy and effectual, the diffusion of the privileges and immunities of this heavenly kingdom over the whole world; the recovery of a vast neglected portion of our race to the happy condition of those who are the subjects of Jesus Christ.

The last words of Paul Sarpi, expressive of his wish for the immortal glory of his country, to whose cause he died a martyr.

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XV.

THE ENLARGEMENT OF CHRISTIAN BENEVOLENCE.*

2 COR. vi. 13.-Now for a recompense in the same (I speak as unto my children), be ye also enlarged.

[PREACHED FOR THE BAPTIST MISSION, AT BROADMEAD, bristol, august 6, 1824.]

THE Corinthian church was early infested by false teachers, who opposed themselves to the apostle Paul, and, forming their own sects and factions, endeavoured to substitute their corruptions of the faith for his pure and Divine doctrine. To the cure of this disease he had addressed himself in a former, and he pursued the same design in this epistle. In doing this, he found himself compelled, though the humblest of men, to remind the Corinthians of the extraordinary evidences he had given of the most devoted zeal in the cause of Christ, while he adverted to his manifold sacrifices and exertions. In the context he speaks in the affectionate language of a parent appealing to his children: "O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open to you, our heart is enlarged: ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels. Now for a recompense in the same (I speak as unto my children), be ye also enlarged." Endeavour (as if he said) to meet me upon the same ground of affectionate attachment on which I desire to embrace you in Christ. In discoursing on these words, I propose, for our mutual advantage, first, to illustrate in what this enlargement consists, and, secondly, to enforce it.

I. With respect to the first point,-in what the enlargement mentioned in the text consists,-let it be remarked, first, that it is not to be understood as consisting in expansion of intellect, in that kind of mental enlargement which arises from the discoveries of science and philosophy for this, however ornamental, or however useful it may be, is by no means necessarily connected with a Divine influence on the heart. Nothing can be more familiar to our knowledge or observation than the melancholy instances of those in whose character extreme deficiencies and blemishes of a moral kind form a striking contrast to brilliancy of intellect. It is sufficient, in illustration, to remind you of the examples which have been so abundantly furnished by a neighbouring kingdom. Probably, there may exist some remote tendency in intellectual enlargement to expand the heart in benevolent sensibility; but the connexion is not so close, nor the effect so certain, as to justify any great dependence; and those who infer from the improvement of reason a proportionate advancement in virtue will find their expectation too often frustrated.

There are others who flatter themselves that they possess superior

* Printed from the notes of the Rev. Thomas Grinfield.

enlargement of soul to most around them, because they entertain an equal indifference to all the vanities of human opinion in religious subjects, and feel no regard for any sect or creed. This would, no doubt, be a very cheap and easy doctrine to embrace: by those who are indifferent, concessions are easily made to almost any extent; and there can be no great liberality in sacrificing truth where no real attachment to truth is felt. In the apostle Paul we find the reverse of such a character: exactly in proportion as he became attached and devoted to "the truth as it is in Jesus," he exhibited the increase of his real benevolence and self-denying exertions. Genuine enlargement of charity consists in seeking the salvation of men,-not in complimenting them with a pretended candour. Nothing can be really more cruel, however varnished with a gloss of liberality, than the attempt to explain away the most clear and awful sanctions of Divine truth, when we are expressly assured, "He that believeth shall be saved; he that believeth not shall be damned !" True spiritual wisdom is shown, not in such a promiscuous confusion of all parts of truth, but in proportioning our regard for every part to its own importance and magnitude.

On the positive side of the subject: the Christian enlargement recommended consists in a real benevolence to the whole church of Christ, as opposed to any selfish views of our own salvation, or of our own church, as exclusively concerned. The nearer we approximate to universal love, the higher we ascend in the scale of Christian excellence. There are some, though we would hope the number is small, who live solely to themselves; who are so perfectly absorbed in selfishness as to neglect all around them; who regard whatever does not conduce to their own immediate gain or pleasure as so much loss: -the proper sentiment we should entertain towards the spirit these exemplify is that of supreme contempt.

Others limit their benevolence to the circle of their own family, or of their acquaintance; these rise above the former, in proportion as they possess more of the enlargement we would illustrate; they mingle their affections with others, and identify their happiness with that of those who are most nearly connected with themselves.

Others advance far beyond this: they extend their benevolent interest over a much wider circle; they feel for every case of distress, and rejoice in every opportunity of benefit that falls within their view. Their emotions are of the same kind with the former, but, taking an ampler range, they proportionably raise the moral character.

But suppose the whole nation to be embraced by an individual; suppose him, forgetful of all merely personal or private interests, to devote himself entirely to the public benefit of his country: he holds the scales of justice, he allays discord, alleviates the wretchedness of want, exposes his very life in the service of the state; and in every respect acts under the impression of his forming only a part of the whole. Here is a far higher order of character; and the reason is, that it has more of the true enlargement recommended by the apostle. And this is the utmost extent of human benevolence, apart from the

divine religion of Jesus Christ. The proud Roman confined all his benevolence to the city of Rome, and regarded the remoter provinces merely as subservient to the wealth and splendour of that enormous capital; while all the world, beyond the limits of the empire, was despised as a mass of despicable barbarism. To view the world as one united whole,-mankind as one family, all nations as one blood,— springing from one Father of all, tending to one destiny, this enlargement of heart, however just and natural, never entered into the views, or at least never regulated the conduct, of the most enlightened men in the pagan world.

But suppose us enabled to open our eyes to a comprehensive view of mankind as one vast family; suppose the Divine Being to have clearly discovered himself as the Universal Father, of whom all are alike the children by nature, and from whom all have alike departed by sin: suppose him to have shown us that all are in the same lapsed condition, and that one great method of recovery has been provided for all; that there is one immense society of holy beings, whether men or angels, to which we are all invited by the gospel: what should be the effect of such a revelation, but first to attach us to God as our common centre, and then to the whole family of man as called to form the church of God?—for, in such a view, we come to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly of the saints,-to God, the Judge of all,-to Jesus Christ, the mediator between God and man!

II. In the second place, I proceed to enforce this spirit of Christian enlargement, by reminding you of some of its motives and reasons.

1. First, this spirit is perfectly reasonable, and in harmony with nature;—with nature, that is, as the production of God, though not as transformed by sin. This enlargement of soul is one of the great lines of demarkation between man and the inferior creation-this property of his mind, by which he is capable of considering himself as part of the whole,-capable of abstracting and generalizing his ideas, and of forming a conception of contributing to the moral system. The more pious, the more truly enlightened men become, the more they feel and cherish this most important sentiment, this moral abstraction and expansion. Again, we are evidently so circumstanced in the present world, that we are perpetually and inevitably led out of ourselves: it is impossible to lay down any practicable system of conduct which would insulate us from our species, and confine us to ourselves entirely. There are several natural emotions of the mind that are purely social and benevolent such is the sentiment of pity or compassion, which it is impossible to explain on any other supposition. Pity identifies us with others those who have attempted to resolve it into a selfish pleasure as its origin forget that this pleasure itself must be traced to a previous concern for distress as its cause. It is absurd to suppose we must first feel the pleasure, and then exercise the pity; this is to mistake the effect for the cause, and to leave no basis for the emotion, In all our social affections, supposing them genuine and not merely pretended, we act on the ground of a disinterested benevolence; we

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