66 the hearts of those who forget God are fully set in them to do evil," so far as they are not overawed by the near prospect of feeling the vengeance of the law of the land. And hence it is, I remarked, that where no human penalties stare the false witness in the face, he too often bids defiance to the threatenings contained in his Bible. Under a deep conviction of the vital importance of this Divine grace, as a commanding principle of action in every state and condition of life, and under a full persuasion that it is the absence of this salutary and holy principle which makes such ravages in this unquiet world, I was led, at the Summer Assize, to direct the attention of those who heard me to the practice of taking God's holy name in vain-a practice which Jehovah deemed it necessary solemnly and expressly to prohibit in the first table of the law; and which, assuredly, has an immediate tendency first to weaken, and, by degrees, to destroy altogether that hold, which the fear of the Lord ought to have upon the minds and consciences of men. On the former of these occasions I took for my text the ninth Commandment, and, on the latter, the third Commandment of the law: and, in my first discourse I was led, by the course of the argument, to dwell, at considerable length, on the inseparable connexion between the two tables of the law. "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy b" neighbour "," is an express command in the sacred table; but take away that fear of the Lord which the first table enjoins, and the solemn appeal, "so help me God," will soon degenerate into a mere ceremony, which has lost its force and efficacy. I then went on to explain what that fear of the Lord is, which the Scriptures so emphatically enjoin; stating it to be a filial and reverential fear-a fear to offend that gracious Father, who has "not spared His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all "a fear not only consistent with, but absolutely inseparable from, the love of God. And I observed, therefore, that our Scriptural Church, knowing how these two holy graces, fear and love, ever walk hand in hand together, teaches us to pray, on each returning Sabbath, that it may please God to "give us an heart to love and dread Him, and diligently to live after His commandments "." I pointed out, at the same time, the manner in which the above petition acknowledges the connexion between the two tables of the law, to which we have now been adverting, since we are there taught to pray, that God would "give us an heart to love and dread Him," that so we may "diligently live after His commandments." It is to the grace of love, the parent of this holy and reverential fear, that I would on the present • Ex. xx. 16. Rom. viii. 32.. See Litany. occasion, Brethren, more particularly invite your attention; endeavouring to shew why it is so emphatically affirmed of this grace, that it is the "fulfilling of the law." If a man love me," says Jesus," he will keep my words." Do we ask what "these words" are? Jesus answereth, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." He, therefore, that would "keep the words" of Jesus, must commence with loving God, and must go on to shew the reality of that love by loving his neighbour as himself. As the believer meditates upon the wonders of redeeming love; as he contemplates the Lord God of his salvation descending from His throne of glory, and humbling Himself even to the death upon the cross, he takes up the appeal of the penitent Apostle, and says, "Lord, thou knowest that I love thee," with all my heart, and soul, and mind, and strength! But, remembering, with the Psalmist, that his "goodness extendeth not " unto God, he desires that it may extend to all within the circle of his influence, and he learns, for Christ's sake, to love all around him; both those in whom he does, and those in whom he does not discern, the image of his Saviour. He Matt. xxii. 37-40. and Luke x. 27. ♪ Ps. xvi. 2. John xiv. 23. loves the former, because they are "made like the image of the only begotten Son Jesus Christ 1;" he loves the latter, so as to pray that "Christ may be formed in their hearts the hope of glory." Thus it is, my Brethren, that " love is the fulfilling" of the whole law; not only of the second table, to which the Apostle more particularly refers in the context, but of the whole law. For that love which "worketh no ill to his neighbour'," can be rightly exercised by those only who habitually remember that "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us "," and who argue, therefore, with the beloved disciple, that "if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another "." Hence it was that our blessed Lord spoke, in one place, as His Apostle does in the passage from which our text is taken, of the love of our neighbour, as being the "law and the prophets °;" even because He well knew that they only who have first learned to love God with all their heart, and mind, and soul, and strength, can invariably do unto others as they would that others should do unto them. All such persons are safely guided through all the duties and relations of life, and through all the dangers, the difficulties, and the trials which may beset their path, iArt. XVII. 1 Rom. xiii. 10. " 1 John iv. 11. Gal. iv. 19. and Col. i. 27. m Rom. v. 8. • See Matt. vii. 11, 12. by the Christian principle of doing all with a single eye to the glory of God. Having thus endeavoured to explain, as fully as the occasion will permit, why the Apostle so emphatically affirms of Christian love, that it is" the fulfilling of the law," even because it is an all-constraining motive to a prompt and cheerful, and unfailing obedience; I would now briefly observe, that if St. Paul speaks of "love," as being the greatest of the Christian graces, he does so, not only because, when faith shall be swallowed up in certainty, and hope in fruition, love shall endure throughout the ages of eternity; but, also, because love will still continue to be the theme and the blessed employment of the Church triumphant, when much of that holy and reverential fear which now accompanies it, I mean fear to offend that gracious Being who "gave Himself for us," or to grieve His Holy Spirit, by doing any thing which should be displeasing in His sight, shall have no more place, and when nothing of it shall remain but that holy reverence, which is known not only to the spirits that inhabit flesh, but to all the angelic choirs, pure and happy as they are-that profound reverence of God's eternal majesty, which flourishes and reigns most of all there, where the knowledge of it is most clear, and the vision most distinct. My Brethren, if such be the exalted character, P Tit. ii. 14. |