From the London Evangelical Magazine for March. THE LOVE OF CHRIST. Substance of a Sermon preached by Dr. Mason, of New York, at Fetter-lane Meeting, June 13, 1802. ought to make serious business of before others, without great emendeavouring to qualify themselves barrassment, and to the edification for this most important service. of all who unite with them in the Do they premeditate, and even solemn service. write much, that they may be able to speak to their fellow men in an acceptable and edifying manner, and can they think of speaking to God, without reflecting at all on what they shall say? It is admitted that in secret prayer, language and method are of less importance; but in social prayer our words should be well ordered. It is a gross error to imagine, that some premeditation and preparation will hinder the warmth of devotion, or the expression of the thoughts that may arise in the mind while uttering our prayer. A general view of what we propose to say in leading the devotions of others, by its favourable influence on selfpossession, will help and not hinder us, in the proper introduction and expression of extemporaneous thought. In acquiring the gift of prayer, beside a familiar acquaintance with the Holy Scriptures, and cherish ing a devout spirit by much intercourse with God in secret, important assistance may be derived from reading those forms of prayer which pious and discreet authors have penned and published, suited to all the circumstances and occasions that occur in life. The committing of some of these to memory, will well reward the pains of doing it. This should especially be done by those heads of families who want confidence to lead their households to the throne of grace, without such assistance. Far better it is, in my opinion, devoutly to read a prayer to a kneeling family, than to omit this sacred and most important duty. But in private, the expression of our own thoughts in our own words, ought never to be omitted; and by a familiarity with this blessed exercise, few indeed will fail at length to acquire the confidence to pray Eph. iii. 14, 19.-Particularly the latter part: "To know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge.” A strange paradox this to an ungodly man! and I despair, my brethren, of making it plainer to him. This afternoon I preach to the babes, the children of the family; and I must warn all others, all who are out of the covenant, that they have neither part nor lot in this matter: it is for the people of God only. I. Consider the love of Christ under these views: it passeth knowledge; it is inexhaustible. We are of yesterday; the love of the Lord Jesus Christ is from everlasting to everlasting. We are the changelings of an hour; the love of the Lord Jesus Christ is like himself-the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. We are feeble and faithless; the love of the Lord Jesus Christ is the omnipotence and the fidelity of God. It should be measured by the perfections of Jehovah, the worth of an immortal soul, the damnation of hell, and the glories of heaven; it passes all our imitation, and all our powers of estimation. Do we know, my brethren, what eternal love is? Can you measure back the ages before your birth? Can you calculate the ages before the formation of man? have passed all the powers of man in calculating before creation, can you enter into the recesses of the Almighty, and calculate his eternal love? What do you and I know of eternity?-what of God When you of his perfections? When we know these, we may know what the love of Christ is. I said, we are the changelings of an hour, hardly ever like ourselves for two hours together; but the love of the Lord Jesus Christ is from everlasting to everlasting. Let it never be forgotten, let it enter deep into our hearts, let it be committed as the most sacred charge to our memory, let it be entwined with all the affections of our souls,-that no goodness of ours ever drew the love of the Lord Jesus Christ to us, and therefore no unworthiness of ours shall ever make him withdraw it from us. It was well and wisely observed by a handmaid of God, that if God had not loved her before she was born, he never would have loved her afterward. Nothing can make him turn away his love, for he knew from all eternity the abomination of the heart, that it is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. There is no reason under heaven why he should change his love, because there is no reason under heaven which he did not know before he fixed his love. He changes not. His love is the same. It is the love of God, who never can mend his views. I said, we are feeble, and that our love, however ardent, can go but little lengths. His love is omnipotent. In one word, when he is pleased to love us unto eternal life, earth, and angels, and the pit shall never stop our course into eternal life. It is love that passeth knowledge that is endued with such powers and effects. We cannot tell what Christ's love is till we can tell what omnipotence is; and here we must adore, and not ask. Our love is prone to be set on objects that present themselves on account of their good qualities; our recommendations were such as exactly fitted us for everlasting burnings. Yet he loved us. They were utter disqualifications for his communion and purity; yet he loved us. We were in conspiracy with the devil against his government and glory; and yet he loved us. Now, I say that such love passeth knowledge. We do not know what it is to love an unlovely object: it is only for the love of God. "God commendeth his love to us, in that while we were yet sinners" (and the whole vocabulary of words cannot supply a worse word) "Christ died for us." My friends, did you ever hear of a good man giving np his life to save a profligate villain? there ever such a character? Oh, no; it is not for creatures. It is the expression of the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. Was Remember what it cost him when he stepped into the place of the first Adam? Consider what it amounted to? Do you know what the wrath of God is? Do you know what eternal damnation is? Do you know what it is to have all the faculties of the immortal soul, and all the senses of the body, filled with the wrath of God? Do you know what the value of the blood of God is? Do you know what God manifest in the flesh is? Do you know what heavenly glory is? what the kingdom prepared before the foundation of the world is? If you do, then you can tell what the love of Christ is. love is not removed at a distance from us; but it is the object of solid experience in the believing soul. The love of Christ which passeth knowledge is, nevertheless, the subject of a believer's practical knowledge. He knows it, This 1. By being convinced of sin by the Holy Ghost, and satisfied in his conscience that he was by nature a child of wrath, and that it would be eternally just in God to cast him eternally out of his presence. Brethren, the terrors of the law may break the resolution of a sinner, but never melt the the rock, but it is pieces of rock still. It is the love of the Lord Jesus Christ that melts the heart into contrition and tenderness. The terror of the curse may drive, but it will only drive me farther from God. heart. The hammer may shiver What know you, my brethren, of the love of Christ? O my soul, what do I know of the love of Christ? Has it ever sickened me of myself? made me ashamed of myself? Have you ever to this hour explored what is in the womb of one sin? We are sometimes much distressed by actual sins, while we are prone to forget the fountain from whence they spring. Think of sin, of all your sins, of the sins of all men living, of all the sins of all the men that ever lived upon earth; and remember they are only a specimen of what is contained in one single heart. 2. By faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, my soul, which was harassed and hunted by the law, breathes. Men may call it fanaticism; but it is that fanaticism which brings heaven into the heart, and it is little matter by what name men call our happiness 3. The Lord Jesus Christ is pleased to shed abroad his love in the heart after men are converted; so that his love "constrains" them in a double manner, first, as an outward motive, and, secondly, as an inward principle, "Thus to judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead, and he died for them, that they that live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him that died for them and rose again." Argue, if you please, on the dignity of virtue, the dignity of man, the penalty due to sin, its demerit, its defilement, and when you have used all your arguments, the love of Christ alone constrains. The Lord Jesus Christ is revealed as an object of faith, that he may be made a subject of enjoyment, by believing on him, resting on him, pouring out our hearts before him, and committing our all unto him. I have been speaking of things unintelligible to sinners; brethren, it is not for me to make men understand the things of God,-it is the work of God. There is no flattery in the word of God, and there must be none in those who preach it. It is one thing to talk about the doctrines, and another to feel the love of Christ. You may have a name to live, and go far in religion, and go down to the pit with a lie in your right hand. O man of insensibility, the Lord Jesus Christ offers his love to thee: "Hearken unto me, O ye stouthearted!" You may delay till tomorrow; and to-morrow, remember, has ruined many an immortal soul! There is no man living that can sensibly and reasonably think of this love, and turn his back upon it. He cannot but esteem the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then this is a memento within you, that without the love of the Lord Jesus Christ you cannot be happy. You that remain impenitent after all, I leave your own consciences to sit in judgment upon you, whether he who rejects so much love, snd makes his immortal soul, and body too, a ridicule and sport to devils, does not deserve to be damned. Let us love much. God is love. It does not matter that we all see exactly alike in all points of religion. It is no more meant by the Lord Jesus Christ that it should be so, than that we should be perfect in any other grace. Cultivate the love of the Lord Jesus Christ: this love will animate your prayers, your life; will come with you into the sanctuary, will go with you into the family, will purify your closets, and shed its benign rays over the walks of common life. From the Christian Observer for March. CONFIDENCE IN GOD. 'Tis easy when the sea's at rest, And sunshine gilds the liquid plains; To say, "How could I be distrest In storms, since God, my Father, reigns?" But when the sky puts terror on, And tempests howl and billows rise, That confidence-how quickly gone! Which seem'd so strong in tranquil skies. Prosperity can never try The strength and value of our trust: But sorrow and adversity When man lies humbled to the dust. Oh for that faith which firm will stand When grief my earthly sky deforms, And sees a heavenly Pilot's hand, Midst threatening gulfs and dangerous storms. JAMES EDMESTON. HE THAT LOVETH FATHER OR MOTHER MORE THAN ME IS NOT WORTHY OF ME." My saving Lord, my only stay, In life or death, in weal or wo; From worldly bondage wean my heart, That bright behest of serving thee. And let not nature's ties, though dear, Around my heart too closely twine, However lov'd-however near, Earth's claims can never equal thine. And ah! when death's dark vale I tread, Around me let thy presence shine, And when its shadows o'er me spread, Let then thy light and peace be mine. Miscellaneous. OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELLER IN EUROPE. (Continued from page 161.) Brydone's account of Messina and its vicinity is tolerably just; but he is not to be absolutely depended on. You may remember his admirable description of Etna, and of his ascent to its summit. Mr. Broadbent, the American consul here, has informed us that when he himself ascended that mountain, the guides told him Brydone went but part of the way up. I remember also that some years since, Commodore R mentioned to me, that the monks on the mountain informed him, that Brydone did not ascend it. Besides his disregard for truth, Brydone was guilty of great indiscretion, to say the least, as to Recupero. His book is understood to have reached the Pope, and brought the Canon into serious difficulty. Unhappily for us, the season forbids our ascending Etna, and comparing the beautiful pic tures of the traveller with the reality. On the 20th, in company with Dr. N―, an intelligent young English physician resident here, we went to the summits of two of the many hills in the vicinity. We ascended by a fiumare or watercourse. The face of the country here and in Calabria, is so much formed by the channels which the water has worn in the lapse of time, that it is not surprising to find them dignified by a particular name. Innumerable grooved and conical hills are seen on both shores, which, on examination, seem to have been fashioned by the long continued action of the water, descending the steep declivities so rapidly, as to carry off the soil in great quantities, and thus to break long mountain ranges into separate and irregular summits. Similar appearances are not common in such parts of our country as I have seen. The rocky nature of the soil in some cases, and its being covered with trees in others, preserve it from being washed into the sea, so fast as the friable earth which composes the comparatively naked hills of this region. The fumare which we ascended was a small one, only affording a narrow foot-path; but they are of all sizes, from the slight gully, to the magnificent ravine. The force of the water becomes astonishingly great, when sudden rain has filled these precipitous channels. In November last, a cloud, or water-spout, burst upon the hills behind the town, and the deluge which followed was so great, that upwards of a hundred lives were lost. We were shown the site of a country seat which stood near the junction of two fumares, and was swept away so entirely by their united waters, that not a vestige was left. Our ascent was laborious, but we were amply repaid for the fatigue of climbing, as the views from both hills were very fine. In passing from one to the other, and in descending by another route, we had an opportunity to observe something of the Sicilian method of cultivation. The ground was supported by walls, and thus formed into terraces, and intersected by channels, which appeared to have been made for the purpose of irrigation. The vines were trimmed very low and close, so that sometimes not more than two or three buds were left on a stock. The grass was filled with flowers, the flax was five or six inches high, the trees were in bloom; and we found many proofs, in addition to those afforded by our feelings, that the temperature of January in Messina, is like that of May in Philadelphia. The next day we escorted some ladies to the Faro Point and to Scylla. Our ride was along the shore, which winds beautifully, so as to make almost a semicircle, between the entrance of the straits at that point and the town. The same graceful curve of the shore is continued in front of the city, so that the long range of buildings at the Marina, appears to great advantage from every part of that noble walk. The four story houses that Brydone mentions, and which must have had an imposing effect when seen from the harbour, have been thrown down; but the ruins of some of them remain to this day, as if to remind the inhabitants of this bright region, that in a moment destruction may come upon them. There have been five violent earthquakes here in the lapse of a century. The sides of our road were fenced in some places with the prickly pear, and in others with the American aloe. At a small distance from the point, we passed through a dirty village, whose inhabitants seemed more anxious to get money than almost any of the poor that we had met before. The boys followed us, holding out their hands, and when we tossed some change among them, a most earnest scramble took place. Their importunities continued until we left the shore to cross to Scylla. If Charybdis is opposite to Scylla, we passed over it; but this dangerous whirlpool of ancient times has lost so much of its terror, that its very situation is matter of dispute. Scylla we found to be a steep rock, apparently about 200 feet high, extending into the sea, and connected with the land by a hill of moderate elevation. On this hill and its sides, and at its foot, lies the town of Scylla, or Sciglio, which presented little worth noticing. We went round the rock, landed on the northern side of the promontory, and clambered up a steep ascent through filthy alleys, to the top of the hill. We were proceeding towards the fort which crowns the rock, when we were stopped, and found that we had committed an error in not procuring passports, and that the fort could not be entered without |
