Beloved fellow-heirs of the same inheritance, we have thus reviewed some of the causes and phases of the Christian grace of love; let us now ask ourselves the question, How is it with our love? Is it hot or cold? Is it decaying or increasing? How stands the heart, God-ward and Christ-ward? Is it not far too slow in its motions, too chilly in its devotion? We must admit it is so. Let us use the various arguments of this chapter as levers for lifting our heavy hearts to greater heights of affection, and then let us unitedly cry Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove, With all thy quickening powers; It may be that the sneering critic has been offended with all this discourse concerning love, and has turned upon his heel, protesting with vehemence that he is of a philosophic spirit, and will never endure such sickly sentimentalism. To him religion is thought, not emotion. It is a cold, speculative, unfeeling divinity which he believes, and its effects upon his mind are the reverse of enthusiastic. Reason, "heavenly Reason," is his God, and Feeling must lie dormant beneath the throne of his great deity. We beg to remind him that the religion of the cross was intended to stir the soul with deep emotion, and that where it is truly received it accomplishes its end; but that if the passions be not moved by it, there is a strong presumption that is has never been in true operation. We do not wonder that, to the man who views religion as a mere compendium of truths for the head, it is a powerless thing, for it is intended to work in another manner. Wine may serve to cheer the heart, but who would expect to feel its exhilarating influence by pouring it upon his head. The holy Gospel makes its first appeal to man's heart, and until it be heard in that secret chamber it is not heard at all. So long as mere reason is the only listener, the melody of the cross will be unheard. Charm we never so wisely, men cannot hear the music until the ears of the heart are opened. Vinet* has thus expressed himself upon this subject:-"Ah! how can reason, cold reason, comprehend such a thing as the substitution of the innocent for the guilty; as the compassion which reveals itself in severity of punishment in that shedding of blood, without which, it is said, there can be no expiation? It will not make, I dare affirm, a single step towards the knowledge of that divine mystery, until, casting away its ungrateful speculations, it yields to a stronger power the task of terminating the difficulty. That power is the * See his Vital Christianity. heart, which fixes itself entirely on the love that shines forth in the work of redemption; cleaves without distraction to the sacrifice of the adorable victim; lets the natural impression of that unparalleled love penetrate freely, and develop itself gradually in its interior. Oh, how quickly, then, are the veils torn away, and the shadows dissipated for ever! How little difficulty does he who loves find in comprehending love!" To the heart all divine mysteries are but simplicities, and when reason is measuring the apparently inaccessible heights, love is already shouting on the summit. Let the cold, calculating worshipper of intellect reserve his sneers for himself. Experience is one of the highest of sciences, and the emotions claim a high precedence in the experience which is from God. That which these boasters contemn as an old wives' story, is not one half so contemptible as themselves -yea, more, the pious feelings at which they jeer are as much beyond their highest thoughts as the sonnets of angels excel the gruntings of swine. It has become fashionable to allow the title of "intellectual preachers" to a class of men, whose passionless essays are combinations of metaphysical quibbles and heretical doctrines; who are shocked at the man who excites his hearers beyond the freezing-point of insensibility, and are quite elated if they hear that their homily could only be underStood by a few. It is, however, no question whe ther these men deserve their distinctive title; it may be settled as an axiom that falsehood is no intellectual feat, and that unintelligible jargon is no evidence of a cultured mind. There must be in our religion a fair proportion of believing, thinking, understanding, and discerning, but there must be also the preponderating influences of feeling, loving, delighting, and desiring. That religion is worth nothing which has no dwelling in man but his brain. To love much is to be wise; to grow in affection is to grow in knowledge, and to increase in tender attachment is to be making high proficiency in divine things. Look to thy love, O Christian! and let the carnal revile thee never so much, do thou persevere in seeking to walk with Christ, to feel his love, and triumph in his grace. TO THE UNCONVERTED READER. FRIEND, This time we will not preach the terrors of the law to thee, although they are thy deserts. We wish thee well, and if threatening will not awaken thee, we will try what wooing may accomplish, and oh! may the Holy Spirit bless the means to thy soul's salvation. The Lord Jesus hath purchased unto himself a number beyond all human count, and we would have thee mark who and what they were by nature. The blood-bought ones, before their regeneration, were in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity; they were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise; they had chosen to themselves other gods, and were joined to idols; they walked according to the course of this world, according to the Prince of the Power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience; they |