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tions of our nature are designed to impel us, by powerful feeling, to every act of holy obedience. "They are a sort of life and fire which the Creator has implanted in the heart, to be ever ready to give force and fervour for action, that we may be prepared to run in the way of obedience with alacrity and vigour."

Observe, in the character of Apollos, the influence of this fervour, in stimulating to active and zealous efforts to promote the glory of God and the happiness of men. "A certain Jew," it is recorded, "named Apollos, an eloquent man, and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord.-And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. And he helped them much who had believed through grace: for he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly, showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ." Acts xviii. 24-28. Observe the influence of the same fervour of spirit on the character and ministry of Epaphras, the pastor of the Colossian church, in exciting his devotional diligence in favour of the people of his charge. "Epaphras," writes the Apostle, "who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. For I bear him record, that he hath a great zeal for you, and them that are in Laodicea, and them in Hierapolis." Col. iv. 12, 13. Observe the

effect of the same spirit on the great apostle himself, urging him at once to the most arduous labours in his ministry, and to the most solicitous pursuit of personal holiness. "Being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us. For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail: for labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God. Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblamably we behaved ourselves among you that believe: as ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children, that ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory." 1 Thess. ii. 8-12. Observe the unparalleled display of the same spirit in the character and ministry of him who is the great apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. It was written of him, ages before his advent, and by himself were the words both adopted and exemplified, "The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up." Psa. lxix. 9. To his devoted heart the most exhausting labours, and the most agonizing sorrows, were even objects of desire; for he could say, in the hours of fatigue and abstinence, "I have meat to eat that ye know not of: my meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. -Lo, I come to do thy will, O my God; thy

law is within my heart." John iv. 32, 34; Psa. xl. 7, 8. Yes, and he could say, under the pressure of a load of anguish, which he only could sustain, "Not my will, but thine, be done." Luke xxii. 42. "For the joy which was set before him," the joy of love, the joy of bringing many sons to glory, he even endured the pangs, and despised the ignominy of the cross. Heb. xii. 2.

It remains for me to intreat your regard,

III. To the instructive and practical inferences which we should deduce from the consideration of this subject.

1. They must be egregiously mistaken who discard from religion the exercise of the affections.

As there can be no genuine religion where there is heat without light, so neither can there be where there is light without heat. What would it avail a man, could he attain the clearest notions of the doctrines and duties of religion, if, while his intellect obtained a store of systematic opinions, his heart remained cold and dead? Is not the entire absence of true religion often represented in the word of God as evinced by hardness of heart? and what is this but the absence of religious affections, the want of spiritual susceptibility in the feelings of the soul? There may be much constitutional sensibility; there may be no want of that order of amiable feelings, which endears the individual to relatives and friends, and which opens the heart to benevolent sympathy with objects of distress: and yet to

wards God, the God of love, the heart may be cold and hard! But must there not be an awful criminality in withholding and alienating the best affections of the heart from him who has the first and the strongest claims on our love, the language of all whose mercies is, "Give me thine heart?" Prov. xxiii. 26. Would it be criminal, not to love an affectionate father, or a tender mother, or a generous benefactor? What then must be the guilt of living without the love of God? The absence of love to God and to the Saviour is the most characteristic feature of a depraved heart; it is an entire disqualification for every act of ac-1 ceptable homage and obedience: it must be fatal to the pursuit of true felicity; it is a sufficient ground of condemnation before the dread tribunal; it will be, in truth, the very 'ground of exclusion at the last day, from the regions of eternal blessedness! "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be," said the most benevolent of men, "Anathema Maran-atha," 1 Cor. xvi. 22, subject to the curse of God, when the Lord Jesus Christ shall appear in his glory! Let me then most earnestly beseech you to examine, with the strictest scrutiny, your own hearts, in order to ascertain whether the principle of love to God and love to Christ has been implanted there. Consider the searching interrogation, three times addressed to Peter, as addressed to you, "Lovest thou me?" Happy are you if you can say but most deeply anxious ought you to be, if you cannot say "Lord, thou know

est all things; thou knowest that I love thee." John xxi. 15-17.

2. There is an obvious and indispensable necessity for the exertion of regenerating grace.

If the carnal mind be not only destitute of love to God, but is even enmity against him, it must be contrary to its very nature to cherish towards the blessed Jehovah any emotions of real and genuine attachment. "It is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Rom. viii. 7. It is not susceptible of love to God, neither indeed can it be. Its tendencies, and predilections, and habits, instead of constituting a disposition favourable to the love of God, constitute a disposition whose language towards him is, "we desire not the knowledge of thy ways." Job xxi. 14. What further evidence can we need of the absolute necessity of a change of nature, a transformation of character, an entire renovation of heart? To be the subject of such a change is, in the expressive language of Divine truth, to be "born again," to be "born of the Spirit;" and He who is to be our Judge has expressly said, "except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." John iii. 3,

5.

Can any inquiry be more momentous, or to any one of us more appropriate, than the question arising out of this declaration, "Have Í been born again?"

3. An enlightened regard to our true happiness, requires the habitual cultivation of holy and heavenly affections.

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