ture, you present a character that differs essentially from all the unregenerate men in the world. Now we can understand the significancy of that inspired proverb, "The righteous is more excellent than his neighbor."

The ninth Article relates to the sovereignty of divine grace in regeneration, and the tenth to the eternal purpose of God concerning the display of this grace; and while these doctrines are a bright illustra tion of the most disinterested benevolence in Him, they require the same enlarged affection on our part, to prepare us for their cordial reception. The sovereign grace of God in predestinating rebels to be conformed to the image of his Son, and then proceeding to bring them into that conformity, is a high display of pure love. His confining this favor to a part, is no proof of anything contracted in his benevolent feelings; since he has given us satisfactory evidence, that it is through no want of universal good will we are not all chosen to salvation. A candid attention to the sacred volume, will most certainly lead us to this conclusion; that it was neither malice, nor indifference, towards the happiness of Pharaoh, or Judas, or any other reprobate, which induced the holy Sovereign to leave him out of the number of his elect. He would have included those whom he has left out, had he not seen that with such an arrangement, his glorious name would not have been so fully declared in all the earth. Rom. ix. 17, 18. This reconciled his benev. olent heart to their reprobation, that is, to their remaining forever sinful and wretched. The same view of things will quiet the feelings of such of his creatures as are benevolent. That disinterested spirit, which will cause us to desire the salvation of all men, even our enemies, will prevent our murmuring at the sovereignty of grace, though we may have fearful apprehensions concerning the salvation of our friends, and even of our own souls: but selfishness is never pleased that God should have the prerogative of selecting the vessels of mercy; and will always quarrel with particular election, unless, through some delusive hope, it expects to derive personal advantage from the doctrine.

That love which is not selfish, will prepare the heart to accord with the doctrine of the eleventh Article, namely, a free and merciful justification by faith in Christ. Such a justification, when rightly understood, is very pleasing to that heart where self is dethroned and the Lord exalted. As such a justification for revolted subjects, is the only one which establishes the law, it is the only one that will please the benev. olent, who have the law written in their hearts, and therefore must rejoice in its establishment.

No disagreement can be discovered between benevolence as an exercise of the heart, and the twelfth of our doctrinal Articles. Love to God will lead us to rejoice in that display of his natural, and especially of his moral attributes, which is made in so keeping all his saints in his hand, that none of their steps shall fatally slide; and our love to his saints will lead us to rejoice, that their amiable character, and consequent blessedness, are secured to them by a covenant which is ordered in all things and sure. Neither is it any proof of selfishness that a loyal subject of the King of Zion, should rejoice that his own loyalty, together with the enjoyment of his Sovereign's favor, is secured by the same gracious covenant.

The next Article in the series of doctrines relates to the general judgment, when we must all appear before the bar of Christ. To the question, "Who may abide the day of his coming?" it may be answered, Every man who is experimentally acquainted with that disinterested religion which has now been described. All such, and none others, will love his appearing. They alone, who have a heart to prefer general to private good, will be prepared cordially to acquiesce in the decisions of the great day, and unite with Christ in passing judgment on all the company of the wicked, though it may include many of those who were their near relatives and friends. In the day of judgment, God will make a separation between the subjects of his moral government, placing all the benevolent on his right hand, and the selfish on his left. He will make it manifest, that their possessing the benevolent character, or their failing to possess it, is the very reason why these places are assigned them. They will be made fully sensible, that had the character of each class been different, their places at the judgment seat would have been reversed.

The society of heaven will be composed of an innumerable company of angels, and a multitude which no man can number redeemed from the earth. Among all this blessed company, selfish affection will have no place, and therefore strife and contention can not enter. They will all be perfectly united to God, the source of being and blessedness; and as they will take a deep interest in each other's happiness, they will do every thing in their power for its promotion. Were one selfish creature to be admitted within the walls of the New Jerusalem, the perfect peace of the holy city would be disturbed, One selfish affection would tend to interrupt its perfect tranquillity. They who sustain what among men are called virtuous characters, without any disinterested affections, will be as wholly unmeet for the society, exercises, and enjoyments of heaven, as the vicious themselves.

They whom the Judge will sentence to prison, will all be alike in this respect; they will possess nothing better than a completely selfish character. And as they take no interest in the glory of God and the good of his eternal kingdom, it is proper they should have no part nor lot in the matter. Their selfishness will fit them forever to blaspheme God's holy name, though he will exhibit convincing evidence that he has governed in righteousness, and never for a moment lost sight of the interests of the moral system. They will have no heart to rejoice in the blessedness of the inhabitants of heaven. To their selfish hearts, this blessedness will be a source of misery. And their destitution of benevolence will prevent their having any real sympathy with each other under their sufferings. On the contrary, the scriptures give us reason to believe that the wicked, in the regions of despair, will be much employed in reviling and tormenting each other.

This comprehensive Article in experimental religion agrees with the last in the doctrinal department, namely, that which relates to the universal decrees and agency of God. They, who by means of a moral transformation are possessed of true benevolence, stretch their desires abroad, even to the uttermost bounds of the universe. Their wishes are great; but what can such atoms do to accomplish the good they desire? They feel themselves altogether incompetent to devise or ex

ecute a plan which shall insure it; but they have confidence in the only wise God, that he has ability and disposition to devise and execute that plan which shall display his infinite attributes to the best ad. vantage, and give existence to such a system of creation and providence as shall be most adapted to please all beings possessed of a benevolent heart. This leads them to rejoice to hear that he has a determinate counsel, even before they know what it is; for they are sure it must be wise and bevevolent: it also leads them to rejoice to learn, that he worketh all things after the counsel of his will; for this assures them that the plan which was laid in wisdom will be fully executed.

REMARKS.

1. We are now furnished with additional internal evidence of the divine origin of the scriptures. We find they inculcate a religion which claims dominion over men's hearts; a religion which is not at all satisfied with merely gaining our assent to its doctrines, or our con. sent to adopt its rites and forms. Nor does this religion approve of any inward affections, except they rise above a selfish interest, and seek the good of a universe of beings. This is the only system of the kind which has ever appeared in our apostate world. And we may rest assured, that such a disinterested scheme was never originated by selfish men. Their religious systems have always been based on self. ishness. But here is a religion which represents selfishness, in all its shapes and forms, to be nothing better than iniquity, and enmity against God. And who is there that can not see, that a religion, which is based on universal good will, excels every selfish scheme, "as far as light excelleth darkness?" Let that benevolence, which has been described in the foregoing Article, be actually experienced by all the human family, and its result would decide the question as to the origin of the Christian religion; since it would unite and hold together a dis. united and contentious world. And this would be a miracle indeed! Selfishness has generated all that disunion and contention which have thus far rendered the earth a field of blood. To effect the removal of these evils, nothing is needed but the universal diffusion of that love which is impartial and disinterested.

2. It is not difficult to perceive that all those systems, which either leave out the internal part of religion, or approbate such affections as aim at no higher end than self-enjoyment, either in this or a future world, must not only be fundamentally erroneous, but ruinous. It is in vain that any of us attempt to make up in quantity an essential defect in the quality of our religion. No scheme of religion can inculcate so much in externals, or in affections, as to render it worthy of the least regard, if it be based on the principle of making our own happiness the ultimate end of our actions. Any scheme of doctrine, which is founded on this principle, is in opposition to the glory of God and the interests of his extensive dominion. Truth in doctrine can be distinguished from error, by its agreement with the principle of disinterested love. To feel indifferent respecting the doctrinal system we shall adopt, is as unwise as for the founder to be indifferent concern.

ing the mold into which he shall pour his liquid metals, when it is his object not only to make a vessel, but to make one of a particular shape and size. For as the metals receive shape from the mold into which they are poured, so does our experimental religion receive its form and character from the scheme of doctrine into which we pour our warm affections; or, in other words, the scheme which we heartily embrace and love. When we obey from the heart that form of doctrine which is delivered us in the word of God, our religion is genuine; but when we obey from the heart some other form of doctrine, essentially differ. ent from this, our religion must be false. See Rom. vi. 17.

3. In the light reflected by this leading Article in the experimental system, we are able to see that such religious excitements as sanction and promote a selfish religion, and which fill the churches with converts of such a character, are unspeakably mischievous in their tendency. Their tendency would be mischievous, if their converts were not to gain admission within the walls of our Jerusalem; because the influence of such excitements is to bring into disrepute the real work of the Holy Spirit; but when they do gain an admission within her sacred walls, the injury done to the cause of truth and holiness is incal. culable. Converts, whose religion is all based on supreme love to themselves, are the bane of the church. One while their zeal is fiery and flaming, and then they have none at all. Having never preferred Jerusalem above their chief joy, they can not be depended on to seek her peace. They constitute the proper materials for heretics of every description. Such converts either make painful work for the disci. pline of the church, or they are a dead weight to its spiritual interests. While, therefore, we ought to esteem those excitements, which are produced by the clear exhibition of divine truth, applied by the Holy Ghost, to be the greatest of all blessings, let us deprecate those which are of a selfish character. It is possible that where a disinterested scheme of doctrine is preached, it may be accompanied with measures which are of such a deceptive character, as greatly to expose men to trust in a superficial conversion.

4. In deciding on the character of our personal religion, the grand inquiry must be, Is it disinterested? Does it rise above a supreme regard to our own happiness? If we pay our debts, and give of our goods to feed the poor, it does not prove our religion to be of the right kind, in case we are honest and liberal from selfish motives. If we pray, and even love to pray, the pharisees did the same; but the pride and self-righteousness of their hearts rendered their prayers an abomi. nation to the Lord. Neither is internal religion any better than that which is external, if self-love be its source. Nor is love to our neighbor, nor even to God himself, any evidence that our religion is genuine, in case we love them only for the sake of securing our own happiness. Our repentance, faith, submission, and other graces, must all be brought to this test; we must be able to see that there is something of a disin. terested nature in them, before we can determine our religion to be such as will meet the approbation of our Judge.

ARTICLE II.

COMPLACENCE IN HOLINESS IS BOTH COMMON AND PECULIAR TO ALL HOLY BEINGS.

COMPLACENCE, as well as benevolence, is in the scriptures denominated love. God is said to love the righteous, and to hate and abhor the wicked. The meaning is, that God has feelings of complacency towards the righteous, while his feelings towards the wicked are entirely the reverse. When benevolent affection is the thing in view, it is proper to say, that God loves the wicked, as well as the righteous. There is, therefore, a manifest distinction between benevolence and complacence, though both are comprehended in the word love. Goodwill is of the same import as benevolence, and delight the same as complacence. The former may and ought to be strong, where there is no goodness of character; but the latter can not be consistently exercised at all, except where there is something amiable in the object; and should always be proportionate to the degree of amiableness which is manifested.

Holiness is a word extensively used to describe that which is amiable in the character of moral agents. Those men, who have been renewed in the spirit of their mind, delight in holiness: and in this they agree with all the good beings in the universe. EVERY HOLY BEING

EXERCISES COMPLACENCE IN EVERY OTHER HOLY BEING, BUT IN NONE

OF A DIFFERENT CHARACTER. God delights in the holy angels, but not in those that sinned. The former are said always to behold his face; which expression must import their uninterrupted enjoyment of his smiles. But his abhorrence of the latter he manifested when he cast them down to hell; and he continues to manifest it by their being reserved in everlasting chains under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day. And all this difference of feeling towards the angels of light and the angels of darkness, is in view of their different characters. Were the holy and the wicked angels to exchange characters, the delight and the abhorrence which the Almighty Ruler now exercises towards them respectively, would be immediately reversed.

While the apostate angels hate the God of holiness, the angels of light have complacency in him; and for this very reason, that he is a God of holiness. It is with delightful admiration "they cry one to another, saying, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory." They appear to be ravished with the displays of divine holiness, with which they perceive the whole earth to be filled. In these displays the apostate angels take no delight, though they prob. ably serve to increase their convictions of the goodness of the divine character. They were far from being pleased with the Savior, even when constrained to acknowledge him to be "the Holy One of God." Among the children of Adam, God confines his complacential love to such as possess a holy character: "I love them that love me." "God