often usurp the sacred name of love; but these are only forms of eel fisbnc8s; there iH love on the tongue; there is only lust, loathsome and wicked, in the heart. Trno lov" is a very bm1utiful and holy thing; it springs only out of a pure heart. (3) It m""t be fervent, intense. For it must bo like the love of Christ: "As I have loved you.'' His love was unto death; his apostle tells us that the measure of our love should be the snme: "We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren" (1 John iii. 16). How very far we are from this height of self-sacrificing love I It should be the aim of our Jioliest ambition. 2. Whence that charity must spring. (1) From a purified, a consecrate,] soul. Christian love ia a product of spiritual religion; the soul must be consecrated to God's service that is to love the brethren with a. pure heart, fervently. And the con- secrated life moves in the path of holy obedience-obedience to the truth. The truth makes God's people free-free from the bonds of sin, free from the entanglements of sensual lusts, free from selfishness. While they walk in truth they wrdk in obedience, seeking to obey God in all things, not only in their outward lives, but by bringin"' every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. While they walk in truth they a.re walking in the light, and then the blood of Jesus Christ is cleansing them from all sin. Only by the grace of God the Holy Ghost can they thus purify their souls. (2) A consecrated life implies a new birth. St. Peter returns to the doctrine of the new birth, because it is that new birth which makes us children of God and brethren one of another. Here is the Christian's highest privilege : "Behold what manner of love the Father bath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God I" We are begotten again of incorruptible seed. That incorruptible seed abideth in the faithful child of God,. who bath been made partaker of the Holy Ghost, and bath not received the grace of God in vain. He doth not grieve the Holy Spirit; he doth not by wilful resistance quench the Spirit. "He that is born of God sinneth not." So far as the seed of the new life abideth in him, that life dieth not; it lives and energizes, for it is the life of Christ. "Not I, but Christ liveth in me." And that new life must show itself in love, in love unfeigned, pure, and fervent. For "he that loveth not, knoweth not God; " but "every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God." (3) That new birth is through the Word. The Word of God Ii veth; it is quick and powerful ; it is the ea.use of life. "Man doth not live by bread a.lone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." God said once, "Let there be light; and there was light." God bath said, "Except a man be born of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God;" and men are born of water and of the Spirit, and do enter into the kingdom of God. Whatever virtues the sacraments possess come through the Word of God. And when, alas! men have forgotten their regeneration, when they have neglected to stir up the grace of God, and it has well-nigh died out of their souls, it is the Word of God that stirs them again into life. "This my son was dead, and is alive again." For the Word is not merely the letter; the Word liveth; the Word, in the deepest sense, is the voice of God speaking through those letters and syllables, speaking to the hearts of men. And it is by his Son that God hath in these last days spoken unto us. He is the Word of God, the Word made flesh. He calls us by his Spirit: "Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." He is the Life of the world, the Resurrection and the Life; when he speaks the word of power, then dead souls "hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." 3. Oharity abideth. The seed whereof we are born again is incorruptible; and the Word of God, which is the instrument of our new birth, a.bideth for ever; therefore charity, the love of the brethren, which springs out of our common birth into the family of God, never faileth. It is the flower of the Christian life, bright and beautiful and fragrant, It fa.deth not like the flowers of this world. "All flesh is grass," said the prophet, and the holy apostle repeats his words. "'!'he grass withereth;" generations of men come and go; one after another, like tlie leaves of each successive year, they perish and decay. And if some men are conspicuous among the multitude, distinguished by rank, or riches, or learning, or great deeds and triumphs and successes, all these glories are no more abiding than the beauty of a flower. '!'he rare flower, delicate or gorgeous, shines in its brigh tuess above the common weeds; but it has no more permanence, no longer lease of life; it droops and fades and falleth a.way. So is it with that human life which seems most brilliant, most glorious. " 'l'he rich man also died, and was buried." The dust of Coosar is no better 22 'l'HE FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF PETER. [en. t. 1--25.
than the dust of Lazarns; lx>th mingle with the ea.rth from which they came. •• Ash~s to ashes, dust to dust," is said over the grave of kinas aud of be<rgars. "But the \Vord of the Lord abideth for ever." 'l'hat Word is the in~trument of~ur new birth. There• fore, if only we abide in him who is the \Vord of God, who hath the words of eternal life, and by his apostles has declared them unto us; if wo abido in him as faithful branches abiding in the vine, then we cau never perish, none can pluck us out of hio hand ; for "he is able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by him." And that \Vord is the gospel, the glad tidings which we have heard. Let us welcome it as good tidings of great joy, let us treasure it in our hearts; it will bring forth fruit- the fair fruit of holy deeds, "the white flower of a blameless life," fruit that dicth not, a flower that falleth not away. LEsso~s. 1. 'l'he journey is _long, the _way is steep; bo active, sober, hopeful. 2. The end _is before the throne; without hohness ~one can stand in that presence ; follow after holiness. 3. "Work out your own falvaliou with fear and tremblin<> •" think of the judgment; think of the precious blood. 4. "God is ·Love;" "He tb~t loveth not knowetl1 not God;" see that ye love one another. 5. "All tho glory of mnn is as the flower;" it fadeth, it fa.Heth away; l:.oly love fadeth not; it is the fairest flower in the amaranthine wreath.