do I forget that He who has taken her will at length, I hope, restore her to us."

In the spring of 1820 a putrid fever of more than ordinary virulence broke out at Hodnet, to which many persons fell victims, and which nearly proved fatal to Mr. Heber. He visited without scruple or alarm the houses of the sick, and at length caught the infection at the workhouse. The disease was communicated to seven of his household. He was, however, in due time restored to health, though at one time regarded as in imminent danger. Perhaps there are few circumstances under which a minister can be placed which more powerfully try his willingness to devote himself to his Master's service than when he is called to breathe the atmosphere of infection, and to minister consolation at the bed-side of one labouring under virulent disease.

In 1822 Mr. Heber was appointed preacher at Lincoln's Inn, a situation justly esteemed most honourable, and which was the more valued by him, as it brought him into contact with friends from whom in the country he was entirely separated—no small trial in the life of a country clergyman, who is not unfrequently banished from all intercourse with the friends of his earlier years. The unsuccessful candidate was Dr. Maltby, the present bishop of Durham, who, however, succeeded him in the office. Mr. Heber had been a candidate at a previous election, when Mr. Lloyd, afterwards bishop of Oxford, was the successful competitor. The appointment reflected credit on the learned body by whom it was made, no less than on the preacher; and it was hailed with peculiar satisfaction by a numerous body in Oxford. In a letter to Mr. Thornton, previous to the election, he says:— "If I fail, I trust, however, the disappointment will not be great; and I am well convinced that if I fail, it will be better for me that I should do so, though I may not at present be able to perceive the reason."

With respect to Mr. Heber's religious views, they were avowedly Arminian. He styles himself as such in a paper addressed to the editor of a periodical. He admitted, however, to the fullest extent the sincerity, as well as piety, of those who differed from him, and whose reasonings he deemed inconclusive.

Mr. Heber's character and conduct as a parish priest will long be remembered with admiration and heartfelt gratitude. If he shone in those academic walks, where some of his happiest years were spent, he shone no less in the quiet retirement of his "townlet;" for as such Hodnet has been not improperly described. If it be pleasant to trace, with advancing years, an advancement in the paths of literature, it is more pleasing still to trace the workings of Divine grace in his soul, and to perceive a growing anxiety to live to His glory, and to proclaim His salvation, by whom these talents were bestowed. to quote from the writer referred to

Once more "How many natural

of those who praise Reginald Heber for the sweetness of his disposition and character, naturally lovely among men,- how many think nothing of that disposition and that character which distinguished him as a renewed and spiritual man before his God. Had he rested in his natural character, it might have been said of him, And Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest:' he

did not, however, rest in that fair and amiable character, but was taught by the Gospel to form his opinion of himself; and on his tomb it might have been written,Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.'"

In the latter part of 1822 news of Bishop Middleton's decease reached this country. The Right Hon. Charles W. William Wynn was at that time president of the board of commissioners for the affairs of India, and in him was vested the recommendation of a person to fill the vacant see. He did not hesitate offering his influence on behalf of his intimate friend Mr. Heber, who, however, twice declined before he could be induced to accept the preferment. This might arise, in no small degree, from diffidence as to his ability to occupy so important a situation, and satisfactorily to fulfil its various duties; though doubtless the thoughts of leaving behind him so many comforts, and exposing his wife and family to the fatigues of an eastern climate, could not fail to have some weight. Referring to his ultimate decision, to a friend he thus expresses himself: "I hope and believe that I have been guided by conscientious feelings. And as most of my friends tell me, I should have done more wisely, in a worldly point of view, if I had remained at home, I am perhaps so much the more to hope that it has not been the dignity of the mitre, or the salary of five thousand a-year, which has tempted me. I often, however, feel my heart sink when I recollect the sacrifice which I must make of friends such as few, very few, have been blessed with." The subject of missions had long deeply interested him. He had voluntarily aided some of those religious societies from which some of his friends withheld their support. His attention had been chiefly directed to the state of India; and we cannot doubt but his decision to become its second bishop arose from a humble desire to be an instrument of usefulness in that overwhelming diocese.

The University of Oxford presented Mr. Heber with a doctor of divinity's degree by diploma-the highest honour they could confer. His portrait was placed in the hall of All Souls. The inhabitants of Hodnet raised a subscription, limited to a guinea each, for the purpose of presenting him with a piece of plate; the list of contributors, however, included many names of the poorest of the inhabitants. On the 22d of April Dr. Heber took his leave of Shropshire. From a range of high grounds near Newport he turned back to catch a last view of Hodnet, and then gave full vent to his feelings, declaring "he should return to it no more."

The time which elapsed between his arrival in London and the period of his sailing was busily occupied. His last sermon, on the atonement, was preached in Lincoln's Inn Chapel, on May 18th. He was consecrated at Lambeth, June 1st; preached at St. Paul's before the charity children on the 8th of June; and on the 13th received the valedictory address of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, delivered by Dr. Kaye, then bishop of Bristol; to which he returned an extemporaneous reply, which failed not to make a deep impression on the assembled members. On the 16th he sailed with his family for that far-distant land, from which, in God's providence, it was destined he should never return. The ship safely anchored in Saugor Roads, October 2d; and on

(To be continued.)

M.

"WE LOVE HIM, BECAUSE HE FIRST LOVED US:"

A Sermon,

BY THE REV. TEMPLE CHEVALLIER, B.D. Professor of Mathematics in the University of Durham ; and Perpetual Curate of Esh.

1 JOHN, iv. 19.

"We love him, because he first loved us."

IN studying the holy Scriptures, and especially the New Testament, we cannot fail to notice in what various lights the same fundamental points of doctrine are placed. The immediate object which each of the inspired writers had in view, the persons whom they addressed, the prejudices which they had to encounter, and even their own individual dispositions, often modify the instruction which they deliver, and cause motives of different kinds to be in turn appealed to, as inducements to a godly and Christian life. A peculiar style of instruction, if we may so term it, is especially observable in the writings of St. John. No one can contemplate the character of that apostle, either as incidentally portrayed in the history of the other evangelists, or as more fully developed in his own writings, without perceiving that his disposition was peculiarly susceptible of tender and affectionate emotions. He was distinguished above the rest of the apostles by the love which our Lord bore towards him he was especially called "the disciple whom Jesus loved." He was one of the few chosen apostles who were selected to be with him in all those scenes of which two or three only were to be witnesses. He was admitted to a higher degree of intimacy and familiarity with him than any other of the apostles (John, xiii. 23, 24); and it was to him that our Lord, in his last agony, bequeathed the care of his own mother, as a final testimony of his regard.

It might, therefore, have been anticipated that St. John would exemplify, in his own character and in his own writings, the maxim which he here expresses with so much simplicity and feeling, "We love him, because he first loved us.' And accordingly we find that the great doctrine of the love of God, as a motive of Christian obedience, pervades all the writings of St. John, and animates them with a spirit of tenderness and affection.

The peculiar manner of St. John's teaching is remarkably exemplified in the first of his epistles. Having delivered the message which he heard of God, "that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all" (1 John, i. 5);

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fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth" (i. 6); that "if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us;" but "if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (i. 8, 9); having set forth the blood of Jesus Christ as that which cleanseth us from all sin (i. 7), and his intercession and propitiation as offered for the sins of the whole world (ii. 1, 2),—the apostle proceeds to shew that a godly life, the keeping of God's commandments, is a proof that the love of God is perfected in those who are so obedient (ii. 5).

He again appeals to the love of God towards man, as displayed in the privileges granted to believers, and as leading them necessarily to the love of one another (iii. 2, 3, 10, 11); "This is his commandment," he says, "that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment" (iii. 23). And in the fourth chapter he recurs to the same subject: "Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another" (iv. 7-11). "God is love; and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect; that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world" (iv. 16, 17): his Holy Spirit, through the faith which worketh by love, transforming his servants, even in this world, into some resemblance of his divine perfections. "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear; because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us" (iv. 18, 19).

But this love, wherever it is shed abroad in the heart of man, introduces with it a train of amiable and kindly feelings towards mankind. We are naturally more disposed to the love of our fellow-creatures than to the love of God; and by observing the manner in which we discharge the inferior obligation, we may form some estimate of the degree in which our hearts are actuated by the superior duty. "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he

hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also" (iv. 20, 21).

Without entering at length into the numerous reflections into which this fruitful subject would lead, we will for the present consider the manner in which the consciousness of God's love towards us ought to excite in us the reciprocal duty of love to God; and observe the importance of this holy principle as a motive to a Christian life.

The goodness and love of God are manifest even in this world. When the Almighty first created the earth on which we dwell, he

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saw every thing that he had made, and behold it was very good" (Gen. i. 31). He encompassed the earth with a salubrious atmosphere; warmed and illuminated it with lights set in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, to divide the day from the night, and to be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years" (i. 14-17). "Out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food" (ii. 9). He clothed the dry land with verdure; decorated it with all the beautiful forms and brilliant colours of the vegetable creation; watered it with the streams which run among the hills, diffusing coolness and fertility in their course; encircled its shores with the great and wide sea; peopled the earth, the air, and the waters with living creatures after their kind, cattle and creeping thing and beast of the field, the fowls of the air, the fishes of the sea and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the sea (Ps. viii. 8): and having thus prepared a fitting abode for man, he placed him last upon the earth, the only rational inhabitant of this lower world, the only one capable of appreciating the goodness of the Creator, who had given him all things richly to enjoy.

Much, indeed, of the harmony originally subsisting between man and the material world has been since deranged by the introduction of sin and its fearful consequences. The earth no longer yields her fruit spontaneously and the penalty of continual toil has passed upon the whole human race, until they return to the ground, whence they were taken. But still we find that the predominant character impressed upon the world in which we dwell, is that of goodness. "God is love," is a truth suggested by all the countless variety of animated beings enjoying the rich profusion of his bounty; by all the numerous instances of contrivance directed to a beneficent end, expressly pointing out the goodness of the contriver; by the various adaptations of wise means used to accomplish purposes which are evidently merciful.

Thus, in all ages, God has not left himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling men's hearts with food and gladness (Acts, xiv. 17). And whoever has been once made conscious from whom all his temporal blessings proceed, has received an invitation to "love God, because he first loved us."

Assuredly there are thousands, in all ranks of life, upon whom these lessons have not been lost; men, who have learned habitually to refer all their enjoyments and blessings of whatever kind to Him who gave them. To a man who is blessed with such a happy frame of mind, the whole material world is as one vast temple, in which the worship of God may be continually celebrated. If he walks forth into the fields, as Isaac was wont do, to meditate at eventide (Gen. xxiv. 63), he finds himself surrounded by objects which direct his thoughts to his heavenly Father, who made and sustains them all. The freshness and fragrance of the face of nature-the animation and cheerfulness of living creatures, or the tranquil calmness of their repose-the agreeable and salutary vicissitude of light and darkness, and the change of seasons,-all these lead his thoughts above this world, and teach him how great, how wise, how good is God, who makes his sun to shine upon the evil and upon the good, and sends his rain upon the just and upon the unjust (Matt. v. 45).

But great as are the blessings which our heavenly Father has poured around us in this life, and forcibly as we are therefore called to "love him, because he first loved us," they are now mentioned only to shew the perfect harmony which, in this respect, subsists between the world of nature and the world of grace. For in the passage before us, St. John is speaking exclusively of that transcendent love of God which is displayed to us, as fallen creatures, in the great work of our redemption through the sacrifice of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

In the works of creation the power and wisdom of God are displayed; in his adaptation of the various parts of his works to the use of sentient and rational beings, his lovingkindness is plainly shewn. But all this is but as a shadow, compared with that manifestation of his love by which sinful men are made sons of God and heirs of eternal life. "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John, iv. 9, 10).

In these and the like declarations of Scrip

ture, the salvation of man is referred entirely to the love and free mercy of almighty God. Man in his fallen state had neither the power nor the will to turn to God. The love of God, as his spiritual Father, was dead in him; and to revive it within his heart was to create him anew. Fallen man then did not love God; fallen man now does not, until he is renewed in the spirit of his mind. But although man could not first love God, God loved man; for "God is love." And of that love the most excellent and glorious proof is, that "he has given us his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life." And whoever has any notion of the heinousness of sin in the sight of Him who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, and of the inestimable value of his own soul,whoever acknowledges that of himself he could do no good thing, but knows that Jesus Christ is made unto him "wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption" (1 Cor. i. 30),—will feel, that this love of God towards him calls upon him to "love God, because he first loved us."

But here again the deadness of the heart to spiritual things is often found to interpose a barrier between God and man. However natural it may appear to return love for love, the heart of man, since the fall, is so cold to blessings of a spiritual nature as to be often insensible of this greatest of all blessings, the love of God displayed in our redemption through Jesus Christ. And here, where all other means might fail, it has pleased God to give an additional instance of his tenderness towards mankind, by promising the influence of his Holy Spirit, to quicken our hearts, and animate our affections, and incite in our minds good desires, and make us to bring forth the fruits of the Spirit, one of the chief of which is love (Gal. v. 22).

Such being the motives inviting us to "love God, because he first loved us," and such the means by which that love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, let us now briefly consider what are the effects which this love ought to produce in the mind of the faithful Christian.

"We love him," says the apostle, "because he first loved us." The experience which the faithful Christian has had of God's love towards himself, and his knowledge that this love is an earnest of what God will still accomplish in him; his confidence that, as God has delivered him from so great a death

even eternal death- and doth deliver, so he will yet deliver him (2 Cor. i. 10),—is a constant and active principle, leading him into all godliness of living.

He who thus loves God, because God has

first loved him, regards God as his heavenly Father; and all the duties which flow from this filial relation will spring forth as waters from a plentiful and living fountain. His obedience no longer arises from servile fear. He no longer regards God as a severe master, nor his service as a task. The Holy Spirit sanctifies and renews his mind; so that his fear of God becomes the reverence of a son, and his service towards God perfect freedom. The love of God shed abroad in his heart illuminates all within with a clear and cheerful light. He perceives, in all the passages of his life, whether they introduce him to blessings or to trials, the hand of his heavenly Father, still leading, protecting, sustaining, cheering; and he trusts to go on from strength to strength, till hope shall be perfected in glory.

But here some persons of timid and desponding dispositions may be ready to say, that, however strong a principle the love of God may be, they still find that their faithwhich they yet trust to be a real faith-is too weak to afford such consolation and support as others are blessed with. They acknowledge how great is the love of God towards them in that he gave his only begotten Son to die for their sins; they look for salvation to no other means; they are ready to receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save their souls: but they still experience such a coldness in their devotion, and such a want of comfort in their religious exercises, that they are ready to be weary and faint in their minds. The terrors of the Lord will often set themselves in array before them; and when they read that "there is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment: he that feareth is not made perfect in love," forthwith they are ready to conclude that their hearts are not yet influenced by the love of God.

Let such timid believers remember, that the present comfort derived from religion is no where laid down as the criterion by which the sincerity of our faith is to be tried. The pathway of the Christian sometimes leads through the valley of Baca (Ps. lxxxiv. 6), where the streams are filled with water, as well as over those lofty and airy mountains, from which may be caught, as it were, a distant glance at the promised land. The word of God stands sure, notwithstanding the weakness of his servants. God, who is truth itself, has promised that he will not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax (Is. xlii. 3); that whosoever believeth in his Son shall have everlasting life (John, iii. 15, 36; xi. 25). "This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and