against the promises. Such a law, in the room of being a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, would be an unmerciful tyrant, like Pharoah, who held the people of God in bondage, and refused to let them, go. This divine law and discipline of our heavenly Father admonishes us to take heed to our ways. Hereby we are advised, commanded, admonished, rebuked, warned, threatened; and in case of obstinate disobedience, and continuance in sin, we are severely punished. But let us always remember that the chastisements of our heavenly Father are for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness.

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2d. We may infer from the doctrine we have maintained, that the sense of what St. Peter said to the Jews is equally true respecting all men; "Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, and in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed." Those to whom St. Peter spake these words, were those who delivered up Jesus and denied him in the presence of Pilate; they were those who denied the holy One and the just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto them, and killed the Prince of life. " These," Peter said, "were the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers." Now as the promise of the covenant was to "all the kindreds of the earth, and as the testimony of the prophets was equally extensive, we conclude that all the families, all the nations, and all the kindreds of the earth" are the children of the prophetic testimony, and of the covenant of promise. The blessing promised was also mentioned by this Apostle as has been noticed; " Unto you first, God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities,

Let us conclude with the Apostle's exhortation; "Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage."

No. 4.

LECTURE SERMON,

DELIVERED AT THE

SECOND UNIVERSALIST MEETING, IN BOSTON, SEPTEMBER 13, 1818.

BY HOSEA BALLOU, PASTOR.

Published Semi-Monthly, by Henry Bowen, Devonshire-street.

1. JOHN, iv. 16.

"God is love."

In the infinite variety of all important subjects to which the rich treasures of divine revelation call our most serious and engaged attention, this, expressed in our text, is unquestionably entitled to the highest rank. However the thoughtless and profane may treat the Supreme Disposer of all things, however triflingly the name of the Most High may be handed round by polluted lips, one moment's serious attention to the impropriety of such communication is sufficient to convince the reasonable mind, that GoD is a subject infinitely too great to be introduced into trifling conversation, and infinitely too good to be mentioned by profane lips. But notwithstanding the impropriety and evil, of which mention has been made, are great and heinous, they bear but a scant comparison with the impropriety and evil of representing the great Father of our spirits as a character which would be dishonorable to man, who is but a worm of the dust.

If we lay aside the prejudices which the creeds of inen have carefully treasured up in our deceitful hearts, we shall at once be struck with horror at the character which a false education has given to the best of all intelligent beings. The moral evil naturally growing from false notions of the divine character, has so established its empire in the hearts of men, and exercises such unresisted control over the temper and spirit of those who are deceived by such notions, that there appears but one remedy; and this one must be found in the removing of those errors, by the clear shining of divine truth in the understanding. The particular and most special object of the present discourse is to contribute, at least, a huinble attempt to remove wrong views of God from the mind, by showing that all the divine attributes harmonize in love; which view of the character of our heavenly Father,seems evidently comprehended in the text of which choice has been made.

There are but a few passages of scripture which speak in a direct manner of what God is. He is called a "fountain of living waters," by the Prophet Jeremiah. "My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." This is a most striking representation of true and false religion. Love is a fountain of living waters. It is a living fountain, one that is never dry. This is true religion; it has no hatred in it; it works no ill to its neighbor; it measures to others what it is willing to receive. But false religion is any thing and every thing but love. It is something hewed out; that is, it is the work of invention and art. The living water of divine love is not in it. It pretends to love, but hatred is its most essential ingredient. It is based on enmity. If we disallow enmity, false religion

cries out, heresy, the foundation of religion is gone! -St. Paul says; "Our God is a consuming fire." Love is a consuming fire to all the hay, wood, and stubble which error has introduced into religion. "Now, if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burnt, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved: Yet so as by fire." The fire of divine love seeks to consume nothing but that which is injurious to the sinner, who is the object of divine love.

a

The divine teacher said to the woman of Samaria; "God is a spirit, and seeketh such to worship him, who worship him in spirit and in truth." Love is this spirit of God, and love is the spirit in which God is truly worshipped. "God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him."

It may tend to promote the object in view to mention a summary of moral attributes, and proceed to notice them both distinctly and conjunctively, by which their harmony in divine love may be made to appear. We read in Revelations, of the "Seven spirits of God," which we may suppose comprehend the perfection of the communicable attributes of the divine Being. Without any design to be arbitrary, we will name seven moral attributes; and though some may think a less number would comprehend the whole, and others, that a much greater number should be mentioned, it seems safe to calculate that the perfect number, seven, was designed to comprehend the whole and nothing more. -And if we may be favored with a view of the harmony of the seven which we shall name, no