mainly from that fundamental element of his being, disinterested or holy
love, and its infinitely diversified and glorious workings. He created
us in his own image; and when this love has possession of our hearts,
and our conduct is in obedience to its laws, the mental machine works in
harmony, and the result is enjoyment; but when the opposite principle
controls, its movements are obstructed, and the result is sorrow. It is
a law of our being, as fixed as the ordinances of heaven, that we drink
the richest draughts when holding the cup of enjoyment to another's
lips. Happiness eludes the grasp of the pursuer; while like a flower
that sheds its sweetest fragrance when crushed, only tread it under foot
in the eager pursuit of another's good, and its subtle influence
vibrates through all our frame. The blessedness of self-denying efforts
for the salvation of souls cannot be estimated. It is god-like; it is
harmonizing with our dying Lord; co-working with him in carrying out the
redemptive scheme; wakening a joy which the harps of eternity alone can
utter. "They that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars
forever and ever." What a revenue of glory will forever flow into the
enraptured souls of such men as Baxter and Doddridge, and Swartz and
Martyn, and Goodell and Norman Smith, as they cast their crowns at the
feet of the Saviour; for it is the highest fruition of the redeemed that
all their glory is ultimately Christ's. Who, as he contemplates the
perpetually increasing joy and brightening exaltation of a soul restored
to the image of God, becoming through unnumbered years more and more
assimilated to its glorious Head, would not participate in a work so
transporting in its results? Perhaps you have had some feeble
conception of its blessedness, some half-waking desires to become a
standard-bearer in the hottest of the fight with the foes of God,--a
minister or missionary of the Cross, so as to labor more efficiently in
saving souls. But in your circumstances you find it an idle wish. Do
you hence smother these kindling emotions and fold your hands in