continue for a time to abound; but consider how much was done by the few who opened the gospel dispensation-how steadily and successfully the work has gone on toward completion since the reformation, and we shall draw from the past and the present the means of encouragement. The sphere of influence allotted to each of us may be small, and our resources apparently inadequate to the production of important effects, even there-but whatever the means, they should be employed, and however circumscribed the field of their operation, it should still be cultivated. And if each and every one would act up to his capacity, and act well, we should soon see the dawnings of a day of glory. A new impulse would be given to the spread of truth, a new era would come down to earth-a new and holy kingdom would reign in the hearts and over the lives of men.

If then we would dissipate error, finish sin, remove guilt and suffering, we must ourselves be good. If we would encourage the timid, and strengthen the weak, and confirm the uncertain, we must be good. If we would comfort the mourners, plant hope in the bosom of despair, and inspire confidence in the minds of the terrified, we must be cheerful and good. If we would see God's kingdom indeed come see the glorious displays of his righteousness in the reign of his son on earth, then we must "add to our faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, brotherly-kindness; and to brotherly-kindness, charity; for if these things be in us and abound, we shall be neither barren nor unfruitful in every good word and work." Such should be the ministry, and such the spirit in which the ministrations of truth should be received and the

influences which it should exert-and when all these continue their power, judgment will be more manifestly established in the earth, and the isles shall receive the law of the Lord. AMEN.

21*

SERMON XIII.

THE OBJECT AND CHARACTER OF TRUE RELIGIOUS WORSHIP.

BY REV. H. G. SMITH.

"Worship God."-REVELATION Xxii. 9.

IN discoursing upon the subject of this short, but comprehensive sentence, I do not deem it necessary to enter into any argument to show that man is nat urally a religious being. This, I believe, is universally conceded. Indeed it would be hard for any man to dispute the united testimony of nature and

reason.

This principle in the human mind, which leads man to reverence a superior, is not the offspring of education; it owes not its birth to any accumulated light, or external circumstances, but it was planted in his nature by that unseen Power which ushered him into being, and daily supports his existence. It is that spark of the divine mind which God imparted to the creature when he breathed into his nostrils the "breath of life," and constituted man a "living soul." Consequently, it is not confined to any grade, or class of beings who bear the divine image, but is discovered in the bosom of the uncultivated and unlettered savage, as in the mind stored with the wisdom and knowledge of civilized life.

The great difference which exists between the various classes of men that dwell upon the face of

the earth, consists not so much in the degree of reverence, if I may so speak, imparted to each, as in the degree of exercise which they allow to their moral and religious faculties. And this exercise is determined by the character which each is accustomed to ascribe to his respective object of reverence and worship.

Man, in the uncivilized state, is ignorant of the Christian's God, whom we consider the only true and proper object of religious adoration, and he erects an altar to some fabulous deity-to some object in nature; or he sets up the work and cunning device of his own hands, and prostrates himself before it.

It is a custom among all uncivilized nations, so far as our knowledge extends, to worship something; and what does this prove but the truth of the proposition which we laid down as universally conceded, viz: That man is a religious being.

But my design in this discourse, is to call your attention to the object of religious worship, and to speak of the character and spirit of that worship which is alone acceptable in the sight of God. I am induced to do this service from a consideration of the fact, that this, the holiest principle of man's nature, is often exercised toward unworthy objects; and is frequently servilely bestowed, even when directed to the only existing Power that is worthy of religious reverence-which is God.

First, then, I shall speak of the only true object of religious veneration-Worship God. The necessity of acknowledging, and regarding the Supreme Being as the only true and proper object of divine worship, has not generally been considered in the light, and received that attention, even by

Christians, which the importance of the subject demands.

It will not be disputed, I think, that many among the professed followers of Jesus-those who, of all others, should be best informed concerning the subject, have failed to recognise this truth in their systems of faith; and it is likewise true that many have departed from the simplicity of the gospel, in erecting altars to supernumerary deities, forgetting, or seeming to forget, that there is but one God, even the Father, and that all our acts of devotion should centre in Him.

Such has been the inconsistency of man, ever since the light of Christianity dawned upon his benighted pathway, directing his mind to the true fountain of wisdom, virtue, and holiness.

When Jesus the great renovater and restorer of his race entered our world with the message of God's truth and love to man, the grossest idolatry almost universally prevailed. Heathenism had spread her dark mantle over the face of the moral world, while superstition and anarchy held unlimited sway, and exercised undisputed power in the hearts of the people. Both Jew and Gentile worshipped in groves, and burnt incense to imaginary deities. The reverence which they paid to such objects of religious worship, if objects they may be called, served but to debase their hearts, darken the divine image, and lead them still farther from God and his worship. The Jews, who had enjoyed the true light which beamed from the oracles of God, delivered by his servants from the days of Moses, their lawgiver, were invited to return from their wander. ing, and keep themselves from the abominations of the heathen. Thus saith God by the mouth of his prophet, "Cast away from you all your trangres