goodness and the divine agency, in every event of your existence to refer all to God; to give to Him the glory and the praise, who every day "preserveth your life from destruction, and crowneth you with mercy and loving-kindness."*

Such devotion will direct every movement of your lives. Are you entering on any important measure; you will prostrate yourself before the God of wisdom, to enlighten you to choose that which is best in His sight, who alone can distinguish what is truly good. You will intreat Him to purify your motives; to subdue every depraved desire, every malignant affection, every impulse of avarice or pride. If you are engaged in making any choice, whether of a profession, of an employment, of a friend, or of a partner to share for life your joys and your cares; in a word, any choice which must decidedly influence, not only your temporal prosperity, but your religious character, and therefore your eternal interest--such devotion will be your best safeguard, and your truest wisdom. It will raise you above the influence of earthly temptations; it will arm you against the assaults of worldly terror, and of vicious shame. You will act as aiming at a far nobler prize than this world can give; and protected by a power which nothing earthly can resist or elude. Such devotion will preserve in you the constant recollection, that nothing "can profit you,' if you "lose your own soul;"† and nothing harm you when guarded by the hand of Him, who "doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, what doest thou ?"

But above all in the hour of danger, of sorrow, of calamitythen it is that the example of your Redeemer should operate most powerfully to encourage you to call upon your God for support, for consolation, for deliverance.

Behold your divine Lord in that mournful night which preceded his last sufferings collecting round Him all His apostles, pouring forth amongst them and for them, the most tender and earnest supplications to his heavenly Father. He "lifted up his eyes to heaven," and prayed for their present sanctification, and their eternal happiness: nay, even for every one of us, who † Mark, viii, 36.

• Psalm, ciii. 4.

Dan. iv. 35.

sincerely believe the Gospel they preached, did he implore the same blessings." Neither pray I, "these were his gracious words "neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word."* Follow him from thence to the garden, and when his soul began to be "exceeding sorrowful even unto death"t observe how he flies for relief to devotion. He withdrew and "kneeled down and prayed, Father if thou be willing remove this cup from me." But in this depression of spirit no prospect of suffering could shake the submission of his soul. "Nevertheless, not my will, but Thine be done:" was the fixed tenor of his prayer. Three times he fell on his face. Three times he repeated the same word, and being in an "agony, he prayed the more earnestly; and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood flowing down to the ground." What an example is this, my fellow-Christians, to guide you to "the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort" in the hour of sorrow and distress, to pour forth before him your tears and your complaints; to cast at his feet the burthen that oppresses you; to supplicate his aid with humility, but at the same time with earnestness, with a pious confidence, with a holy importunity.

And never will the weeping eye, and resigned though afflicted heart, implore your God in vain. It may not be his will to remove your immediate distress. It may be necessary for his gracious purposes, for your own trial, and your eternal reward, that you should, like your Redeemer, drain the bitter cup of suffering even to the very dregs. But be assured some drop shall be infused to sweeten it: some divine consolation, some ray of heavenly hope, shall cheer the sad and gloomy hour. Or if the weight of affliction remain, yet shall the Almighty hand be extended to support you under it. Some of those "ministering spirits" that surround the throne of God, prompt and powerful to execute His merciful commands, shall be commissioned, though unseen, to inspire you with secret consolation and support. Even in the valley of the shadow of death" your God shall guide his "rod," and his "staff" direct and sustain

*John, xvii. 1. 20. S Luke, xxvi. 44.

+ Matt. xxvi. 37, 38. | 2 Cor. i. 3.

Luke, xxii. 42.

Heb. i. 14; Luke, xxii. 43.

*

your feeble steps. You shall be enabled like your Redeemer, to recognise amidst all his chastisements your heavenly Father's unaltered, unabated love; and with filial confidence to repose upon his mercy. Thus amidst the gloom of death, this shall illumine the last hour of the expiring Christian. Though like his divine Lord, he expire with sufferings the most severe. Still the full assurance of the divine love shall cheer his spirit; and the composure of resignation calm the tumult of his soul. Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit,"† shall be the last accents that falter on his tongue-closing the sufferings of his life, and commencing the glories of immortality.

66

Psalm, xxiii. 4.

Luke, xxiii. 46.

376

SERMON XXXVI.

MERCIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES.

A CHARITY SERMON.

LUKE XVI. 2.

"Give an account of thy stewardship."

SUPPOSE, my fellow-Christians, this demand addressed to a sinner, who had scarcely ever reflected that all the powers and capacities, all the advantages and blessings he enjoyed, were entrusted to him by the Lord of all, to be employed under certain restrictions, and applied to certain purposes, which their Divine Giver had distinctly pointed out; and that for this application he was now suddenly called on to account-what alarm and amazement would he feel, on discovering at the very moment he was compelled to render this account, that he had never before thought of it; that he had not in any instance recollected that such a trust had been reposed in him-scarcely in any instance so much as seriously wished, or deliberately intended to observe the directions, or promote the purposes of his heavenly Lord! With what shame and confusion must such a conviction at such a moment overwhelm his soul! How must he shudder when the blaze of Divine glory suddenly dispels the darkness which had enveloped him, and discovers the bottomless abyss to which the just sentence of that all-perfect Judge, whom he had thus forgotten, neglected, and despised, must instantly condemn him! Oh! my friends, reflect, if you were yourselves this hour summoned before the tribunal of your God, are you certain such might not be your own feelings, and such your own confusion? In order to verify this

apprehension, it would not be necessary that your conscience should accuse you of atrocious crimes, or that you should stand convicted of audacious atheism, hardened infidelity, or deliberate profaneness. It would be sufficient that you had neglected to consider the great truths of religion; that you had never been habituated to propose them to yourselves as the motives to influence, and the rules to direct your conduct; that you had imposed upon yourself no restraints, and submitted to no privations to train your souls in the high and holy discipline of Christian watchfulness and self-denial, Christian purity and piety, Christian benevolence and zeal. It would be sufficient that you had neglected the word of God, neglected to implore His assisting grace, and made no steady effort to walk according to His holy will; -thinking of nothing but this world and this world's good; thus proving that you are well, indeed, but only as a child of this world, not one of the children of light-that you are plunged in the darkness of irreligion in this life, and preparing yourselves for those regions of eternal darkness where the light of morn never penetrates, where broods the gloom and horror of eternal death, the portion of those who are shut out from God. Remember that God looks not merely to your outward conduct, but to your internal principle; to the motive which sways, to the purpose that directs you. You cannot serve two masters. If you devote all your thoughts and desires, all your exertions and your toils to this world, its pleasures and its cares, you desert your allegiance to the majesty of heaven, and betray the trust reposed in you by your God. This taen, my friends, must be the first subject of your inquiry; have you sincerely and steadily sought the approbation of God as your leading object; and referred as far as possible every part of your conduct to this ruling principle. This is the great foundation of every virtue. Be assured that the "fear of God" is the whole duty of man. Not that slavish fear which, trembling at the idea of punishment, is indeed terrified from doing evil, but is without any zeal to do good, which considers in every action merely how to secure impunity at the cheapest rate, and with the least possible labour and self-denial. No, such sordid and selfish service will never be accepted by the Searcher of Hearts. No, my fellow-Christians, your all-wise