idleness, and the wearisomeness of a torpid and stagnant mind, even though he exchange them for the agitations of disappointment and distress, or the horrors of self-condemnation and despair. See another roused to challenge the companion of his youth, or the friend of his heart, at all events a fellow-creature -like himself immortal and accountable-to challenge him to the field of blood! See him ready to plunge the sword of vengeance into his brother's bosom, and to expose his own--and this probably for some trivial offence, some hasty ebullition of passion repented of as soon as past-thus trampling on the law, and braving the vengeance of a just and all powerful God, that he may escape the censure of frail and feeble man.

But you, my friends, secretly, perhaps, flatter yourselves, that as you are not guilty of any of the atrocious crimes which I have enumerated, so you are not amongst those who barter their souls for worldly good. Yet is it so certain, that, because you are not a drunkard or a libertine, a gambler or a duellist, you are, therefore, a sincere and pious Christian ?-Let me entreat you to reflect what is the great object of your cares, the ruling principle of your lives. Is it to love God with all your strength, and your neighbour as yourself? To attain and perfect such temper, are your prayers frequent and fervent, is your self-government strict and constant, your study of the Scriptures assiduous and humble, your attention to public worship, and to the public administration of the word and the ordinances of God, regular, attentive, and sincere? And does the strict and impartial examination which you daily institute into your conduct, your temper, your motives, and your hopes, does this satisfy you, that, by the assisting grace of God, you daily improve in those holy and happy dispositions which attend, and guide, and animate the Christian's course to heaven? Do you feel that you daily improve in sincere faith in your Redeemer, in pious gratitude and resignation, in purity and humility, in serenity and peace, in love to God, and charity to man? This is the description of a Christian's character. Ask your own hearts, seriously ask them,

is it truly yours? On the contrary, are the impressions of religion on your minds, momentary and inoperative? Does business or amusement occupy all your thoughts, and all your time? Are your prayers forgotten? Is your Bible unopened?

Do you live without God in the world, neglecting his laws, despising his word, and disregarding his favour ? If so, you will as inevitably lose your souls as the notorious profligate. The unprofitable servant, though convicted of no atrocious crime, but who, while he feared to do evil, made no effort to do good, was cast into outer darkness. The guest who would intrude into the feast prepared by the King of Heaven without the wedding garment, that is to say, unadorned with the graces and virtues fitted for such society, was expelled with disgrace.*

The rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day, who is charged with no crime but such habitual indolence, such unchecked voluptuousness, as rendered him careless and callous, when he ought to have been vigilant to examine, and merciful to relieve, the wants of the wretched, was condemned to the severest suffering. Such are the declarations of eternal truth of him who is at once our Lord and Judge. Think not then a life of worldly care, any more than one of continued pleasure, or even of stagnant harmlessness, can secure you an eternal reward. "The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." It is not to be won by every idle slumberer. Not that our holy religion forbids the acquisition or the enjoyment of affluence. No, in this as in every other point, it is adapted to the state of man; and while it prepares us for a better world, it promotes our real happiness in this. The Gospel history exhibits amongst its most illustrious examples of faith and piety, individuals blessed with affluence-a centurion possessed of authority, who had employed his wealth to erect a synagogue for the chosen people of God in which to worship Jehovah; and who exhibited a faith so rational, so humble, so steadfast, that our divine Lord exults in its contemplation, and declares, "I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel"-a "Joseph of Arimathea, a rich man and honourable, who waited for the kingdom of God;" and who, at the hour of the severest trial, when the chosen apostles of the crucified Jesus had forsaken him and fled, stepped forward with courage undismayed, to avow his respect and reverence for Him who was despised and rejected of men; for he went boldly unto

• Matt. xxii.

Pilate, demanded the body of Jesus, and placed it in his own new tomb where never man had been laid; and was thus selected by Providence, as the honoured instrument of verifying the word of prophecy, and illustrating the truth of the ever-glorious Gospel. And above all we must not forget, that as the first and most illustrious example of the reception of the Gentiles into the Church of Christ, was selected Cornelius; who, though distinguished by piety, was also blessed with affluence, for not only his prayers, but his alms, ascended in grateful remembrance before the throne of God.

These examples, confirmed and illustrated, I doubt not, by many instances known to each of ourselves in the course of our experience, prove that riches may be combined with and consecrated by piety and the most active beneficence, and thus form the most decisive proof of virtue, and the greatest blessings both to their possessor and mankind. But, my friends, truth and piety compel me to warn you, that this is not their general tendency, or their general effect. Alas! far otherwise. They perpetually have a tendency to occupy all our thoughts, nay, to attract all our affections; to make us regard them as the only sources of happiness, and devote to them our whole souls with an idolatrous reverence. Hence their danger, hence the guilt they too often induce, and the misery to which they lead. They choke the seed of the divine word; they chain down the soul to earth; they shut out all thoughts of heaven, all attention to the wants and feelings of our fellow creatures, and thus debase, and harden, and brutalise the heart. And oh! how poor a recompense do they supply for the tremendous hazard to which they thus expose our immortal souls.

Awake then, my fellow Christians, from this lethargy of sin, this sleep of death-let not the fantastic dreams of feasts and pleasures, and magnificence of silver and gold, palaces and equipages-let not these transitory vanities so catch and fix your thoughts as to keep your eyes closed and your limbs torpid, though surrounded by dangers the most imminent-your very existence threatened-your immortal souls upon the verge of ruin. Alas! it is no declamation to tell you, that this life, compared with eternity, is but a passing dream. At the last hour it will appear exactly this to every one of you. You will then

feel, that as you brought nothing into the world, so can you carry nothing out. If the objects of this world entirely occupy your heart, when they shall suddenly be torn from it, how fatally shall you know, that you have trusted in that which cannot profit you!

Even here, how unsatisfying are all the pleasures which wealth, combined with irreligion and voluptuousness, can bestow!

Look around the world, and see whether the richest are the happiest men. Reflect whether, as you yourselves have grown more rich, you have grown more happy. Can riches give health of body, or cheerfulness of mind? Can they repel the stroke of disease, or soothe the anguish of pain? Can riches purchase the blessings of domestic affection, fidelity in conjugal union, sincerity in your children's love, the sweets of disinterested friendship, the charms of intellectual converse, or the serene and heart-expanding pleasures of religious reflection? No, my friends; all these, the purest sources of enjoyment, spring from virtue and wisdom and piety, not from wealth or power. These too often bring with them cares which harass, temptations which seduce, and pride which petrifies the soul. They are, at the very best, an arduous trial, and are accompanied by an awful responsibility, which divine grace alone can enable us to bear and to fulfil. May you, my friends, never experience the truth of that awful declaration of our divine Lord, "How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God !"*

May you rather enjoy that internal peace, that steady sunshine of the soul, which illumes the Christian's path; which grows brighter and brighter as this world throws a darker shade around our closing years, and bursts forth with refulgent glory amidst the gloom of death! Compared with this, how worthless is the flash of transient gaiety, or the false glare of worldly pride! Oh! my friends, where is our faith; nay, I will add, where is our reason? Why are not our eyes, our desires, and our hopes, more constantly directed upward to that crown of glory reserved for the followers of God? Surely one ray from that resplendent diadem might be sufficient to overpower and

*Luke xviii. 24.

extinguish the glittering charms of those transitory vanities, which owe all their lustre to the darkness in which they are placed. Surely when our spirits are overwhelmed within us, one glance of this celestial glory might be sufficient to animate and brighten them; and might enable us to exclaim with the Apostle, though in the midst of sorrows, of dangers, and of death; "in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us."* Yes, my friends, I would entreat you by the memory of that Redeemer who died to atone for your sins, and rose again to assure you of your immortality, who even now intercedes for you at the throne of divine mercy; who is ever ready to send his Holy Spirit to those who ask him, and by his gracious influence to prepare your souls for an eternity of bliss; I would intreat you by all these means of grace, and all these hopes of glory, to learn the value of your souls. Sacrifice not, for the mire and dross of this inferior world, those immortal spirits which God created, and which God redeemed. From the creation to this hour, divine mercy has laboured for your salvation, do not obstinately reject the precious gift, and blindly plunge into the deep abyss of misery-eternal misery. On the contrary, may you, by the assisting grace of God, be enabled to avoid that sin, which inevitably brings with it, as its natural consequence and its merited punishment, death, eternal death! May you cultivate faith in Christ, and abound in all the blessed fruits which spring therefrom-resignation and obedience, hope and charity, love to God, and love to man! May you be thus prepared to obtain and enjoy that eternal life, which the boundless mercy of God confers-not as a merited reward, but as a munificent gift-on all the sincere believers and humble followers of our blessed Redeemer !

Rom. viii. 37.