effects of preaching on the great mass of mankind, as to lead the attention of those, who are habitually hearers of the word, and profess a respect for religion and its institutions, to consider some important prevalent errours, prejudices, and sins, which impede, and often destroy, the beneficial influence of religion on their hearts and minds.

1. You will agree with me, no doubt, in the first place, that, till the attention is gained, the labours of the preacher are vain. Some of the impediments to this attention and confidence are to be found in the prejudices, in which we allow ourselves toward individuals. We will hardly consent to learn our duty, except from a particular mouth. We suspect one man of heresy; and, of course, all that he delivers has a tinge of this leprosy, and therefore effectually prevents all contact with our mind. Another is avoided as too damnatory, or too metaphysical, too clamourous, or too severe. We suffer ourselves to waver with popular changes; to lose our confidence in one favourite, when he is no longer the first; or to turn away from another, because we are familiar with his manner, and he no longer offers novelties.

When we first inquire into the reputation of a preacher, or measure the precise limits of his creed, before we venture to trust ourselves with him, or when we come with minds prepared to hear with captiousness, or not to hear through aversion, it is not wonderful, that so much of the natural influence of instruction should be wasted. It is true, that prejudices and partialities are not to be avoided; and, perhaps, when they are unattended with correspondent aversions, are more salutary than injurious, on the whole. Yet, when we find that the preaching of some men appears to us barren and unfruitful, it is surely worth while to inquire, where the fault exists; and to decide, which is most easy, natural, and just, that we should accommodate ourselves to the preacher's method of

teaching, or that the preacher should be expected to suit the peculiar tastes and previous notions and capacities of hundreds of minds.

The different reception of the same preachers, in different assemblies, is finely illustrated in the history of Paul. Upon his arrival at Athens, the Epicureans and Stoics were all prepared to expose the new apostle to derision, and went round inquiring, what will this babbler say? At Lystra, on the contrary, the city was all enthusiasm and admiration; the gods, say they, have come down to us in the likeness of men. The sentiment of the apostle, in his reply, is admirable. We are men of like passions with you; but we are also ministers of the most High God, who show unto you the way of salvation, and our duty and your's is equally simple, and serious, independent of the passions and partialities of men.

2. The effect of preaching depends much, in the second place, on the disposition, which we are in the habit of bringing with us to public worship. For what purpose, my friends, are you assembled here? Not surely to set an example to others. If this were the only reason of your meeting, for what purpose, let me ask, are those others assembled? There must be some ground for this custom, beside example, otherwise those, whose example is of no value, would have no reason to assign for their worship. No, my friends, I trust, that every one is sensible, that the same God, who made, and preserves, and governs us all, demands of you the same homage, which he demands of others; and that what you receive in common deserves to be acknowledged in common. Your obligations are not altered, except as they are increased, by the difference of your circumstances, or your improvements. The instructions here given are not nicely adjusted to any particular stations or characters, but are of consequence to us all as moral, accountable and immortal creatures. They related to

the awful and parental character of that great Being in whose power is the disposal of our whole existence, whether in this world or the next; they relate to the pardon of sin, in which, as offenders, we are all interested; they relate to that unexplored world, whither we are all tending, a world, which may burst upon us in a moment, whether we have made any provision for its scenes or not. The mind, which is not previously composed to the duties of this place, cannot easily engage in the exercises of the sanctuary. Those, who do not come to pay a solemn homage, cannot enter into the spirit of the service, or bring away any thing of value. It may be, that their curiosity is appeased; but their hearts are unaffected. It may be, that their attention is supported for the time; but every thing is forgotten, when the service is closed. It may be, that their conscience is discharged of a burden; but they are relieved rather than improved. It may be, that they do not always, or often, regret the time, which they have spent; but they look not back upon it with the satisfaction, which those will always feel, who, conscious of the privilege and means they have enjoyed, have learned something more of God, or of themselves, of their duty, or their destination,

3. In the third place, much of the inefficacy of preaching is to be traced to that ignorance and defect of preliminary knowledge, which exist among many of our hearers, who yet would be unwilling to be denied the name of christians.

It is natural for the preacher to forget, that those, whom he addresses, are not so familiar as himself with the truths which he declares, with the arguments which he adduces, with the allusions which he makes, or the scriptures, on which he founds his discourses. Hence, what appears familiar and intelligible to him, is abstruse to his auditors. When he imagines, that he has completed a fair demonstration of some religious truths, he may find his labour lost, and his deductions

unintelligible. It happens, that some link in the chain of thought, which existed in his own mind, and rendered all its parts so mutually dependent and firmly supported, is entirely unknown to his hearers; and his discourse leaves a very indistinct impression. It may be, that he has raised an animated exhortation from some great truths, which he supposed every one allowed, and to which he concluded no one was a stranger; and yet be miserably disappointed to find, that, in consequence of the distance between his own mind and the minds of his hearers, all that he has said is like water, which, instead of having reached the ground, is evaporated in the air, and by which no soil is fertilized, no growth of goodness quickened. You reply, perhaps, that this is the fault of the preacher; you will say, that he ought not to assume premises, which he has not proved, or presuppose information, which he has not given, or scatter his seeds in ground, which he has never cleared. But, my friends, is it impertinent to ask, are you to depend for all your religious knowledge on the occasional, and unsystematical addresses of your ministers ? With the scriptures in your hands, with so many volumes of religious and moral instruction within your reach, on subjects, in which you are surely not less interested than ourselves, are we to presume, that you are yet unfurnished with the rudiments of christianity? At this age of the world, when, as the apostle says, you ought to be teachers, must you be taught the first principles of the oracles of God? And, at this period, are you such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat? He, that would-attend a course of lectures on any branch of education, or topic of literature, takes care to prepare himself with previous principles. Are we alone to be for ever laying the foundation of repentance from dead works and faith in God, explaining rudiments, and beginning at the very cradle of theology; or have we not rather a right to demand of you, as preliminaries, a

rational belief of revelation, and a considerable familiarity with its records?

4. A fourth cause of the inconsiderable effect of preaching, is the want of reflection upon what we hear. Discourses, even among those, who have no doubt of the main truths of their religion, are too often heard as if they were insulated and complete performances, intended to answer no purpose beyond the information given at the moment, We go to be entertained at our ease. If the speaker fails to effect this grand object, we consider ourselves disappointed, and return vacant and uninterested to the occupations of life. Thus, many of these holy days truly pass away, like a tale that is told; or, if the success of the preacher is more, we still charge not our memories with the subject, and conceive, that our interest in it is at an end, when the discourse is concluded. But, my hearers, does the object of preaching terminate like that of a drama, in the pleasure afforded at the moment? It is not intended as a relaxation of an hour, in which curiosity is to be kept alive, and which leaves no practical impression. The real purpose of a discourse cannot be answered without your co-operation. The practical improvement is to be made in your chambers, in your families, and in your private meditations. Called upon, as we are, from week to week, to produce something, which shall arrest attention, miserable indeed would be our condition, if we were regarded merely as the purveyors for the appetites of the public. We can treat few subjects profoundly; fewer still, systematically. We can only give you hints, which you must pursue at your leisure; and open to you principles, which you must follow through their consequences. It is to no purpose, that we awaken a transitory attention on this day, if it declines, as the sun goes down. It is to no purpose to insist upon truths, if you receive them only upon our authority, or if men content themselves with an assent without reason, or with a captious re