worshippers, in the blood of the victims immolated on their altars, you behold the marks of homage to the divinities who rule the destinies of men; you hear the acknowledgment of guilt seeking to propitiate the offended justice of heaven; you see efforts to secure the favour of that great Being who has prepared, they hope, a place of happiness for the virtuous, and they fear, a place of misery for the wicked. Yes-feeble as was the light that dawned through pagan darkness, it was yet a light which disclosed a portion of the attributes and will of the Lord of the universe; which even darted some faint rays through the darkness of the tomb, and opened the obscure indeed, but cheering prospect of scenes of immortality and bliss.

When we contemplate the delineations of piety and virtue contained in the writings of some heathen moralists; when our hearts glow with admiration at the exalted characters among them who sought to know and to serve the divine Author of their being, not alas! with Christian faith and hope, but with Christian sincerity and zeal-we behold evidences of the truth declared in the volume of inspiration, that "God never left himself without witness," but by the voice of nature, of reason, of conscience, and of his secret spirit, calls all men to serve him, whose offspring they are, whose goodness made, and whose power protects them.

But, my brethren, feeble are the calls of natural reason, of traditional religion, of uncovenanted grace; imperfect must be the degree of holiness which can be attained by the light and aids which they afford, and inferior the rewards that will be bestowed hereafter on the imperfect virtue which has not been cherished by the grace of the Gospel.

Cause then of the liveliest gratitude have they to whom that Gospel is proclaimed, that they are called by a voice more clear, more impressive, more awful, and yet more inviting-the voice of God in his holy word, in the ministry, and in the sacraments and ordinances of his church.

Compared with the full disclosures made in God's holy word of his attributes and will, with the awful denunciations there exhibited against vice, and the alluring invitations there urged to virtue, obscure indeed appears the light of reason, and feeble the remonstrances of natural conscience. This holy word calls us to render homage to the Father of our spirits, not with that sensual worship into which unenlightened reason degenerated, but in spirit and in truth. It calls us to the service, not of a being whose nature, character, and attributes are but faintly discovered by the lights of reason and tradition, but of that Jehovah who has proclaimed himself in majesty and power as the Maker, the Preserver, the Governor, and the Judge of the universe, glorious in holiness, inflexible in justice, and yet infinite in love. This holy word calls us to walk not in a path of duty on which reason casts but a glimmering light, but in the way of God's commandments, where every virtue is displayed in celestial radiance, and every duty exhibited in its full obligation, excellence, and rewards.

The Christian, depressed by the sense of guilt and infirmity, is not left to the feeble suggestions of nature; he is cheered by the divine voice which proclaims that there is a Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world; that there is a Saviour provided for him, infinite in compassion as mighty in power, who hath promised deliverance to the

captives, and rest to the heavy laden. No longer trembling at the unappeased justice of heaven; no longer held in awful suspense on the interesting question-how God can be just, and yet justify the sinner-he is called to believe in a Saviour who hath brought him near who was once afar off, and propitiating divine justice, sealed mercy on the throne of God. In the calls of God's holy word, the Christian, assailed by the temptations and overwhelmed by the sorrows of life, hears the divine voice of consolation-all things shall work together for your good. No longer, like the unenlightened heathen, fleeing with trembling hope to an invisible Protector, he casts himself, in the fulness of confidence on that God who has revealed himself an all-sufficient refuge, a very present help in time of trouble. Animated by the calls of God's holy word, the Christian dejected at the view of the shortness and uncertainty of life, (who is not often thus dejected?) and dismayed at the darkness of the tomb, (who is not thus dismayed?) exults in the assurance, that an inheritance among the saints in light awaits him, where this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal immortality. No longer do doubt and fear cloud the prospect of futurity. Life and immortality are brought to light. Heaven is opened to his view. He is the heir of its glories, destined to live for ever with God.

Thus called by God's holy word, Christians are also called by the ministry of God's holy church.

That sacred society into which Christians are formed, is ruled by officers divinely commissioned to call them to discharge the high duties imposed on them, and to rejoice in the celestial privileges to which they may lay claim. "To us," saith an

"is

inspired apostle, "and to your successors, to the end of the world," said our blessed Lord, committed the ministry of reconciliation." And we beseech you, as ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, be ye reconciled unto God; walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called; set your affections on things above, and let your hearts be in heaven, where your treasure is. This is the inspiring call which the ministers of God's church proclaim to its members. With a humility and meekness founded on the conviction that the treasure committed to them is held in earthen vessels, and that the excellence of the power is in God alone, but with a dignity and firmness excited by the consideration that their commission is divine, that they are the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God; and with a zeal and solicitude cherished by the solemn conviction, that their ministry will prove the means either of life or of death to those whom they address, do the servants of the Most High call men to the service of the Being who made them, to believe in the Saviour who redeemed them, to the faithful discharge of every duty, to the renunciation of every sin, to the exercise of piety to God and love to man, to moderation in prosperity, to contentment in adversity, to forbearance under the injuries, to resignation under the sorrows of life, to careful government of the heart, to holy circumspection of conduct, to that holiness without which no man shall see the Lord, without which Christians will forfeit that heavenly inheritance to which they are called.

Powerfully also are Christians called by the sacraments and ordinances of the church.

These are external symbols, by an appeal to the senses impressing the necessity of the purification of the heart, and dependence on God for spiritual nourishment and strength. But these ordinances are thus not merely the natural means of spiritual instruction. Insignificant as they appear to the eye of sense, they are made by divine power the means of conveying to us those influences of the Holy Spirit by which our darkened understandings are enlightened, and our corrupt hearts renewed. In them the voice of the Most High is heard calling men to the participation of the most exalted privileges, and to the discharge of the most exalted duties. His paternal voice meets us at our first entrance into life. In the sacrament of baptism we are born, not as in our natural birth, into a world of sin and sorrow, but into a spiritual world of holiness and joy, the Zion of the Lord-that Zion which is refreshed by the mercy, and illumined by the grace of God. We are born not into a society of frail, sinful, and perishing mortals, but into the goodly fellowship of believers, whose weakness is made strong by the strength of the Almighty, whose sins are washed away by the blood of atonement, and whose portion is allotted in the resurrection of the just.

Called in baptism to inherit these exalted privileges, we are also called in this holy sacrament to live as children of God, as members of Christ, and as inheritors of the kingdom of heaven; to put off the old man, the corrupt nature with which we came into the world, and to put on the new man, that new and holy nature which our spiritual birth in baptism denotes and enforces; to die to sin, as in baptism we professed to do, and to rise again

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