decent and injurious fashions, and to expose at once my modesty and my health; if it required me to adopt expensive modes of life which devoured my substance, and involved me in pecuniary disgrace; if it required me to spend my evenings from home, and to resign domestic enjoyments to rove from one insipid amusement to another; if it required me to give up all that is easy and simple and natural, for ceremonies, visits and crowds, where all is artificial, studied and forced; if it required me to convert my dwelling into the confusion and disorder of a rout; to stoop to the absurdity of a masquerade; to hazard my own life and the life of my fellow creature, because I had received an offence, perhaps unintentionally given, and allowed me not the choice of refusal; then I should conceive a disgust; then I should long to emancipate myself from such capricious despotism; I should sigh for liberty; for what liberty could I enjoy while compelled to submit to what is unreasonable and foolish, to what is dishonourable and shameful, to what is injurious and ruinous? But remember, ye followers of the vain world, these are the commands you obey; these are the services you render.

Still you tell us, that our Master requires us even to deny ourselves; that this is the grand law of his kingdom; and without obeying it, we cannot be his disciples. But we contend that you are precisely in the same circumstances. We can prove that you also are required to exercise self-denial; and that this is the chief command you have to comply with in the service of the world. And mark the difference between us. Our Master requires us to deny only what Ini

Ours

is false and vain; yours, what is solid and true. requires us to deny what would only make us disorderly and miserable; yours, what would render you peaceful and happy. Ours requires us only to deny the voice of passion and appetite; yours, the voice of reason and of conscience. Ours requires us to deny the body for the sake of the soul; yours, the soul for the sake of the body. Ours requires us to give up nothing but what he will more than repay; yours, to surrender an interest, for the loss of which you cannot be indemnified in time or eternity.

Since then it appears, that you cannot serve two masters; and since it is equally certain that you will serve one, we plead for God, and call upon you to serve Him. It is the

III. Third division of our subject. But here I feel ready to draw back from my engagement: I am shocked to think it fhould be found necessary to make a comparison between the ever-blessed God and idols. Has the depravity of the world risen to such a pitch; and are men so exceedingly blinded and infatuated as to require a preacher to attempt to prove that it is better to serve God than mammon! I feel also perplexed as to the proofs I shall adduce; the case seems too plain to need evidence; and of evidence there is no end. Let us make a selection of two articles, and

Remind you, first, of his VARIOUS AND UNDENIABLE CLAIMS in which he stands peculiar and supreme. There is such a thing as justice, and it consists in rendering to all their due. Render to God his

due, be only just, and you must be religious. All you are, and all you have is his; he gave you existence; and all your capacities of action and of enjoy ment were not only derived from him, but are contin ued by him; "for in Him we live and move and "have our being." There is such a thing as gratitude; and it consists in endeavouring to make suita ble returns for favours received. Endeavour to make suitable returns to God for the favours you have received from him; be only grateful, and you must be religious. Whose sun warms you? Whose air do you breathe? Who has fed you all your life long unte this day? When you were lost, who sent his own Son to seek and to save you? When you were in the bondage of corruption, who by a price of infinite value accomplished your release? Let all your mercies be summoned to appear around you; the blessings of infancy, of youth, of mature age; the blessings of Providence and of Grace; the blessings which you possess already, and those which as attainable you hope to enjoy; and your Preacher has only to come forward and say, "I beseech you therefore, Brethren, by the "mercies of God, that you present your bodies a liv"ing sacrifice, holy and acceptable, which is your rea"sonable service." So simple are the principles from which the practice of religion is deduced!

Secondly. We would remind you of HIS DESIGNS IN EMPLOYING YOU IN HIS SERVICE; in these also, who is a God like unto him? Why does he require you to serve him? "Can a man be profitable "unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable un"to himself? Is it any pleasure to the ALMIGHTY

"that thou art righteous or gain to the MOST "HIGH that thou makest thy way perfect?" He does not stand in need of you; but he knows that you stand in need of him, and that without him you can do nothing. Does he require your service to display his grandeur, to exercise his authority, to establish his dominion? Hear his own language: "O that there was "such a heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, THAT IT MIGHT

"BE WELL WITH THEM AND WITH THEIR CHIL

DREN FOR EVER." He employs you to invigorate your powers, to dignify your nature, to train you up for endless perfection, and to bestow upon you innumerable advantages under the notion of a reward. These advantages may be considered two ways. In the engagements of the master, and in the experience of the servants. These do not always agree. Men as an alurement, frequently promise what they never perform; and those who have followed them have had bitter reason to complain of disappointment. But God is faithful; and as his promises are exceeding great and precious, so are they all yea and amen in Christ Jesus to the glory of God by us. He spreads before us in his word every attraction to encourage "Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry: be"hold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirs

us.

ty: behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall "be ashamed: behold, my servants shall sing for joy "of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and "shall howl for vexation of spirit." And has he not realized all this? Let us consult the experience of

And observe the fairness

those who have served him. of the examples to which we appeal. Some of you would be unqualified judges; you could not make a proper comparison, because you are only acquainted with one of the things to be compared. You know what the service of sin is, but you are strangers to the service of the Lord Jesus Christ. But there are persons who have tried both; after serving the world they have served God. And if it were formerly better with them than now, what keeps them from going back? What detains them from the country whence they came out? They have opportunity to return; and are surrounded with the same temptations as others. They have found something more divine and satisfactory; they have tasted of the grapes of Eschol, and they no longer sigh for the leeks and onions of Egypt. He is rising from his knees where he has been saying, "Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, "O Lord." Take him aside and converse with him. He is able to give a reason of the hope that is in him. Why you often mourn. "shall be turned into joy our very tears are bless"ed; and we are never more happy than when we "can feel a broken heart and a contrite spirit!" And the world frowns upon you. "But God smiles, and "his favour is life. Heaven is my home; death is "become my friend; Providence manages all my affairs; and I am careful of nothing." And your

"But our sorrow

happiness is all future. "No; I have earnests and "foretastes of Heaven. I feel a peace which passeth "all understanding; and sometimes I rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. In his sanctua