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head, we would be apt to grow intoxicated with pride, to prove ungrateful to the Author of our being, and reserve to ourselves some part of that incense which we ought to burn upon his altars. On the other hand, were we always to be under the cloud of adversity, were Providence for ever to frown upon our designs, we would be ready to resign ourselves to despair, and cry out with the good men of old, "Is the mercy of Heaven clean gone? Will he be favourable no more?" This mixed dispensation of Providence is not only most favourable to religion, but is also best adapted to the nature of man. Man is made for suffering as well as for action. There are many principles in the human frame, many faculties of the mind, and many qualities of the heart, which would lie for ever latent, were they not called forth to action by the adversities of life. Man was never destined by his Maker to slumber on the couch of repose, and to bask in the sunny season. He was appointed to labour and to action; to struggle with the tempest; to weather with the winter of affliction; to encounter peril; to endure pain, and, by Christian magnanimity and heroism, by patience, by perseverance and invincible vigour, to reach the crown of glory which is reserved on high for all the sons of God. The afflictions of life present an occasion for this spirit to exert itself, and for these graces to appear. If there were no adversities in human life, the scene of action would be limited, the career of virtue would be shortened, and a wide field of moral glory be lost to the world. Had we no trials in our lot, what need were there for the exercise of patience and resignation to the Divine will, which form such a striking part of the Christian character? Had we no afflictions to encounter, and no evils to fear, what occasion would there be for that strength of mind which enables us to brave the dangers of life, to bid defiance to the evil day, and to repose, at all times, firm and un haken, upon the arm of the Almighty? Were there no dangers to combat, why should we take unto ourselves the whole armour of God, the sword of the Spirit, the shield of faith, and the helmet of salvation? Not only does adversity present the occasion of spiritual improvement, but has also in every age produced an host of saints, who, clothed with this divine armour, bave fought the good fight, and have come forth conquerors. You have recorded to you the faith of Abraham; you

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have recorded the meekness of Moses; you have recorded the patience of Job; but had it not been for the trials which they underwent, the dangers they had to combat, and the distresses they had to bear, their glory might have perished, and their names been lost in oblivion. As the nightingale, it is said, when bereft of her young, fills the woods with the music of woe, and from the impulse of sorrow, warbles her sweetest strains; so, from the wounded mind, and from the broken spirit, the fervour of devotion, and the eloquence of prayer, come up with such pathetic nemorial before the throne, that the Divine ear listens delighted. True religion, true virtue, brightens in distress; she emerges from the deep with tenfold radiance, and never shines with such transcendent, such triumphant, such immortal beauty, as when wandering through the darkness of an eclipse. You see, then, that in these paths you are in the company of the good, and are encompassed with a cloud of witnesses. You are not left alone to climb the arduous ascent. On these mountains, the feet of patriarchs, the feet of prophets, and the feet of martyrs, have trode. On these mountains, a greater than patriarchs, than prophets, than martyrs, appeared.

IV. I proposed to consider Christianity as affording a joyful consolation against the fear of death.

Many and various are the evils to which human life is subjected. To finish the mighty sum of them, and to make the scene end with pain, as it began with sorrow, comes the evil of death. The king of terrors, with his black train of attendants, even when seen at a distance, makes the firmest knee to shake, and the stoutest heart to tremble; and, when exerting his influence upon feeble minds, and assisted by the power of the imagination, has kept multitudes all their days under the cloud of melancholy, and under subjection to bondage. It is the great excellence of the Christian religion, that as it affords consolation in all the evils of life, so it also provides a remedy against the fear of death. Hence the prophet, looking forward unto the days of the Messiah, breaks out into these strains of exultation: "I will redeem them from death: I will ransom them from the power of the grave: O death, I will be thy plague; O grave, I will be thy destruction." Hence says the Apostle Paul," Forasmuch as the children were partakers of flesh and blood, he himself also took part of the same, that he might de

stroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them who, through fear of death, were all their life-time subject to bondage."

The evils attending death to men, in a state of nature, are manifold.

One of these is the uncertainty of our future destination. Reason gives us little information concerning the state of the soul when it departs from the body. We see the body mingle with its kindred elements, and return to the dust from whence it was taken. But what becomes of the soul? Does it too cease to exist, and vanish into air? Or does it still live and act in another scene! Here we are lost in conjectures and uncertainty. We see the traveller involved in the cloud of night, but we know not assuredly of any morning that awaits him. The ocean spreads before us vast and dark, but we know not with certainty if it will waft us to any shore. What a disconsolate situation of mind is this! Afflicted with the view of our past life, tormented with present pain, and hovering over an abyss from which we are uncertain if we shall ever emerge! To pass for ever into the dominion of darkness; to go we know not where! Lost in these doubts, troubled with the fears of futurity, the Roman Emperor addressed his departing soul: "Ö my soul, thou art leaving thy once loved haunts, thy former companions, and thy wonted joys; but into what unknown regions and dark abodes art thou now going? Alas! thou canst not tell!" These doubts and perplexities are now removed by the coming of Christ. When the Sun of Righteousness rose in our region, it dispelled the shadows of the everlasting evening; it poured its radiance upon the path of immortality, and brought full to view the scenes of the invisible world. The future scenes of happiness and glory are not only discovered by the gospel of Jesus, but are set before our eyes. In the inspired oracles we hear the voice of the archangel and the trump of God; we see the dead arising from their graves; a mighty army of saints and martyrs springing with joy from dust and corruption. We see Jesus upon the throne, and the faithful at his right hand. We hear the happy sentence pronounced upon them, "Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you before the foundations of the world were laid." We see them with palms of victory in their hands, and with crowns of glory on their heads, ascending up on

high with their Lord, and sitting down with him upon

his throne.

Another evil attending on death is the sense of our sins and transgressions, which when rising up to our memory in track colours, overwhelm us with horror of mind.-But to those, who receive the privileges of Christianity, the bed of death will not be a scene of terror. With a faith which overcometh the world, they give up their souls into the bards of him who made then." I have indeed sinned, most merciful Father, against Heaven, and in thy sight. Mine iniquities compass me about I am covered with confusion, and condemn myself, and often have been afraid lest thy judgment should confirm the sentence of my own heart. But thou art merciful and gracious.Thou hast no pleasure in death. I am unworthy of the least of all thy mercies. But worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive blessing, and glory and honour, and power. In his death I see the price of my redemption. In his life I see the path which leads to immortality. In his resurrection I see the proof of my own, and evidence of my immortal existence. I have accepted the offers of thy mercy, and have endeavoured to walk worthy of the Vocation wherewith I was called. With whatever failings I may have been encompassed, thou knowest that it has beer the study of my life to approve myself to thee, and to obtain the testimony of a good conscience. Trusting to thy mercy, and relying on the merits of my Redeemer, Father of all, I come to thee! With the joy of the Patriarch, I follow thy call into the land unknown."

Thus, my brethren, I have endeavoured to set before you some of the joyful consolations derived from the Gospel of Jesus,-consolations which not only serve to support and animate us under the afflictions of this present life, but which also enter within the veil, and constitute our happiness through everlasting ages. But before I conclude, regard to my duty prompts me to warn and admonish you, that though the glad tidings of the Gospel are proclaimed to all, yet the consolations which they contain are not intended for, and are not conferred upon, all who hear the Gospel. It is only they who believe, who repent, who reform, that will ever reap any solid advantage from the Christian religion. The profession of Christianity will avail us nothing. It will avail us nothing to say that we have faith. We may easily deceive our

selves, and make a lively imagination pass for a strong faith. But unless our faith purifies the heart, unless it works by love, unless it produces the fruits of righteousness, it is no better than the faith of the devils, who believe and tremble. Let me therefore persuade you, never so much as in thought, to separate the ideas of faith and morality; of belief in Christianity and a good life. If you make the attempt, you are undone for ever.

SERMON XVII.

ACTS xvii. 30.

And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent.

THIS is part of a sermon which the Apostle Paul deli

vered at Athens. The Athenians were the most ingenious and most illustrious people of Greece. Situated in a happy climate, and blessed with the highest degree of liberty which mankind can enjoy, they bent their genius. to the cultivation of the sciences and arts. These they carried to such a pitch of perfection, as gained the palni from the contending world, and has attracted the eyes and admination of all succeeding ages. But to shew the darkness and the ignorance of the human mind when not enlightened by the wisdom which cometh from above, as soon as they turned themselves to religion, they displayed nothing but their own absurdities and follies. In place of a rational and liberal form of religion, a gross and stupid idolatry universally prevailed; in place of the true God they bowed the knee to a dumb idol; and, instead of the worship of the heart, consecrated to his service impure and profane observances. Zealous to destroy this fabric of superstition, the Apostle Paul rising in the midst of an assembly that was convened on the bill of Mars, reproved those masters of science, those lights of the Heathen world, with the boldness and the majesty of an apostle of the Lord. "Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all

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