their chief right to appear in a volume of Sermons; and I should not have ventured any publication upon either of these Doctrines, did I not think them capable of being so treated as to subserve the great interests of practical godliness. The Sermons all relate to topics that I hold to be strictly congregational, with the exception of the thirteenth and fourteenth in the volume, which belong rather to Christian Economics, than to Christian Theology-to the "outer things of the house of God," rather than to the things of the sanctuary, or the intimacies of the spiritual life. I, perhaps, ought therefore to apologize for the appearance of these two in a volume of Congregational Sermons, and yet I have been led by experience to feel the religious importance of their subject, and I think that much injury has been sustained by the souls of our people, from the neglect of obvious principles both in the business of education, and in the business of public charity. I have, however, more comfort in discussing this argument from the press, than from the pulpit, which ought to be kept apart for loftier themes, and which seems to suffer a sort of desecration when employed as the vehicle for any thing else than the overtures of pardon to the sinner, and the hopes and duties of the believer. CONTENTS. THE CONSTANCY OF GOD IN HIS WORKS AN "For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. Thy faithfulness is unto all generations: thou hast established the earth, and it abideth. THE EXPULSIVE POWER OF A NEW AFFECTION. "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him."-1 JOHN II. 15. 44 THE SURE WARRANT OF A BELIEVER'S HOPE "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconcil- ed to God by the death of his Son; much more, THE RESTLESSNESS OF HUMAN AMBITION. "How say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain?-O that I had the wings of a dove, "Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stag- ger, but not with strong drink. For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered. And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed. And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read |