upon salvation and their souls; upon the mercy and the justice of God; upon the shortness, and the dangers, and the duties of life; upon heaven and hell; upon the fate of him who had gone before, and the fate of themselves who were to follow after. We were in prayer, when one came by full of rioting and drunkenness, and blaspheming the name and the creatures of the Creator. The voice of cursing polluted the prayers of the mourners, and ascended to the throne of the Almighty, mingled with hopes for the dead, and supplication for the living. In the minds of those who were present and heard the words of blasphemy, a feeling of devout horror was created, and the hearts of all experienced, for the moment at least, the duty and the necessity of remembering to keep and to make holy the Sabbath-day. Oh that we were ever seriously impressed with a sense of this necessity, and would persevere in the duty of endeavouring to prevent the world from being shocked by such visible and disgraceful violations of the Sabbath's sanctity. For surely such things ought not to be. Surely we are bound to call forth every energy under every character which we bear, as ministers, as masters, as parents, as magistrates, and as Christians, to close the avenues to sin upon the Lord's day, and having enjoined it to be a day of rest, to make it also to be a day of holiness. Profanations of the Lord's day, as

open and as aggravated as that which I have mentioned, are, I trust, but of rare occurrence in any Christian community. But the principle of that condemnation which I have passed upon it, may be applied to every deviation from duty on the Sabbath, however minute. Every deviation from duty is on that day a disgusting and a deadly sin. Unholy thoughts, unholy words, unholy deeds, at other times might pass away, and like many other secret faults," be remembered no more. But on this sacred day they assume the features of " presumptuous sins." Boisterous mirth, idle words, "foolish and filthy talking, and jesting, which are" on other days" not convenient," are on this without excuse. The sacredness of the day itself condemns them, and we think within ourselves what a mass of impurity that man must be, who even on the Sabbath is unable to preserve the forms of decency.

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3. To enable us to keep a guard over our thoughts, and to guide our ways in righteousness upon the Lord's day, one thing is indispensable; and that is an attendance upon the public service of the church. It is indispensable to all, and indispensable not only for the sake of the form and example of godliness which it sets forth to others, but also for its own intrinsic worth and importance. It matters not who they be-in their

places in the church ought every Christian to be found on the Lord's day; if ignorant, they should come that, they may be instructed; if wise, that they may be reminded of their duty; if rich and prosperous, that they may be warned of their danger, and prepared for adversity; if poor and in affliction, that they may be comforted in their suffering, and gather contentment and consolation at the feet of Jesus; if pious, or penitent, or sinful, that they may praise and pray to their Maker. But I trust it is needless to press upon your minds an obligation which is universally acknowledged. It is rather requisite to turn your thoughts to the feelings with which you should be imbued, and the object you should have in view, when you appear within these sacred walls. There is not a more common, or a more mistaken sentiment, than to suppose that we have done our duty by merely coming to the church. We come to the church to do our duty, and that duty cannot be said to be faithfully done, until we have closed the service with devotion, and returned to our homes with the answer of a good conscience towards God. It is the mere mockery of religion to seek for the charms of eloquence alone in the house of the Lord. I have often said it, and I think I cannot say it too often, that it is the things which the ministers of God speak, rather than the manner of their speaking, which will engage the

peculiar attention of every godly heart. I feel the awful responsibility of the sacred office. I humbly confess that it is the power of the Spirit which alone can give efficacy to the word of man, and I ask forgiveness of my God, if ever, in the vanity of a foolish imagination, I have sought to please rather than to profit mankind. Calling to remembrance, therefore, that though we preach weakly, we preach as the ministers of Christ, and declare the mysteries which we have studied and approved; we would beseech you to listen to the things which are spoken with an attentive ear, and a teachable disposition; and then you may have some hope of being saved by your hearing, however vain and valueless may appear the words which we utter, when weighed in the balance of a human understanding. But we come not here to be taught our duty alone, we come also to ask forgiveness for its violation, and for power to fulfil it. We come to pray to our Maker through the mediation of our Redeemer, and that is a service before which every other must sink into very nothingness. What profit then shall we have from our prayers, if they be poured forth in carelessness, or indifference? Our faults cannot be hid from him we pray to. He is the "Searcher of hearts, and seeth all our ways." Each wandering eye, each wandering thought is written upon the tablets of his eternal mind, and

will be judged in the balance of his unerring equity. To check the wandering eye, to recall the wandering thought, and to fix the heart in earnest sincerity upon devotion, is the least return that we can make for the privilege of prayer. I would almost recommend that in the house of God we should forget the transitory relations of life. For heaven is the place upon which our thoughts are to be fixed, and, "in heaven they neither marry nor are given in marriage." In heaven there is neither rich nor poor, bond or free, minister or people, but all are the children of the same Father, and brethren of the same Lord. It is to that common and heavenly relation, therefore, that we should principally look, when in the house of our common and heavenly Father; and endeavouring to embrace the whole generation of mankind in the capacious bosom of an universal love, prepare ourselves for an affection, which shall not be perishable, like the affections of this world, but endure for everlasting, unimpaired and unsubdued.

4. Such are the feelings and views by which we may render our public devotions holy and acceptable unto God. But it is not in God's temple alone that we must remember to keep holy the Sabbath. It is not the morning or the evening hour of the Sabbath alone which is to be