right to inherit the earth. The fault is in them who tamely bend their necks to the yoke, who kneel and kiss the rod which the haughty lord waves over their heads. It never surely was the will of heaven, that the worthy should be scorned by the vile, and the brave be trampled upon by the coward. Cannot I then find a band of men as valiant and as determined as myself, to rectify these caprices of fortune, to vindicate the rights of nature, and restore mankind to their original inheritance? By doing violence at first, this usurpation on nature was made; and by a similar violence, nature requires that her reign be restored." What is it that prevents such a spirit as I have been now describing, from frequently breaking out? What prevents bloodshed and devastation, and all the evils of war? What prevents the world from being turned upside down?-Nothing so much as the influence of religious principles upon the minds of men. Christianity gives honour to civil government, as being the ordinance of God, and enjoins subjection to the laws, under its own awful sanctions.

And not only by particular precepts, but by its secret and less visible influence, it prepares the minds of men for submission to lawful authority. When we meet together in this place, under the sanction of law, and under the protection of the civil magistrate, we are put in mind of our relation to the state, and of our duty to the higher powers. "Fear God and honour the king," have more than a local connection in Scripture. Obedience to spiritual authority paves the way for subjection to the civil power. Hence wise Legislators have, even on this account, favoured the progress of religion: hence those who have attempted innovations in government, applied, in the first place, to the ministers of religion, and endeavoured to gain the pulpit on their side. Julian, known by the name of the apostate, the most formidable enemy the Christians ever had, was so sensible of the influence, and of the effects of preaching to the people, that he appointed a similar institution among the heathens.

"My son, fear thou the Lord and the King," (said the wisest of mankind), and meddle not with them that are given to change." In confirmation, we may observe,

See 1 Pet. ii, 17.

that men characterized as given to change, have either, from infidelity, not attended upon ordinances, or, from enthusiasm, been above them. For, who have been innovators and disturbers? who have been the authors of seditions and rebellions? who have been the enemies of order and civil government, in many an age?-a mixture of atheists and fanatics; two classes of men, who, though seemingly opposite, have been found in close bonds of

union.

IV. We have to consider the influence of religious institutions upon men, with respect to domestic life.

It is chiefly on account of their domestic situation, that we can pronounce men happy or miserable. Here the pleasures are enjoyed which sweeten life; here the pains are felt which embitter our days. No uneasiness abroad will sit heavy on a man, when the pleasing reflection rises in his mind, that he has happiness at home: No enjoyment from without will give real and lasting satisfaction, when he knows that he has a curse in his own house.

It is no small advantage attending the institutions of divine worship, that they minister to the happiness of domestic life. A new bond will be added to the conjugal union, when those whom it connects walk to the House of God in company, take sweet counsel with one another, and set out jointly in the way that leads to life. Watered by the dews of Heaven, which fall here, the olive-plants will flourish round your table. What sacred sensations will fill the bosom of a parent, when, viewing his family sitting at the feet of Jesus, he says, in the fulness of a grateful heart, "Lord! behold me, and the children whom thou hast given me!"

There is a beauty, also, when the rich and the poor, when the high and the low, who seldom meet together on other occasions, assemble here in one place, one great family, in the presence of their common Lord, when they are stripped of every adventitious circumstance, and where virtue makes the only distinction among them. It is the image of those golden times when society began; it is the image of the state which is to come, when God shall be all in all.

Such are the effects of religions institutions upon men, with respect to their religious capacity, their moral character, their political state, and their domestic life.

Whoever, therefore, habitually absents himself from atC

tending on public ordinances, has to answer for it to his God, to his neighbours,-to his country,-and to his family. He partakes with other men in their sins; he associates with the enemies of mankind; and does what in him lies, to undermine the basis on which the order and happiness of civil society is built. He teaches the false swearer to take the name of God in vain; he directs the midnight robber to his neighour's house; and he delivers into the hand of the assassin, a dagger to shed innocent blood.

But, blessed be God! that, corrupted as the world is, there are not wanting instances of exemplary piety, in every station of life; not only in the middle, the lower, and the higher, but in the highest of all. While piety shines as it now does, from the Throne: while it has the beam of Majesty to adorn it; let none of the subjects fail in copying the pattern and while we meet together in this place, let us remember, that many who have worshipped, in times past, within these walls, are now in the Higher House, in the Church of the First-born, in the Assembly of Angels, and in that Temple where the beatific presence of the Lord displays his glory, in a manner which hath not entered into the heart of man to conceive.

SERMON II.

TH

ROM. xii. 11.

-Fervent in prayer; serving the Lord.

HE manners of mankind are perpetually varying.-. Two nations differ not more from one another, than the same nation differs from itself, at different periods of society. This change of customs and manners has given rise to two opinions, both of them generally received, and both of them founded mistake. These are, that we are always improving upon our ancestors in art and in science, and always degenerating from them in religion

and morals. When we talk of any work of ingenuity or of industry, composed or performed by our forefathers, from the highest liberal science, to the lowest mechanic art, if we allow it any praise at all, our panegyric runs in this style: "It is very well for the time in which it was done." On the other hand, we always allow our ancestors the preference in virtue. For these five thousand years past, the philosophers and moralists of every nation have extolled the times of antiquity, and decried the age in which they lived, as the worst that ever was known. These wicked times,"-" This degenerate age," are phrases that have rung in the public ear almost since the general deluge. The ages of antiquity are always ages gold; the present always an age of iron.

of

The origin of these opinions I take to be this. As customs aud manners are perpetually fluctuating, the reigning mode is always reckoned the best, because they have no other standard but fashion. But fashion is not the standard of morals. The hand of the Almighty hath written the moral law, the standard of virtue, upon the living tablets of every human heart. Here then the standard is fixed and eternal. Accordingly, as quite a different set of virtues and vices prevail in one age, from what prevail in another; as we are naturally disposed to bury the faults of our forefathers in oblivion; as we insensibly contract a veneration for whatever is great in antiquity; hence arises the opinion, that the virtues of a former age are greater than those of a following one. We think we degenerate from our fathers, because we differ from them. But were I to pronounce of the times in which we live, I would say that the present age is not inferior in virtue to the past. We have improved upon our ancestors in humanity, charity, and benevolence; we have exchanged the rage and rancour of animals of prey, for the meek and gentle spirit of the dove. The gall of asps is transformed into the milk of human kindness. Great and enormous crimes are less frequent than they have been; we are better members of society, better neighbours, better friends than our ancestors were. People of different opinions and sects of religion, who some hundred years ago would have been putting one another to death, now live together in amity and

peace.

Would to God I could carry on my panegyric, and add, that we are more religious and devout than our ancestors

were; that our zeal for the honour of God, and the interests of religion, shines with a brighter lustre, and burns with a purer flame. But alas! my brethren, I must here change my strain. Your own eyes, your own hearts, will tell you the dismal truth. Is it not a deplorable fact, that instead of being fervent in spirit to serve the Lord, an indifference about religion almost universally prevails? The very face of seriousness is banished from society, and were it not for this day, on which we assemble together to worship the God of our fathers, the very form of godliness would be exterminated from the earth.

To induce you to the practice of devotion, it is propos ed, in the first place, to illustrate the importance and the advantage of serving the Lord; and, in the second place, to explain and to enforce with a few arguments, the duty of serving the Lord with fervency of spirit.

1. Let us consider the importance and the advantage of serving the Lord.

We are urged to the practice of some virtues, by our strong sense of their inviolable obligation; we are allured to the love of others, by the high approbation of their native beauty, which arises in every well disposed-mind; we are engaged to the performance of others, by our experience of their utility and influence upon the public good. Piety is equally enforced in all these respects. Its obligation is indispensable: its beauty is supreme, and its utility is universal. It is not so much a single virtue, as a constellation of virtues. Here reverence, gratitude, faith, hope, love, concentre their rays, and shine with united glory. Whatsoever things are lovely, whatsover things are pure, are honest or of good report; if there be any merit, any praise in human action, piety comprehends the whole. There is not a disposition of the mind which is more noble in itself, or is attended with greater pleasure than piety. It is accompanied with such inward satisfaction, that the duty is sufficiently rewarded by the performance; and it hath such true grandeur in it, that when duly performed, it exalts us to a state but little lower than the angels. The most illiterate man under the impressions of true devotion, and in the immediate acts of divine worship, contracts a greatness of mind that raises him above his equals. Thereby, says an admired ancient, we build a nobler temple to the Deity than creation can present.