follow. The Christian is cast into the fire that his dross may be consumed, and that he may shine brighter in the day of the Lord Jesus. When he has done the will of God he shall receive the promise. Life's journey being o'er-and O how soon will it close!—he shall exchange his crown of thorns for an unfading diadem of glory; and his garments of heaviness for the white raiment of heaven, and apparel of joy and praise. After a few short nights of weeping, he shall enter upon a joyous, brilliant, everlasting day, in the light of God and of the Lamb, in the holy city, where shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, nor pain.

SERMON XXIV.

THE GUILT, DANGER, AND DUTY OF GREAT BRITAIN AT THE PRESENT CRISIS.

BY JOHN HUMPHRYS, LL. D.

ISAIAH lix. 12.-For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them.

TIMES of trouble, whether personal, domestic, or national, call for special humiliation and prayer to Almighty God, by whom afflictions are sent, and who, to them that seek him, is a present help in every time of need. "Shall there be evil in a city," saith the prophet Amos, "and the Lord hath not done it?" His agency in governing the world is not less certain than in its creation. But as it is too commonly overlooked, he sees fit, at times, by events of more than ordinary interest, to arrest. the attention of mankind, by speaking to them as with the voice of thunder; and woe to those who turn a deaf ear, either to the word, or to the providence of God.

In attempting to make a suitable improvement of providential events, we may derive the highest advantage from the Old Testament Scriptures. We there see the character of nations faithfully depicted, and the dispensations of God towards them, corresponding with their character. Individuals may be eminent for piety, and yet experience deep and long-continued affliction; while others who neglect religion altogether, may flourish in almost uninterrupted prosperity. These mysteries in providence will be fully explained in a future state, when every one will be judged and rewarded according to his works. But if nations are rewarded and punished as such, it must be in the present world, since it is here only, that they appear in their united capacity. And it will be found by those who duly examine the records of past ages, that while national virtues have been frequently and signally rewarded, national crimes

have been severely punished by the Most High. This observation is strikingly illustrated in the history of the Jewish nation, and of many other countries, of which we have an account in the sacred volume. The prophet Isaiah foretels many painful, as well as many pleasing events, which were afterwards to take place, respecting the Jews. He reproves them freely for their sins, as the cause of their troubles, and earnestly exhorts them to repentance and humiliation. And when they were ready to sink under their calamities, and discovered any signs of godly sorrow, he assured them in the name of the Lord, that there was no reason to despair. "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save; neither is his ear heavy that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear."

In the words of my text, we have an humble acknowledgment, from those among the people that were piously affected, of their guilt and unworthiness: "For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them." Our sins are innumerable, and of a most heinous nature; the proofs of them are indisputable; our own consciences condemn us; and we justly suffer the evil consequences of our rebellion.

This language, my respected hearers, may fitly represent the sentiments and feelings we ought to experience, under the trials with which our country is now visited; for it becomes us to bear in mind, that in the circumstances and events of modern times, the hand of God, although not expressly pointed out by the inspired penman, is as truly engaged as at any preceding period. In the further discussion of my subject, I propose

I. To take a cursory view of the painful circumstances, which, at the present time, afflict our country.

II. To exhibit some traits of its moral character, which may account for the tokens of the Divine displeasure.

III. To assist you in the due improvement of the whole.

I. I shall take a cursory view of the painful circumstances, which, at the present time, afflict our country.

1. Let me remind you of the great diminution of property, which is the subject of such general complaint.

Wealth and honours constitute, in a very considerable degree, the external prosperity of a nation; and it will not be denied, that, in these respects, Great Britain once made a very distinguished

figure in the eyes of the world. That large possessions are indispensably requisite to human enjoyment, may indeed justly be questioned; they frequently prove a snare rather than a blessing, as hath been the case, probably, with respect to our own country. Affluence and independence are apt to generate pride and carnal security; and thus, eventually to introduce evils of the most serious kind. The glory of Britain, however, as to her superabounding wealth, is rapidly decaying. Her resources, which once seemed to be inexhaustible, have proved to be limited; and she that bid defiance to accident, has been made to see the vanity of her boast. Wealth still abounds, indeed, in many quarters; but if we look at the state of society generally, we shall behold a scene, very different from that of some periods that are gone by. To say nothing of the alarming deficiency in the national revenue, almost all classes complain of the difficulties with which they are called to struggle. The golden harvest of the landed proprietors is passed away: their tenants murmur, that little or no profit can be made by their utmost exertions; and agricultural labourers are suffering acutely from the want of employment, or adequate support; while, in many of the manufacturing districts, distresses of the most appalling nature are said to exist. If we and our families are mercifully exempt from the extreme pressure of the times; yet let us not forget the overwhelming wants, by which no small portion of the community are reduced to a very melancholy condition. And it adds not a little to the general distress, that our rulers, with all their skill, and with the best intentions in the world, find themselves greatly at a loss to devise measures which give a reasonable prospect of removing the evils complained of.

2. Disease has been permitted, in connection with want, to visit our land.

This evil, indeed, especially in a dense population, can never long be absent. For "man that is born of a woman, is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh up like a flower, and is cut down! He fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not." Few things are more instructive and appalling, than the yearly bills of mortality in a crowded metropolis, by which it is seen how many thousands of immortal beings are annually removed into the unseen world. But when a new distemper arises, or an old one, in a new and more terrific form, which, in a few hours, hurries many to the Divine tribunal, it calls for very serious consideration and increasing diligence, to prepare to meet our God. We have reason to be thankful that the victims to its deadly influence are not so numerous as might have been apprehended, and that overwhelming fears have

partly subsided; but let us not be guilty of presumption, nor despise the chastening of the Lord. This distemper, having sprung up amongst us, may, through change of seasons, or an increase of pauperism, proceed to a more alarming height than it has yet done, and therefore let us not be high-minded, but fear.

3. The discontents in the sister island, and in some of our colonies, are no small national calamity.

The colonies of Great Britian have usually been considered as an important source of wealth and aggrandisement to the mother country. But in what a state are they now, and especially those in the West Indies? From the nature of the traffic by which those colonies have been supported, we do not wonder that confusion and miseries of every kind have sprung up. Humanity shudders at the cruelties which have been practised in the ages which are gone by, and of which, alas, too many traces yet remain. Noble efforts, indeed, have been made, to rescue the injured descendants of Ham, from the tyranny and degradation to which they have been so long subjected; but hitherto, they have very imperfectly succeeded. Discontent and murmurs cannot fail to arise. The parent state anxiously endeavours, by its enactments, to alleviate the sorrows of the oppressed; the slaves, thirsting for liberty, at times break out into open rebellion; the slaveholders resist the legislature at home; and none can calculate the fatal mischiefs that may arise, before the claims of justice and compassion can be fully established. When gross injustice lies at the foundation of any system, no adequate and permanent good can be produced, till the system itself be subverted. But in effecting this, a complication of evils must be endured.

Such is the state of things in our distant colonies. But what shall we say to the situation of our sister island? Ireland is too near to this country-its population is too great-its complaints are too clamorous and too well founded—and the evils by which it is afflicted are too difficult of cure—not to present to reflecting minds, a frightful view of the calamities of the period in which we live. My object in alluding to it is not to exhibit the feelings of a partisan, either in ecclesiastical or political concerns, but simply to call your attention to interesting and momentous facts. "The amity of nations," says an eminent statesman of the present day, "is founded principally upon a similarity of language and of religion." Unhappily, in the sister island, religious dissensions and animosities prevail to a tremendous degree. There is a protestant establishment, and a catholic population. Through the alliance of the church with the state, the great majority of the people, although needy, are compelled to support in affluence a small minority, for