ring which their labour is suspended, they may devote to those reflections and exercises, which will hanimate them to sustain with patience their situation bla in society, contentedly submit to the dispensations e of Providence, and inspire them with hope and joy in the contemplation of futurity. In the publick worship of the Sabbath, the humble sons of poverdty meet the powerful and the affluent on the floor of equality. In the house of God, the rich and the poor appear as children of the same Parent, disciples of the same Master, and joint candidates for a glorious immortality. By the attainments of the Christian life, they become qualified for the heavendily kingdom, where all distinctions will be lost, except those of a moral nature. If they wisely improve the privileges which the gospel bestows, and amidst worldly poverty become rich towards God, at the close of their probationary scene durable treasures will be conferred upon them, even an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and which will not fade away.

To persons of every age and condition, in conclusion, I remark, that the publick institutions of our religion are established by the authority of God; our serious and habitual attendance upon them is the method which he has appointed to acquire the qualifications of the Christian character; and in their observance we may expect the promised support and acceptance of Heaven. Slighting the proposals of love and mercy, will you ces in place of the institutions of God? Try your independent scheme in the concerns of the natural world. Refuse to cultivate your fields in seed-time;

adopt your own devi

and command them to yield their fruits in the appointed weeks of harvest. No: here you realize your dependence upon Divine Providence, and you diligently adopt the prescribed means, relying on the divine blessing to accomplish the end. Equally dependent in the moral world, with similar diligence observe the methods established by God for your obtaining the fruits of piety, and righteousness, and charity; humbly looking to Him to bless your endeavours even to the salvation of your souls.

By all these considerations, be persuaded to “remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy."

SERMON XXV.

THE INSTITUTIONS OF THE GOSPEL.

JOHN v. 40.

Ye will not come to me that ye might have life. THIS solemn declaration was originally made by our Saviour to his countrymen. They were blinded by their prejudices, and hardened by their sins; and against themselves, they rejected the counsel of God, delivered by his son Jesus Christ. But to many, in each subsequent age, might the warning voice of our text have been addressed. heard by any present without effect? From the passage before us, I shall

Will it be

1. Explain the import of the word Life, which our Saviour promises to all who will come to him.

2. Define the meaning of the phrase, Come to Christ.

3. State the means with which we are favoured to facilitate a compliance with the condition of the promised blessing.

1. To explain the import of the word Life, which our Saviour promises to all who will come to him. The gift of God by Jesus Christ is eternal life. Death was introduced into our world as the wages of sin. Suppose the darkness and gloom of the night of death were never to be removed by the light of returning day, who without horrour could contemplate its approach? Its certainty might depress the purest joys of the human heart; check the noblest pursuits of man, and fill the whole condition of his being with despondence.

From this state of darkness and despair, we are delivered by the mediation and ministry of Christ. He has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light. He has conquered the king of terrours, and redeemed the captives of the tomb from the empire of death. The resurrection of Jesus is a pledge for the fulfilment of the divine promise to raise his disciples from the sleep of the grave to the honours of immortality. The life therefore which is promised to those, who in sincerity come to Christ, is not merely existence beyond the grave, nor only the removal of doubt respecting the reality of a future state. The certainty of future existence would not alone satisfy the inquisitive mind. Distressing perplexity would yet remain, and questions with the utmost anxiety still be asked-What will be my condition in a future world, for which I am certainly destined? If I am a candidate for future happiness, on what terms may I obtain it? Will God permit the subjects of his moral government with impunity to violate his laws? If frail beings, conscious that they often offend, and daily fall short

of their duty, may attain to a blessed immortality, what assistance may they expect in acquiring the necessary qualifications for the enjoyments of a higher state of being? On what foundation may they build the sustaining hope that they have a title to the imperishable treasures of a future world?

In these questions all have a deep interest; yet what difficulty attends their solution by human reason? Into how many errours and perplexities have they actually fallen, who attempted by the light of nature to answer them? The Christian revelation gives satisfactory information on all these questions. It not only dispels doubt respecting our future existence, but enables us to dwell on the prospect of immortality with serenity and delight. By its instruction and assistance we may with safety and assurance pursue our course in the path to immortality. We then perceive that Christ came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. By him our prospects are infinitely enlarged. He has opened the eternal world, in all its sublimity, to our contemplation; and given us directions that will make us wise to salvation. In his own life, he has embodied his religion, that we may daily behold its living excellence: in the path opened before us, he has left traces of his own course, that we may follow his footsteps to the goal of Christian perfection: by making his own life a sacrifice, he has redeemed us from the power of death: by rising in triumph from the grave, he has enstamped with the seal of Almighty God, the title of his disciples to eternal life; and they may yield to the summons of death, in the sure and certain hope of a blessed immortality.