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the caution of our Lord, not only to Scripture itself, but to those explanations of Scripture, which we call sermons. That preaching is one of the means of grace and edification appointed by God himself, there cannot be a doubt. Whether it is to convert the sinner, or to strengthen the converted; woe will it be to us, if we 'preach not the Gospel, warning every man, and teaching every man, in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus."

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But though preaching be a means, it is not the only means, it is not the greatest means of salvation. For what are we here assembled? not to hear the word of man, but the word of God. This is "the house of prayer," we are here assembled, to offer up our praises and our prayers to God, to confess our sins, to implore pardon for our offences, to hear the Gospel of reconciliation and of peace. This is the main purpose of our assembling on this holy day, and in this holy place. Men are apt to forget this. They come to church as if the sermon, and the sermon only, was the end of their meeting. Now let the advantage they derive from the sermon be what it may, what is it when compared with the advantage which they might derive from prayer, and from the word of God? But, after all, what can be the advantage of preaching, if these are neglected? We abandon the greater means, we

pass over the more material duty; in what state then are our hearts? certainly not in a state to profit by what we hear. And what is generally the case? we come for amusement, not for instruction; we come to gratify our ears, not to enlarge our faith, or to purify our hearts. Preaching, though a powerful and indispensable, is still a subordinate, means of grace; and by considering it as subordinate, we can alone make it profitable to us.

Again, take heed how ye hear; if the ears alone are gratified, the ears will soon be offended. One preacher we account too plain, another too learned; one too long, another too short. True it is, that the fault may be in the preacher, but the greater fault is in the hearer. A heart devoted to God will derive more advantage from the worst and the dullest sermon, than a heart devoted to the world will from the best and most eloquent. There are some habits so weak and so diseased, as to derive no support from the richest food; there are others so healthy and strong as to extract life and nourishment from the poorest fare. Even amidst the chaff of human folly, there must be some few grains of the seed of eternal life. The text of the preacher must be Scripture: upon that text let us extend our meditations; if nothing that he advances will assist us, we have still that one grain, which

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if it be sown in an humble and a devout heart, will spring up into a spiritual harvest. Look not then to the preacher for amusement, or for gratification. Look not for the "enticing words which man's wisdom teacheth;" for such even the great Apostle himself despised. He came, as he expresses it, with "the foolishness of preaching," to save souls; he came not with the eloquence of man, but with the power of God. Bring then a heart full of devotion to the preacher, and then, if the blessing of God be not with him, at least, it will be with you. Let his discourse be as barren as it may, you will yet derive moisture and nourishment from it. A heart devoted to God and to his word, will make "the wilderness of the preacher like Eden, and his desert like the garden of the Lord."

Hear, again, with assiduity and with perseverance; not only, like Felix, at a convenient season, for that season, in his case, never came; in yours, when it does come, it will come without profit, and without edification.

And, above all, so "take heed how ye hear," as in the words of St. James, to be "doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your ownselves. For if a man be a hearer only, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass; for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth

what manner of man he was." "Heaping to ourselves teachers having itching ears," will in no wise advance our salvation; for this, remember, is the great end of all our hearing. Let us so hear the word of God, whether it be read or preached, as to apply it to ourselves, to our failings, and to our sins. Let us so apply it as to purify our hearts, and amend our lives; so that while our hope is animated, and our faith is enlarged, every Christian grace and virtue may grow, and flourish in us. Laying then aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisy, as new born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may profit thereby."

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SERMON XXXII.

PHILIPPIANS iv. 4.

Rejoice in the Lord alway, and again, I say, rejoice.

Or all the subjects, which in every age and in every country, have amused the fancy of the poet, or employed the speculations of the moralist; there is not one which has so effectually perplexed their imagination, or baffled their efforts, as the nature and the means of happiness. The infinite variety of occupations in which mankind are busied, the numberless paths in which their feet are engaged, however contrary in their direction, or opposite in their course, have all the same end proposed, and all terminate in the same object of pursuit. Happiness is the motive of all their exertions, and the prize of all their labours. How rarely their toils have been rewarded by the attainment of their object, let the experience of ages testify; and how fortunate that man may be considered, who finds even a transitory gleam of joy in the pursuit.

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