to follow in the way in which He has gone before you? Ought it not to endear to you all the means of grace and refreshment which He has Himself ordained for the use and comfort of His people; and particularly the sacrament of His own body and blood; and to urge you to a grateful and constant attendance upon them, that, feeding upon Him, you may be strengthened under every trial of your faith and patience; and, notwithstanding all your difficulties, may indeed wax stronger and stronger? Remember his own words: "In the world ye shall have tribulation." "You now,

therefore, have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you."

Now, it appears very evident from the whole of our national ritual, and from that part of it which has given rise to the foregoing remarks in particular, that our venerable forefathers, who were permitted to compile a form of prayer, which was to be handed down from generation to generation, in this country, were themselves experienced Christians, and well acquainted with the various fluctuations in the life of faith.

As such, they were qualified for the office to which they were called; an office which they most certainly discharged with admir able success; and doubtless to the edification of many of the Lord's dearest people, from their own to the present day. A volume, prepared under such peculiar circumstances, has, surely, high claims upon us for our most grateful veneration, and our uniform and devoted attention. But is not our love for that volume founded too much upon national, political, or sectarian considerations; and too little excited by the scriptural purity of its character, and its remarkable adaptation to the wants and circumstances of exercised Christians? Multitudes, it is to be feared, attach a high importance to the book, to whom the deep spirituality, and the generally searching character of its devotions, are perfectly dry and uninteresting. It is needless to say, their worship must be wholly formal and unprofitable. Oh! it requires somewhat of the Spirit by which the hearts of the saints, to whom we have reference, and whose names will be held in everlasting remembrance, were animated, to be able to enter

into this production of their spiritual labours; a Spirit which, if it be vouchsafed us, will not fail of bringing down blessings from above on ourselves, the church of the living God, our country, and the world at large.

SERMON V.

UNPROFITABLE HEARING THE EFFECT OF

UNBELIEF.

HEB. iv. 2.

The word preached did not profit them; not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.

THE journeying of the children of Israel through the wilderness, from Egypt to the promised land, may be regarded as a very remarkable figure of the passage of the people of Christ through this present world, to the regions of everlasting life and glory. They were favoured, for a great length of time, in a most remarkable manner; they had the ordinances of God, as the means of their support and their enjoyment; and they had the most desirable termination of their labours set before them, by the express

promise of the word of God.

Yet they

hardened their hearts, and would not believe. The Lord, therefore, sware in His wrath, that they "should not enter into his rest." And it is most plainly declared, for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come, "that they could not enter in, because of unbelief." The word of God, with which they were favoured, by which all the blessings of Canaan were set before them, and by which they were invited to enter into the enjoyment of those blessings, "did not profit them, not being mixed with faith," not being believed. "Let "Let us, therefore, fear," says St. Paul to the Hebrew Christians, "lest a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it." The chosen people of the Lord shall all enter into His rest; and it is theirs, when they have been effectually called out of darkness into light, as well for their own comfort, as for the welfare of the church at large, and the glory of Him whose they are, to be careful that they do not seem to come short of it.

The apostle's admonition is calculated to read an awakening lesson to all who call