But all these things, this sacred day, this divine festival, places before our eyes. If, at the same time, we further remember, that we are in the house of God; that hither he comes to meet us on designs of infinite love; to forgive our sins, to renew, receive, and save our souls; that we stand before him as sinners, as apostates, condemned, ruined, helpless, and, in ourselves, hopeless, also; that we are suppliants for mere mercy, dependent on the obedience of another, and without any righteousness of our own; must we not feel our littleness and our guilt? Must we not, instinctively, lay our hands on our mouths, and our mouths in the dust, and cry, "Unclean?" Can we fail to fear that glorious and fearful name, JEHOVAH, our God?

This emotion every thing in the Scriptures conspires to improve and strengthen. The Law of God, with all its commands, promises and threatenings, its divine rewards and amazing penalties; the Gospel, with its solemn establishment of the Law, its remedies for the imperfections of the Law, as the means of life for sinners, its glorious invitations, supreme allurements, and heavenly promises; conspire with infinite force to persuade us to fear the Lord our God, and to tremble at his word. He, who is thoughtless and irreverent here, ought to have considered how he would have felt amid the thunders, the lightnings, the earthquake, the sound of the trumpet, and the flame of devouring fire, from which the Creator said, Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. To this man, more than to almost any other sinner, is addressed that humbling rebuke, The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib ; but Israel doth not know; my people doth not consider.

At the same time, the Sabbath is to be regarded with peculiar Joy.

All things relating to the Sabbath, are not only solemn, but joyful, things. At the Creation, a new Universe started up into being; and life, reason, virtue, and immortality, were given to an endless multitude of creatures. At the New Creation, an endless multitude of perishing sinners, destined to eternal sin and eternal wo, were recalled from the melancholy regions of death and depravity to immortal holiness, life, and glory. On these stupendous occasions all the Sons of God shouted for joy. We are still more interested in the last of them, than they could be: for we are the miserable beings, who are redeemed, and saved. On the Sabbath, the great body of the Church has been brought into the kingdom of grace, and prepared for the kingdom of glory. On the first Sabbath, upon which began the great work of erecting the kingdom of Christ in the world by the Apostles, three thousand souls were added unto the Lord. On the first Sabbath, the Apostles were baptized with the Holy Ghost, and with fire, and divinely empowered to spread salvation through the world. On the Sabbath, the souls of men have ever since been flocking into the kingdom of Christ, and taking possession of immortality. The Sabbath has

been the great means of preserving that kingdom. To the Sabbath it is owing, that the glad tidings of salvation are now heard in this desolate world. To the Sabbath it is owing, that in this land, where, ever since the deluge, nothing was heard but the howlings of wild beasts, the war-screams of savages, or the groans of torture and death, now through a thousand Churches is weekly resounded the music of heaven, and the proclamation of life eternal to mankind. The Sabbath is appropriately the accepted time; it is eminently the day of salvation. To the Sabbath will our salvation be owed, if we attain salvation. On the Sabbath, all Christian assemblies meet to offer up their humble prayers; to send up their hymns of praise to their Father who is in heaven; to teach, and receive, the words of eternal life; to be baptized in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; and to receive the body and blood of their crucified Redeemer. On the Sabbath, the Christian world bears, in this manner, no unhappy resemblance of heaven; and a little part of the melancholy hours of time becomes a fair image of the pure and never-ending Sabbath beyond the grave.

With these delightful things in view, can we fail to unite with the Church of the first-born, and the innumerable company of Angels, and repeat and respond their divine exultation? Shall not our sons bear an humble unison with theirs? Shall not the joy which they feel on the great business of this day, the repentance and return of sinners, find a welcome admission to our hearts? Shall we not rejoice in Him that made us; shall not the children of Zion be joyful in their King?

God on this day rejoiced over the creation, which his hands had made. Angels rejoiced in the wonders of the work, and in the divine Workman. Christ rejoiced over the Church, which he redeemed with his own blood. Heaven has rejoiced at every return of this delightful season; and renewed its transports over all the sons of Adam, whom this day has with divine efficacy raised from death to life. The Lord God is now our Sun, and our Shield. Now he gives grace and glory. This day he withholds no good thing from them that walk uprightly. Let mortals behold these things with wonder and gratulation; and anticipate the pure and permanent transports of the everlasting Sabbath in the heavens. Nor is this holy day to be less regarded with Gratitude.

All the benevolent things, which God has done for us, this day brings before our eyes. Our being, our daily blessings, our Redemption, our Salvation, the resumed character of holiness, the title to endless life, the final escape from sin and misery, this heavenly season proclaims with an unceasing voice. At this season, God comes down to dwell among men, devested, with respect to all who are willing to receive him, of the awful frowns of an offended Judge, clothed with the smiles of an eternal benefactor, and adorned with the endearing titles of the Father, the Redeemer,

and the Sanctifier, of man. Here, the calls to gratitude are all united. The blessings of earth and heaven, of time and eternity, here invite us to love, and praise, the Author of all our mercies. Can we fail to render to him according to his benefits? Can we fail, this day to ascribe blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, to Him that sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb, for ever and

ever.

4. How ought the Christian Church to bless God for this Insti

tution.

To this Institution we owe far the greater part of the spiritual blessings, which we enjoy; and in a high sense, we owe them all. But for this day, we should neither have sought, nor secured, eternal life for where no Sabbath is, there is no religion. But for this day, earthly things would have engrossed all our thoughts. Honour, wealth, and pleasure, are the real Syrens, which charm mankind to shipwreck and death. To their songs the ear of man is by nature attuned, and the heart beats in regular response. But for this day, the world, as a canker, would rust, corrupt, and consume all the disposition to piety, and all the hopes of heaven. The soul would be benumbed. Religion would die. God would be forgotten. The death of Christ would be vain. Mankind, would cease to be saved: and heaven would fail of her destined inhabitants. How desolate the prospect! How strongly would this world resemble the regions of final despair; where no Sabbath dawns; where no prayers nor praises ascend; no sermons proclaim pardon and peace to sinners; the voice of mercy never sounds; and the smiles of forgiving, redeeming, and sanctifying love never illumine the dreary valley of the shadow of death.

All things, pertaining to salvation, are social things; things of general participation and powerful sympathy. They exist chiefly in multitudes. Without the Sabbath, there is no reason to believe, that they could exist at all. Not where one is employed in reli gious worship, merely, nor principally; but where two or three are met together in the name of Christ; is his presence promised. Not in the closet, the recess, or the solitude, but on Zion, whither the tribes go up, has the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.

5. What an illustrious type is the Sabbath, of the everlasting rest, enjoyed by the Children of God!

The Sabbath is a rest from sin, business, and pleasure; a day, in which God is worshipped, divine knowledge improved, and holiness attained and increased; a day, in which saints delightfully commune, and joyfully celebrate the wonders of Creation, and the sublimer wonders of Redemption. On the Sabbath, God is peculiarly present, reconciled, forgiving, and sanctifying; and the spirit of truth eminently communicates comfortable evidence of divine love, whispers peace, and inspires joy. The Sabbath is, therefore, the day of hope and consolation, of enjoyment and

triumph; the foretaste of heaven; the entrance to the glorious assembly of the blessed.

The future rest of the children of God is divinely formed of these delightful ingredients. Here eternal peace begins its undisturbed reign over all the great kingdom of Jehovah. Here, immortal minds are consummated in that holiness, which is the image of the heavenly Adam. Here, those minds, in the exercise of that holiness, with exalted friendship, and pure unbosomed intercourse, commence their everlasting joy. Here, God is all in all. Here, he unveils his face, and discloses the smiles of infinite love to the assembly of the first born. And here, the Lamb, the glory of God, and the light of heaven, illumines all their thoughts, quickens all their affections, feeds them with living bread, leads them to fountains of living waters, and awakens into transport, their hymns of never-ending praise.

SERMON CX.

FIFTH COMMANDMENT.-DUTY OF CHILDREN.

EXODUS XX. 12.-Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

THE four first Commands of the Decalogue enjoin those which are called the Duties of Piety. These were written on the first table; and were summed up by Moses, and by Christ, in this general one: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. We are now entering upon the consideration of the six last; directing what are commonly called the duties of Morality, or our duties towards mankind. These were written upon the second table, and are summed up by Moses, by Christ, and by St. Paul, in the second great command, styled by St. James, the Royal law: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. The first of these Commands is the text. As a general preface to the observations, which I propose to make, successively, on these Commands, it will be proper to remark, that they are universally to be extended according to the interpretation, given by our Saviour of the sixth and seventh, in his Sermon on the Mount. In commenting on the former of these, Christ teaches us, that to be angry with our brother without a cause, to say unto him Raca, or thou fool, is to be guilty of a breach of this command. In commenting on the seventh, he declares that whosoever looketh on a woman, to lust after her, the same hath committed adultery with her, already, in his heart. Generally, all these precepts are to be considered as directing our duty, in all respects, which by inference or analogy, can be fairly arranged under them. Accordingly, (to give an example) I shall consider this command as regulating the duties, reciprocally owed by parents and children, magistrates and subjects, and by other classes of mankind in their several relations. That I am warranted in this mode of explaining these precepts, is, I think, evident from the conduct of our Saviour. I shall only add, that in this manner they have been generally understood by divines, and extensively declared in Catechisms: For example, in that of the Westminster Assembly, that of Dr. Nowell, and that of King Edward. In the examination of the subjects, involved in this command, I shall begin with that, which is directly expressed: THE DUTY OF CHILDREN to their PARENTS.