proach to such idolatrous worship. The Supreme Being, who is Spirit, embracing all perfection, pervading all space, must be degraded by any material representation. His essence is so pure, so exalted, so mysterious, that no thought of man can approach to the adequate conception of it, much less can his hand shape out its resemblance. And, as such a practice must, in all circumstances, be greatly degrading to His transcendant majesty, so must it tend to generate and confirm false unworthy notions of His nature and attributes, and give a wrong turn and character to all the worship which is paid to Him.

Such then were the topics, and such the reasonings, by which the Christian Apostle declared to his heathen hearers "the unknown God." He thus conveyed to them a knowledge fully sufficient to lay the foundation of right opinion, to draw them off from superstitious worship, to prepare them to understand the leading truths of natural religion, as explained, sanctioned, and enforced by Revelation. But, if he spake to the Athenians, to erring gross-minded idolaters on this important occasion, he spake likewise to us, he spake to Christians of every age. He addressed to all mankind a representation of the true nature of God, of the service which we should pay to Him, of the feelings with

which we should turn to Him, more correct, more sublime, more clearly defined, than we meet with in the pages of any uninspired writers. And, in proportion as we are blessed indeed in the possession of this knowledge; in proportion as, raised above the degrading errors of heathen superstition, we enjoy that clear light of divine truth, which revelation has poured into our minds: we should gratefully acknowledge the high advantages we possess, and apply them to the regulation of our hearts and disposition, to the improvement of our practice, and to the exaltation of our hopes. As we are assured that there is one true God, a Being of unbounded excellence, infinite in power, wisdom, and goodness, exalted in majesty far above all that the mind of man can conceive; we should fill our hearts with a glowing sense of His perfections, we should adore His holy name with every member which we have. As we know that He commands the tribute of our service, not for His own benefit, but for ours; that His favour is not to be obtained by outward offering or incense; we should be most careful to worship Him in spirit and in truth, with sincere inward feeling, with the lowliest sense of our dependance, with that service which comes glowing from the heart. As we know Him to be a pure Spirit, who pervades every part of created nature, One

to whom the hidden springs of action are all laid open; in whom we all live and move and have our being; to whose power and providence we are subject every moment; from whom we derive all that we are, all that we have, all that we hope to have; we should make the endeavour to please Him, the great end and aim of our being, and look to His favouring protection as our only source of true happiness both in this world and in that which is to come.

SERMON XIII.

ST. PAUL AT ATHENS.

ACTS xvii. 30.

And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent, because he hath appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained.

THE Apostle, having imparted to his Athenian hearers that knowledge which was a necessary foundation and preparation for all belief in Christianity, the knowledge of the one supreme invisible God, the Creator and the Lord of universal nature, who dwelleth not in temples made with hands, who giveth to all life and breath and all things, in whom we live and move and have our being, and who, being a pure all-pervading Spirit, cannot be worthily represented by any form of man's device; proceeds to unfold to their minds the great doctrines of a resurrection from the grave, and a future universal judgment. These are truths which may be called peculiar

to the revelation of the Gospel. They give to man a more exalted feeling of his rank in the scale of creation, and of the great destinies of his being; open before him extended prospects; quicken within his soul every impulse of hope and fear, and urge him by the most availing of all motives to religious obedience. But, while under the prevalence of heathen darkness, some faint glimmerings only of this valuable light had beamed upon the world; while the knowledge of any existence after death was entirely matter of obscure conjecture, by none distinctly understood, by few, if by any, firmly and steadily believed; while respecting an equal retributory judgment beyond the grave, all was fable and wild surmise; and while, in the preparatory dispensation given to the chosen people, the design of Providence did not extend to the full discovery of these great truths; it was reserved for the revelation of the Gospel to unfold them clearly and distinctly, to place them on a solid foundation, to confirm them by indisputable proofs. It was reserved for the revelation of Him, who brought life and immortality to light, to impart to us the assurance of the resurrection of the body as well as of the soul; of a resurrection to be followed by a general judgment, in which every hidden thing will be brought to light, in which all that appears now to be unequal