earthly pilgrimage, and gild his prospects here with the view of brighter scenes hereafter. Never let us forget that the Saviour whom we revere has every the strongest claim on our gratitude and obedience; that to Him we ought ever to turn with hearty repentance and with lively faith; that in Him we are blessed with the most powerful of all advocates, that to His merits we may trust, as to a firm rock which will never be shaken. Never let us forget that neglect of all religious duties and interests, and, what is implied under it, a want of proper reverence for the God who made us and the Saviour who redeemed us, and of care for the salvation of our immortal souls-that this is the worst and most dangerous of all follies. The most bigotted and misguided enthusiast, if he be but sincere in his principles, rises up in judgment against the lukewarm and indifferent Christian, and brings him to shame; for, undoubtedly, that trembling and excessive anxiety about the interests of eternity, which overpowers the cooler dictates of reason, and leads to some wildness and extravagance, is founded on a wiser principle, at least, than utter carelessness and indifference about a matter of such overwhelming importance. Indifference to all religious considerations might indeed be reasonable and good, if we could really bring ourselves to entertain

doubts whether we have immortal souls to save; whether there is a life beyond the grave, our interests in which entirely depend upon our present conduct; whether there exists a God who observes the ways of men, and has claims on their duty and obedience; whether the eternal Son of God, who died upon the cross for our redemption, will hereafter come to bring every soul of man into judgment. But, if these truths do come home to our belief with an authority which admits of no question, then is it indeed most unreasonable in principle, as well as most dangerous in practice, to give them no serious place in our thoughts, to allow them no availing influence on our conduct.

While, therefore, we scrupulously endeavour to avoid the faulty excesses of a mistaken righteousness, let us be doubly cautious to escape the more dangerous and fatal error of a careless want of attention to all religious interests and duties. Above all,-and here I would be understood particularly to address the weak and irresolute Christian, all those who are liable to be wrought upon unduly by feelings of false shame, or to be influenced in the proper discharge of their duties by the scoffs or ridicule of men— above all, let no ill-grounded fear of being falsely reputed "righteous overmuch," be suffered to turn us from that course of conduct which our

consciences approve, or restrain us from regularly serving our Creator, and framing all our lives with a view to His favour. It is our Saviour Himself who has said, "Whosoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels "."

Mark viii. 38.

SERMON XV.

THE INTERMEDIATE STATE.

LUKE Xxiii. 43.

And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, to-day thou shalt be with me in Paradise.

It might be difficult to find a passage in Scripture which has given birth to so much interesting and various discussion as these words of our blessed Lord on the cross to the penitent thief; words spoken by the Saviour of the world at a moment above every other the most important to the happiness of all mankind.

It is my purpose, in the present Discourse, to waive the consideration of other topics to which the words would easily lead us, and to confine my attention principally to one subject, most interesting to every human being, namely, the immediate destination of the soul of man after the dissolution of those ties which bind it to its earthly tenement. It is my purpose to deduce from this text, and to confirm from other

scriptural expressions, considerations which may strengthen us in the belief that the souls of men do not, in the period which intervenes between their separation from the body and the general resurrection, sink into a condition of dull and lifeless torpor, but that they are conveyed to some abode, where they still retain their active powers, and are still alive to feelings and affections; where, probably, portions of joy or suffering are assigned to them, such as are suited to the degrees of purity, holiness, and perfection, or of sinfulness and corruption, in which they have quitted their earthly tenements; until, at the last, at the great consummation of all things, at the day of final retribution, the dead clay will again rise into life, will again be united to its kindred spirit, and every son and daughter of man will receive, by a solemn sentence, a doom unchangeable of happiness or misery.

It is important to consider with attention the circumstances under which the words of my text were spoken. Of the two malefactors crucified with our blessed Lord, one, impelled by depravity the most hardened, railed at Him as He hung exposed to the same common fate; the other, however, endowed with correcter feelings, passed on his reprobate fellow-sufferer a just and expressive rebuke. "Dost thou not fear God," "seeing thou art in the same condem

he says,

nation: and we indeed justly, for we receive the