heaviest denunciations of the Divine Word are put forth: "When ye come to appear before me, whe hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts' -When ye spread forth your hands, I will hik mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make ma prayers, I will not hear."

This, my brethren, is an evil against which cannot be too frequently or solemnly warned. Th is the sin that doth more easily beset the professe worshippers of God. To rest in the services of t ligion as an ultimate end, and to forget that the chief purpose is to promote our moral improveme and to fit us for the practical scenes and duties of manity, are errors against which it requires all vigilance to guard us. Never let us forget tha worship God in truth demands a holy and obed life separate devotion from obedience, kneel prayer with a polluted heart and unholy hands, you insult the Majesty of heaven and earth. Er more let our lives accord with the worship which offer. Let us carry out into the world, and embody our daily conduct, the holy sentiments which breathe at the footstool of our Father's throne. membering that the attributes of Deity are br before us in the house of prayer and praise, not a jects of indolent philosophical contemplation, but we may be animated to become followers of Go dear children, let us seek to imitate the moral ex lence which we profess to love, and exercise justice which we worship, and practise the bener lence which we praise. Thus shall our ser

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prove profitable to ourselves, and to all with whom we are connected, and, through the merits of a better service, shall be acceptable to Him who, though he "dwells in the high and holy place," lends a gracious ear to the praises and the prayers of the meanest earthly worshipper that " worships in spirit and in truth."

SERMON XX.

JOHN, vi. 68, 69.-" Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe, and are sure, that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God."

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"THIS child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign that shall be spoken against, that the thoughts of many hearts may revealed," was the prediction uttered by the venerable Simeon while he held the infant Messiah in his arms. And during even the personal ministry of Christ, the prophecy was often most affectingly confirmed. The doctrine of Jesus was, in truth, the occasion of "the rising" of many in Israel. They who believed his mission and received his doctrine, were set free from the superstitions that degraded and enslaved their countrymen,-set free from that load of ceremonies which neither they nor their fathers were able to bear,—and, sustained by the promises of mercy, were called to the lofty pursuit of glory, honour, and immortality. But there were many who were offended in him," and of whose "fall" he was the innocent and guiltless occasion. The doctrine he delivered was so new in itself, and so humbling in its tendency, that many of his countrymen turned away from it, and " rejected the counsel of God against themselves." The manner, too, in which he delivered the doctrine of the king

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dom gave them offence. The figurative and parabolical language which he employed was frequently the stumbling-block and rock of offence. It was a proper trial of the humility and teachableness of those to whom his doctrines were addressed. It was, however, a trial which they could not always stand; and, therefore, instead of waiting with becoming docility for farther instruction in the doctrine of the kingdom, they turned away and forsook the Master who was willing to guide them to everlasting life.

Of this folly of many who frequented the ministry of our Lord,-who revolted at the humbling doctrines which he taught, and who were impatient of the seeming mystery and obscurity in which they were occasionally delivered, a very melancholy illustration is afforded by that portion of our Lord's history to which the words of St Peter direct our attention. Instead of encouraging the vain dream of a temporal sovereignty in which many of his followers indulged, Jesus informed them that other and nobler purposes were to be accomplished by his mission; that he came to give himself a sacrifice for the children of men; and that a participation in the benefits of this sacrifice was the only means of securing present peace or attaining to future glory. This doctrine, as well as the mysterious and metaphorical language in which it was conveyed, was so opposite to all their prejudices and expectations, that many of those who had crowded so eagerly around the expected assertor of their national independence, and the restorer of their na

tional grandeur, soon grew weary of listening to a teacher who, instead of delineating the glory to which he was about to conduct them, and calling upon them to prepare for the combat and the triumph, announced himself as the living bread that came down from heaven, and apprized them that the eating of his flesh and the drinking of his blood were the only means of peace and joy. The language was no doubt obscure and startling; but a little attention and reflection would have satisfied them that Jesus spoke of the moral efficacy of the doctrine which he taught, and of the sacrifice of atonement which he was about to offer. But even

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this, how plainly and explicitly soever it had been announced, would not have met their prejudices or satisfied their hopes; and, therefore, humbled and disappointed, they "went back and walked no more with him." These were not the promises which they expected their Messiah to offer, or the hopes which they trusted he would inspire. They were hard sayings, and they could not bear them." They retired from his presence dissatisfied and discouraged; and, betaking themselves to their several employments or pleasures, sought no more the converse and instruction of Him who " spake as never man spake." This desertion of his ministry Jesus viewed with pity; for he who wept over Jerusalem, and mourned the disregard which its inhabitants had shown of the things which belonged to their peace, could not behold unmoved so large a portion of his countrymen thus publicly rejecting the counsel of God against themselves. As he turned from the