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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2011 with funding from 
 
 Princeton Theological Seminary Library 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/sevensermonschieOOscot 
 
SEVEN 
 
 SERMONS, 
 
 CHIEFLY 
 
 ADDRESSED TO YOUNG PERSONS, 
 
 ON 
 
 THE FOLLOWING SUBJECTS: 
 
 I. BAPTISM, II Iir. THE LORD'S SUPPER, 
 
 II. CONFIRMATION, ][ IV. THE SABBATH. 
 
 By JOHN^COTT, A.M. 
 
 VICAR OF NORTH FERRIBY, AND LECTURER IN THE 
 HOLY TRINITY CHURCH, HULL. 
 
 A New Edition, revised. 
 
 " Remember thy Creator in the days of thy Youth" is a 
 precept big with the deepest wisdom. 
 
 IORD CHATHAM. 
 
 London : 
 
 PRINTED FOR L. B. SEELEY, 169, FLEET-STREET; 
 
 By J. Seeley, Buckingham : 
 
 SOLD ALSO BY THE BOOKSELLERS AT HULL; AND BY 
 WOLSTENHOLME, YORK. 
 
 1815. 
 Price Three Shillings and Sixpence in boards. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 1 
 
 THE first six of these Sermons icere preached partly in 
 1807, and partly in 1809, and published in the latter of 
 those years. Some animadversions on an obnoxious pub- 
 lication now sunk into oblivion, winch were annexed in the 
 form of notes, it has been thought no longer necessary to 
 retain. 
 
 The seventh Sermon was preached before the Magistrates 
 of Hull, in 1807, and has been twice published before, with 
 Appendices on societies for the suppression of vice, and on 
 Sunday-evening Lectures. The Ajypendices, together with 
 such passages of the Sermon as appeared only of local 
 application, are now omitted. 
 
 The following paragraph formed part of the advertisement 
 originally prefixed to that discourse. 
 
 1 To some readers an apology may appear necessary for 
 1 the very free use which has been made of the writings of a 
 1 celebrated divine, and moral philosopher, from many of 
 1 whose principles, both in religion and in morals, the author 
 e must avow a decided dissent. But the quotations them- 
 
 * selves must plead their own cause. If they strongly tend 
 6 to impress the minds of men with regard for the Sabbath, 
 ' and love for the public worship of God, this, it is hoped, 
 
 * mill fully justify their insertion, even in more copious 
 1 measure than the rules of good composition might warrant. 
 ' But, further than this, the author certainly considered it 
 6 as no small advantage, to be able to introduce such senti- 
 c ments, as several here alluded to, in the words of a writer, 
 
 * whom all allow to have possessed great talents, and a very 
 1 enlightened and liberal mind, and who has never been 
 
 * charged with exceeding on the side of strictness.' 
 
By the same Author, 
 
 1. The Christian Minister's serious and affectionate 
 Address to persons presenting a child to be baptized. 
 3d edit, if d. 
 
 2. The Destiny of Israel: a Discourse on the past 
 dealings, and future revealed designs of Divine Providence, 
 with respect to that extraordinary people. Is. 6d. 
 
 3. A Sermon on the Bible Society — exhibiting an 
 epitome of the Society's Reports and Correspondence. 
 2d edit. 1*. 
 
 4. A Sermon addressed to the British prisoners of war 
 lately returned from France. 6d. 
 
 5. The fatal consequences of "Lirpntionsness! a Sermon 
 occasioned by the trial of a young woman for the murder 
 of her illegitimate child. 5th edit. 6d. fine Is. 
 
 6. An Essay on the Internal Evidences of Christianity. 
 2d edit, 3s. boards. 
 
 7. The Importance of the Sabbath : a Sermon, (being 
 the seventh of the following series,^ with Appendices on 
 Societies for the suppression of Vice, and on Sunday 
 Evening Lectures. 2d. edit. Is. fine Is. 6d. 
 
 8. Some Account of Societies for the Reformation of 
 Manners, at the beginning of the 18th, and of Associations 
 for the suppression of Vice, at the beginning of the 19th 
 century : being an Appendix to the above Sermon. 2d 
 edit. 3d. 
 
 %* A new Edition of the Rev. T. Scott's Family Bible, 
 in 6 vols 4to, price 71. 10s. is just published by L. B. Seeley, 
 169, Fleet Street, and may be had by application to the 
 Author, Aston Sandford, Thame, Oxon ; the Rev. J. Scott, 
 Hull; the Rev.T. Scott, jun. Buckingham j or the Rev. B» 
 Scott, Redditch, Worcestershire. 
 
** 
 
 SERMOR I. 
 
 ON BAPTISM. 
 
 S. Matthew, xxviii. 19, 20. 
 
 ' Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in 
 the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
 Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things 
 whatsoever I have commanded you : and lo 1 1 am with 
 you alway, even unto the end of the world.' Amen, 
 
 xxFTER our blessed Saviour's resurrection from 
 the dead, he continued with his apostles and 
 disciples " forty days, speaking to them of the 
 " things pertaining to the kingdom of God : " * 
 — more fully explaining the nature of his religion, 
 and the steps by which he would have them 
 proceed to establish his church in the world. 
 
 The words of my text were among the direc- 
 tions then delivered. They are some of " the 
 " last words" of Jesus Christ ; if not the very last 
 words which he spake, before " he was taken 
 " up towards heaven, and a cloud received him 
 " out of" human " sight:"— —a circumstance 
 which cannot but add to the interest we take in 
 * Acts i. 3. 
 B 
 
2 
 
 them, though their intrinsic beauty and impor- 
 tance render every other recommendation need- 
 less. 
 
 " All power/' said the risen and just ascend- 
 ing Saviour, " is given unto me in heaven and 
 " in earth/' And mark his first exercise of 
 the power thus committed to him, in his media- 
 torial character. It is, to throw wide the doors 
 of salvation to the whole race of mankind, that 
 '* whosoever will" may enter them; and to pro- 
 mise his universal and uninterrupted presence to 
 his church, however despised or afflicted her lot! 
 
 " All power is given unto me in heaven and 
 in earth : Go ye, therefore, and teach," or, 
 more literally, " make disciples of, all nations, 
 " baptizing them in the name of the Father, and 
 " of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; teaching 
 
 * them to observe all things whatsoever I have 
 " commanded you. And lo ! I am with you 
 " alway, even unto the end of the world." — Well 
 may the evangelist subjoin his devout " Amen ! " 
 
 * So be it, blessed Lord !' 
 
 But who, let me ask, that was not God as 
 well as man, could, with any meaning, make 
 such a promise, " Lo ! I am with you alway, 
 *' even unto the end of the world ? " or, without 
 impiety, require the nations of the earth to be 
 baptized in his name, m common with that of the 
 eternal Father? 
 
 The Christian sacrament of Baptism, thus in- 
 stituted, will form the subject of the present dis- 
 course. 
 
All of you, it may be presumed, have received 
 Christian baptism. Many of you, as parents or 
 sponsors, have presented others to be baptized.: 
 and many of you are about to renew the vows 
 of baptism, in Confirmation. It behoves you all 
 seriously to attend to the subject. I pray God, 
 that you may do so to your lasting benefit ! 
 
 1. The first question which may naturally be 
 asked respecting baptism is, Why do we use such 
 a rite? Our text furnishes the answer: Christ 
 has commanded it. 
 
 We are satisfied also, that it is ' most agree- 
 able with the institution of Christ,' * and the 
 practice of his apostles, that the children of 
 those, who have embraced his religion, should 
 be received into his church by this sacrament, a^s 
 the children of Jewish parents were incorporated 
 into the Old Testament Church by circumcision.f 
 
 2. But a further question arises, Why did our 
 Lord appoint such a ritel. a rite which can carry 
 with it no virtue, no efficacy, of its own? 
 
 To this we may reply, first, that various ab- 
 lutions having been appointed among the Jews, 
 as the means of purification from ceremonial 
 defilement, it had by degrees become customary 
 with them, to baptize every proselyte whom 
 they received from the heathen nations. Hence 
 
 * Church Articles, xxvii. t Gen. xvii. 
 
 B 2 
 
this was to them a familiar sign of embracing a 
 new religion, and entering upon a new and more 
 pure course of life. 
 
 John the Baptist accordingly adopted it, by 
 divine appointment,* as a token of repentance ; 
 and called not only upon gentiles, as the Jews 
 had done, but upon the Jews themselves to re- 
 ceive " the baptism of repentance," and to bring 
 forth the " fruits of repentance," if they would 
 not be excluded from the kingdom of the 
 Messiah, which was about to be set up in the 
 world, and of which they had imagined themselves 
 the natural heirs.f 
 
 And hence we may add, as a second and prin- 
 cipal reason why our Lord appointed this ordi- 
 nance, — that the rite itself is very significant. 
 It is not merely an arbitrary, but a very natural, 
 sign, of the ' inward and spiritual grace/ which 
 it is intended to represent. 
 
 3. This then introduces a third question, What 
 is intended by this sign? What does baptism 
 represent to us? 
 
 It represents washing from sin. It signifies to 
 us, that, as our bodies are cleansed by being 
 washed with water, so do our souls need to be 
 purified from sin. 
 
 And this purification from sin is two-fold : 
 first, by the blood of Christ; and, secondly, by 
 the grace of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 * John i. 33. t Matt. iii. Compare Dan. ii. 44. 
 
€t The blood of Jesus Christ/' we read, " cleans- 
 <e eth us from all sin." They " have washed their 
 " robes, and made them white in the blood of 
 " the Lamb." " Unto him that loved us," saith 
 St. John, *' and washed us from our sins in his 
 " own blood — to him be glory and dominion 
 '* for ever and ever." * 
 
 By this is meant, our deliverance from con- 
 demnation and punishment ; and the removal of 
 guilty fears from our conscience; our being 
 "justified by the blood," or '* through faith in 
 " the blood" of Jesus Christ! 
 
 And the reason why these benefits are ascribed 
 to his blood is this, that, by his death upon the 
 cross, he hath made atonement for our sins: 
 hath made such a display of the evil of sin, and 
 of the holiness and justice of the divine charac- 
 ter; hath so asserted the honour of the divine 
 law and government; that God may now be 
 glorious in the salvation of sinners, whose 
 perdition his perfections otherwise required. 
 Through this propitiation God is "just," while 
 he is " the justifkr" of sinners that " believe 
 " in Jesus."J 
 
 Through this medium, therefore, that is, through 
 a " Mediator, who gave himself a ransom" for 
 us, is all mercy exercised, all pardon granted. 
 " By him all that believe are justified from all 
 " things:" but " there is none other name 
 
 * John i. 7. Rev. i. 5, 6. vii. 14. 
 t Rom. iii. 25. v. 9. Heb. ix. 14. % Rom. iii. 24 — 26. iv. 5. 
 B 3 
 
u under heaven given among men whereby we 
 " must be saved." 
 
 Let him, who has hitherto remained careless 
 about his sins, hear these solemn truths and take 
 warning ! Let the guilty conscience hear them 
 and be emboldened to return unto God, plead- 
 ing the name of his Son ! Let all hear and apply 
 them for their souls' health ! 
 
 The other way in which we are to be washed 
 from sin is, by the regenerating, sanctifying 
 grace of the Holy Spirit, purifying our hearts 
 and lives from the polluting love and practice of 
 sin. " According to his mercy he saved us/' 
 saith St. Paul, (speaking of true Christians,) 
 " by the washing of regeneration, and renewing 
 " of the Holy Ghost." 
 
 The blessing, of which we last spoke, may be 
 compared to the pardoning of a criminal, who 
 must otherwise suffer the sentence of the law: 
 that of which we now speak, to the curing of 
 some deadly disease, which would otherwise in- 
 fallibly destroy the unhappy surFerer who laboured 
 under it. 
 
 Both these blessings our necessitous situation 
 indispensably requires: both, blessed be God! 
 are amply provided for us in the gospel. Though 
 distinct, they are inseparable. To procure for 
 us pardon and peace with God, is the peculiar 
 work of 'God the Son, our Redeemer:' to 
 
" renew us in the spirit of our minds," that of 
 ' God the Holy Ghost, our Sanctifier/ 
 
 Both appear to be sometimes intended by the 
 figure of the baptismal water : but, as the atone- 
 ment of Christ, and our " justification by his 
 " blood," are especially set forth in the other 
 sacrament of the Lord's Supper ; so the grace of 
 the Holy Spirit, and our sanctification as effected 
 by it, seem to be particularly represented in 
 Baptism : * purifying water, and refining, trans- 
 forming fire, being the constant scriptural emblems 
 of the Holy Spirit. f 
 
 Accordingly our church, in her Catechism, 
 (alluding to our being ' buried/ as it is expressed, 
 in the water, and 'raised up again' from it,) 
 describes, * the inward and spiritual grace of 
 ' baptism' to be, \ a death unto sin, and new 
 1 birth unto righteousness :' for, as she else- 
 where admonishes us, we must f remember 
 * always, that baptism doth represent unto us 
 ' our profession, which is, to follow the example 
 ' of our Saviour Christ, and to be made like 
 1 unto him ; that, as he died and rose again for 
 ' us, so should we who are baptized die from sin, 
 
 * In this view, the two sacraments, and the great doc- 
 trines of atonement by the blood of Christ, and sanctifi- 
 cation by the grace of the Holy Spirit, mutually reflect 
 light and dignity upon each other. The doctrines explain 
 the sacraments; and the sacraments display most strik- 
 ingly the importance of those doctrines, to the commemo- 
 ration, the honour, and the illustration of which, the only 
 positive institutions of Christianity are dedicated. 
 
 t Is. xliv, 3, Ezek. xxxvi. 25—27. Matt. Hi. 11. Acts ii. 3. 
 
8 
 
 ' and rise again unto righteousness, continually 
 c mortifying all our evil and corrupt affections : 
 
 * and daily proceeding in all virtue and godliness 
 ' of living/ And, in her Article on the subject, 
 ' she declares baptism to be, ' a sign of regene- 
 ration or new birth,' that is, of that change of 
 heart and life of which we have spoken. 
 
 Our Lord also appears to view the subject 
 exactly in the same light, when, in his discourse 
 with Nicodemus,* he pronounces, " Verily, verily, 
 " I say unto thee, except a man be born of 
 " water and of the spirit," — of water as the 
 
 * outward and visible sign ; of the Holy Spirit, as 
 the giver of ' the inward and spiritual grace/ — 
 " he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." 
 
 But baptism is not only ' a sign' of these bless- 
 ings, but also, as the nature of a sacrament im- 
 plies, ' a pledge to assure us thereof/ if we rightly 
 seek them, and 'a means whereby we receive 
 ' the same/ if we properly use it.f Hereby, as 
 ' by an instrument, they that receive baptism 
 ' rightly are grafted into the church ; the pro- 
 ' mises of the forgiveness of sins, and of our 
 ' adoption to be the sons of God, by the Holy 
 ' Ghost, are visibly signed and sealed ; faith is 
 
 * confirmed, and grace increased by virtue of 
 
 * prayer unto God." % 
 
 And even iufants, who have committed no 
 
 * John iii. t Church Catechism. 
 
 % Church Articles, xxvii. 
 
actual sin, need this washing, and this renovation 
 of heart: because, as our church teaches us from 
 scripture, 'they are conceived and born in sin/* 
 And, beyond all doubt, they are capable of these 
 benefits. It is as much possible for them to re- 
 ceive from Him, who " filled" John the Baptist 
 " with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's 
 " womb," a new and right bent and disposition of 
 heart, (which shall discover itself as they become 
 capable of shewing their dispositions,) as it is 
 for them naturally to possess a wrong bent and 
 disposition of heart, which all experience evinces 
 that they do. 
 
 And this unspeakable blessing we may cherish 
 the hope that they shall enjoy, if we be sincere 
 and earnest, as we ought to be, in our prayers 
 for them. Hence our church says, that, * being 
 1 born in original sin, and in the wrath of God, 
 ' they are, by the laver of regeneration in bap- 
 1 tism, received into the number of the children 
 ' of God, and heirs of everlasting life/f Not 
 that she confounds what, in her catechism and 
 articles, she so carefully teaches us to distinguish, 
 
 * the outward and visible sign/ and ' the inward 
 
 * and spiritual grace : ' but, borrowing her lan- 
 guage from times when baptism and effectual 
 conversion to God were, comparatively, seldom 
 separated, she presumes, wherever she has no 
 evidence to the contrary, that, in answer to the 
 prayers of the congregation, and of pious 
 
 * Baptismal service, prefatory address, 
 t Private Bapt. serv. 
 
JO 
 
 friends, the inward grape accompanies the out- 
 ward sign : which, we may well believe, would 
 much more frequently be the case than it is, 
 were it not for the defect of faith and prayer, 
 in the several parties concerned. But, if the 
 after life, of the baptized person demonstrate the 
 sad fact, that in his instance this charitable 
 supposition was unfounded, far, far indeed, 
 would the church be from encouraging him to 
 hope, that he had, in such a state, any part or 
 lot in the eternal blessings of Christ's kingdom. 
 No! in that case, he is ' an inheritor of the 
 * kingdom of heaven' in no higher sense, than 
 those persons were, " children of the kingdom" 
 of whom our Lord, at the very time he gave 
 them this name, declared, that they should be 
 " cast out into outer darkness," * 
 
 We are baptized, then, because our Saviour 
 Christ hath commanded it : and he commanded 
 it, principally, we may believe, because it is an 
 impressive sign of purification from sin. 
 
 4. A further very important question arises, 
 what does baptism imply on the part of those 
 to whom it is administered, or of their repre- 
 sentatives? What do we pro/ess, when we receive 
 baptism, or present a child to be baptized ? f 
 
 * Matt. viii. 10—12. 
 
 t In the baptism of infants, every man present is ' put 
 f in remembrance of his own profession made to God in 
 ' his Baptism,'— Bapt. Service, 1st Rubrick. 
 
11 
 
 la the first place, it is evident, that we pro- 
 fess our belief of Christianity, our reception of 
 Christ as our Saviour, and our unreserved sub- 
 mission to his doctrines and precepts. — Baptism 
 was originally designed as a visible and public 
 profession of becoming Christ's disciples, and 
 embracing his religion. " Go ye, make disciples 
 " of all nations, baptizing them," — is the language 
 of my text. 
 
 And, in an age when Christianity, yet new in 
 the world, was rejected by Jews, despised by 
 gentiles, and persecuted by all, to make this 
 profession was no small proof of sincere faith in 
 Christ, and devout attachment to his cause. 
 Then, at least, it might reasonably be presumed, 
 that few would submit to receive the outward 
 and visible sign, who did not already possess, in 
 some degree, the inward and spiritual grace. 
 
 But circumstances are now changed. Now it is 
 discreditable not to profess ourselves Christians : 
 and therefore thousands will now present their 
 children for baptism, and for confirmation, who 
 neither themselves live as the disciples of Christ, 
 nor desire that their children should do so : nay, 
 who would be pained at heart to see their chil- 
 dren fulfilling their baptismal vows, by renoun- 
 cing the ' pomps and vanity of this wicked world/ 
 and conscientiously making, not the customs and 
 fashions of men, but ' the holy will and command- 
 1 ments of God/ the rule of their lives. — Awful 
 indeed is such conduct ! In some views, it is even 
 worse than the part taken by the open enemies 
 
12 
 
 of Christ : it is betraying his cause, while, like 
 Judas, we give him the salutation of pretended 
 friendship and feigned respect. 
 
 But not only does baptism, from the design of 
 the institution, express, in general, a reception 
 of the Christian religion : it also, from the evi- 
 dent signification of the rite, as above explained, 
 indicates an acknowledgment, and professed be- 
 lief of all the great leading doctrines of Chris- 
 tianity : I mean, especially, of the fall and de- 
 pravity of man; of redemption and justification 
 by Christ, dying for us, and " washing us from 
 " our sins in his own blood ; " of regeneration 
 and sanctification by the Holy Ghost ; and, con- 
 sequently, of the Trinity of Persons in the 
 Godhead. 
 
 I have already spoken on the principal of 
 these topics ; and shewn how striking a lesson 
 the sacrament of baptism reads to us, — addresses, 
 if I may so speak, to our very senses, — respect- 
 ing them. He, who disbelieves these doctrines, 
 must necessarily consider the rite itself as insig- 
 nificant, and not appointed to represent any 
 thing important to us. He who, disbelieving 
 them, yet offers himself, or presents his child, 
 for baptism in our church, must be guilty of 
 vile hypocrisy ; for they are studiously inter- 
 woven with every part of her services for the 
 occasion. 
 
 But, my brethren, that we assent to these 
 doctrines, that we hold them as sentiments, is 
 
13 
 
 not sufficient. By no means. They are all ad- 
 dressed to the heart and conscience. They all 
 immediately concern the heart and conscience. 
 We must feel their force and influence upon our 
 own hearts and consciences, or we do not 
 rightly * believe' them. 
 
 Are you then, let me ask it with affectionate 
 earnestness, Are you bowed down in the dust of 
 deep repentance before God, under the sense of 
 your depravity of heart, and corruption of life? 
 Are you, day by day, in secret, (as you profess 
 to do at church,) ' acknowledging and bewail- 
 1 ing your manifold sins and wickedness, which 
 ' you, from time to time, most grievously have 
 * committed, by thought, word, and deed, most 
 1 justly provoking God's wrath and indignation 
 ' against you?' Are you renouncing all confi- 
 dence in whatever you have doue, or can do, to 
 put away your sins, to recommend you to God, 
 or even to intitle you to an interest in Christ, 
 that you may trust only iu the blood and 
 righteousness of that " lamb of God which taketh 
 " away the sin of the world/' and may cast your- 
 selves entirely (as lost sinners, who have no other 
 hope,) upon the free mercy of God as exercised 
 through him? Do all the quiet and peace of 
 conscience which you enjoy, all your hope and 
 confidence towards God, arise, not from in- 
 consideration, not from self-complacency and 
 self-righteousness, not from presumption, but 
 from humble and living faith in the Redeemer ? 
 Are they obtained and preserved only by " coming 
 C 
 
14 
 
 "unto him;"* by earnest, believing applica- 
 tion to him for the fulfilment of his gracious 
 promises, made to the " weary and heavy-laden" 
 soul ! by ' feeding upon him in your heart by 
 ' faith, with thanksgiving ] ' by " living the life 
 " which you now live in the flesh by the faith 
 " of the Son of God 1 " Are you, again, as 
 desirous to be delivered from your sins, your 
 sinful tempers, and dispositions, and practices, 
 as of escaping the punishment due to them ? 
 And are you, for this purpose, not only watching 
 and striving against these evils, from day to day, 
 but, by earnest prayer, seeking the grace of the 
 Holy Spirit of God to change your very hearts, 
 "■to renew you in the spirit of your mind/' 
 ' to sanctify you/ and to assist and enable you 
 to subdue your sinful propensities, and to van- 
 quish all the enemies of your souls? Unless such 
 be, in some good measure, your course, you 
 are yet, notwithstanding all your professions, 
 strangers to true faith in Christ: you have not 
 practically and effectually believed the great 
 * articles of the Christian faith/ as in your bap- 
 tism you engaged to do. 
 
 But, lastly, baptism implies the devotion, the 
 consecration of the baptized person to God, to 
 
 * Matt. xi. 28, 29. John i. 11, 12. ill. 14, 15. vi. 35. 
 xv. 4. Gal. ii; 20. Heb. vi. 18. vii. 25. 2 Tim. i. 12. These 
 passages strikingly illustrate what the Scripture means by 
 that faith in Christ, to which every thing in the Christian 
 life is ascribed. 
 
15 
 
 live to his service and glory. Hence its very title 
 of a sacrament, which was the name of the mili- 
 tary oath among the Romans, binding the soldiers 
 to inviolable allegiance to their commander, and 
 adherence to their standards. Hence the very 
 vows of baptism, (of which we shall hereafter 
 speak more particularly,) ' that we will renounce 
 ' the devil and all his works, the pomps and 
 
 * vanity of this wicked world, and all the sinful 
 1 lusts of the flesh ; that we will believe all the 
 'articles of the Christian faith; and that we 
 1 will keep God's holy will and commandments, 
 ■ and walk in the same all the days of our life/ 
 And hence the words, which in our baptismal 
 office, accompany, and explain the sign of the 
 cross : ' We receive this child into the congre- 
 ' gation of Christ's flock, and do sign him with 
 
 * the sign of the cross, in token that hereafter 
 
 * he shall not be ashamed to confess the faith of 
 4 Christ crucified, and to fight manfully, under 
 ' his banner, against sin, the world, and the 
 
 * devil; and to continue Christ's faithful soldier 
 
 * and servant unto his life's end/ 
 
 And this dedication is expressly directed by 
 our text, (which contains the original institu- 
 tion of the ordinance,) to be made equally to 
 each of the three Persons in the adorable and 
 undivided Trinity. — " Baptizing them in the 
 " name of the Father/ and of the Son, and of 
 " the Holy Ghost/' — So solemnly and autho- 
 ritatively is the belief of this sacred mystery, 
 which forms the foundation of the whole doc- 
 C 2 
 
16 
 
 triue of redemption, inculcated upon us, at the 
 very threshold of our admission into the Christian 
 church. 
 
 Such then is the nature of Christian baptism, 
 and such the professions made in it. It denotes 
 purification from sin : and to be baptized is to 
 avow to all the world, that we receive Christ as 
 our Saviour; that we practically believe all the 
 great truths of his religion, and deeply feel their 
 importance and value ; and that we devote our- 
 selves to the service of God, the Father, the Son, 
 and the Holy Ghost. 
 
 5. The benefits sought in baptism, and sealed by 
 it to all those in whom is found *' the answer of 
 " a good conscience" * to the professions which 
 it implies, we have already, virtually, explained ; 
 and shall not now further enlarge upon them. 
 They are, in short, all the great blessings of 
 Christianity ; the pardon of sin, sanctification 
 by the Holy Ghost, adoption into the family of 
 God, the enjoyment of his favour here, and the 
 inheritance of everlasting life hereafter. In the 
 language of our church, they are — being \ made 
 1 members of Christ, children of God, and in- 
 * heritors of the kingdom of heaven.' 
 
 But, independently of any saving benefits to 
 
 individuals baptized, great public advantages are 
 
 derived from the general observation of the rite. 
 
 It is one of those positive institutions by which 
 
 * 1 Peter iii. 21. 
 
17 
 
 the evidence of Christianity is confirmed, and its 
 great doctrines kept continually in view. It 
 brings baptized persons within the pale of the 
 visible church ; and secures to them an education, 
 comparatively, at least, Christian : it leads them 
 to hear the gospel preached ; and teaches them 
 to consider themselves as those " to whom the 
 " oracles of God are committed " * and ad- 
 dressed ; on whom all Christian duties are bind- 
 ing, as well as to whom all the privileges of true 
 Christians are offered. These are circumstances 
 of vast importance to the persons concerned : and 
 they give to Christian ministers the advantage 
 of addressing congregations, in some degree in- 
 structed in the nature, and acknowledging the 
 obligations, of the truths which they have to 
 inculcate, instead of leaving them to execute 
 their commission amidst a world of heathens. 
 
 And now then, dearly beloved in the Lord, 
 seeing ye have all been partakers (we may pre- 
 sume,) of the. external rite of baptism; seeing 
 also that such unspeakable benefits are by it 
 sealed to all those who are baptized, and " born 
 " again," not of water only, but of the Holy 
 Ghost ; oh let me beseech you, in the name of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, by your Christian pro- 
 fession, and by the worth of your immortal souls, 
 that ye rest not content without the inward and 
 spiritual grace, — without " the sprinkling of the 
 
 * See Rom. iii. beginning, — in answer to the objection, 
 tl What profit in circumcision ? " 
 C3 
 
18 
 
 " blood of Jesus," to cleanse you from your guilt, 
 and the " sanctification of the Spirit"* to remove 
 your depravity? — to make you holy here, that 
 you may be for ever happy hereafter! This, 
 God is wituess! is " our heart's desire and 
 " prayer" for you all. 
 
 Oh think, how deplorable, how intolerable 
 it will be, having been " exalted unto heaven," 
 in Christian privileges, to be at length cast down 
 to hell for not improving them ! Oh how will 
 you bear, as our Lord declared to the impenitent 
 Jews would be their case, to see many, at the 
 last day " coming from the east, and west, and 
 " north, and south, and sitting down in the 
 " kingdom of God, and you yourselves" " the 
 " children of the kingdom," — those who, but for 
 their own folly and disobedience, should have 
 actually been the ■ inheritors of the kingdom of 
 'heaven/ — "cast out into outer darkness?" — 
 Heaven forbid that such should be your doom ! 
 Yet, assuredly it will be the doom of multi- 
 tudes ! of many who entertained no apprehen- 
 sions of the kind ! Hear ye the words of our 
 Saviour Christ : " Strive to enter in at the strait 
 " gate : for many, I say unto you, will seek to 
 " enter in, and shall not be able. When once 
 " the Master of the house is risen up, and hath 
 " shut to the door, and ye begin to stand with- 
 " out, and to knock at the door, saying, ' Lord, 
 " Lord, open unto usF and he shall answer, 
 " and say unto you, * I know you not, whence 
 * 1 Peter, i. 2. 
 
19 
 
 " you are / then shall ye begin to say, ' We 
 " have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and 
 " thou hast taught in our streets :" — We have 
 heard thy gospel ; we have been baptized in thy 
 name; we have professed thy religion; we have 
 communicated at thy table: — " But he shall say, 
 " ' I tell you, I know you not whence you are : 
 " depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity/ 
 " There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, 
 " when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and 
 " Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom 
 " of God, and you yourselves thrust out. — And 
 " behold ! there are last which shall be first, and 
 fi there are first which shall be last." * I know 
 not a more awful passage in the word of God. — 
 And, if this will be the doom of " many," f it 
 may be of us ! It will be our's, if we supinely 
 take it for granted that it will not. It will be 
 our's, if we do not bestow great and serious pains 
 to prevent it — " to flee from the wrath to come" 
 — " to strive to enter in at the strait gate" — " to 
 " fight the good fight of faith" — " to lay hold on 
 " eternal life." 
 
 Oh let not all our opportunities be thrown 
 away ! let not our advantages be given us in vain, 
 or worse, infinitely worse than in vain ! Let us 
 not, having been brought so near to heaven, by 
 carelessness, by love of the world, and of sinful 
 indulgence, by neglect of salvation, plunge our- 
 selves into hell ! We are ■ called to a state of 
 * salvation/ and placed in circumstances peculiarly 
 
 * Luke xiii. 24— 30. t Compare Matt. vii. 22. 
 
20 
 
 favourable for securing our everlasting bliss ; * let 
 us not have for ever to reproach ourselves with 
 having thrown away such a prize, placed within 
 our reach, or in our very hands ! Awake, arise, 
 implore of God, that he would give you his grace 
 to ' embrace and ever hold fast' the proffered 
 blessings. His authority commands, his mercy 
 invites, his " terrors" should " persuade" you. 
 He " waiteth to be gracious :" to bestow upon 
 you whatever may be needful to your final wel- 
 fare. 
 
 Tims would we exhort, persuade, intreat all 
 who come within the sound of our voice: and, in 
 particular, all baptized persons, ' all who profess 
 ' and call themselves Christians/ Examine your- 
 selves, whether you have yet had any more than 
 " a name to live/' while you have been spiritually 
 " dead/' How have you performed the vows of 
 God which are upon you ? What ! have you 
 served the devil, the world, or the flesh, instead 
 of renouncing them? trampled on the command- 
 ments of God, one or all, instead of keeping them ! 
 Yet still he stretcheth out the arms of mercy, 
 ready to receive you if you will now return to 
 him: ready to blot out your iniquities, to " heal 
 " your backslidings," to number you with his 
 children. Oh " seek ye the Lord while he may 
 " be found \" 
 
 But especially we would address ourselves to 
 you, my dear young friends, who are about to 
 offer yourselves for confirmation. * Being now 
 * Rora. iii. 1—3. 
 
21 
 
 * come to years of discretion/ you are called upon 
 to consider, * what your God-fathers and God- 
 
 * mothers promised for you in your baptism.' 
 These promises were made in order that you 
 might be admitted to great benefits. You are now 
 invited * to ratify and confirm the same/ that, 
 solemnly binding yourselves to perforin them, 
 and, by the grace of God, actually performing 
 them, you may enjoy all the great and everlasting 
 benefits of Christianity. Oh think what those 
 benefits are ! To have your sins all forgiven you, 
 for Christ's sake. To have almighty God for 
 your father and friend, in life, in death, and for 
 ever. To have Christ for your redeemer and 
 saviour; the Holy Ghost for your sanctifier, your 
 teacher, your guide, and your comforter. To live 
 here piously, holily, usefully, happily, under his 
 influence. To look forward to death without 
 fear; and to have heaven for your everlasting 
 home. Are not these most desirable blessings? 
 Almighty God now offers them to you. He in~ 
 vites, yea intreats, you to come and receive them 
 freely, — giving up yourselves to his service. 
 " They that seek me early, (he saith) shall find 
 " me." Jesus Christ commands, that we " suf- 
 " fer" even " little children to come unto him, 
 " and forbid them not." " Of such/' he says, " is 
 " the kingdom of God." Oh may your hearts be 
 early fired with the holy ambition of obtaining his 
 favour, and receiving his blessing ! O may you 
 " remember your Creator in the days of your 
 " youth !" l Twill save you from a thousand 
 
<22 
 
 ' snares, to mind religion young/ ■ 'Tis easier 
 ' work if you begin to serve the Lord betimes/ 
 It will be easier, by much, to enter upon the ser- 
 vice of God now, than at a period when sinful 
 propensities are confirmed by indulgence, evil 
 habits contracted, and irreligious connexions 
 formed. And at the end, ' 'Twill please you to 
 1 look back, and see that your whole lives were 
 t God's/ — True, there are difficulties in your way 
 even now : but God will enable you to overcome 
 them if you pray to him. True, you are young : 
 but you may die young, as so many do, and then 
 your opportunities are over. Be persuaded then 
 to be serious in what is before you. Consider the 
 vows you are to make. Pray to God that you 
 may be sincere in making them, and not mock 
 him with ' solemn words upon a thoughtless 
 ' tongue/ Pray to him that you may perform 
 what you vow. Then shall you be " blessed in 
 "your deed." Your ministers and pious friends will 
 rejoice over you. Angels in heaven will rejoice 
 over you. God himself, and your Redeemer, 
 will rejoice over you.* You yourselves will look 
 back upon the transaction now before you, and 
 rejoice in it for ever. 
 
 A few words more I cannot but add, to 
 parents and sponsers who bring children to bap- 
 tism. Consider, we beseech you, the serious 
 nature of this proceeding. Alas ! that it should 
 be so lightly regarded as it commonly is. You 
 * Luke xv. 10. Is. liii. 11. 
 
23 
 
 make solemn professions yourselves on such art 
 occasion. You profess yourselves Christians, and 
 by so doing virtually renew your own baptismal 
 vows. How then are you performing them ? 
 Pause, pause upon that question. You make also 
 solemn engagements for your conduct towards 
 the children baptized; — that you will see that 
 they be ■ virtuously brought up to lead a godly 
 
 * ami a Christian life,' and be instructed in ' all 
 
 * things which a Christian ought to know and 
 
 * believe to his soul's health : ' * in short, that 
 you will do what in you lieth, by example, 
 by instruction, by admonition, to cause them 
 to perform the vows made for them. And do 
 you then go away, and think no more of your 
 engagements to God, to his church, and to the 
 poor infants who are so unhappy as to have such 
 faithless sureties'? Do you leave them to grow up 
 uniustructed, unadmonished ; and, by your con- 
 duct encourage them rather to serve, than to 
 
 * renounce, the devil?' to follow, rather than to 
 shun, * the pomps and vanity of this wicked 
 ' world 1 ?' Did you thus break your engagements 
 with men, what would be the estimate made 
 of your character? Yet " if one man sin against 
 "another, the judge shall judge him; but if a 
 " man sin against the Lord, who shall intreat 
 " for him ? " 
 
 Finally, in bringing your children to baptism, 
 you profess to seek great blessings for the helpless 
 infants themselves — whom you, their parents, 
 * Baptismal service — Address to the sponsors. 
 
24 
 
 Lave brought into existence, but whose existence 
 not all the world can ever again extinguish : who 
 must live for ever, happy or miserable, according 
 as they obtain or fail of the blessings thus sought 
 for them. And can you do this with careless, 
 unfeeling indifference? Study, seriously, thejnay- 
 ers, offered up for your children at their baptism. 
 Surely they must interest your hearts! Surely 
 you can never be unconcerned whether they be 
 fulfilled or not ! Surely you cannot go away, 
 and never more offer up the like prayers for them ! 
 — Consider your past failures : and may the God 
 of heaven grant you repentance, and grace in 
 future to discharge the solemn duties incumbent 
 upon you ! 
 
SERMON II. 
 
 ON CONFIRMATION. 
 
 Jeremiah, l. 5. 
 
 Saying, i Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord, in 
 a perpetual covenant, that shall not be forgotten!' 
 
 IT has pleased Almighty God, very commonly, 
 in his word, to represent his dealings with man- 
 kind, his promises to them, and the duties which 
 he, in consequence, requires of them, under the 
 notion of a covenant. " I," he said to Noah, im- 
 mediately after the deluge, " behold I establish 
 " my covenant with you and with your seed after 
 " you, — neither shall all flesh be any more cut 
 " off by the waters of a flood." * To Abraham he 
 engaged, " I will establish my covenant between 
 " me, and thee, and thy seed after thee, in their 
 " generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be 
 " a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee." | 
 And accordingly a covenant was solemnly made 
 and ratified by God with the people of Israel, at 
 Mount Sinai, soon after their deliverance from 
 
 * Gen. ix. 9. t Gen. xvii. 7» 
 
 D 
 
26 
 
 Egypt. The Lord promised, that, if they would 
 " hearken to his judgments, and keep them, and 
 " do them, — he, the Lord their God, would keep 
 * unto them the covenant and mercy which he 
 " sware unto their fathers; and would love them, 
 ** and bless them," so that they should be " blessed 
 " above all people/' But, on the other hand, it 
 was denounced, " Cursed be he that confirmeth 
 " not all the words of this law, to do them." * 
 
 As the Israelites so lamentably departed from 
 their engagements with God, it became one great 
 office of their pious princes and reformers to call 
 them to renew, and bind themselves more strictly 
 to observe, this covenant. Their history records 
 several remarkable transactions of this kind; par- 
 ticularly in the times of Joshua, of Asa, of Jeho- 
 shaphat, of the high priest Jehoiada, of Hezekiah, 
 and of their last good king, Josiah : f and seldom 
 did any great reformation take place among them, 
 without a solemn renewal of their covenant with 
 God. 
 
 And the privileges and duties of the Christiau 
 dispensation are still represented in the same 
 way. In the thirty-first chapter of this book, the 
 introduction of the gospel is thus predicted: 
 " Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I 
 " will make a new covenant with the house of 
 " Israel and the house of Judah, not according 
 " to the covenant that I made with their fathers 
 
 * Deut. vii. & xxvii. 26. 
 t JoSi xxiv. 2 Chron. xv, xxiiij xxix — xxxi, xxxiv. 
 
27 
 
 4 ' in the day that I took them by the hand to bring 
 " them out of the land of Egypt (which my 
 " covenant they brake, although I was a husband 
 " unto them, saith the Lord :) but this shall be 
 " the covenant that I will make with the house of 
 " Israel," that is, with the true church of God, — 
 H After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my 
 " laws in their inward parts, and write them in 
 " their hearts, and will be their God, and they 
 " shall be my people." — Accordingly the gospel 
 is commonly denominated " the new covenant ; w 
 and the very book in which it is revealed is styled 
 The New Testament, or rather, Covenant. 
 
 These remarks may illustrate the language of 
 my text, and prepare the way to the application 
 of it which I propose. 
 
 This chapter and the succeeding one predict 
 the destruction of Babylon ; and the restoration of 
 the Jews from their impending captivity in that 
 city, in consequence of the well-known decree of 
 Cyrus, recited in the beginning of the book of 
 Ezra. Beautiful is the picture, here prophetically 
 delineated, of the poor captives returning, not 
 only to their land, but to their God, with tears of 
 repentance for their sins against him, and of joy 
 for the renewed indications of his favour to them! 
 " In those days, and at that time, saith the Lord, 
 U the children of Israel shall come, they and the 
 " children of Judah together, going and weeping : 
 ct they shall go and seek the Lord their God. 
 D2 
 
28 
 
 * They shall ask the way to Zion, with their faces 
 " thitherward, saying, * Come, and let us join our- 
 " selves to the Lord, in a perpetual covenant, that 
 " shall not be forgotten ! " 
 
 Now these words speak precisely the sentiments 
 which we would express, when we invite you to 
 baptism, or to confirmation. ■ Come/ we would 
 say to you, * Come, join yourselves to the Lord, 
 ' in a perpetual, an everlasting covenant, never to 
 ' be forgotten/ 
 
 Baptism, as we so lately explained it to you, is, 
 where rightly received, '* the seal" of such a cove- 
 nant; as circumcision was of the covenant made 
 with Abraham and his seed. Every person, re- 
 ceiving baptism, does himself, or by his sureties, 
 in hope of the blessings of which that sacrament 
 is ' a means and a pledge/ renounce the world, 
 the flesh, and the devil, and devote himself to 
 God through the Redeemer. 
 
 Confirmation, though not, like baptism, ex- 
 pressly ' ordained by Christ himself/ yet is derived 
 from the earliest practice of the Christian church, 
 perhaps from that of the Apostles themselves. At 
 least, without contending that it is the same " con- 
 " formation of the churches" in the faith, attended 
 with " the laying on of hauds," and the communi- 
 cation of the Holy Ghost, of which we read in the 
 Acts and the epistolary writings of the apostles,* 
 yet its ultimate design is, virtually, the same: it 
 aims at the same great object, by such means as 
 
 * Acts viii.14— 17. xiv. 22. xv. 32, 41. xix. 6. Heb. vi.2. 
 
( 29 
 
 are left in our power. Its intention is, by calling 
 baptized persons to a more particular considera- 
 tion of the nature and obligation of their pro- 
 fessions, and to a solemn and public renewal of 
 them, to establish their minds in attachment to 
 Christ, and to engage them unalterably to be ' his 
 4 faithful soldiers and servants' for ever. 
 
 Such a transaction seems peculiarly proper with 
 respect to those, who, as the great mass of the 
 people in Christian countries are, have been bap- 
 tized in their infancy. What can be more natural 
 or expedient, than to call upon such persons, 
 when they * are now come to years of discretion, 
 ' and have learned what their God-fathers and 
 
 * God-mothers promised for them/ before they 
 were capable of promising for themselves; and 
 when they are now just entering upon life ; to 
 come forward, and seriously say, whether they 
 recognize their baptismal vows; whether they 
 humbly purpose to stand to them; and, in attesta- 
 tion of their so doing, ' themselves, with their 
 1 own mouth and consent, openly, before the 
 
 * church, to ratify and confirm the same; and also 
 ' to promise, that, by the grace of God, they will 
 ' evermore endeavour themselves faithfully to ob- 
 ' serve such things as, by their own confession, 
 ' they have assented unto/ 
 
 And this is the account which our church gives 
 of Confirmation. — What, I ask, can be more rea- 
 sonable, than that she should require from each 
 of her young members such an avowal I Without 
 something of the kind, she must be at a loss to 
 D3 
 
30 
 
 determine, whether she is to consider them as 
 continuing her members, or as renouncing their 
 baptism, and their connection with her. — What is 
 it, but like Joshua's address to the people of 
 Israel, " Choose ye this day, whom ye will 
 " serve/' the Lord, or other gods? Or like that 
 of Elijah, " How long halt ye between two 
 " opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him; 
 " but if Baal then follow him/' * 
 
 And may not confirmation, thus understood, 
 admit of the most important improvement for the 
 good of such young persons ? It furnishes both 
 to ministers, to parents, to sponsors, and to all 
 who have the superintendance of youth, the most 
 desirable opportunity for communicating religious 
 instructions, and impressing serious sentiments on 
 their minds. The solemn prayers, also, of the 
 church are offered up for them, on the occasion ; 
 and these will, no doubt, be aided by the fervent 
 intercessions of all pious persons, for what form 
 the rising hopes of the church, as well as of the 
 community. 
 
 And shall the seed of divine truth be all thrown 
 away ? Shall God refuse to " hear his own elect, 
 " who cry day and night unto him/' pleading for 
 the fulfilment of his promises? No! it will 
 not be, it cannot be, it is not, the case. Those 
 ministers, who have had most experience, and 
 have taken most pains on these occasions, have 
 given us the most encouraging reports o£ the 
 happy effects produced by means of them. They 
 
 * Josh. xxiv. 14, lo. 1 Kings xviii. 21. 
 
31 
 
 have found many young persons at these times, 
 " join themselves to the Lord in a perpetual 
 u covenant, not to be forgotten : v and many more 
 in whose minds the seed of divine truth was then 
 sown, which, perhaps even long afterwards, sprang 
 up, and ripened into a blessed harvest. 
 
 Let us hope, my Christian brethren, that what 
 we have thus " heard with our ears," we shall 
 ourselves witness, realized before us : and that, 
 while so many young persons are early entering 
 upon courses of vice and folly, we shall see not a 
 few, in consequence of what is now doing for them, 
 devoting themselves to the Lord from their youth. 
 
 And you, my young friends, oh that we could 
 inspire you with this hope and ardent desire for 
 yourselves, which are our heart's desire and hope 
 for you ! Hear ye the promises of God made to 
 his church with respect to those who are placed 
 precisely in your circumstances, and pray that 
 they may be fulfilled in yourselves, individually. 
 Thus saith the Lord to his church, by his prophet 
 Isaiah : " Fear not, O Jacob, my servant, aud 
 tf thou Jesurun, whom I have chosen : for I will 
 " pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods 
 " upon the dry ground : I will pour my Spirit 
 " upon thy seed, and my blessing; upon thine off- 
 " spiking : and they shall spring up as among the 
 " grass, as willows by the water-courses. One shall 
 " say, ■ I am the Lord's ;' and another shall call 
 " himself by the name of Jacob ; and another shall 
 " subscribe with his hand unto the Lord," — engag- 
 
32 
 
 ing himself to be his servant, — " and shall surname 
 " himself by the name of Israel." * 
 
 In order that the blessings, here so beautifully 
 described, may accompany your confirmation, 
 that it may indeed prove the " joining of your- 
 " selves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant," let 
 me obtain your serious attention to the further 
 instructions upon the subject, which I am about 
 to address to you. 
 
 1. First then, I say, reflect that this is a most 
 solemn transaction in which you are engaging". I 
 have already explained to you its nature. It is 
 entering into covenant wilh God. It is devoting 
 yourselves to his service in this life, that you may 
 inherit his everlasting kingdom in the life to come. 
 It is, ' with your own mouth and consent, openly, 
 ' before the church, ratifying and confirming' your 
 baptismal vows. 
 
 What those vows are, I purpose to explain to 
 you more particularly, in another discourse. But 
 you must know enough of them to be aware, that 
 they are of a very serious nature. 
 
 The duties to which they bind you are of eter- 
 nal and unalterable obligation. You cannot escape 
 from their obligation, even by refusing to make, or 
 to renew these vows. Every human being who 
 comes to the knowledge of them, is bound to per- 
 form them, and is a rebel against his Maker, if he 
 fail to do it. 
 
 * Is. xliv. 3—5. 
 
33 
 
 Yet certainly thus engaging for the performance 
 of them is a solemn transaction, well adapted to 
 impress the mind with a sense of the obligations 
 under which it lies, and to fortify it against every 
 temptation to violate or neglect them. 
 
 Making promises to our fellow creatures is a 
 serious act, and the violation of them highly cri- 
 minal. But how much more serious, to vow unto 
 God ! and how much more heinous a crime, the 
 non-performance of our vows. 
 
 Yet have not many persons present this sin 
 lying at their door 1 Oh consider it : repent of it : 
 lest it be your ruin ! 
 
 All the circumstances, likewise, under which 
 this ratification of your vows is to be made, are 
 solemn. It is to be made in the house of God, 
 and in his more immediate presence, invoked for 
 the occasion ; before a large assembly of his pro- 
 fessed worshippers ; and to one of the principal 
 ministers of his church : — as we may justly say, 
 " before so great a cloud of witnesses." It is to 
 be accompanied with solemn prayers, and the lay- 
 ing on of the hands of the Bishop, craving the 
 divine blessing upon you. It is to be made by 
 every one of you all, ' with his own mouth and 
 ' consent/ The Bishop puts to all the persons to be 
 confirmed the following question, which every one 
 of you is to consider as addressed to himself, per- 
 sonally : ' Do you here, in the presence of God, 
 ' and of this congregation, renew the solemn pro- 
 ' mise and vow that was made in your name at, 
 1 your baptism ; ratifying and confirming the same 
 
m 
 
 1 in your own persons, and acknowledging your- 
 
 * selves bound to believe and to do all those things 
 ' which your God-fathers and God-mothers under- 
 
 * took for you V Aud to this question * every one 
 
 * is audibly to answer, / do.' 
 
 Assuredly this is a covenant " that shall not be 
 ? forgotten." Its consequences shall be " ever- 
 H lasting." If it be truly and uprightly made, you 
 shall remember it through life with satisfaction; 
 you shall remember it in death as your consola- 
 tion ; you shall remember it to all eternity with 
 grateful joy; as having "this day avouched the 
 Lord to be your God;" and having been from 
 this day acknowledged by him, as his servants and 
 children. But if it be made inconsiderately, igno- 
 rantly, insincerely, and, in consequence, remain 
 unfulfilled ; then its effect must be, to bring down 
 upon you " a curse and not a blessing:" and, 
 unless deep repentance prevent, the remembrance 
 of your unholy trifling with God will prove a 
 never-dving worm of remorse, corroding your 
 conscience for ever. 
 
 Oh then, my dear young friends, be impressed, 
 be deeply impressed, with the enormity of enter- 
 ing upon this most serious transaction, as so 
 many, alas! do, in a spirit of profane levity. 
 Dread to make the day of confirmation a day of 
 frivolity, and much more a day of disorder, of 
 riot, and wantonness. Pray earnestly to God, 
 that he would impress a devout seriousness upon 
 your spirit, both during the day, while you are 
 previously preparing for it, aud whenever, (as I 
 
35 
 
 hope will often be the case,) you may hereafter 
 reflect upon it. — ' Be serious in a serious cause/ 
 
 But 2dly, though a solemn, this is also a 
 pleasing service, kindly appointed for your 
 good : for your present comfort, and your ever- 
 lasting benefit. 
 
 That Almighty God should condescend to enter 
 into covenant with the sinful children of men, to 
 take them for •' his people," and to engage to be 
 " their God," and their M portion for ever, and 
 " ever," displays kindness and mercy more than 
 tongue can express. Well may we exclaim, 
 " Lord, what is man, that thou so regardest him?" 
 Yet, that it has pleased God thus to deal with 
 men from the beginning, we have already shewn. 
 " Come out from" a wicked world, " and be ye 
 " separate, and touch not the unclean thing, and 
 <; I will receive you, and will be a Father unto 
 " you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, 
 " saith the Lord Almighty :" * — this hath been his 
 gracious language " in all generations." 
 
 And, from several passages which have been 
 already quoted, we find, that it is addressed to 
 us with express reference to " our seed, our 
 " children after us," as well as for our own 
 benefit. <e This is my covenant with them, saith 
 "the Lord," (directly predicting the Redeemer 
 and the gospel,) " My Spirit, which is upon thee, 
 ft and my words which I have put in thy mouth, 
 " shall not depart out of the mouth of thy seed, 
 * 2. Cor. vi. 17, 18. 
 
36 
 
 " nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith 
 " the Lord, from henceforth and for ever." * 
 
 Hence the children of the Jews were incorpo- 
 rated into the visible church of God by circum- 
 cision, and the children of Christian parents are 
 incorporated into it by baptism. 
 
 And great is the notice which Almighty God 
 has taken of young persons in his word ; great 
 the kindness which he has shewn for them. 
 Nothing is more frequently repeated than his 
 command to us, to instruct them in his truth, to 
 " train them in the way wherein they should 
 "go;" " to bring them up in the nurture and 
 " admonition of the Lord/' " Remember thy 
 " Creator," he admonishes, " in the days of thy 
 " youth/' " I love them that love me, and they 
 " that seek me early," they especially " shall 
 " find me." And, to name no more instances, 
 let me call your particular attention to the 
 admirable condescension and kindness of our 
 blessed Saviour, when some pious parents so 
 naturally and simply brought their " little chil- 
 " dren unto him, that he should put his hands 
 " upon them, and pray." " His disciples," we 
 are told, ** rebuked those that brought them," 
 thinking that they gave him unprofitable trouble. 
 " But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, 
 " and said unto them, ' Suffer the little children 
 " to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of 
 " such is the kingdom of God. Verily, I say 
 
 * Is. lix. 21. 
 
37 
 
 " unto you, whosoever shall not receive the king- 
 " dom of God as a little child, he shall not enter 
 " therein/ And he took them vp in his arms, 
 " put his hands vpon them, and blessed them." * 
 How exquisitely beautiful is this ! Striking in- 
 deed, one would believe, must have been the 
 effect of this transaction upon the parties con- 
 cerned in it. What an obligation must it have 
 fixed upon the parents to train up their children 
 to the service of that Saviour, to whom they 
 had presented them, and who had so graciously 
 received and blessed them ! What a plea must it 
 have furnished with the young persons them- 
 selves, when come to years of discretion, not 
 basely to desert or disobey him, to whom they 
 had been thus devoted in their infancy, and who 
 had shewn such tender regard for them.f And 
 is it not in the highest degree encouraging to 
 all truly Christian parents, whose first desire for 
 
 * Mark x. 13. 
 
 t ' What a topic of expostulation would this transaction 
 « give the ministers of Christ, if these parents afterwards 
 
 * brought up their children in an unchristian manner, or 
 « set them a bad example! Or, with the children; if they 
 
 * renounced that Saviour, who had so condescendingly 
 ' taken them in his arms and blessed them! In what a 
 
 * variety of, ways might instructions and admonitions, both 
 » to the parents and to the children, be grounded upon it; 
 ' and what a sweet subject of converse would it afford to 
 ' the parents, in afterwards instructing the children! What 
 ' a plea in prayer for them ! And might not infant-baptism 
 
 * be improved to similar purposes, did all, who approve 
 
 * and contend for it, bestow due pains to make it a means 
 ' of grace to themselves, and those concerned ?' 
 
 Scott in loc, 
 
 E 
 
their beloved offspring is, the blessing of Christ ? 
 Is it not most inviting to young persons 1 
 
 My dear young friends ! just as these parents 
 did, would we bring you, or invite you to come, 
 into the presence of the gracious Saviour, that 
 you may receive his blessing, and go forth and 
 Jive in the world as becomes those who have been 
 thus consecrated to God your redeemer, from 
 your youth. It is no less for your own good, 
 your comfort, your happiness, than because we 
 would have you to do your duty, that we wish 
 you to ratify, and to perform your baptismal vows. 
 Remember the blessings of baptism, where it 
 is ' rightly received.' * • To be made members 
 i of Christ, children of God, and inheritors of 
 f the kingdom of heaven/ What inestimable 
 blessings are these! — In what sense you are to 
 understand your having been made partakers of 
 them, we endeavoured to explain to you in a 
 former discourse. You are said to be so, upon 
 the supposition of your having received ' the 
 ' inward and spiritual grace,' of baptism, as well 
 as ' the outward and visible sign.' And, if you 
 do indeed possess this inward and spiritual grace, 
 it will shew itself by leading you to keep your 
 vows, — renouncing the world, the flesh, and the 
 devil ; believing truly in Christ ; aud walking in 
 the commandments of God. But if you do not 
 these things, you demonstrate that you have 
 f neither part nor lot" in the spiritual and eternal 
 blessings of Christianity. 
 
 * Church Articles, xxvii. 
 
39 
 
 Tiiis point may receive apt, and I hope not 
 unpaid onabiy familiar, illustration, from an usage 
 with which the greater part of my audience is 
 conversant. Under the charter of this corporate 
 town, numerous persons are free-born; but, unless, 
 when grown up to maturity, they sue out, or, as 
 it is termed, take up, their freedom, they can 
 enjoy no benefit of this privilege. So you are 
 admitted, in your infancy, into ' a state of salva- 
 ■ tion ; ' but you will, in the end, derive no 
 advantage from that circumstance, unless you be 
 afterwards careful to secure the blessings of salva- 
 tion in the prescribed way,* — repenting of your 
 sins, believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
 yielding up yourselves to the service of God, 
 through him. This is what we are continually 
 urging you to do, in our preaching, and what 
 you profess actually to do in confirmation. The 
 church hopes you are sincere, when you make 
 this profession; and, in that hope and persuasion^ 
 again addresses God in your behalf, as having 
 * regenerated you by water and the Holy Ghost, 
 'and forgiven you all your sins/ — Our heart's 
 desire and prayer to God for you is, that your 
 whole future lives may shew, that she did not 
 flatter herself with vain hopes, when she indulged 
 this charitable supposition respecting you. Then 
 
 * See answer in the Catechism to the question, ' Why 
 ' then are infants baptized?' &c. 
 
 t This language of charitable hope and supposition ap- 
 pears to pervade all the services of the church: and no 
 doubt this is the true key to the language of the baptismal 
 offices. 
 
 E2 
 
40 
 
 your blessedness will be indeed great; you will 
 live here in the favour of God; when death shall 
 come, this his covenant will be " all your salvation 
 ** and all your desire;" and, when " flesh and 
 " heart shall fail, God will be the strength of 
 " your heart, and your portion for ever." 
 
 3. Let me then, in the last place, address a 
 few directions to you, for your preparation for 
 this solemnity. 
 
 I need not now say, Be serious in all that 
 respects it : I need not say, Thankfully avail your- 
 selves of the opportunity afforded you. I have 
 been shewing you how much reason you have 
 for this. But, 
 
 (1) Be careful to understand the engagements 
 you are to enter into, the vows you are to make. 
 I have already spoken of them to many of you, 
 and purpose to enlarge upon them more here- 
 after. But consider them at home. Study the 
 explanation of them given in the tract which 
 has been put into your hands/' * You will find 
 that they comprehend a great deal. 
 
 (2) Examine your lives past . Remember, you 
 have always been under the obligation of the 
 vows, which you are now called upon more 
 solemnly to ratify. But how much, alas ! have 
 you failed of keeping them. How much have you 
 yielded to sin, to the works and temptations of ^? 
 
 * « The Parochial Minister's Address to all those persons 
 under his care who are of a proper age to be confirmed by 
 the Bishop: by the Rev.Thomas Robinson, A.M. Vicar of 
 bt. Mary's, Leicester. Fifth Edit.' 
 
41 
 
 the devil ! What wrong tempers and passions 
 have you indulged ! How much have your hearts 
 b'Cen set upon the vanities of this life ! How 
 little have you known or thought of God, and 
 your blessed Saviour? How little have you 
 delighted in his service, or, indeed, at all studied 
 to serve him! Compare your dispositions and 
 your conduct with the summaries of duty to 
 God and to your neighbour, given you in your 
 catechism: and you will find that you have 
 much, much indeed to repent of. Enter then 
 upon your renewed consecration of yourselves to 
 God, with humiliation, and confession of your 
 past offences ; and earnestly imploring his par- 
 doning mercy through the great Redeemer. In 
 this respect, as well as others, take for your 
 example the Israelites spoken of in my text, 
 who are described as "going" and weeping, to 
 "seek the Lord their God/' Their tears of 
 godly sorrow, we are assured, would soon be 
 turned to joy. They are said, " to have asked the 
 " way to Zion, with their faces thitherward." 
 
 (3) Be aware that you possess an evil nature, 
 which will still carry you contrary to your duty, 
 your resolutions, and your vows, unless it be 
 thoroughly changed by divine grace. All your 
 good purposes, therefore, will come to nothing, 
 they will vanish as the " early cloud, and the 
 " morning dew/' unless you call upon God, by 
 earnest and frequent prayer, to enable you to 
 keep them. Pray daily unto God, especially for 
 these two blessings, the pardon of your sins, and 
 E3 
 
42 
 
 a new heart, a heart filled with love to God, 
 and disposed to delight in his service. Remember 
 the admonition in your Catechism, * My good 
 
 * child, know this, that thou art not able to 
 
 * do these things of thyself, nor to walk in 
 
 * the commandments of God, and to serve him, 
 ' without his special grace ; which thou must 
 ' learn at all times to call for by diligent prayer/ 
 Remember the professions which you yourselves 
 make in answer to the question, * Dost thou 
 
 * not think, that thou art bound to believe and 
 ' to do as thy God-fathers and God-mothers 
 
 * promised for thee?' You reply, 'Yes verily, 
 
 * and by God's help, so I will : and I heartily 
 
 * thank our heavenly Father, who hath called 
 
 * me to this state of salvation through Jesus 
 ' Christ our Saviour. And I pray unto God to 
 ' give me his grace, that I may continue in the 
 *. same unto my life's end/ O do not say these 
 things without doing them ! 
 
 These then are my present admonitions to the 
 young persons themselves. I now turn to others. 
 
 Some, probably, may think the views, which 
 have been taken, both of baptism and of con- 
 firmation, much too solemn, or, as they may 
 represent it, alarming. I ask, What is your 
 reason for this opinion ? Is it supported by any 
 solid reason? Or do you form this judgment, 
 only because our views are much more serious 
 than you have been used to entertain, or than 
 
43 
 
 the world in general entertains? There is no 
 weight whatever in such a reason. I would only 
 inquire, Whether our statements have not been 
 sufficiently confirmed from scripture, and from the 
 nature of the case. If so, oh beware, how you 
 prefer to them the inconsiderate, the unfounded 
 sentiments of a world, careless and self-flattering 
 upon all spiritual subjects ! On similar grounds, 
 you might reject the belief of all the most im- 
 portant truths of scripture : nay, if fact had not 
 extorted your assent, you might have disbelieved 
 the possibility of all the awful indications of the 
 divine displeasure against sin, which the state of 
 the world, in so affecting a manner, exhibits to 
 our view. 
 
 But, perhaps, you were confirmed years ago, 
 and have never thought very seriously of the 
 obligation which you then contracted. And this 
 may prejudice you against the admission of such 
 solemn views of the subject. You are unwilling 
 to think yourselves criminal in having thus lightly 
 regarded your engagements. But your unwilling- 
 ness to feel your criminality, is no proof that it 
 does not exist. Certainly you are deeply guilty, 
 if you have trifled with the vows of God, which 
 are upon you : and the only course of wisdom 
 and duty, which lies open to you, is, humbly to 
 acknowledge, and repent of your deceitful deal- 
 ing with Him, who " searcheth all hearts/' 
 " whose you are, and whom you" ought ever to 
 have " served/' And if you do not take this 
 course, He will one day discover to you your 
 
44 
 
 dissembled guilt, in a manner which shall over- 
 whelm you with terror and despair ! 
 
 But I would again address myself to parents 
 and sponsors. I call upon you, brethren, at 
 this time, to do your duty. The church expects 
 it, your ministers intreat it, Almighty God re- 
 quires it of you. The office of sponsors is not, 
 as it is sometimes ignorantly represented, to 
 perform the duties, or to bear the sins, of the 
 children for them: it was designed, to insure 
 the baptized person's being instructed and ad- 
 monished concerning his duty. Parents do na- 
 turally lie under every obligation to instruct and 
 admonish their children ; and, therefore, the 
 church does not admit them as sponsors. They 
 are already pledged as deeply as possible. But 
 she requires additional sureties, lest parents 
 should be removed or incapacitated, or should 
 neglect their duty. The very nature of the 
 office, therefore, shews how improper it is, that 
 it should be undertaken lightly, or be committed 
 to those who are themselves destitute of serious 
 piety. At all times, it is the duty of you who 
 hold it, to take care that the young persons, for 
 whom you have engaged, grow not up without 
 proper instruction. But especially on such occa- 
 sions as the present, look diligently to your chil- 
 dren and God-children. Affectionately converse 
 with them : instruct them : admonish them : pray 
 for them, and with them : and do all that in you 
 lieth to prevail with them to keep the vows 
 
45 
 
 which you, in their name, made for them, and 
 which they are now about to renew, in their own 
 name. 
 
 Finally, I call upon all serious Christians. 
 Assist us with your prayers. Bear our young 
 people contiuually upon your hearts before God. 
 Consider their situation, — just entering upon a 
 world, how dangerous ! the importance of their 
 conduct! the worth of their souls! Pray that the 
 seed of divine truth, now sown among them, may 
 find a prepared and fruitful soil ! Pray that they 
 may indeed yield themselves up unto God in 
 their youth, and serve him all their days! How 
 happy will this be for themselves : how happy 
 for those who are connected with them : how 
 happy for the church of God ! — " Ye that make 
 " mention of the name of the Lord, keep not 
 " silence, and give him no rest/' till he thus bless 
 and replenish his church — till he " pour his Spirit 
 " upon our seed, his blessing upon our offspring \" 
 
SERMON III. 
 
 ON THE VOWS OF BAPTISM AND 
 CONFIRMATION. 
 
 ECCLESIASTES, V. 4, 5. 
 
 When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; 
 for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou 
 hast vowed. Better is it that thou shouldst not vow, 
 than that thou shouldst vow and not pay. 
 
 T 
 
 HE doctrine of the text is such as needs no 
 arguments to confirm its truth and propriety. 
 Whoever considers, what is implied in the awful 
 name of god, must be deeply sensible how much 
 it concerns us to be humble, reverent, and, above 
 all, sincere, in our transactions with Him, — that 
 great Being to whom we owe our very existence, 
 and on whose favour our well-being is absolutely 
 dependent. 
 
 Impressed with these sentiments, the wise and 
 inspired King of Israel thus addresses his reader: 
 " Keep thy foot, when thou goest to the house 
 "of God: and be more ready to hear, than to 
 " offer the sacrifice of fools," who mock the 
 
47- 
 
 most High with an outward service, from which 
 the heart is absent. " Be not rash with thy 
 " mouth, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter 
 " any thing before God : for God is in heaven, 
 " and thou upon earth, therefore let thy words 
 " be few," or serious and well considered ; not 
 rash effusions, not " vain repetitions." " When 
 " thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay 
 " it; for he hath no pleasure in fools : pay that 
 " which thou hast vowed. Better is it that thou 
 " shouldst not vow, than that thou shouldst vow, 
 " and not pay." 
 
 How well these sentences apply to the subject 
 on which we have of late been endeavouring to 
 fix your attention, must be obvious. 
 
 We are all, in one way or other, bound unto 
 God by solemn vows. Many are just about to 
 bind themselves by the vows of Confirmation. 
 Much does it behove us to be careful that we 
 " pay," and that we " defer not to pay," that 
 which we vow. 
 
 In order that we may pay our vows, it is, in 
 the first place, necessary, that we should under' 
 stand them. To assist you in this preparatory 
 step, as, in my last sermon, I explained to you 
 the nature of confirmation, I shall, in this and 
 a following discourse, offer you some remarks 
 on the vows ratified and renewed in that ordi- 
 nance. The comment upon them, which our 
 limits admit, must necessarily be general, and 
 
48 
 
 somewhat superficial : yet I would hope, that, by 
 the blessing of God, it may not be without its 
 use to you. 
 
 The vows to be considered are those made for 
 us in our baptism ; which we, * with our own 
 
 * mouth and consent, openly, before the church, 
 
 * ratify and confirm,' in what is, partly for this 
 reason, called Confirmation. 
 
 They are three ; ' First, That we will renounce 
 1 the devil and all his works, the pomps and 
 ' vanity of this wicked world, and all the sinful 
 1 lusts of the flesh : Secondly, That we will 
 ' believe all the articles of the Christian faith : 
 ' And, thirdly, That we will keep God's holy 
 ' will and commandments, and walk in the same 
 
 * all the days of our life/ 
 
 I. On the first of these vows we may remark, 
 that, when we are called to ' renounce' the devil, 
 the world, and the flesh, it is implied, that these 
 enemies of God, and of our souls, have obtained 
 a great power over us. And little need be said 
 to convince any seriously minded person, that 
 this is the fact. 
 
 1. God originally " made man upright," "after 
 " his own image," and under no other control 
 than the mild and gracious one of his Creator's 
 authority. But, ever since Satan seduced our 
 first parents to take part in his rebellion, he has 
 possessed such an influence over us, that he is 
 styled in Scripture, " the god," and " the prince, 
 
49 
 
 " of this world ; " and " the spirit that now worketh 
 " in the children of disobedience." 
 
 We are taught, that the devil, with " his angels," 
 acts especially as the tempter of men : in which 
 character he assailed " the second Adam, the 
 " Lord from heaven/' (Jesus Christ,) as he had 
 done the first ; but, happily, with a very diiferent 
 issue. But so subtle are his devices, that he 
 is said, " to transform himself into an angel of 
 " light, to deceive ; " and so successful, that he is 
 described as " the old serpent, that deceiveth the 
 u whole world." 
 
 And are there not facts in the history, and even 
 in the general state, of mankind, which cannot 
 be satisfactorily explained but by the acknowledg- 
 ment of such an influence? Look to the extreme 
 wickedness of men, in every age and country, 
 which has hitherto overborne all the obstacles 
 that could be opposed to it, and all the means 
 that have been used, to give the ascendency to 
 truth and righteousness in the earth. Look espe- 
 cially to this circumstance, that thoroughly ' to 
 renounce' the dominion of Satan by being strictly 
 religious, and resolutely living as the ' servants of 
 God,' has ever been matter of ill-report in the 
 world : has ever been singular, and unfashionable: 
 has ever been so to such a degree, as, in all times 
 and places, to be stigmatized by a still unexhausted 
 series of terms of reproach : — to such a degree, as 
 constantly to hold out to men the temptation to 
 be " ashamed of Christ and his words;" ashamed 
 of true religion, as an obnoxious peculiarity! 
 
50 
 
 Does not this shew that we live in a world where 
 another power, hostile to that of the Creator, has 
 established its usurped dominion 7 
 
 Can we, again, need more decisive proofs of the 
 *' energy of delusion" which is exerted upon the 
 minds of mankind, than are exhibited in such facts 
 as these : That men expect to find happiness in 
 forsaking and disobeying their Maker ! That they 
 regard the service of God as gloomy, and as lead- 
 ing to melancholy I That they profess to believe 
 in eternity, and never prepare for it ! That they 
 avow a conviction, that sin will lead them to hell, 
 and yet live in sin without remorse ! a persuasion 
 that heaven is not to be obtained without holiness, 
 and yet evince no desire to become holy! — a 
 belief that the Son of God, in human nature, 
 agonized and died for their redemption, and yet 
 feel neither real gratitude to him, nor anxiety to 
 secure their interest in his salvation ! — With such 
 preposterous contradictions the minds and conduct 
 of men, alas! abound. Of such deep, such in- 
 veterate, and invincible delusions, the world is 
 full. 
 
 Many persons, it may be apprehended, are 
 under great mistakes respecting the temptations of 
 the devil. These consist not, in general, in the 
 sudden and terrifying injection of blasphemous 
 thoughts ; but, whenever any thing prohibited by 
 God is made to appear (like the forbidden fruit 
 to our first parents,) irresistibly inviting and de- 
 sirable to our minds; or anything commanded by 
 God, to appear insuperably difficult, repulsive, 
 
51 
 
 and disagreeable; then may we say, that we have 
 " entered into temptation." 
 
 But we bind ourselves Mo renounce the devil:' 
 to cast off" his dominion, however firmly estab- 
 lished : to serve God, openly and unreservedly, 
 however unfashionable and singular this may be: 
 to withstand every temptation, " steadfast in the 
 " faith : " unceasingly to oppose the influence of 
 the powers of darkness and sin, in our own hearts, 
 and in the world around us. 
 
 We also promise and vow to renounce ' all the 
 * works of the devil/ Every species of sin is to 
 be ranged among ' the works of the devil/ But, 
 where we have ' the pomps and vanity of this 
 f wicked world/ and ' the sinful lusts of the flesh/ 
 separately enumerated, we are determined to a 
 rather more strict interpretation of the term. 
 ■ The works of the devil/ then, are those sins 
 which more peculiarly characterise fallen spirits. 
 Such are, pride, malice, envy, wrath, hatred, 
 revenge. If we carefully watch over our own 
 hearts, we shall find all these evil passions, at 
 one time or another, working powerfully within 
 us : and, in many cases, the sentiments of man- 
 kind encourage the indulgence of them, under the 
 names of high spirit, a noble pride, a lofty sense 
 oj honour. They are all, however, " abomination 
 " with God/' These, even more than sensual lusts 
 make man resemble the foul spirits of hell. We 
 vow, remember, to oppose them, in their inward 
 workings, as well as in their outward acts. 
 F2 
 
52 
 
 All lying, all slander and evil speaking, and 
 especially all evil-speaking of religion, and of re- 
 ligious persons, from secret dislike to their reli- 
 gion, is a work of the devil : who is, therefore, 
 called, " the father of liars/' and " the accuser of 
 " the brethren/' 
 
 All prqfaneness is a work of the devil : not only 
 cursing and blasphemy, (which are the very lan- 
 guage of hell,) but all scoffing at sacred things, 
 and every exercise of wit to the disparagement 
 of God's word, and of religion. 
 
 Very particularly, tempting and emboldening 
 others to commit sin, or discouraging and hindering 
 them in their duty, is the work of the devil. And, 
 alas ! how generally do men of every description 
 yield themselves to Satan, as his instruments in 
 this infernal service ! How few, comparatively, as- 
 sociate together, without corrupting oue another! 
 
 Finally, all h religion is the work of the devil, 
 whose great employment it is to oppose the autho- 
 rity, the honour, and service of God, in the world. 
 As far, therefore, as we neglect religion, or go con- 
 trary to its obligations, or counteract its progress 
 and influence, so far the work of the devil succeeds 
 with respect to us, and is furthered by us. 
 
 2dly, The next things which we renounce are, 
 
 * the pomps and vanity of this wicked world/ 
 The world is here denominated, * this wicked? 
 
 * world : ' and the scriptures declare, that " the 
 " world lieth in wickedness." They affirm, that, 
 " if any man will be the friend of the world/' or 
 
53 
 
 determine to stand fair in the opinion of the 
 world, " he is the enemy of God." To be " of 
 " the world/' therefore, is to be " not of God/' * I 
 beseech you all seriously to reflect on this truth ! 
 
 ' Renouncing the world/ however, does not 
 mean, refusing to take any part in the business of 
 life, much Jess, omitting to serve and assist our 
 fellow creatures. No : the Christian is conscien- 
 tiously to fill up his place in society, and to render 
 himself useful to mankind. " I pray not that 
 '* thou shouldst take them out of the world, but 
 " that thou shouldst keep them from the evil," 
 was our Lord's intercession for his disciples. 
 
 But every serious inquirer into the subject 
 will be shocked to find, how much the system 
 of this world is arranged in opposition to the re- 
 vealed will of God : to how many cases that say- 
 ing of our Saviour is justly applicable, " that 
 " which is highly esteemed among men is abomina- 
 *' Hon in the sight of God."-|- 
 
 For example : " to seek great things" for our- 
 selves in this life, is what the world not only prac- 
 tises, but applauds. On the contrary, " to set our 
 " affections on things above," " to lay up for our- 
 " selves treasures, not on earth, but in heaven/' 
 to be content with a moderate portion here, 
 " to let our moderation be known unto all men;" 
 in a word, " 7iot to seek great things for ourselves"! 
 in this world, but to devote ourselves to higher 
 pursuits: these are the injunctions of Scripture. 
 
 * John xvii. 16. James iv. 4. 1 John ii. 15. iv. 4-6. v, 19, 
 
 t Luke xvi. 15. J Jer. xlv\ 
 
 F3 
 
54 
 
 If we be not constantly on our guard, " watching 
 " and praying lest we enter into temptation," we 
 shall imbibe the spirit which is "of men, and not 
 " of God," in this respect. — We vow to renounce 
 ' the covetous desires of the world.' * 
 
 Again, Reputation is the idol of the world. 
 Nor is it to any man's honour to set the opinion of 
 his fellow creatures absolutely at defiance. The 
 profession of utter indifference to it, is, generally 
 speaking, equally proud, foolish, and false. f The 
 respect or esteem of mankind, as far as it may be 
 had without any dereliction of duty, is desirable : 
 and that we should follow those things which are 
 " of good report," (provided, of course, that they 
 be not contrary to the laws of God,) is a precept 
 of inspiration. In short, the esteem of men is to 
 be desired just for the same purposes, and within 
 the same limitations, as is the possession of pro- 
 perty ; namely, as a means, under the providence 
 and blessing of God, of comfort to ourselves, and of 
 usefulness to others. But, just as mankind set an 
 inordinate value on property, and seek it with 
 undue eagerness, and by unlawful means, so do 
 they, also act by reputation. Not only is the pur- 
 suit of * glory,' as our supreme or ultimate object, 
 always a violation of our allegiance to the God by 
 whom we do, and to whom we ought to live ; but, 
 in the more retired walks of life, the regard to 
 
 * Bapt. Service, 
 t Negligere quid de se quisque sentiat, -non solum arro~ 
 gantis est, sed etiam omnino dissoluti. Cic. de Off. Lib. I. 
 c. 2o. — It is true, that our danger is commonly from the 
 other extreme ; but there are those who err on this side. 
 
55 
 
 character, the desire of standing well in the esti- 
 mation of men, is very commonly a most dangerous 
 snare, witholding us from the service of God. 
 
 The world approves what is customary: what 
 the laws of honour, of fashion, of general practice 
 in our Hue of life sanction. Men cannot break 
 through these rules without incurring censure, ri- 
 dicule, reproach. Yet these rules are often at vari- 
 ance with the law of God. They enjoin what it for- 
 bids : they forbid what it enjoins. —For example : 
 they will not allow a man to be strictly religious; 
 to avow his religious principles; and to incite 
 others to be, and to do, the same. In such a 
 case, then, it is, that it becomes noble, that it 
 is Christian, that it is our indispensable duty, to 
 despise our character, to disregard the opinion of 
 men, to say by word and deed, " Whether it be 
 f* right to hearken unto you more than unto 
 " God, judge ye." Fear, and shame, and loss, 
 must here go for nothing. For our blessed Sa- 
 viour solemnly forewarns us, " Whosoever shall 
 " be ashamed of me and of my words, in this 
 " adulterous and sinful generation, of him also 
 " shall the ^on of man be ashamed," and shall 
 disown him, " when he cometh in his own glory, 
 " and in the glory of his Father, and of the holy 
 " angels." * He taught us what to expect, when 
 he pronounced, ** Blessed are ye when men shall 
 " hate you, and when they shall separate you 
 *f from their company, and shall reproach you, 
 " and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of 
 
 * Mark viii. 38. Luke ix. 26. 
 
56 
 
 " man's sake : — for in the like manner did their 
 * fathers unto the prophets — But woe unto you 
 " when all men shall speak well of you : for so 
 " did their fathers to the false prophets." * 
 
 Once more, The world is dissipated, thought- 
 less, fond of pomp and display, and devoted to 
 what it calls pleasure: and often it seeks its pleasure 
 from what is fraught with wickedness. Yet it 
 would veil all with the accommodating names of 
 harmless gratifications, innocent amusements. All 
 this is, at the best, ' the pomps and vanity of this 
 wicked world:' often it is much worse. The 
 Christian renounces it all : it is all unfit for a 
 rational being who has to provide, in the few short 
 years of life, for everlasting existence ! for a sinner 
 " preparing to meet his God!" He has no time 
 for it : and, what is yet more, he has no heart 
 for it. He ought to be, and he is, serious. He 
 ought to be, and he is, diligent and watchful : 
 " not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving 
 " the Lord." He is commanded " whatever he 
 " does, to do all to the glory of God." He is " to 
 " deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and 
 " follow" his Lord and Master, on pain of being 
 accounted " unworthy of him." 
 
 Nor is this a life barren of enjoyment. The 
 possession of a taste, a relish for such a life, a 
 preference of it, a delight in it, is the very thing 
 which constitutes a Christian. And, for the man 
 who is leading such a life, there are a thousand 
 subsidiary pleasures, sober, tranquil, and cheer- 
 * Luke vi. 22, 23, 26. 
 
57 
 
 iog, — truly iunocent and virtuous pleasures, — 
 to be enjoyed. But pleasures which inflame the 
 passions, which dissipate the thoughts, which 
 rob the soul of its sobriety, its holy vigour and 
 resolution in the great work of life, are intitled 
 to any character, rather than that of innocence, 
 " Let no man deceive you with vain words/' 
 
 odlv, 'The sinful lusts of the flesh' are renounced. 
 The flesh is often in scripture put for the whole 
 corrupt nature of fallen man. Even those evil 
 passions which most entirely have their seat in 
 the mind, are included under this name.* But 
 here, being distinguished from ' the works of the 
 devil/ as well as from '■ the pomps and vanity 
 of the world/ ' the lusts of the flesh' may 
 perhaps be most properly understood, of those 
 sins in which the body is primarily concerned ; 
 and which consist in the inordinate indulgence of 
 appetites, iu themselves innocent and necessary. 
 I shall not dwell upon this class of sins : they are 
 sufficiently well known. The Apostle thus enu- 
 merates them : " Adultery, fornication, unclean - 
 " ness, lasciviousness, — drunkenness, revellings,aud 
 " such like/' And he adds concerning them, 
 " Of which I tell you before, as I have also told 
 " you in time past, that they which do such things, 
 " shall not inherit the kingdom of God/' And 
 again, in another passage, " For this ye know, that 
 " no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous 
 " man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance 
 
 * Gal. v. 20, 21. 
 
58 
 
 "in the kingdom of Christ, and of God. Let 
 "no man deceive you with vain words: for be- 
 " cause of these things cometh the wrath of 
 " God upon the children of disobedience/' * 
 
 We should, however, observe, that all im- 
 purity of mind, of thought, of conversation, as 
 well as outward acts of uuchastity, comes under 
 these heads, in the estimation of God, "who 
 n knowetb the heart/' + Sloth, love of ease, 
 and fondness for indulgence, are also condemned, 
 as well as gluttony and drunkenness.—" Flee, 
 " therefore, youthful lusts, which war against 
 " the soul !" 
 
 All these enemies, then, the devil, the world, 
 and the flesh, which have obtained such fatal 
 power over fallen man, we engage to renounce, 
 
 * Gal. v. 19—21. Eph. v. 3—6. 
 t Matt. v. 27. 28. — What words can sufficiently repro- 
 bate the detestable custom, so generally prevalent, I am told, 
 of mingling corruption with the cups which should only re- 
 fresh and cheer the friendly party, — bj' drinking obscene 
 toasts? What a sink of pollution does such a practice shew 
 the minds of some men 10 be, who would pass for polite and 
 refined ! — " They are like unto whited tombs, which indeed 
 " appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead 
 " men's bones, and all uncleanness." In the energetic 
 language of Scripture, "Their throat is an open sepulchre," 
 emitting a poisonous stench, to spread contagion and death 
 all around them. — Young men, flee such companions! 
 Cherish for them that loathing and disgust, which they de- 
 serve ! The insidious decency of ambiguous language, in 
 which they may sometimes envelope the foulness of their 
 ideas, shews only the deeper corruption of their imagina- 
 tions, which could dwell with pleasure on such sentiments, 
 and studiously devise such modes of conveying them into 
 the 3 7 oulhtul mind, as should at once give them a faster hold 
 of the memory, and screen them from that merited abhor- 
 rence, which their unveiled, native deformity must excite 
 in all persons not utterly depraved. 
 
59 
 
 and resist, all the days of our life. The language 
 of this vow is, " Other Lords have had domi- 
 " nion over us, but, henceforth, by thee," by thy 
 grace, " will we make mention only of thy 
 " name," O Lord ! Oh may we all, and, in par- 
 ticular, may you who are just entering upon 
 life, and are about solemnly to make this vow, 
 have grace to keep it ! * to fight manfully, under 
 1 the banner of Christ, against the world, the 
 ' flesh, and the devil, and to continue the faithful 
 ' soldiers and servants' of the Redeemer, ' unto 
 'your life's end V 
 
 1 From all the crafts and assaults of the devil; 
 1 from all blindness of heart; from pride, vain 
 ' glory, and hypocrisy; from envy, hatred, and 
 ' malice; and from all the deceits of the world 
 * and the flesh ; may the good Lord evermore 
 ' deliver you/ and preserve you to his kingdom 
 and glory ! 
 
SERMON IV. 
 
 THE SUBJECT CONTINUED. 
 
 ECCLESIASTES, V. 4, 5. 
 
 When thou voioest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it ; 
 for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thoxt 
 hast vowed. Better is it that thou shouldst not vow, 
 than that thou shouldst vow and not pay. 
 
 IN a former discourse from these words, I en- 
 deavoured to explain to you the first of those 
 vows, which are made in our name at our bap- 
 tism, and are ratified by ourselves at our confirma- 
 tion. I now proceed to the consideration of the 
 two remaining vows. It will not be necessary to 
 dwell quite so long upon them, as the catechism 
 itself furnishes a more particular explanation of 
 them, than it does of the preceding one. 
 
 II. The second vow is this, ' That we will be- 
 1 lieve all the articles of the Christian faith/ 
 
 Before we can believe the articles of the Chris- 
 tian faith, it is necessary that we know them; 
 
61 
 
 and they are to be known only from the sacred 
 scriptures. 
 
 1 . In the first place, then, this vow binds us to 
 be serious and diligent readers of the word of God. 
 And how reasonable a duty is this! Does the 
 most High speak to us from heaven'? Does he 
 reveal to us, as his creatures, his laws and our 
 duty; and, as sinners, the means of restoration to 
 his favour, and of attaining everlasting life ? Does 
 he commission holy men to record this revelation, 
 and authenticate the inspiration of. their writings, 
 by miracles, and prophecies, and " many infallible 
 " proofs?" And shall we not apply ourselves to 
 the study of these writings, with hearts full of 
 zeal and gratitude ? 
 
 Alas ! what contempt of God, and of everlast- 
 ing salvation, is shewn by the multitudes, who 
 having the scriptures in their hands, and acknow- 
 ledging them to be divinely inspired, yet have 
 time for any pursuit, any amusement, rather than 
 for the study of the sacred oracles ! Who content 
 themselves with the most superficial, partial, and 
 imperfect knowledge of their contents, acquired 
 without any pains or study! Most justly will 
 they be judged " unworthy of eternal life," who 
 thus despise the word of salvation, mercifully put 
 into their hands ! 
 
 My young friends ! you bind yourselves to pur- 
 sue a more rational and more virtuous course : — 
 to read the scriptures daily. Not hurrying 
 thoughtlessly over their sacred pages: but care- 
 G 
 
62 
 
 fully perusing and devoutly meditating upon them, 
 with prayer to God for the teaching and blessing 
 of his Spirit, to unfold their truths to your under- 
 standings, and to give them their due effect upon 
 your hearts. There is not one among you who 
 may not find opportunity thus to store up some 
 portion of them, daily, in his memory : and what 
 an invaluable treasure would you thus amass, in a 
 course of years ! Oh begin the practice with this 
 day! You will look back upon its commencement 
 with pleasure for ever. 
 
 2. The next thing for which we engage, in this 
 vow, is, simply and implicitly to receive what- 
 ever we find declared in the volume of revela- 
 tion, upon the authority of God who declares 
 it. He is too wise to err, and too good to de- 
 ceive : the sacred scriptures are proved to be his 
 word : whatever, therefore, they tell us, we 
 are to believe without hesitation or wavering. 
 " Whoever will not" thus " receive the kingdom 
 " of God," or submit to the gospel, " as a little 
 " child," — with the humility and simplicity of 
 such a character, — " he shall not enter therein." * 
 
 But, 3dly, we are not merely to assent to 
 what we read in the Bible, as true : we shall 
 find that it is all important, all interesting to 
 ourselves, in the highest degree. He alone, 
 therefore, believes it rightly, whose heart is in- 
 fluenced and whose life is governed by it. Let 
 this truth be ever in our thoughts. 
 
 To inform us of the principal * articles of the 
 
 * Matt, xviii. 1—4. Mark x. 15. 
 
r 
 
 63 
 
 r Christian faith/ the ■ creed/ or belief, is given 
 in the catechism, where our baptismal vows are 
 recorded. It is a very ancient and excellent com- 
 position, derived from the sacred scriptures, and 
 teaches us, as we are further informed, ' to believe, 
 
 * first, in God the Father, who hath made us, and 
 ' all the world ; secondly, in God the Son, who 
 " hath redeemed us, and all mankind; and, thirdly, 
 ' in God the Holy Ghost, who sanctifieth us, and 
 
 * ail the elect people of God.' 
 
 We are to believe in God, as almighty, all-wise, 
 all-knowing, every where present; our creator, 
 preserver, and continual benefactor ; our governor, 
 and judge : — as holy, and hating sin, with a perfect 
 hatred : as just, and determined to punish it in all 
 the impenitent: yet as merciful, and, through 
 Jesus Christ, delighting to pardon and save the 
 penitent sinner. — How ought we to be affected by 
 such a faith ? What ! can we believe in God, with 
 any true faith, while we live without serious regard 
 to him? without prayer, without repentance, with- 
 out obedience 1 Impossible ! 
 
 We are to believe in Jesus Christ, the only- 
 begotten Son of God, as having, ' for us men and 
 
 * for our salvation, come down from heaven:' as 
 having humbled himself to sufferings and death, 
 the most ignominious and excruciating, that he 
 might " redeem us to God with his blood : " as 
 having risen from the dead, and ascended into 
 heaven, and there ever living " to save to the 
 ** uttermost all them that come unto God through 
 
 G2 
 
64 
 
 " him." And can we truly believe in Jesus 
 Christ, without ourselves " coming unto God 
 " through him 1 " without " fleeing from the 
 " wrath to come," which our sins have deserved 2 
 without mourning for those sins, as the crucifiers 
 of the Lord of Glory ? without fervent love and 
 gratitude to him? without "living to him who 
 " died for us, and rose again ? " 
 
 We believe that " this same Jesus," who 
 " once appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice 
 " of himself," shall come again " the second 
 " time," to be ' the judge of both quick and dead/ 
 And, oh what an event will that be! How do 
 the scriptures describe it to us ! " All that are 
 " in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall 
 * come forth; they that have done good, unto 
 " the resurrection of life, and- they that have 
 " done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." 
 " Before him shall be gathered all nations, and 
 " he shall separate them one from another, as a 
 u shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. — 
 " Then shall the King say unto them on his right 
 " hand, ' Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit 
 " the kingdom prepared for you from the founda- 
 " tion of the world." And unto " them on his 
 " left hand, ' Depart from me, ye cursed, into 
 " everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his 
 " angels/ — And these shall go away into everlast- 
 " ing punishment, but the righteous into life 
 " eternal." " We must all appear before the 
 " judgment seat of Christ, that every one may .re- 
 
65 
 
 " eeive the things done in his body, according to 
 " that he hath done, whether it be good or bad."* 
 Do we believe these things, and live without 
 thought of them 1 without preparation for " judg- 
 " ment to come?" Be astonished, O heavens, 
 at the stupidity and hardness of human hearts, 
 which are proof, alike, against u the terrors of the 
 '• Lord/' and " the tender mercies of our God ! * 
 O ye sons of men, who in vain ' profess and call 
 yourselves Christians/' how long will ye satisfy and 
 deceive your own souls, with a " dead faith," 
 " with a name to live, while ye are dead ? " 
 " Awake, ye that sleep" in false security, "and 
 " arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you 
 "light!" 
 
 Lastly, we learn to believe in God the Holy 
 Ghost, as the only Sanctifier of fallen men; as 
 * the Lord and giver of spiritual ' life.' His it 
 is to " quicken " the sinner who was " dead in 
 " trespasses and sins: " to " convince him of sin : " 
 to "renew him unto repentance:" to lead him 
 unto faith in Christ : to " shed abroad the love 
 " of God in his heart : " and then, through the 
 use of the various ' means of grace,' to form him 
 to all Christian tempers and practices, and to pre- 
 serve him unto God's eternal kingdom and glory. 
 " The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long- 
 suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, 
 temperance." f — This is sanctiftcation : one of 
 
 • John v. 28, 29. Matt. xxv. 31, &c. 2 Cor. v. 10. 
 
 t Gal.v. 22,23. 
 
 G3 
 
66 
 
 those two great blessings (forgiveness of sins, and 
 ** the new heart") which, as you have often heard 
 it repeated, are indispensably necessary to our 
 salvation. 
 
 You avow the hope and belief that God the 
 Holy Ghost * sanctifieth you/ in common with 
 ' all the elect people of God/ — all those to whom 
 the redemption of Christ is effectually applied, 
 and who shall attain unto everlasting life. Where 
 then are the happy proofs, that this is indeed 
 the case? Are you brought decidedly "to seek 
 " first the kingdom of God and his righteous- 
 " ness?" to be all alive to the concerns of your 
 everlasting salvation, as the " one thing need- 
 " ful? " Have you been made to feel the guilt of 
 your sins, as a ' burden too heavy for you to 
 'bear?'* Do you '* count all but loss for 
 u Christ" as your only hope, your only Saviour,— 
 " that you may be found in him, not having your 
 " own righteousness, — but that which is by the 
 " faith of Christ ? " Is the world become, through 
 him, "crucified unto you?" Do you "live 
 u the life which you now live in the flesh, by the 
 " faith of the son of God," maintaining continual 
 " communion " with him, aud deriving from " his 
 " fulness" all grace and strength, peace and 
 consolation ? Have you begun to hate and shun 
 every sin, " to cease to do evil and learn to do 
 *' well?" Do you lament unfeignedly the imper- 
 fection and sin which still cleave to all you do ? 
 Are you continually, in the exercise of humble 
 * See the Confession in the Office for the Holy Communion. 
 
67 
 
 prayer, imploring the presence and aid of the 
 Holy Spirit of God, " to fulfil in you all the good 
 " pleasure of his goodness ? " Do you love the 
 holy word of God? Do you meditate thereon 
 daily? Do you rake it for " the light of your feet, 
 "and the lamp of your paths?" Are you 
 constantly aiming to rule yourselves according to 
 its directions^? to cultivate whatever it enjoins? 
 to avoid whatever it condemns? — Such are the 
 aims and characteristic marks of ' the elect people 
 ' of God/ whom the Holy Ghost * sanctifieth/ 
 Only by their being found in us, can it be known 
 that we belong to that number.* But if we bear 
 no such characters, if we be strangers to such a 
 purification of heart aud life, in vain do we flatter 
 ourselves that he ' sanctifieth us:', in vain do we 
 hope, in our present state, or without a thorough 
 and radical conversion, to attain the heavenly in- 
 heritance. " Marvel not that we say unto you, 
 " Ye must be born again." " Except a man be 
 " born of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter 
 " iuto the kingdom of God."f 
 
 III. We come now, finally, to the vow by 
 which we engage ' to keep God's holy will and 
 1 commandments, and to walk in the same all 
 * the days of our life/ 
 
 This follows, we should observe, what is said 
 of the Christian faith. It is the obedience of the 
 sincere Christian believer, performed not as the 
 * See 1 Thess. i. 4, 5, &c. t John. iii. 
 
68 
 
 ground of his confidence, or the condition of his 
 justification before God, but springing from faith, 
 and love for his Redeemer, (in whom alone he 
 trusts,) that is here promised. And indeed this 
 is the only obedience that will be rendered con- 
 scientiously, cheerfully, and unreservedly by fallen 
 man: or which can be accepted at his hands by 
 a just and holy God. It cannot put away his 
 sin, or contribute auy thing towards his justifica- 
 tion. Whoever expects his obedience and good 
 works to answer any such end, is so far building 
 upon a wrong foundation, and, it may be feared, 
 has as yet rendered no Christian obedience, and 
 performed no works truly good and acceptable 
 to God.* All right obedience follows after, not 
 precedes, our justification,! and at the very best 
 its imperfection needs forgiveness through the 
 atonement of Christ. Yet is unreserved obedience 
 absolutely necessary as the fruit of the renewed 
 mind, and the evidence of our faith and love. 
 
 The divine commandments are dispersed 
 throughout the scriptures, but the decalogue is 
 given us as a concise summary of them all ; and 
 they are still further abridged in those two great 
 precepts, of " loving God with all our heart/' and 
 " our neighbour as ourselves." 
 
 * Church Article xiii. 
 t Ibid, xi, xii. This is not merely a doctrine laid down 
 in our Articles : it is a principle which pervades the prayers 
 of our Church. See, for example, the confession, where 
 we pray for obedience as following our forgiveness, not as 
 preceding, and contributing to procure it. 
 

 69 
 
 Let us observe, first, That our duty towards 
 God is at least as much insisted on, as our duty 
 towards our neighbour. This is manifestly just 
 and right. Yet many, very many persons, almost 
 wholly overlook this branch of their duty: and, 
 in estimating their own character and conduct, 
 inquire only hew far they have performed their 
 external social duties to mankind. 
 
 Secondly, The law of God is " spiritual," 
 and " exceeding broad/' They are not only 
 outward actions which it forbids or commands : 
 it extends to the whole state of the heart; to the 
 thoughts, imaginations, desires, and all the disposi- 
 tions, which work within us. The true rule of 
 interpretation is furnished by our blessed Saviour's 
 comment on the sixth and seventh commandments, 
 in his sermon on the mount : * where he teaches 
 us, that undue anger violates the law which says, 
 "Thou shalt do no murder;" and a wanton 
 desire, or unclean thought, that which enjoins, 
 " Thou shalt not commit adultery." Indeed, in 
 one instance, the very letter of the decalogue 
 exhibits all this strictness and spirituality. The 
 seventh commandment prohibits impurity, and the 
 eighth, injustice, but the tenth goes directly to the 
 source of unholy and unjust actions, the concu- 
 piscence of the heart, and pronounces, " Thou 
 "shalt not covet thy neighbour's house; thou 
 " shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his 
 " man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his 
 * Matt, v, 21, &c. 
 
70 
 
 M ox, nor bis ass, nor any thing that is thy 
 " neighbour's." Deeply had this commandment 
 impressed the mind of St. Paul. It brought 
 home to his conscience conviction of sin, as even 
 abounding where he had not suspected it to exist: 
 and went far towards overthrowing the whole 
 fabric of his self-righteous confidence.* And 
 deeply ought the consideration, which we are now 
 urging, to impress us all, causing us from the 
 heart to adopt, and most earnestly offer up that 
 petition, which our church puts into our mouths 
 after the recital of each commandment, and by 
 which we acknowledge ourselves guilty under 
 every one, imploring forgiveness for the past, and 
 grace for the future: — * Lord have mercy upon 
 * us! and incline our hearts to keep this law ! ' 
 
 Thirdly, it is an established rule of interpre- 
 tation, that, wherever any practice is forbidden in 
 these laws, the contrary practice is enjoined. 
 " Thou shall have none other gods but me," is 
 not only a prohibition of idolatry, but a positive 
 injunction, to take the Lord for our God, to 
 submit to him, and to bear all those regards 
 towards him, to which, in that character of un- 
 rivalled majesty, and most intimate relation to 
 us, he is so justly intitled. And, in like manner, 
 with respect to our neighbour, " Thou shalt not 
 " kill," is an injunction to promote, by all means 
 in our power, the personal safety, well-being, and 
 comfort of every fellow-creature. 
 * Rom. vii. 7, 8, 9, 10. 
 
71 
 
 Upon these principles of interpretation do 
 those excellent little summaries of duty to God 
 and to our neighbour proceed, which, in the 
 catechism, follow the commandments, and furnish 
 a concise commentary upon them. Let me recal 
 these to your remembrance, pointing out to you 
 the explanation which they give of each com- 
 mandment. 
 
 As we are here taught, the first commandment 
 requires, that we ' believe in God, fear him, 
 ' and love him with all our heart, with all our 
 1 mind, with all our soul, and with all our 
 ' strength.' The second, that we ' worship him, 
 ' give him thanks, put our whole trust in him, 
 ' and call upon him/ not with superstitious, 
 not with merely external and formal worship, 
 but " in spirit, and in truth." The third, that 
 we ' honour his holy name, and his word,' and 
 treat every thing which relates to God and reli- 
 gion, with profound reverence. The fourth, 
 prescribes the duties of the sabbath, and virtu- 
 ally enjoins us ' to serve God truly all the days 
 
 * of our life.' The six following commandments 
 relate to our neighbour, and require us ' to love 
 ' him as ourselves, and to do unto all men, as 
 
 * we would they should do unto us/ The fifth, 
 in particular, commands us ' to love, honour, 
 1 and succour our father and mother: to honour 
 ' and obey the king, and all that are put in 
 ' authority under him; to submit ourselves to 
 { our governors, teachers, spiritual pastors, and 
 f masters; and to order ourselves lowly and 
 
72 
 
 ' reverently to all our betters.' The sixth, ' to 
 ' hurt nobody by word or deed/ and to ' bear 
 ' no malice or hatred in our hearts/ The seventh, 
 ' to keep our bodies in soberness, temperance, 
 ' and chastity/ and duly to govern all our animal 
 appetites and passions, and the thoughts of our 
 hearts with respect to them. The eighth, * to 
 ' keep our hands from picking and stealing/ and 
 ' to be true and just in all our dealings/ The 
 ninth, ' to keep our tongues from evil-speaking, 
 ' lying and slandering/ The tenth, ' not to covet 
 1 nor desire other men's goods, but to learn and 
 ' labour truly to get our own living, and to do 
 c our duty in that state of life unto which it shall 
 ' please God to call us/ 
 
 Now, not to burden your memories with any 
 more elaborate explanation of your duty, let 
 me intreat you only to bear in mind these short 
 summaries: and, wheuever you would form a 
 judgment of your own characters, or estimate 
 the number of your sins, to judge by these rules. 
 Compare yourselves day by day with them. 
 Surely such a practice would soon dissipate the 
 delusions under which many labour. Surely it 
 must soon convince you, that your iniquities 
 are not few or small, counterbalanced by your 
 virtues and good works, but that they are " more 
 " in number than the hairs of jour head/' How 
 have you forgotten God, and ne-lected or violated 
 the duties which you owed to him ! How far 
 have you been from " setting him always before 
 
73 
 
 u you;" from "loving him with all your heart; " 
 from choosing him, and not the world, for your 
 portion; from devoting your lives to his glory, 
 and serving him with all the powers you possess ! 
 How little have you delighted in prayer, and 
 praise, and devout meditation ; in hallowing the 
 sabbath, and studying the word of God ! How 
 far have you been from submitting patiently and 
 thankfully to all the dispensations of his provi- 
 dence, and yielding a cheerful obedience to all his 
 commands ! On the contrary, have not your 
 hearts often fretted against both the one and the 
 other? Have you not thought his laws too strict ; 
 their penalty too severe; the duties of religion bur- 
 densome ; the service of God " a hard service ? " 
 Nay, if you will honestly examine, will you not 
 find, that the character of God itself, as deli- 
 neated in the Scriptures, — a God of justice and 
 holiness, as well as goodness, — of " purer eyes 
 " than to look upon iniquity," and determined to 
 cast the impenitent sinner into hell, — has been 
 offensive to you? Has not your heart revolted 
 at it ? Have you not been unwilling to believe 
 that such was indeed the character of God? You 
 have wished the most High other than he is; 
 that he would connive at sin ; that he would for- 
 bear to punish it ; that he would indulge you in 
 your favourite transgression. Have you not thus 
 proved, that what the Scriptures assert of the 
 " carnal mind" is true of your mind, — that it is 
 " enmity against God I" Oh awful thought ! 
 H 
 
74 
 
 Nothing is more rare among men than the true 
 love of God. It has been, naturally, wanting in 
 you! Have you not need " to abhor yourselves 
 " and repent in dust and ashes? " Have you not 
 need to pray, " Create in me a clean heart, O God, 
 " and renew a right spirit within me ! " Can you, 
 without being made " new creatures/' ever be fit 
 for the kingdom of God ? 
 
 In like manner if you will examine yourselves 
 respecting your tempers and conduct towards your 
 fellow creatures, how far will you find that you 
 have been removed from * original righteousness!' 
 How much pride, how much selfishness, anger, 
 envy, resentment, coveting, impurity, will you find 
 has prevailed in your hearts ! How much unkiud- 
 ness has often been shewn in your words and 
 actions ! How far have you been from " doing 
 " unto all men as you would they should do to 
 " you ! " Oh know yourselves, and confess the 
 truth, that you are " all as an unclean thing, and 
 " all your righteousness," your supposed good 
 works, so defective in their measure, so impure 
 in their principle, as to be but " as filthy rags." 
 Feel and acknowledge that there is ' no health in 
 ■ you/ The conviction may be painful, but it will 
 be salutary. It need not lead you to despair. By 
 no means. It should only lead you to value Jesus 
 Christ, the Saviour of " lost" sinners, as you ought 
 to do; to renounce all trust in yourselves, that you 
 may be " justified by faith in his blood/' which 
 •" cleanseth from all sin ;" and sanctified by his 
 
75 
 
 Spirit, who alone can restore you to the image of 
 Ood. It will cause you to believe in him with a 
 living, not a dead faith : and thus prove the first 
 step in your way to everlasting life. 
 
 Such, then, are the vows by which all are 
 bound, and which many of you have renewed, 
 since you came ' to years of discretion/ Once 
 more I ask, how have you kept them ? May not 
 this question well cover many of you with shame 
 and confusion of face ! many who have not only 
 failed, as every humble mind must confess that it 
 still does, of keeping them perfectly, but who have 
 never tried to keep them at all ! Oh dreadful im- 
 piety and mockery of God ! If a man thus " sin/' 
 presumptuously, "against the Lord, who shall 
 " intreat for him ?* " Be afflicted, and mourn, and 
 * A weep," for your horrible guilt and danger. Yet 
 know that there is still forgiveness for you, if you 
 earnestly seek it, in the Saviour's name. " Repent, 
 ** and be converted, that your sins may be blotted 
 ." out." But " to-day, if ye will hear the voice of 
 At God, harden not your hearts." * He that being 
 " often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall sud- 
 ** denly be destroyed, and that without remedy." 
 
 Such, again, are the vows, which many of you 
 are now about ' to ratify and confirm/ Oh surely 
 you have need to be serious in such a transaction ! 
 " Better is it that thou shouldst not vow, than that 
 ■** thou shouldst vow and not pay." We say it 
 H2 
 
76 
 
 for the warning of all. But we say it not to dis- 
 courage and alarm the conscientious, the humble, 
 those who feel the seriousness of the duty before 
 them, their own weakness, and the deceitfulness 
 of their hearts : who desire to devote themselves 
 to God, but are ready perhaps, to tremble at 
 the apprehension that they may not keep their 
 vows. No : such are the very persons who ought 
 to "join themselves to the Lord in a perpetual 
 " covenant, which shall not be forgotten/' They 
 alone are in the proper state of mind to make 
 these vows. And let me remind all such persons, 
 for their encouragement, that they are to make 
 their vows, not in dependence upon their own 
 strength for the keeping of them, but in humble 
 dependence on God to enable them: and, while 
 " even the youths shall faint and be weary, and 
 " the young men shall utterly fall, they that wait 
 " upon the Lord shall renew their strength ; they 
 " shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall 
 " run and not be weary, they shall walk and not 
 " faint. " * 
 
 He who makes these vows lightly, and in self- 
 confidence, " offers the sacrifice of fools/' But he 
 who feels the justness of the admonition, c Know 
 ' that thou art not able/ of thyself, ■ to do these 
 ' things, neither to walk in the commandments of 
 - God, and to serve him;' and who therefore obeys 
 the exhortation, * at all times to call upon God 
 ' for his special grace, by diligent prayer;' may 
 
 * Is. xl. 28—31. 
 
77 
 
 draw near with faith, not doubting that God will 
 " accept his work," and pardon its imperfection, 
 for the Redeemer's sake : that he will ' lighten his 
 ' darkness/ will strengthen his weakness, and will 
 " confirm him unto the end," 
 
 That you may all thus feel the humility, exer- 
 cise the repentance and faith, and yield the obe- 
 dience, of the gospel, and, ' finally attain unto ever- 
 ' lasting life/ may God of his infinite mercy grant, 
 through Jesus Christ, our Lord ! Amen* 
 
 H3 
 
SERMON V. 
 
 ON THE LORD'S SUPPER— ITS NATURE 
 AND INTENTION. 
 
 l Corinthians, x. l6\ 
 
 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion 
 of the blood of Christ ? The bread which we break, is it 
 not the communion of the body of Christ ? 
 
 s< 
 
 •UCH is the constitution of man, in his present 
 state, that his mind is accessible to external things 
 only by the intervention, direct or indirect, of his 
 bodily senses. Nay so much are we conversant 
 with material objects, and so little with those 
 which are purely intellectual, that we are apt to 
 ascribe corporeal forms and qualities to spiritual 
 beings. We have no names for the operations of 
 our own minds, but what are derived from bodily 
 actions : and we find it extremely difficult to con- 
 ceive or retain lively impressions of any thing which 
 is not, in some way, presented to our senses. 
 
 Sacred scripture condescends to this weakness 
 of our nature, by representing to us spiritual sub- 
 
79 
 
 jects under sensible images. In the infancy of 
 the church, under the old dispensation, almost 
 every thing belonging to religion was taught by 
 type, and figure, and visible representation: and, 
 under the new testament itself, the great mysteries 
 of our redemption are exhibited, and impressed 
 upon our minds, by the like means, in the two 
 sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper. 
 And, though the application of the baptismal 
 water to our persons, and the offering of the 
 symbols of the body and blood of Christ to our 
 sight, our touch, and our taste, would be nothing, 
 apart from the explanation which the word of 
 God furnishes of the truths and blessings repre- 
 sented by these rites; yet, accompanied by those 
 explanations, and coming in aid of them, these 
 symbols are well suited to assist our conceptions, 
 aud awaken our feelings. 
 
 As, before the confirmation took place, I en- 
 deavoured to explain to you the sacrament of 
 Baptism, I shall proceed now to treat of the 
 Lord's Supper, to which confirmation is intended 
 to introduce you. I shall, in the present dis- 
 course, speak of the nature and intention of this 
 sacrament; and, in a subsequent one, of the 
 benefits sought, the professions made, and the 
 dispositions required, in attending upon it. 
 
 I. In speaking of the nature and intention of 
 the Lord's Supper, we may, 
 
80 
 
 1st, Consider it simply as a commemoration of 
 the death of Christ. Even in this view alone it is 
 highly interesting and important. 
 
 It was instituted under circumstances as affect- 
 ing as can well be conceived. " The Lord Jesus, 
 4 * the same night in ivhich he ivas betrayed, took 
 " bread, and, when he had given thanks, he brake 
 u it, and said, * Take, eat, this is my body, which 
 " is broken for you : this do in remembrance of 
 " me! After the same manner also he took the 
 " cup, when he had supped, saying, * This cup 
 " is the new testament in my blood : this do, as 
 u oft as ye shall drink it, in remembrance ofme" 
 As the Apostle observes, therefore, " As often as 
 " we eat this bread, and drink this cup, we do 
 " shew forth the Lord's death until he come/'* 
 
 When we approach the sacred table, and see 
 there the consecrated elements placed before us, 
 we should carry back our thoughts to the " upper 
 u room" at Jerusalem, and to all which passed 
 there at the last paschal supper. We should 
 realize the blessed Redeemer, whose heavenly 
 discourses and beneficent actions we have traced 
 with delight in the pages of the evangelists, now 
 retired to take his last social meal (which was also 
 a solemn religious feast,) with his disciples. He 
 is surrounded only by his confidential friends, 
 the partners of his labours and " ternptations/'f 
 A solemn impression of what was so nearly ap- 
 proaching evidently rests upon his mind. He 
 * 1 Cor. xi. 23 — 26. t Luke xxii. 28. 
 
81 
 
 foresees it all. He alludes to it in no equivocal 
 language : yet declares that be had looked for- 
 ward to the time then arrived, with expectation 
 and desire. " With desire have I desired to eat 
 H this passover with you before I suffer."* Hear 
 him, " as they sat and did eat," after a solemn 
 pause, utter the heart-piercing sentences, "Verily, 
 " I say unto you, one of you, that eateth with me, 
 " shall betray me \" — " Ye are clean, but not all.' 7 
 " The hand of him that betrayeth me is with me 
 " on the table." Hear him forewarn another of 
 his disciples, " Verily, I say uuto thee, that this 
 " night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me 
 " thrice:" and declare to them all, " All ye shall 
 " be offended because of me this night, for it is 
 " written, ' I will smite the shepherd, and the 
 " sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad'." 
 Yet see him, " having loved his own which were 
 " in the world, still love them unto the end/'f 
 Listen to his divine discourse, addressed to his dis- 
 ciples to prepare them for all that was before 
 them, as recorded by St. John ; and to his hea- 
 venly intercession for them, and for all who, to the 
 end of time, " should believe on him through their 
 " word. "J Then follow him to Gethsemane. 
 Witness his agony in the garden — a scene to which 
 no words, nor any human conceptions, can do jus- 
 tice. See him " begin to be sorrowful," and 
 " sore amazed : " hear him exclaim, " My soul 
 " is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death ! " and 
 
 * Luke xxii. 15. t John xiii. 1. % John xiv— xvii. 
 
82 
 
 then, withdrawn from his disciples, while his 
 '* sweat is like great drops of blood, falling to the 
 fi ground/' thrice reiterate the ardent supplication, 
 " Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from 
 " me ! nevertheless not ray will but thine be done." 
 Behold this awful scene broken in upon, and 
 the Son of Man " betrayed with a kiss," by 
 Judas, " one of the twelve." Attend him to the 
 palace of Caiaphas, to the judgment seat of Pilate, 
 to the court of Herod, and finally to Golgotha. 
 See him there nailed to the accursed tree, sus- 
 pended between heaven and earth, " a spectacle 
 41 to the world, to angels, and to men ; * * uttering 
 the " exceeding great and bitter cry," " My 
 " God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" 
 and at length " yielding up the ghost," amid the 
 taunts and revilings of all orders of men. All 
 this is what we commemorate in the Lord's 
 supper. With all this before his eyes it was, that 
 the blessed Redeemer, " the same night in which 
 " he was betrayed," with such calmness, such 
 simplicity, and affection, look the bread and wine 
 in his sacred bands, and said, " This is my body — 
 " This is my blood — This do in remembrance of 
 " me." — Most affecting subject of commemora- 
 tion must this be, to every sincere Christian ! The 
 bread and wine, set forth on the sacramental table, 
 should bring all these transactions fresh to our 
 thoughts; should impress them all anew upon 
 out hearts. Never would that bread and that 
 
 * 1 Cor. iv. 9, and 1 Tim. iii. 16. 
 
83 
 
 wine have stood before us, had not our Sa- 
 viour suffered : had he not, the very night in 
 which his sufferings began, given the command, 
 " This do in remembrance of me." — In this 
 ordinance, especially, " Jesus Christ is evidently 
 " set forth crucified, amongst us." Surely, as a 
 mere commemoration, it is suited powerfully to 
 affect our hearts. 
 
 2. " But there is something in this ordinance 
 much beyond mere commemoration. Let us next 
 consider it as giving evidence to Christianity at 
 large, and particularly to certain important parts 
 of that divine system." 
 
 Institutions like that of the Lord's supper, it 
 has often been shewn, are of much importance 
 in confirming those facts which constitute the 
 evidence of revelation. Purporting to have taken 
 their rise from the very period of the events which 
 they commemorate, they could never be introduced 
 in after ages, because mankind, at the same time 
 that they admitted them, must have been induced 
 to believe that they had always observed them ; 
 and, in the age to which they are referred, the 
 commemoration could never have taken place, 
 had not the event commemorated occurred. 
 Accordingly, in this light, of an evidence to the 
 truth of the gospel, the two sacraments seem to 
 be viewed by St. John in his first Epistle : " There 
 tl are three that bear record on earth, the Spirit/' 
 (the author of the miracles,) " and the water," or 
 
84 
 
 baptism <c and the blood," or the Lord's supper : 
 " and these three agree in one." 
 
 But, as was shewn in a former discourse re- 
 specting baptism, so it is easy to shew here con- 
 cerning the Lord's supper, that it not only bears 
 witness to the truth of Christianity generally, but 
 that it affords a very striking confirmation to 
 certain fundamental doctrines of the gospel. 
 
 For what reason, it may fairly be asked, 
 did our blessed Redeemer so particularly distin- 
 guish the sad and mournful scene of his suffer- 
 ings, above all other events of his history, by 
 an institution designed to keep it ever fresh in 
 our remembrance? Why should not his followers 
 rather celebrate his miraculous birth, his tri- 
 umphant resurrection from the dead, or his glo- 
 rious ascension into heaven, than his ignominious 
 death? The inquiry, I conceive, would not 
 readily receive a satisfactory answer from those, 
 who see nothing in the design of Christ's death, 
 beyond " bearing witness to the truth:" for cer- 
 tain it is, that his resurrection from the dead, 
 rather than his crucifixion, is the event constantly 
 and naturally appealed to, as the great proof of 
 his divine mission. But, admit our Lord's own 
 explanation of the design of his death, and of 
 the view with which it is to be commemorated, 
 and all is easy, all is reasonable. " This is my 
 " body/' he said, " which is given," and u broken 
 
85 
 
 " for you." " This is my blood of the new 
 " covenant which is shed for you," and u for many, 
 
 " FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS."* 
 
 Only consider our blessed Saviour as, what all 
 the sacrifices of the law prefigured, and what the 
 forerunner who was sent expressly " to prepare 
 " his way," and proclaim his character, declared 
 him to be, u the Lamb of God that taketh 
 " away the sin of the world : " Consider him as, 
 what all the prophets " bore witness" that he 
 would be, " wounded for our transgressions, 
 <: bruised for our iniquities," having the iniquity 
 " of us all," and " the chastisement by which our 
 " peace" is effected, u laid upon him," and 
 " making his soul an offering for sin:" Consider 
 him as, what he declared of himself, *' giving his 
 life A ransom for " many," his blood to be 
 " shed for the remission of sins;" and what his 
 Apostles, after they were endowed with the 
 abundant gifts and influence of the Holy Spirit, 
 ever preached him,f " suffering for sius, the just 
 u for the unjust, that he might bring us to God;" 
 though he " knew no sin" of his own, yet made 
 " sin " or a sin-offering, " for us, that we might be 
 "made the righteousness of God in him:" as 
 
 * Matt. xxvi. 26-28. , Luke xxii. 19, 20. 1 Cor. xi. 23-25. 
 t If any reader is staggered by the confident tone in 
 which the authority of the Apostolic Epistles is now- 
 disparaged, in comparison with that ol the Gospels, let him 
 carefully consider our Lord's words in his parting discourse 
 with his disciples, John xiv. 16, 17. xvi. 12 — 14, and com- 
 pare with them such passages as 1 Cor. ii. 1, 7, 10, 12, 13, 16. 
 1 Thess. iv. 1, 8. 2 Pet. ill. 15, 16, (" other scriptures;') 
 4-e. 4-c. 
 
 I 
 
86 
 
 u bearing our sins in his own body on the tree : " 
 as, " by his one offering" of " himself," " forever*' 
 "putting away sin:" "as the propitiation for 
 " the sins of the whole world," and " washing 
 *f us from our sins in his own blood:"* — Con- 
 sider the death of Christ in this light, and the 
 reason why " Christ and him crucified" should 
 be the great theme of inspired apostles on earth, 
 and of glorified saints in heaven, nay the grand 
 central subject of divine revelation — why his 
 death, especially, should be appointed to be had 
 in constant and everlasting " remembrance," — is 
 too obvious to need pointing out. The sacrifice 
 of the death of Christ is the most stupendous and 
 interesting, the most awful, most delightful, and 
 every way most memorable, event that ever 
 occurred in the world, or of which any intimation 
 is given to us. It, at once, brings " glory to God 
 " in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will 
 " towards men." Herein the evil of sin is 
 displayed to the whole universe, and yet the 
 firmest foundation laid for the hopes of all 
 penitent sinners: herein God appears to be 
 " a just God and" yet "a Saviour:" and even 
 " to the principalities and powers in heavenly 
 " places," new views of the " wisdom" and ma- 
 
 * See Is. liii. D:in. ix. 24—27. Zech. xii. 10. xiii. 1, 7. 
 John i. 29. in. 14, 15. vi. 51—56. Matt* xx *8. xxvi. 26 
 —28. Acts x. 43. Rom. iii. 25, 26. v. 6 — 10. 1 Cor. i, 
 18,23 ii. 2. xv. 3. 2 Cor. V. 21. Gal. iii. 13. vi. 14. 
 Eph. i. 7. v. 2. 1 Tim. ii. 6 Tit. ii. 14. Heb. i. 3. ii. 9, 
 17, vii. 27. ix. 11 — 14, 15, 22— 28. x. 4, 10, 12, 14, 19, 
 29. 1 Pet. i. 2. ii. 24. iii. 18. 1 John i. 7. ii. 1, 2, 
 iv. 9, 10. Rev.i. 5. v. 9—14. vii. 9—17. 
 
8/ 
 
 nifold glories of God are disclosed, in the re- 
 demption of " the church." by the death of Christ. 
 " Into these things angels desire to look down : " 
 well, therefore, may we who are so much more 
 nearly interested, dwell on them witli delight, 
 and keep them ever in our humble, affectionate, 
 and devout remembrance. 
 
 3. But we may, further, consider this as a 
 sccial ordinance, in which Christians hold " cora- 
 " muuion one with another." It is so in a much 
 higher degree than baptism, which, being ad- 
 ministered but once to the same individual, can in 
 general be joined in by only a very small number 
 at a time. But the Lord's supper is a standing 
 ordinance in which Christians are continually to 
 meet and profess their faith, present their united 
 worship, receive the pledges of their Redeemer's 
 love, and bind themselves one to another, in the 
 closest and most endearing ties. And hence, in 
 part, it derives its common name of ' the holy 
 ' communion.' 
 
 In this view, also, it is a delightful institution ; 
 calculated to cherish every " fruit of the Spirit," 
 and to extirpate every " root of bitterness/' in 
 the soul. How is it possible for Christian be- 
 lievers, meeting around the sacred board ; to- 
 gether confessing their sins with contrite hearts; 
 together acknowledging, and afresh applying for, 
 all the inrmite blessings of redemption ; together 
 commemorating their Saviour's dying love: — 
 naturally companions in ruin, and now, by 
 12 
 
88 
 
 divine grace, raised and united in one common 
 and glorious salvation: partners of the same 
 cares, sorrows, conflicts, temptations, hopes, joys; 
 having the same infinite objects at stake, and 
 the same enemies of their success to contend 
 against; destined, if only they be preserved 
 " faithful unto death/' to spend an eternity of 
 bliss together : — how is it possible for us to look 
 round upon men, and to consider them, as, in any 
 sense, associates and fellow candidates with us in 
 such a cause, and not to feel for them a heart 
 overflowing with tenderness 1 to find every rugged, 
 resentful, selfish passion, gradually melt away, and 
 give place to sympathy, benevolence, and interces- 
 sion ? Surely it is a most invaluable legacy, which 
 our dying Redeemer hath bequeathed to his dis- 
 ciples, in this ordinance ! one which most directly 
 tends to bring about that blessed consummation, 
 for which he poured forth such fervent supplication 
 in his last prayer. " That they all may be one! 
 " As Thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, 
 "that they also may be one in us! — that the 
 " world may believe that thou hast sent me." * 
 
 4. But the highest character of this ordinance 
 remains yet to be considered. It is a medium of 
 communion not only with our fellow Christians 
 here upon earth, but with heaven itself, with 
 God and our glorified Redeemer. And this 
 it is, especially, in virtue of its nature as a 
 sacrament. 
 
 9 John xvii. 11, 21. Compare xiii. 34, 35. 
 
89 
 
 A sacrament, as our church teaches us, is ' an 
 c outward and visible sign of an inward and spi- 
 
 * ritual grace given unto us; ' which outward and 
 visible sign is ' ordained by Christ himself, as a 
 ? means whereby we receive' the inward and 
 spiritual grace, * and a pledge to assure us there- 
 ' of/ — e The outward part, or sign, in the Lord's 
 ' supper,' as she further observes, ' is bread 
 ' and wine, which the Lord hath commanded to 
 ' be received. The inward part, or thing signi- 
 1 tied, is the body and blood of Christ, which 
 1 are verily and indeed taken and received by the 
 1 faithful, in the Lord's Supper:' but, in what 
 sense, she is careful to explain to us in her 
 Article on the subject. ' The body of Christ is 
 ' given, taken, and eaten, in the Supper, only 
 
 * after a heavenly and spiritual manner. And 
 
 * the mean whereby the body of Christ is received 
 ' and eaten, in the Supper, is faith** 
 
 Before we proceed to the further explanation 
 of this part of the ordinance, ' the inward and 
 
 * spiritual grace,' let me once more call your 
 attention to the rite itself, ' the outward and 
 
 * visible sign/ I have before noticed it as re- 
 markable that so particular a celebration of 
 Christ's death, rather than of any other event in 
 his history, should be apppinted. But certainly 
 the mode of celebration is yet more surprising. 
 
 In the first place, it is by a feast, not by a 
 fast. It is a celebration of praise and thanks- 
 
 * Art. xxviii. 
 13 
 
90 
 
 giving, not of mourning. — This is remarkable, 
 if the death of our Saviour carried in it nothing 
 of a higher nature, than the death of any other 
 holy martyr. 
 
 But, secondly, of what kind is this feast? 
 Of what nature is this celebration ? It purports 
 to be a feast upon the body and blood of Him, 
 whose death is commemorated ! " This is my 
 " body : Take, eat. This is my blood : Drink ye 
 M all of this." " The cup of blessing which we 
 " bless, is it not the communion of the blood of 
 " Christ ? The bread which we break, is it not 
 " the communion of the body of Christ ? This, 
 assuredly, is the most singular commemoration 
 of a highly venerated deceased character, that was 
 ever heard of in the world, much more that was 
 ever practised among the civilized part of man- 
 kind! Familiarity with the ceremony has laid 
 our attention to it asleep: otherwise it must 
 certainly appear most extraordinary. Deny the 
 great doctrines of the atonement, and of the 
 communion of the soul with the Saviour by faith, 
 and, I conceive, such an observance is absolutely 
 inexplicable. But admit these doctrines, and all 
 is easy, all is natural, all is, in the highest degree, 
 significant. Admit that Christ hath l( made 
 " reconciliation for iniquity/' by " the sacrifice 
 " of himself/' and " brought in everlasting 
 " righteousness," * for the justification of every 
 penitent believing sinner; and we may well 
 celebrate his death, though with contrition for 
 
 * Dan. ix. 24, 26. 
 
91 
 
 our sius, yet with everlasting joy, and praises 
 to him " who hath loved us" and " redeemed us 
 " to God with his blood." M Christ our pass- 
 " over is sacrificed for us, therefore ht us keep 
 M the feast."*— Admit that the spiritual life of 
 our souls is derived entirely from " Christ and 
 " him crucified," and that it can be supported 
 only by communion with him, and the supply of 
 his Spirit ; f only ■ by feeding on him in our hearts 
 by faith ; ' and the figurative eating of his body 
 and blood, is a most striking illustration of spiritual 
 blessings by means of external signs. 
 
 And that this figure of " eating the flesh of 
 " Christ and drinking his blood," is no merely 
 incidental one, but possesses all that significancy, 
 which we might expect from its being, by express 
 appointment, continually held up to our view 
 in this most solemn sacrament, is made incon- 
 trovertibly evident by the whole of that remark- 
 able discourse, delivered by our Lord in the 
 synagogue of Capernaum, and recorded by St. 
 John in the sixth chapter of his Gospel. The 
 divine preacher there assumes the same figure, 
 and presses it, and the truths intended by it, 
 upon the attention of his hearers, with the utmost 
 earnestness, and even with unwearied repetition. 
 
 * 1 Cor. v. 7, 8. The Lord's supper, it will be remem- 
 bered, was instituted after the paschal supper, and super- 
 seded the Jewish passover. Both represented,— the one 
 prefiguring, the other commemorating, — " the Lamb of 
 " God," " slain from the foundation of the world," " to 
 " take away the sins" of mankind. John i. 29. Rev. xiii. 
 8. 1 Pet. i. 19, 20. 
 t See John xv. (parable of the vine and the branches.) 
 
92 
 
 He speaks of himself as " the living bread, which 
 " came down from heaven, and giveth life unto 
 " the world : " and declares, " If any man eat 
 " of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the 
 " bread that I will give is my Jlesh, which I will 
 " give for the life of the world — Verily, verily, I 
 " say unto you. Except ye eat the Jlesh of the Son 
 " of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in 
 " you. Whoso eateth my jlesh, and drinketh 
 " my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise 
 " him up at the last day. For my Jlesh is meat 
 " indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He 
 " that eateth my Jlesh and drinketh my blood, 
 " dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living 
 " Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father, 
 " so he that eatttii me shall live by me." * 
 
 * See John vi. 27, lo the end. In interpreting this dis- 
 course of our Lord's, we should set out with paying par- 
 ticular attention to the remark which he himself makes 
 upon it: " It is the spirit that quickeneih, the flesh pro- 
 " riteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you they are 
 " spirit, and they are life." The language which he uses 
 is figurative in the highest degree : however significant the 
 figure mav be. By his own declaration, it is not any 
 literal eating of his flesh and blood (such as the Papist's 
 suppose in the Lord's supper,) that is intended. Even if 
 this were possible, it alone would " profit us nothing." 
 (ver. 63.) The substance of the instruction contained in 
 this passage may, perhaps, be comprised in three or four 
 particulars. 1. That all salvation is from Christ alone 
 *' coming down from heaven" to be our Saviour. 2. That 
 it is from him in this particular way, of his " giving himself 
 '« for the life of the world" his body to be broken, and his 
 blood shed, as an atoning sacrifice for sin. 3. That in 
 order to our partaking of his salvation we must be inte- 
 rested in him by a living faith. 4. That the communion 
 established and carried on between the soul of the believer 
 and his Saviour, by means of this faith, is of the most 
 intimate and substantial kind. " He dwelleth in me and 
 
93 
 
 It must be nearly superfluous to shew, that 
 all this could not be spoken of merely receiving 
 the Lord's supper. That sacrament was not then 
 instituted. And, further, such a supposition would 
 imply, not only that all who should partake of 
 that ordinance, whatever their state and character 
 might be, should " have eternal life ; " but also 
 that every one, who, by whatever means, failed of 
 partaking of it, remained destitute of spiritual life, 
 and would be excluded from heaven ! 
 
 But the Lord's supper, in order indelibly to 
 impress upon our minds the doctrine intended to 
 be taught, embodies, if I may so speak, and gives 
 substance to, the figure employed throughout the 
 discourse referred to. It presents to all our 
 other senses what that discourse addresses to our 
 ears. The sermon and the sacrament both set 
 before us the same thing : the one by description, 
 the other by visible representation. — But what 
 it is, that is thus proposed to us, requires to be 
 more particularly explained. 
 
 This figure, then, draws our most marked at- 
 tention to the doctrine of the atonement. But 
 it does more. It implies and supposes, rather 
 than directly teaches, that doctrine: and, the 
 
 " I in him." (ver. 56.) It is such that the soul is made 
 alive and supported in (spiritual) life by virtue of this its 
 union with Christ; (ver. 57.) and continually derives from 
 him grace and strength for its support, as truly as the body 
 derives nourishment and sustenance from its food. The 
 same is implied in the parable of the vine and the branches, 
 John xv. and is, no doubt, what is meant by St. Paul, 
 Gal. ii. 20. 
 
94 
 
 atonement being supposed, it goes on to instruct 
 us concerning the effectual application of that and 
 every other part of Christ's " great salvation" to 
 our souis. The offering up of the human nature 
 (the " body and blood") of Him, who was both 
 God and man, as a sacrifice for the sins of the 
 world, is rather the preparati.i of the heavenly 
 feast: " eating and drinking his flesh and blood" 
 represents our participation of it : it is a figurative 
 description (but, doubtless, from all that we have 
 seen, a description by a most proper and expressive 
 figure,) of the means by which we must, indivi- 
 dually, become interested in " the salvation which 
 " is by Christ/' and receive all the ' benefits of 
 ' his death and passion/ and of the whole of his 
 mediation. — In short it is the communion of the 
 sotil with the Saviour, by which it actually receives 
 the blessings which he died to obtain, and is now 
 exalted to bestow upon every one " that cometh 
 " to God by him/' that is intended by " eating the 
 " flesh of the Son of man, and drinking his blood/' 
 and which constitutes ' the inward and spiritual 
 ' grace of the Lord's supper/ 
 
 And this communion is maintained " by faith. " 
 Faith, or a reception of the Saviour in those 
 characters which he sustains, and for those pur- 
 poses for which he came into the world; a 
 humble reliance upon him, upon his promises, 
 his atonement, and intercession, accompanied 
 by earnest persevering application to him for all 
 the blessings of salvation : * — this is, as a late 
 
 * See the texts referred to at the foot of page 14. 
 
95 
 
 eminent prelate has described it, ' the first prin- 
 ' ciple of our communion' with God : * it is 
 the great exclusive medium of our justification, 
 and that by means of which our spiritual life, 
 through the whole of its progress, is to be sus- 
 tained, and our souls preserved unto everlasting 
 life. " We are kept," saith St. Peter, " by the 
 " power of God, through faith, unto salvation." 
 And St. Paul declares, "I am crucified with 
 " Christ : nevertheless I live ; yet not I, but 
 " Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now 
 " live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son 
 " of God, who loved me and gave himself for 
 " me/' And so our Lord affirms: " He that 
 " eateth me shall live by me/' " He that eatelh 
 " my flesh and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, 
 " and I in bini/'f 
 
 But let us not so leave this subject. Let us not 
 content ourselves with a bare abstract account of 
 what, however it may be regarded, not only by the 
 profane, but even by many who " seem to be re- 
 f* Hgious/' is as serious and practical, aud, we 
 will be bold to add, as sober aud rational an exer- 
 
 * ' It is not by the merit of faith, rrnre than by the 
 1 merit of our works, that we are juslitied — That we are 
 'justified by faith is not on account x>f any merit in our 
 'faith, but because faith is the first principle of that 
 * communion between the believer s soul and the Divine 
 1 Spirit, on which the whole of our spiritual life depends.' 
 Bishop Horsiey's primary charge — (distributed by the 
 Society for promoting Christian knowledge.) 
 
 1 1 Pet. i. 5. Gal. ii. 20. John vi. 56, 57, 
 
96 
 
 cise of the mind, as any which comes within the 
 circle of Christian duty. Let us attempt to 
 describe this communion of the soul with its 
 Saviour, this " coming unto Christ/' this ' feeding 
 % upon him in our hearts by iaith with thanks- 
 ' giving/ from its first origin, and as it is actually 
 maintained by the true Christian believer. 
 
 Take then a poor sinner, (we are all naturally 
 such,) living " according to the course of this 
 world," and consequently " dead in trespasses and 
 " sins."* We need not assume him to be a vicious 
 character. Let him be supposed a character 
 respectable in society : hut, as alas ! many such 
 characters are, lamentably forgetful of God, and 
 of his high duties to him; occupied with the 
 pursuits of the present life, and unsolicitous about 
 the life to come. At length, however, by hearing 
 or reading the word of God, or by means of some 
 affliction, or other affecting occurrence, his atten- 
 tion is roused to things of everlasting importance: 
 his mind is seriously impressed ; his conscience is 
 awakened to a before-unknown sense of sin ; of 
 its intrinsic evil, and the misery which must follow 
 it ; and of the criminality of that worldly, careless 
 life which he has hitherto led, and even of that 
 merely outward religion which is all that he has 
 hitherto possessed. He finds himself guilty, and 
 condemned by the holy law of God. He begins 
 anxiously to inquire, " What must I do to be 
 " saved?" He seriously studies the sacred Scrip- 
 tures for an answer to that question. He hears 
 * Eph. ii. 1—3, &c. 
 
97 
 
 them reply to it, " Believe in the Lord Jesus 
 " Christ, and thou shalt be saved/' w Behold the 
 " Lamb of God that takcth away the sin of the 
 " world." He hath died, " to make reconcilia- 
 " tion for iniquity;" and he inviteth poor sinners 
 unto him : " Come unto me all ye that are weary 
 " and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." 
 " Whosoever believeth in him is justified from all 
 " things." " Repent and be converted that your 
 " sins may be blotted out." The humbled sinner 
 accepts the invitation, and obeys the command. 
 He " flees for refuge to lay hold on the hope set 
 " before him" in Christ. He comes unto God 
 " through him:" he confesses his sins, he im- 
 plores mercy. His earnest prayer is, tl Create in 
 " me a clean heart, O God ! " no less than, " Blot 
 " out all mine iniquities ! " He " commits" his 
 soul into the hands of his Saviour : he places all his 
 trust in him. He perseveres in this course. He 
 finds " rest" and peace to his soul: he receives 
 the sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit : and be- 
 comes " in Christ a new creature;" he " walks 
 " in newness of life : " he " ceases to do evil, he 
 " learns to do well." " The life which he lives 
 " in the flesh, he lives by the faith of the Son 
 " of God : " and the change actually and evidently 
 produced, by divine grace, in his dispositions and 
 conduct, proves, that he deceives not himself with 
 unfounded hopes when he concludes, that he 
 " has passed from death unto life," * and cherishes 
 the humble confidence, that his " end shall be 
 
 * 1 John v. 24, 
 K 
 
98 
 
 " everlasting life" — " the gift of God, through 
 " Jesus Christ our Lord/' 
 
 Such is the nature, and such as this the usual 
 commencement, of that communion of the soul 
 with its Saviour which constitutes ' the inward 
 ' part, or thing signified' in the Lord's Supper : 
 the * eating of the body, and drinking of the 
 1 blood of Christ/ whereby the soul is ' strength- 
 
 * ened and refreshed as our bodies are by bread 
 ' and wine/ It is continued by the Christian, the 
 same in substance, during all the remainder of his 
 life. He daily needs, and, in the use of the 
 various ' means of grace/ he daily seeks, and 
 daily finds, pardon and peace,wisdora, and strength, 
 and consolation. But among these ' means of 
 
 * grace/ the Lord's supper itself holds a most 
 distinguished place, being at once a means, a 
 representation, and a most solemn pledge and 
 assurance, given by Christ himself almost in his 
 dying moments, of such communion with him, 
 and of the certainty of our receiving those 
 blessings which we thus seek from him. — I 
 earnestly exhort you all, most seriously to enquire 
 whether you are, by your own experience, ac- 
 quainted with the practice of thus " coming unto 
 " Christ j." and whether you make your approaches 
 to the Lord's table for the purpose of thus, ' after 
 
 * a 'heavenly and spiritual manner/ eating his flesh 
 and drinking his blood. 
 
 In the progress of this discourse, our attention 
 has, naturally, been much drawn to the great doc- 
 
99 
 
 trine of the atonement : and I will here once more 
 advert to it. Hardly any doctrine, I must con- 
 fess, appears to me to stand upon firmer grounds 
 of scriptural authority: none to be more uni- 
 formly interwoven with the whole system of re- 
 vealed truth: nor any to be suited to raise in the 
 mind more devout sentiments of reverence and 
 holy awe, of admiration, gratitude, and hum- 
 ble confidence, towards God. I know, the num- 
 berless objections which are urged against it ; the 
 scorn and virulence with which it is often treated. 
 But these objections appear to me completely irre- 
 levant. They apply only to a distortion, a misre- 
 presentation of the doctrine. Only let the atone- 
 ment of Christ be considered in its true light, not 
 as first disposing the eternal Father to shew mercy 
 to us, but as, what it is in fact, the great fruit of 
 his love and compassion for us,* and only de- 
 signed (as fur as we are acquainted with its design) 
 to shew his hatred of sin, and to assert the honour 1 
 of his law and government, while he should exer- 
 cise unbounded mercy towards a world of sinners 
 — designed to render the exercise of mercy con- 
 sistent with the display of justice : f only let the 
 doctrine be thus considered, and every notion 
 of its presenting an unamiable view of the divine 
 character must vanish from the rightly-disposed 
 mind, the mind to which the honour of the 
 divine perfections is dear as it ought to be, and 
 to which sin appears in its true colours, deserving 
 nvery stigma that can be fixed upon it. Only, 
 * John iii. 16. 1 John iv. 9, 10. t Horn. iii. 25, 26. 
 
100 
 
 again, let the blessed Redeemer be considered 
 as " suffering for our sins" in such a sense, as to 
 open the way for the pardon of every penitent 
 sinner, consistently with the honour of the divine 
 character ; not in such a sense, as to rescue one 
 impenitent transgressor from the just penalty of 
 his offences : and all idea of men being, by this 
 means emboldened to continue in sin, must in like 
 manner vanish, or rather give way to the conviction, 
 that, while this doctrine holds forth the most 
 inviting encouragement to sinners " to forsake 
 " their evil ways and live," it displays, more awfully 
 than even the torments of hell itself, the intrinsic 
 evil of sin, and the vengeance which Almighty God 
 will take of every impenitent sinner. 
 
 With regard to the connexion between this 
 doctrine and the Lord's supper, or eucharist, I 
 adopt the words of the excellent Doddridge : * I 
 ' apprehend this ordinance of the eucharist to 
 ' have so plain a reference to the atonement or 
 4 satisfaction of Christ, and to do so solemn an 
 ' honour to that fundamental doctrine of the gos- 
 
 * pel, that I cannot but believe, that, while this 
 ' sacred institution continues in the church, (as it 
 ' will undoubtedly do to the end of the world,) 
 
 * it will be impossible to root that doctrine out 
 ' of the minds of plain humble Christians, by 
 
 * all the little artifices of such forced and uuna- 
 ' tural criticisms, as those are by which it has 
 ' been attacked. Unprejudiced and honest sim- 
 ' plicity will always see the analogy this ordi- 
 1 nance has, to " eating the flesh" of the Son 
 
101 
 
 f of God, " and drinking his blood ; " and will 
 1 be taught by it to feed on him, as " the lamb" 
 ' that was slain by the gracious appointment of 
 ' God, " to take away the sins of the world." 
 ' The enemies of this heart-reviving truth might 
 * as well hope to pierce through a coat of mail 
 ' with a straw, as to reach such a truth, defended 
 ' by such an ordinance as this, by any of their 
 ' trifling sophistries. * 
 
 I conclude then, with pressing upon all se- 
 rious Christians the duty of constantly attending 
 upon that solemn and delightful ordinance which 
 we have been considering. — How just a subject 
 of lamentation is it, that such an ordinance, in- 
 stituted under such affecting circumstauces, and 
 for such gracious purposes, should be so com- 
 monly neglected as it is ! That multitudes, e pro- 
 ' fessing and calling themselves Christians/ should 
 be content to live almost all their days, without 
 observing the express, the dying command of 
 Him whom they call their Saviour ! without ever 
 coming to receive the gracious pledges of his 
 love, or to apply for the ' inestimable benefits' 
 of his death and passion ! Are they conscious 
 that they have no true faith in, no love towards, 
 the Redeemer? And does conscience compel 
 them to avow this awful truth to the world? — 
 How strangely does it evince custom to be the 
 great director of human actions, that, while 
 
 * Family Expositor, on Matt. xxvi. 28. 
 K3 
 
102 
 
 almost all young persons are eager for confirma- 
 tion, and their friends anxious to have them con- 
 firmed, so few, comparatively, have any incli- 
 nation to partake of the Lord's supper; though 
 the same professions, and the same vows, for 
 substance, are made, and the same blessings sought, 
 in the one ordinance as in the other ! 
 
 Far be it from me to recommend an indiscri- 
 minate attendance at the Lord's table. Far be 
 it from me to exhort all persons who have been 
 confirmed to attend, without further inquiry. 
 No : but I condemn the profane indifference 
 with which the great mass of people absent them- 
 selves : their unconcern, their insensibility, their 
 satisfaction with themselves, while they are living 
 in the neglect of an acknowledged Christian 
 duty, and the contempt of an invaluable Chris- 
 tian privilege. What I urge is, not that any 
 should presume to come without preparation, 
 but that none should dare to live unprepared; 
 and that none, who possess the requisite prepa- 
 ration of a truly Christian state of mind, should 
 ever, without a weighty reason, omit the per- 
 formance of so delightful and beneficial a ser- 
 vice, — What I say is, in the language of St. Paul, 
 " Examine yourselves, and so eat of that bread, 
 " and drink of that cup/' 
 
 On the proper subjects of self-examination, 
 and the state of mind which constitutes the 
 proper preparation for this sacrament, I pur- 
 pose to. speak more at large in another discourse. 
 
103 
 
 In the mean time, let me press the subject upon 
 the serious attention of you, in particular, my 
 dear young friends, who have been lately con- 
 firmed. Fain would we indulge the hope, that 
 many of your number will henceforth enrol 
 themselves among our communicants, not as mere 
 receivers of the consecrated bread and wine,* 
 but as sincere and devout believers in Christ, 
 ' feeding upon him in their hearts, by faith, with 
 
 thanksgiving 
 
 * Church Articles, xxix. 
 
SERMON VI. 
 
 ON THE LORD'S SUPPER-BENEFITS SOUGHT-PRO- 
 FESSIONS MADE-DISPOSITIONS REQUIRED. 
 
 l Corinthians, xi. 28. 
 
 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that 
 bread, and drink of that cup. 
 
 J: RIDE/' the wise king of Israel admonishes 
 us, " goeth before destruction, and a haughty 
 " spirit before a fall : ? and the history of mankind 
 bears ample testimony to the truth of the observa- 
 tion. When men, and particularly when men 
 " seeming to be religious," grow " wise in their 
 " own conceits," there are no errors or follies too 
 gross for them to run into. Of this the church 
 of Corinth afforded a mournful example. 
 
 Soon after St. Paul had left that Christian 
 society, (which had been formed by his ministry,) 
 certain false teachers insinuated themselves into 
 it, who undermined the Apostle's authority, 
 flattered the pride of the people, and professed 
 to advance theni in the knowledge of their Chris- 
 
105 
 
 tian privileges, and of the sublime mysteries of 
 the gospel, much beyond what he had done. 
 The consequence was, that, while they were led 
 to conceive of themselves as " full," as " rich," 
 as " reigning as kings without" the Apostle,* 
 they were betrayed into errors of judgment and 
 vices of practice, which would have disgraced 
 those, who had been taught only " the first 
 " principles of the oracles of God," 
 
 Let us u not be high-minded, but fear." Let 
 us " walk humbly with our God ; " and, while 
 we think we stand, " take heed lest we fall/' 
 
 Amongst the disorders of which the Corinthian 
 church had been guilty, one was, such a profana- 
 tion of the holy sacrament of the Lord's supper, 
 as we should have thought incredible, if we had 
 not had the authority of the Apostle, for ascribing 
 it to them. "In eating," he says, " every one of 
 " you taketh before other his own supper: and 
 " one is hungry, and another is drunken !" 
 
 In opposition to so impious an abuse, he de- 
 livers a very simple, but affecting account, (which 
 we have already considered,) of the institution of 
 this sacrament : and then, in the text and some 
 adjoining verses, urges the necessity of self-exami- 
 nation, and of the utmost seriousness, humility, 
 and devoutness, in our attendance upon it. 
 
 Having, in my last discourse, spoken of the 
 nature and intention of the Lord's supper, I shall 
 
 * Chap. iv. 8—10. 
 
106 
 
 proceed, in the present, to speak more particularly 
 of the benefits sought, the professions made, and 
 the dispositions required, in it. 
 
 II. The Benefits sought in the Lord's supper 
 are indeed implied in ' the inward and spiritual 
 
 * grace' of the ordinance : and have been, already, 
 in some degree, considered by us in speaking on 
 that subject. They are, however, mentioned 
 separately in our catechism,* and we may here 
 advantageously introduce a more distinct, though 
 brief, notice of them. 
 
 The Lord's supper, saith the catechism, was 
 
 * ordained for the continual remembrance of the 
 
 * sacrifice of the death of Christ, and of the 
 ' benefits which we receive thereby. 7 And ac- 
 cordingly, in the prayer immediately after com- 
 municating, we implore, * that we, and all God's 
 
 * whole church, may obtain remission of our sins, 
 ' and all other benefits of Christ's passion,* 
 
 It is, then, for the ' innumerable benefits, 
 
 * which, by his precious blood shedding, Christ 
 ' hath obtained' for all those who truly believe 
 in him, that we apply in this sacrament. 
 
 They are such as these : the forgiveness of all 
 our sins — that great ' preliminary blessing' to 
 fallen man ; reconciliation and peace with God ; 
 " the adoption of children" unto him ; the gift 
 of his Holy Spirit to " dwell in us," as our 
 teacher, comforter, aud sanctifier ; as " the Spirit 
 of adoption," inspiring us with filial confidence, 
 * 10th and 11th Questions on the Sacraments. 
 
107 
 
 and all the dispositions of dutiful children 
 towards our heavenly Father, and thus " bear- 
 " ing witness with our spirits that we are the 
 " children of God." Finally, all the incon- 
 ceivable blessings of " everlasting life : " for " if 
 " we be children, then are we heirs, heirs 
 " of God, and joint heirs with Christ : if so 
 " be. we suffer with him, that we may be also 
 'I glorified together." * What astonishing lan- 
 guage is this ! What blessings are these to be 
 conferred on ' us miserable sinners, who lay in 
 ' darkness and the shadow of death/ — that 
 we should be ' made the children of God, 
 ' and exalted to everlasting life ! ' What other 
 account can we give of them than this, " He 
 " that spared not his own Son, but delivered 
 " him up for us all, how shall he not with him 
 "freely give us all things?" All consideration 
 of the merits, say rather the demerits, of the 
 receivers, must utterly vanish from the mind 
 when such blessings are contemplated. They 
 are worthy of the end they are destined to 
 answer, which is, to glorify " the riches OP 
 "god's grace;" to reward the "obedience 
 "unto death" of his ir only-begotten Son;" 
 and to do honour to the Mediation of him, in 
 whom the Father is " always well pleased." 
 
 These ' inestimable benefits/ so surely pro- 
 mised in the word of God to every penitent, be- 
 lieving sinner, are in this sacrament ' visibly 
 ' signed aud sealed/ yea actually conveyed, to all 
 * See Rom. v. and viii. 
 
108 
 
 such characters. It is ' a means whereby we 
 ' receive the same, and a pledge to assure us 
 1 thereof:' to engage to us, that, as surely as we 
 eat that bread, and drink of that cup, so surely 
 if we place a true, lively faith in Christ, we 
 shall receive remission of our sins, and obtain 
 everlasting salvation through his name. Herein, 
 therefore, the soul of the believer is ' strength- 
 ened and refreshed : ' his faith, his hope, his 
 love, and all his christian graces are exercised and 
 increased. 
 
 III. Such being the blessings sought, let us 
 next consider the Professions made, and the Dis- 
 positions required in this sacrament: — for we 
 may unite these two branches of our subject 
 together. 
 
 It is evident that in this, as well as in the 
 other sacrament, we profess our belief of the 
 gospel, and of all its great fundamental truths. 
 But on this consideration we will not further 
 insist. 
 
 More particularly, then, he who approaches 
 the Lord's table, to commemorate his Saviour's 
 death, and to seek all ' the benefits of his pas- 
 * sion/ acknowledges himself a miserable sinner, 
 justly exposed to perdition, and having no hope 
 towards God, but through the mediation and 
 atonement of Christ. He professes to " receive" 
 Christ as his Lord and Saviour, in all those 
 characters which he sustains for our benefit. 
 
 Consequently, he professes to return unto God, 
 
109 
 
 and yield up himself to the service of God 
 through him, as " no longer his own," but "bought 
 " with a price to glorify God with his body and 
 " spirit which are His." 
 
 Further: he, who joins in this ordinance of 
 Christian communion and fellowship, professes 
 " to come out from" an evil world and ■? be 
 " separate ; " to unite himself to " the people of 
 " God ; P to cast in his lot among them, being ready 
 *' to sutler affliction with them" in this life, so 
 that he may be ' numbered with them in glory 
 1 everlasting/ 
 
 Finally, he professes to look for the second 
 coming of his Lord; to live in expectation of 
 that great event, and to be making continual 
 preparation for it. " As often as ye eat this 
 " bread and drink this cup, ye do shew the 
 " Lord's death, until he come" 
 
 What Dispositions of mind should characterise 
 him who seeks such benefits, and makes such 
 professions, it will not be difficult to determine. 
 
 He who seeks the forgiveness of his sins, must 
 necessarily do it in a spirit of humility and rei 
 pentance. — He who seeks that blessing through 
 * the sacrifice of the death of Christ/ must have 
 a lively "faith in his blood/' and trust to his 
 atonemeut alone to put away his sin, to his in- 
 tercession as his only recommendation to the 
 favour of God. He must " count all things but 
 " loss for Christ, that he may win Christ, and 
 " be found in him/' — He who professes that all 
 L 
 
110 
 
 liis hopes arise from this source; that his sins are 
 such as justly expose him to the wrath of God 
 and everlasting damnation, and could never have 
 been put away by any means which he himself 
 could have devised or adopted; ought certainly 
 to renounce, from his heart, all confidence in his 
 own righteousness, and every attempt to palliate 
 his sins, to excuse his conduct, or to justify 
 himself before God. — He who believes that bles- 
 sings of infinite value have been procured for 
 him by Christ, and that at the price of his own 
 most precious blood, should certainly come en- 
 tertaining a deep sense of his obligations, and with 
 a heart overflowing with lively gratitude. — He 
 who believes himself to have been iuvolved with 
 his fellow-communicants in one common ruin, 
 and now to be associated with them in one com- 
 mon salvation: redeemed by the same Saviour; 
 sanctified by the same divine Spirit; engaged in 
 the service of the same God ; and tending with 
 them to the same heaven; should certainly feel 
 his heart knit to them, and to all his fellow 
 Christians in love. He, who hopes for so great 
 forgiveness from God, should certainly be found 
 *l from his heart forgiving' every man his tres- 
 passes against him. 
 
 Accordingly these are the dispositions, of the 
 necessity of which our church admonishes us. 
 In answer to the question, * What is required of 
 1 them who come to the Lord's supper?' she re- 
 plies in her catechism : j To examine themselves 
 ', whether they repent them truly of their former 
 
Ill 
 
 * sins, steadfastly purposing to lead a new lifeT 
 
 * have a lively faith in God's mercy through 
 1 Christ, with a thankful remembrauce of his 
 
 * death; and be in charity with all men/ 
 
 And, brethren, it is in this state of mind, in 
 these dispositions, implanted and cherished in our 
 hearts by the grace of the Holy Spirit, that the 
 true preparation for receiving the holy commu- 
 nion consists. He, who is habitually exercising 
 such dispositions, and expressing them before 
 God in his prayers, and before men in his actions, 
 is ready, even at the most unexpected opportu- 
 nity, to approach the Lord's table with pro- 
 priety and benefit : though he will find it highly 
 expedient, on all ordinary occasions, to take 
 time, previously, to examine into the state 
 of his soul, to search out his sins that he 
 may exercise explicit repentance of them, and 
 that he may, with fresh zeal and gratitude, re- 
 new his acceptance of Christ and his salvation. 
 But vain indeed, is it for the man who is a 
 stranger t@ all right knowledge of himself, to all 
 just sense of his sins, and of his need of that 
 "great salvation" which the gospel proposes: 
 for the man who is living habitually devoted to 
 the world, destitute of deep repentance, destitute 
 of lively faith in Christ, destitute of real love to 
 God and his service ; and who entertains no sin- 
 cere * purpose of leading a new life/ nor indeed 
 any conviction of the necessity of so doing: — 
 vain beyond expression is it, for such a man to 
 think of becoming prepared for the sacrament, 
 L2 
 
112 
 
 by a temporary abstinence from some customary 
 indulgences, after which his heart still hankers; 
 and by going through a prescribed course of 
 devotion, in which he takes no pleasure, unless 
 from the prospect of its termination. No: he 
 forgets that God must be worshipped il in spirit 
 " and in truth : * that nothing which is a mere 
 force put upon nature, and against which the 
 heart revolts, can be pleasing to Him: and that 
 all religious ordinances are valuable only as the 
 means of leading us to serve God habitually, 
 and, if used as substitutes for a devout temper, 
 and for unreserved obedience, become abomination 
 in his sight. No: the preparation which such 
 a man wants is, " a new heart and a right spirit/* 
 He " must be born again," or he can neither 
 worship God acceptably in this life, nor " see 
 " the kingdom of heaven" hereafter. 
 
 But I propose to illustrate to you the profes- 
 sions made, and the dispositions required, in the 
 Lord's supper, more at large, from the service 
 provided by our church for the occasion. This 
 I the rather do, first, because it is the service 
 which is in use among us ; and therefore it ought 
 to be attended to, and well understood : secondly, 
 because it is so excellent that I cannot convey 
 to you the sentiments which I wish you to 
 entertain, so well as by its words : and, thirdly 
 because you all have this service in your prayer- 
 books, and by reviewing it at home, may refresh 
 your remembrance of what you hear. Aud this 
 
1]3 
 
 I earnestly recommend it to you all to do. I 
 cannot give a better direction to any person, who 
 would learn the nature of the Lord's supper, and 
 would properly prepare for it, than that he should 
 carefully study the Communion Service of our 
 church, comparing the sentiments and desires of 
 his own heart, with those which are there expressed. 
 It is much indeed to be preferred to almost any 
 of those preparatory formularies which are in use : 
 and some of which, I fear, proceed upon prin- 
 ciples even opposite to those of this service. — 
 He whose feelings are in unison with the prayers 
 and professions here put into his mouth, is a 
 proper person to communicate at the Lord's table. 
 He who is a stranger to such desires and purposes, 
 whatever other preparation he may have made, 
 is not an acceptable communicant, 
 
 1st, Then, as Repentance is so essential, the 
 church leads us up to the altar with confession 
 of sin in our mouths. ' Ye that do truly and 
 ' earnestly repent you of your sins — draw nigh — 
 ' and make your humble confession to Almighty 
 ' God.' — And here let it be observed, that we 
 are taught not only to confess, in general, that 
 we have sinned, (such confessions the most im- 
 penitent sinners will readily make,) but ' to 
 f acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins :' to 
 confess that they ' most justly provoke God's 
 * wrath against us : ' and to express our sense of 
 them as, in the highest degree, ' grievous unto 
 ■* us/ ' We acknowledge and bewail our mani- 
 L3 
 
114 
 
 ' fold sins and wickedness, which we from lime 
 ' to time most grievously have committed, by 
 ' thought, word, and deed, against thy divine 
 
 * Majesty, provoking most justly thy wrath and 
 ' indignation against us. We do earnestly repent, 
 
 * and are heartily sorry for these our misdoings ; 
 
 * the remembrance of them is grievous unto us, 
 
 * the burden of them is intolerable. Have mercy 
 ' upon us, have mercy upon us, most merciful 
 
 * Father; for thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ's 
 ' sake, forgive us all that is past ; and grant that 
 
 * we may ever here after serve and please thee, in 
 ' newness of life/ 
 
 2. In the next place, as Faith is requisite, she 
 exhorts us to ' draw near with faith •/ assures 
 us, in the Absolution, of the mercy of God to 
 
 * all such as truly turn to him ; f and, to confirm 
 her doctrine, and the faith of all humble and 
 contrite spirits, she recites several most com- 
 fortable promises of God's word. " Come unto 
 " me, all ye that travail and are heavy laden, and I 
 u will refresh you. — So God loved the world, 
 " that he gave his only -begotten Son, to the end 
 " that all that believe in him should not perish, 
 " but have everlasting life." 
 
 3. Further, as it is necessary that we renounce 
 all confidence in ourselves, our own virtues, or 
 merits, or righteousness, she teaches us to come 
 solemnly declaring before Almighty God : We do 
 ' not presume to come to this thy table, O mer- 
 
 * ciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, 
 1 but in thy manifold and great mercies. We 
 
115 
 
 \ are not worthy so much as to gather up the 
 ' crumbs under thy table. But thou art the 
 ' same Lord, whose property is always to have 
 
 * mercy/ And again, after we have communi- 
 cated : ' O Lord and heavenly Father, we thy 
 ' humble servants entirely desire thy fatherly 
 
 * goodness, mercifully to accept this our sacrifice 
 
 * of praise and thanksgiving — And, although we 
 
 * be unworthy through our manifold sins to offer 
 ' unto thee any sacrifice, yet we beseech thee to 
 ' accept this our bouuden duty and service, not 
 ' weighing our merits, but pardoning our offences, 
 1 through Jesus Christ our Lord.' 
 
 4thly, As praise and thanksgiving are peculiarly 
 proper for the occasion, (which is a joyful as 
 well as a solemn one,) she teaches us to acknow- 
 ledge this, and to express our gratitude, saying: 
 1 It is very meet, right, and our bounden duty, 
 ' that we should, at all times, and in all places, 
 ' give thanks unto thee, O Lord, holy Father, 
 ' almighty, everlasting God. Therefore, with 
 1 angels and archangels, and with all the com- 
 ' pany of heaven, we laud and magnify thy 
 
 * glorious name, evermore praising thee, and 
 '. saying, Holy, holy, holy Lord God of hosts, 
 
 * heaven and earth are full of thy glory: Glory 
 
 * be to thee, O Lord most high.' And, after the 
 communion, " Glory be to God on high, and in 
 1 earth peace, good will towards men. We praise 
 ' thee, we worship thee, we glorify thee, we give 
 ' thanks to thee for thy great glory, O Lord God, 
 ' heavenly King, God the Father Almighty/ 
 
116 
 
 5. And, again, as love and charity for men 
 are tempers most becoming this service, she 
 teaches us repeatedly to pray for our fellow- 
 worshippers, for our fellow Christians at large, 
 and for all mankind : particularly in the prayer 
 
 * for the whole state of Christ's church militant 
 
 * here in earth/ 
 
 6\ Finally, as it is most necessary, that, trust- 
 ing to the grace of God to enable us, we ' stead- 
 ' fastly purpose to lead a new life, keeping the 
 
 * commandments of God, and walking from 
 
 * henceforth in his holy ways/ she leads us, in 
 the concluding prayer, to avow such a purpose; 
 to devote ourselves to God's service; and to 
 seek his grace that we may keep our vows, 
 ' Here we offer and present unto thee, O Lord, 
 ' ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reason- 
 ' able, holy, and lively sacrifice unto thee ; 
 
 * humbly beseeching thee, that all we who are 
 ■ partakers of this holy communion may be fulfilled 
 
 * with thy grace and heavenly benediction ! ! 
 
 Having thus reviewed the benefits sought, the 
 professions made, and the dispositions required 
 in the Lord's supper, I shall now notice some im- 
 proper purposes for which many persons receive 
 this sacrament, and some improper reasons for 
 which others abstain from it. 
 
 1. It would seem that some persons, from time 
 to time, attend the Lord's supper, and other 
 religious ordinances, and join in the confessions 
 and prayers there used, as a sort of compensa- 
 
117 
 
 tion for their sins; for the careless, negligent, 
 worldly life which they habitually lead. These 
 persons confess their sins instead of forsaking 
 them. They " make Christ the minister of sin : " 
 hoping to be saved by him from the punishment 
 of transgressions, in which they still allow them- 
 selves to live. The gross self delusion implied 
 in such conduct needs hardly to be shewn. It 
 may deserve, however, to be remarked, that 
 more persons are guilty of it, than suspect 
 themselves to be so. In fact, all those persons 
 are guilty of this sin and folly, who quiet their 
 consciences by occasional religious acts, while 
 they are strangers to true repentance and faith, 
 to the love of God, and unreserved obedience 
 to his will. 
 
 In like manner many who have lived irre- 
 ligiously s send for a minister at the approach of 
 death, anxious to receive the sacrament from his 
 hands, putting, it is to be feared, the 4 outward and 
 ' visible sign/ in the place of the ' inward and 
 ' spiritual grace/ and of that " repentance toward 
 " God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ," 
 without which it can profit them nothing. Thus 
 does " their very table become a snare to them, 
 " and that which should have been for their 
 " health an occasion of falling." 
 
 2. But where the Lord's supper is not so grossly 
 abused, yet to make it one means among many 
 of supporting a self-righteous confidence is a fatal 
 perversion of it. The hopes of many persons rest 
 upon such a basis as this: They lead a better life 
 
118 
 
 than many around them : they flatter themselves 
 that they * do nobody any harm :' they give alms-: 
 they pray: they attend the church: they receive 
 the sacrament : they trust they are, at least, com- 
 paratively ' innocent' characters : on these grounds 
 they expect eternal life. But these persons have 
 never yet attained any just knowledge of them- 
 selves : they understand not the strictness of the 
 law of God ; and they totally misapprehend the 
 gospel of Christ, and the way of salvation. In- 
 deed they feel no need of salvation for themselves. 
 They are " the whole" who have " no need of 
 " the physician." They are in their own esteem 
 ft rich and increased with goods: " and " know not 
 " that they are," indeed, " poor, and miserable, and 
 " wretched, and blind, and naked." With what 
 sincerity can they use the humble confessions which 
 the church puts into their mouths? — f We acknow- 
 
 * ledge and bewail our manifold sins and wicked- 
 ' ness/ which ' most justly provoke thy wrath and 
 
 * indignation against us !' ' The remembrance of 
 ' our sins is grievous unto us : the burden of them 
 
 * is intolerable ! ' With what truth can they declare, 
 that ' they do not presume to come' before God, 
 .' trusting in their own righteousness?' No: were 
 they really the characters they suppose themselves 
 to be, Christ need never have died for them. 
 With their present sentiments, their communi- 
 cating at the Lord's table is inconsistent and im- 
 proper : it is an addition to the number of their 
 sins, not of their righteous deeds. 
 
 3. There is another case to which it may be 
 
119 
 
 proper to advert. The reception of this sacrament, 
 according to the rites of the church of England, 
 is the test required in order to our admission to 
 various offices : but the test of what ? Of our at- 
 tachment at once to the Christian faith, and to the 
 civil and religious establishments of our country. 
 And, to testify such an attachment, by communi- 
 cating at the Lord's table, with a proper state of 
 mind in other respects, cannot be wrong : but to 
 use this sacrament as a mere qualification for 
 office, " not discerning the Lord's body" — not re- 
 garding the solemn transactions commemorated, 
 nor possessing the repentance, the faith, the piety, 
 professed, in it,-— is an impious profanation, and 
 heinous wickedness. It comes nearer, probably, 
 to the criminal conduct of the Corinthians, than 
 any thing else that exists amongst us. 
 
 But as many persons come to the Lord's supper 
 for wrong purposes, so others absent themselves 
 from it for improper reasons. 
 
 1. Some, who would gladly communicate, 
 think themselves ' unworthy/ — Nothing can be 
 a more insufficient reason for abstaining, than 
 this. We read, indeed, of ' eating and drinking 
 I worthily or unworthily: ' but this means no more 
 than suitably or unsuitably ; with reverence, pe- 
 nitence, faith, love, or the contrary. This sacra- 
 ment itself, is the strongest possible confession of 
 utter unworthiness of the least of God's mercies, 
 on the part of those who receive it. Like the 
 salvation of which it is means and a pledge, it is 
 
120 
 
 calculated entirely for the relief and benefit of 
 those, who feel themselves to be unworthy and 
 miserable sinners. If any man is not of this 
 character, he needs it not. If any man imagine 
 himself possessed of merit before God, he is, in 
 the worst sense of the word, an unworthy com- 
 municant : he is not only a sinner, but an im- 
 penitent sinner: he who most deeply feels his 
 own unworthiness, and most earnestly desires the 
 blessings of Christ's salvation, will be the most 
 acceptable communicant. 
 
 2. Some persons fear, lest by a well-meant, 
 but unsuitable, approach to the Lord's table, 
 they should ' eat and drink their own damnation/ 
 and be guilty of an « unpardonable sin/ Persons 
 of this humble, timid character certainly will not 
 commit such a sin. But their fears are raised by 
 the misapprehension of a word. — No doubt any 
 unrepealed sin will expose us to damnation: but 
 not an improper reception of the sacrament more 
 than other sins. But let such persons carefully 
 observe the passage in which the alarming term 
 occurs. It is that from which ouritext is taken. 
 They will find, that even the Corinthians, who so 
 impiously profaned this ordinance, and of whom 
 the expression is used, are declared, so far from 
 having their eternal damnation sealed, to be 
 " chastened of the Lord/' and visited with temporal 
 judgments, to prevent their being " condemned with 
 " the world." We may also remark, that the 
 word rendered damnation t in the twenty-ninth 
 verse, is radically the same with that rendered 
 
121 
 
 judged in the thirty-second: while another, in 
 the same verse, translated condemned, is a com- 
 pound of it, bearing a stronger meaning. 
 
 3. Others again fear, lest, by falling into sin, 
 after receiving the Lord's supper, they should 
 be involved in hopeless ruin. Let them watch 
 and pray that they may be preserved from sin: 
 but let them chase away their groundless appre- 
 hensions, by reflecting, that, though the dreadful 
 fall of Peter almost immediately succeeded his 
 reception of the Lord's supper, from the hands 
 of Christ himself, yet he repented, and was 
 restored both as a Christian, and an apostle. 
 
 4. Some sincere Christians omit their accus- 
 tomed attendance, from time to time, because 
 they are not in what they term ' a good frame 
 ' of mind/ Do they then come to the sacrament, 
 because they have grace, or that they may re* 
 ceive grace? because thy are what they should 
 be, or that they may be made so? Will they 
 shun the physician because they are diseased? 
 Let them draw near with faith, that they may 
 " obtain mercy, and find grace to help them in 
 " the time of need/' 
 
 5. Finally, some persons decline to commu- 
 nicate because they are unwilling to bind them- 
 selves to a strict and holy life, a life of true 
 religion; which they do not intend, at present, 
 to lead ! This is infinitely the worst case, and, 
 though, alas! a very sufficient reason, yet in- 
 finitely the worst reason, of all. But, let me ask 
 these persons, Can they suppose that, by not 
 
 M 
 
122 
 
 obeying this command of Christ, they in any 
 degree release themselves from their obligation 
 to obey all his other commands? that, by this 
 instance of disobedience, they at all excuse their 
 disobedience in other particulars ? 
 
 Further, it seems that they only decline, for 
 the present, to bind themselves to a holy life. 
 They dare not but purpose and promise some- 
 time to lead such a life. But how often, do they 
 suppose, are such purposes and promises of 
 obedience, to be rendered at a future time, 
 fulfilled 1 They are nothing more than the impo- 
 sitions by which a wicked heart attempts to 
 silence an accusing conscience. Tiiey have little 
 other effect than to smooth the down-hill " road 
 " which leadeth to destruction." " To-day, if 
 " ever ye will hear the voice of God, harden 
 " not your hearts, lest he swear in his wrath, 
 " that ye shall never enter into his rest ! " 
 
 Let then sincere Christians consider their 
 dying Saviour's command, " This do in remem- 
 " brance of me." 
 
 Let all who would come to the Lord's table, 
 use " self-examination." Let them pray for re- 
 pentance and faith, and to be taught and enabled 
 to come aright. Let them study our Commu- 
 nion service, as well as the sacred Scriptures: 
 and, if they feel the need of further assistance, 
 let them have recourse to some truly ' discreet 
 ' and learned minister of God's word,' who will 
 find greater pleasure in nothing, than in leading 
 
123 
 
 forward the humble and conscientious mind, by 
 the divine blessing, to establishment, " peace, 
 " and joy in believing/' 
 
 But let those who still turn their backs upon 
 the table of the Lord, conscious that they are 
 unprepared for it, remember, that, if they are 
 unprepared for the Lord's supper, the are un- 
 prepared to " eat bread in the kingdom of God" — 
 unprepared for heaven — unprepared for death. 
 Alas ! my friends, by your own confession, you 
 are unconverted, impenitent, unpardoned. " The 
 " wrath of God abideth on you ! " But oh ! will 
 you continue in so sad a state 1 The mercy of 
 God invites you to deliverance. The dying 
 Saviour stretches forth the arms of his grace to 
 welcome you, if you will come unto him. He 
 cries, " Turn ye at my reproof, I will pour out 
 "my Spirit unto you!" Oh hear ye his voice 
 and live ! Remember his dying love, and be moved 
 by it to repentance; — " Seek ye the Lord while 
 ** he may be found : call ye upon him while he 
 " is near ! Let the wicked forsake his way, and 
 " the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him 
 " return unto the Lord, for he will have mercy 
 " upon him, and to our God for he will abun- 
 " dantly pardon ! n 
 
 M2 
 
SERMON VII 
 
 ON THE SABBATH. 
 
 St, Mark, ii. 27. 
 
 And he said unto them, the Sabbath was made for man. 
 
 Oi 
 
 'NE important work which our blessed Saviour 
 had to perform, in his capacity of " a teacher sent 
 " from God/' was, to restore to the divine law 
 that extensive meaning, and that paramount 
 authority, of which it had been despoiled by the 
 manners of a corrupt age, and the doctrines of 
 corrupt interpreters. 
 
 In doing this, it was necessary to rescue it from 
 the mass of pernicious or frivolous " command- 
 " ments of men/' * with which it had been blended 
 and overwhelmed, by the punctilious diligence 
 of the Jewish elders, scribes, and pharisees. 
 
 * Matt. xv. 1 — 9. Take an example of their frivolous 
 reasonings concerning the sabbath. ' It is not lawful to 
 
 * sow, and therefore neither is it, to walk in ground newly 
 1 sown : because the seed may stick to the feet, and so be 
 
 * carried from place to place, which is in some sort sowing.' 
 Beausobre's Introduction. 
 
V25 
 
 By these, amongst other evils which they pro- 
 duced, the wise and beneficent institution of the 
 sabbath had been transformed into a burden- 
 some observance, " grievous to be borne/' 
 
 The traces of this fact are often apparent in 
 the histories of our Lord. His disciples follow- 
 ing him through the corn-fields, rub out some 
 grains with their hands, to satisfy the cravings 
 of hunger : the pharisees exclaim, " Behold, thy 
 " disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon 
 u the sabbath-day ! " * not in taking the corn, 
 (for this the law expressly allowed to one pass- 
 ing through a field,f) but in the labour of 
 gathering and rubbing it. Nay, did Jesus him- 
 self, but by a word spoken, on that day mira- 
 culously invigorate a withered hand, restore a 
 decrepit woman, or give sight to a man who had 
 been born blind, immediately he was reproached 
 and persecuted as a sabbath-breaker.! 
 
 Such a censorious scrupulosity about trifles is 
 but too sure an indication of hypocrisy, and can 
 often combine with the grossest wickedness. These 
 men, whose strictness was so much offended by 
 our Lord's exertions in " saving men's lives," on 
 the day of sacred rest, hesitated not, at the very 
 same moment, to be plotting his destruction^ 
 
 Their perverse inconsistency appeared, like- 
 wise, in numberless inferior instances. As our 
 
 * Matt xii. 1—8. t Deut. xxiii. 25. 
 
 t Matt. xii. 10 -13. Luke xiii. 11—17. xiv. 1—6. 
 John v. 15, 16. vii. 21—23. ix. 14—16. 
 
 § Matt, xii. 11. John v. 16. 
 
 Mo 
 
126 
 
 Lord reminded them, none of them would scruple 
 " to loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and 
 " to lead him away to watering," or to raise a 
 poor sheep out of a pit, on the sabbath-day. 
 How much more then was it fit, that the sons of 
 men should be " loosed from their infirmities" 
 on that day ? 
 
 It is highly requisite that we bear in mind this 
 overstrained scrupulosity of the pharisees and 
 their adherents, when we read the remarks which 
 our Lord addressed to them relative to the pre- 
 sent subject. It has very commonly been taken 
 for granted, that, in replying to their cavils, he 
 took occasion to intimate a design of relaxing the 
 divine law of the sabbath, under the Christian 
 dispensation. But this must appear very im- 
 probable, in itself, when we reflect on the im- 
 portant nature of the institution, and especially 
 when we consider what anxious care our Lord 
 manifested, in precluding the idea that he came to 
 destroy even " one jot or one tittle'' of the law.* 
 And how little ground his replies actually furnish 
 for the supposition, must become evident, if we 
 carefully consider their nature, and the circum- 
 stances under which they were delivered. The 
 conduct, which he undertook to vindicate, was 
 that of persons placed under the Jewish, not 
 under the Christian, dispensation. He speaks of 
 what was then, and at all times, lawful ; not of 
 
 * Matt. v. 17, 18, 19. That the moral law, as contained 
 in the ten Commandments, was intended, appears clear 
 from the examples in the following verses, 21, 27, &c. 
 
127 
 
 what was to be so only at a future period. And 
 his appeal is made expressly to the Jewish law, — 
 to the labours of the priests in the temple, to 
 the case of circumcision on the sabbath-day, and 
 to the history of David, — not to some new law 
 afterwards to be promulgated. 
 
 No : what he would correct is, not any ex- 
 cessive strictness of the divine law itself, but the 
 self-righteous follies of men, who preferred in- 
 significant ceremonies before moral duties ; who 
 sacrificed the spirit to the letter of divine com- 
 mands; who reversed the maxims of scripture: 
 and made " the law of God of none effect 
 " through their traditions."* He reminded them, 
 therefore, that God would have " mercy rather 
 " than sacrifice : " that works of necessity, of 
 real necessity, and of charity, were perfectly 
 allowable, as well as works of piety, on the 
 holy day. In short, he admonished them, " The 
 " sabbath was made for man, and not man for 
 " the sabbath:" it was appointed to advance all 
 
 * As " Lord of the Sabbath/' ' I. He rectified the 
 
 * superstitious abuse of the' institution, ' and reduced it to 
 ' the original standard. — He reformed the traditionary 
 ' corruptions of many of the commandments of moral and 
 
 * eternal obligation. But of all others most signally, re- 
 ' markably, and constantly, by words and by deeds, at 
 ' the hazard of his life, he reformed the abuse of the fourth 
 
 * commandment : which he never would have done, had the 
 ' sabbath been an ordinance that was to die in a little time, 
 ' with the Jewish dispensation. On the contrary, this 
 ' demonstrates, that he regarded the just sanctifi cation of 
 ' the sabbath as of perpetual obligation, and as of very 
 ' great importance in religion. — II. He removed the Sab- 
 ' bath from the seventh to the first day of the week.' 
 Dr. John Taylor. 
 
128 
 
 his best interests; not to engage and engross 
 him in an unmeaning, unprofitable, or even in- 
 jurious, service. 
 
 In interpreting this large and liberal principle 
 of our Lord's, let us, however, be careful not 
 ungratefully to abuse it. Let us not suppose it 
 to authorize our employing the sacred hours in 
 whatever manner a perverse and wayward in- 
 clination may dictate, or even as a petty temporal 
 interest may seem to require. No: but let us 
 ever remember, that man is an immortal and 
 accountable being, and that nothing can really 
 be his interest, which obstructs his preparation 
 for heavenly bliss. 
 
 It is not my intention to enter, at all at large, 
 into the question concerning the perpetual and 
 universal obligation of the sabbath, as founded 
 on express divine appointment. I trust the in- 
 stitution is still generally acknowledged to possess 
 this authority. Indeed, the very writer* who, 
 while he himself maintains the observation of 
 the day to be a duty ' binding upon the con- 
 1 science of every individual, of a country in 
 ' which a weekly sabbath is established/ has, 
 I fear, done much, to unsettle the minds of 
 others upon the subject, — expressly acknow- 
 ledges, that, if the command, in the second 
 chapter of Genesis, (verses 2 and 3,) ' was 
 1 actually delivered at the creation, it was ad- 
 * dressed, no doubt, to the whole human species 
 * Dr. Paley. 
 
129 
 
 * alike; and continues, unless repealed by some 
 ' subsequent revelation, binding upon all who 
 1 come to the knowledge of it/ 
 
 On the ground of this concession, I feel con- 
 vinced, every advocate for the divine authority 
 of the Sabbath may boldly take his stand. For 
 could it ever enter into the mind of any man of 
 plain sense, that when, after reading of the 
 works performed on each of the six days of 
 creation, in their order, he went on to read, 
 " And on the seventh day God ended his work 
 " which he had made, and he rested on the 
 " seventh day from all his work which he had 
 u made : and God blessed the seventh day, and 
 " sanctified it,* because that in it he had rested 
 " from all his work, which God created and 
 " made : " — could any intelligent and unpre- 
 judiced reader of this narrative, I ask, ever 
 suppose it to be meant, that the sactification of 
 the seventh day did not take place till five-and- 
 twenty hundred years afterwards, when the law 
 
 * ' Sanctified it : that is, he set it apart for holy purposes; 
 
 * for such is the meaning of the word sanctified in the old 
 ' testament, when applied to inanimate things;' and * in no 
 f other sense can it be understod with relation to the 
 « seventh day, without forsaking the scriptural meaning of 
 
 * the terra, and falling into absurdity.' Christian Observer, 
 — I gladly embrace the opportunity of directing the reader's 
 attention to four very valuable papers, on the subject of the 
 sabbath, which appeared in that highly respectable publi- 
 cation, for June, July, August, and September, 1802, pp. 
 351, 417, 489, 559. The last of them has a particular 
 claim to the study of every person who has read Dr. Paley's 
 chapters on Sabbatical Institutions.— The name of the 
 venerable writer of these papers would strongly recommend 
 them to notice, were I at liberty to disclose it. 
 
130 
 
 was delivered at mount Sinai ? Yet such is the 
 hypothesis of those who deny that it took place 
 at the creation ! * 
 
 Still less could this be believed, when evident 
 traces are discovered of the division of time into 
 terms of seven days, at the period of the deluge, and 
 on other occasions prior, by several hundreds of 
 years, to the giving of the law : f and when, in par- 
 ticular, the law of the sabbath is found to have 
 existed among the Israelites, and to have been 
 observed by them in the wilderness, some time 
 before their arrival at Sinai .% 
 
 * The supposition that Moses, in Gen. ii. 2, 3, speaks by 
 
 * anticipation, is a fiction without any foundation in the 
 text. Dr. Taylor. 
 
 t Gen. vii. 4. 10. viii. 8—12. xxix. 27, 28. 1. 10.— 
 
 * This septenary division of time has been, from the earliest 
 
 * ages, uniformly observed over all the eastern world. The 
 
 * Israelites, Assyrians, Egyptians, Indians, Arabians, and 
 ' Persians, have always made use of a week, consisting of 
 ' seven dajs. Manv vain attempts have been made to 
 ' account for this uniformity ; but a practice so general 
 
 * and prevalent could never have taken place, had not the 
 ' septenary distribution of time been instituted from the 
 ' beginning, and handed down by tradition.' Homer, 
 Hesiod, and Linus, among the Greeks, all allude to some- 
 what sacred as characterising the seventh day. * The 
 
 * knowledge of the transactions atthecreation, thoughmuch 
 ' perverted, was never entirely lost' among the heathen. 
 Encycl. Britannica. 
 
 f Exod. xvi. 5, 22 — 30. « The incidental manner,' in 
 which the Sabbath is here mentioned, • is a convincing 
 ' proof that the Israelites were no strangers to the institu- 
 ' tion : for had it been a new one, it must have been 
 
 * enjoined in a positive and particular manner, and the 
 ' nature of it must have been laid open and explained, 
 ' otherwise the term would have conveyed no meaning.' 
 Encycl. Britannica, 
 
 ' Note — The restoring and ascertaining the sabbath was 
 •' the first point of religion that was settled after the chil- 
 
131 
 
 The appointment of the sabbath, then, from 
 the beginning of the world, being established, no 
 serious reader can fail to be struck with the 
 immense importance given to this institution 
 throughout the scriptures. It holds a most pro- 
 minent place, and is enforced with peculiar 
 energy, among the ten commandments of the 
 moral law, engraven by the finger of God on the 
 two tables. Throughout the writings of Moses 
 and the Jewish prophets, no precept is more 
 frequently brought forward, or more earnestly 
 enforced; with their observation of none is the 
 welfare of the people of Israel, as well as the 
 blessing of God upon individuals, represented as 
 more inseparably connected.* 
 
 ' dren of Israel came out of Egypt, as being of the greatest 
 'moment; and this in relation to the original institution, 
 ' for the law at mount Sinai was not then given.' Dr. 
 Taylor. 
 
 * It may not be useless, perhaps, to subjoin a reference 
 to the principal passages of the old testament relating to 
 the sabbath, from which maybe seen the importance given 
 to it. Gen. ii. 2, 3, and Exod. xvi. 5, 22 — 30, above re- 
 ferred to. 
 
 Exod. xx. 8 — 11, " Remember the sabbath-day to keep it 
 " holy:" &c. — the fourth commandment,— -Repeated Deut. 
 v. 12 — 15. with another reason for the observation of it, 
 appropriate to the Israelites. 
 
 — xxiii. 12, and xxxiv. 21. " Six days shalt thou do thy 
 " work, and on the seventh day shalt thou rest, that thine ox 
 " and thine ass may rest, and the son of thine handmaid and 
 " the stranger may be refreshed:" even " in earing time and 
 " in harvest shalt thou rest." 
 
 — xxxi.14 — 18. xxxv. 2. "The seventh day is the sabbath, 
 " holy to the Lord," " every one that defileth it shall surely 
 " be put to death." " It is a sign between me and the 
 " children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord 
 11 made heaven and earth, &c." 
 
 Lev. xix. 3, 30. ** Ye shall fear every man his mother 
 " and his father, and keep my sabbaths." 
 
132 
 
 And how pure and spiritual, how every way 
 worthy of the Gospel itself, are the illustrations 
 which we may derive from these scriptures, of 
 the duty of " hallowing the sabbath/' and of the 
 
 Lev. xxiii. 3. " A holy convocation" that day. 
 
 Num. xv. 32 — 36. The sabbath-breaker put to death. 
 
 xxviii. 9. 10. Peculiar sacrifices appointed for the 
 
 day. 
 
 Nehem. ix. 13, 14. " Thou earnest down upon mount 
 Sinai — and madest known unto them thy holy sabbath." 
 
 x. 31. xiii. 15 — 23. His zeal against the profanation 
 
 of the sabbath—" There dwelt men of Tyre therein, which 
 " br ought jish, and all manner of ware, and sold on the sabbath 
 *' unto the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem. Then I 
 u contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, — 
 " Did not our fathers thus, and did not God bring all this 
 " evil upon us, and upon this city ? Yet ye bring more 
 " wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath," He com- 
 manded the gates to be shut, and threatened those who 
 still lodged about them with merchandise. 
 
 Ps. xcii. intitled, "A Psalm or Song for the sabbath-day." 
 
 Is. lvi. 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, " Blessed is the man — that keepeth 
 " the Sabbath from polluting it " '* Thus sailh the Lord 
 " to the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, &c. to them will 
 " will 1 give in my house — a place and a name better than 
 " of sons and of daughters, &c. Also the sons of the 
 " stranger — every one that keepeth the sabbath from 
 u polluting it, &c. even them will I bring to my holy 
 " mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer." 
 &ei 
 
 — Iviii. 13, 14, above quoted. 
 
 Jer. xvii. 19 — 27. A very striking passage, ascribing 
 God's vengeance upon the Jews mainly to their neglect and 
 violation of the sabbath, (as the inlet of all other crimes,) 
 and promising preservation and prosperity to them in case 
 they would duly observe it. 
 
 Ezek. xx. 12 — 14. In like manner lays great stress 
 upon it. 
 
 xxii. 8, 26. xxiii. 33. " Thou hast profaned my 
 
 « sabbath," &c. 
 
 Amos viii. 5. "When will—the sabbath — be gone, that 
 we may set forth wheat?" (The demand of the wicked.) 
 
 The observation of the day by our Lord, and those with 
 whom he associated, is obvious in the Gospels. 
 
133 
 
 temper with which it should be performed ! Take 
 for an example the following passage of Isaiah : 
 (ch.lviii.) " If thou turn away thy foot from the 
 " sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy 
 " clay, and call the sabbath a delight, the holy 
 ft of the Lord, honovrable, and shalt honour 
 ** Attn, not doing thine own ways, nor finding 
 " thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own 
 " words ; then shalt thou delight thyself in the 
 *' Lord, and I will — feed thee with the heritage 
 " of Jacob thy father." * As we have received 
 no new instructions upon the subject from the 
 gospel, so neither are we left in want of any. 
 
 Under the new testament, indeed, we are 
 released from the prescriptions of the Jewish 
 ceremonial law, and from the regulations of their 
 civil code, which punished the profanation of 
 the sabbath with death. A change has also been 
 introduced of the day, from the seventh to the 
 first; in honour, no doubt, of our Lord's resur- 
 rection from the dead, and of the blessings, 
 superior to those of creation, sealed to us by 
 that event. But this change is merely circum- 
 stantial : it affects not the substance of the in- 
 stitution, which consists in the more especial 
 consecration of the seventh part of our time to* 
 God.f 
 
 * See also Psalm xcii, entitled, ' A Psalm or Song for 
 the sabbath-day.' 
 
 t ' The last day of the week, was, undoubtedly, appro- 
 ' priated by the fourth Commandment; but it is remarka- 
 * ble, that the words may be applied to any of the seven/ 
 Christian Observer for 1802, p. 499. 
 
 N 
 
134 
 
 Accordingly we find the apostles, and the 
 primitive Christians of all countries, holding 
 their assemblies for religious worship on the first 
 day of the week, aud devoting it to works of 
 piety and chnrity. * St. John, in particular, dig- 
 nities it with the title of " the Lord's day/' f — the 
 day dedicated to God our Saviour: and Iren^us, 
 
 That the observation of one day of the week, rather than 
 of another, concerned only the. circumstances and not the 
 essence of the institution, receives confirmation from the 
 fact, that it is left extremely doubtful whether the day 
 observed by the Jews was calculated from the creation, 
 and not rather from their redemption from Egyptian 
 bondage, or even from some other era. See Scott on 
 Exod. xvi. 4, 5. — Dr. Taylor remarks, ' The Israelites in- 
 ' deed, during their long continuance and servitude in 
 ' Egypt, upwards of 200 years, seem to have lost their 
 ' reckoning of the sabbath, when they were constrained 
 ! by perpetual and most servile labour to neglect the 
 ' observance of it. However it certainly was the appoint- 
 ' ment of God, that they should begin a new reckoning of 
 f. the day, and form a new epocha, nameiy the falling of 
 ' the manna.' Some have been of opinion, that one day 
 •was dropped in this reckoning, and is replaced by the 
 substitution of the first day for the seventh, under the 
 Christian dispensation ; and that, consequently, we do 
 now actually observe the seventh day computed from the 
 creation. But no certainty is, I apprehend, either at- 
 tainable or at all necessary upon these points. 
 
 The appropriation of some part of our time to the 
 worship of God is, undoubtedly, of moral aud indispensa- 
 ble obligation: the proportion and the exact period must 
 necessarily be of positive institution. But the seventh 
 part is that which it hath pleased the wisdom of God, 
 under all dispensations, to appoint. 
 
 * John xx. 19, 26. Acts xx. 6, 7. 1 Cor. xvi. 1, 2. — 
 This universal observation of the first day of the week, at 
 so early a period, can be accounted for only upon the 
 supposition of the apostles, and first preachers of the 
 gospel, having prescribed or introduced it wherever they 
 went. 
 
 t Rev. i. 10. [It admits not, I conceive, of a doubt what 
 day he means. 
 
135 
 
 one of the earliest and most venerable of the 
 Fathers still applies to it the original appellation 
 of the sabbath, and, in forcible language, de- 
 scribes the manner in which it was observed by 
 the primitive Christians. * Each of us,' saith he, 
 ' spends the sabbath in a spiritual manner, me- 
 1 ditating on the law of God with delight, and 
 ' contemplating his workmanship with adraira- 
 f tion.* 
 
 But the principal view which I would take of 
 the sabbath, in this discourse, and that to which 
 the text more especially directs our attention, 
 regards the benevolence and utility of the institu- 
 tion, — its importance to mankind. " The Sab- 
 <( bath," we are ready to imagine, ff was made" 
 for God, for his service and glory. And this is 
 true : but it is not the whole truth. It was made, 
 not less, " for man," for his comfort and benefit. 
 
 Let me call your attention to the great benefits 
 which it is calculated to produce. 
 
 First, as a day of rest. u Six days shalt thou 
 " labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh 
 ft. day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God ; in 
 " it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy 
 " son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, 
 " nor thy maid-servant, nor thine ox, nor thine 
 " ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger 
 
 * Unusquisque nostrum sabbatizat spiritualiter, medita- 
 tione legis gaudens, opificium Dei admirans. — Irenseus Avas 
 instructed by Polvcarp, (he disciple of St. John. 
 K.2 
 
136 
 
 " that is within thy gates ; that thy man-servant, 
 " and thy maid-servant may rest as well as thou/' 
 —Even in this view, though but a subordinate 
 one, the sabbath is a most merciful institution. 
 Without some such interruption of their toil, 
 without some such opportunity of reposing in 
 the bosom of their families, there to repair their 
 broken strength, to recruit their exhausted spi- 
 rits, and to cherish some of the best affections of 
 our nature, the sympathies of domestic life, the 
 labouring classes would pass their days in one 
 unvaried scene of abject drudgery : * their spirit 
 would be lost, and they would be prepared to 
 receive again, from any, or from every hand, the 
 yoke of bondage. 
 
 Men of business, too, would be debased in mind, 
 and wholly swallowed up in ' low-thoughted 
 
 * cares/ 
 
 And the Sabbath is infinitely preferable to 
 any other of those holidays, which have been 
 devised to prevent such effects. By constantly- 
 recurring, it * relieves the six days' labour with 
 ' the prospect of a day of rest always ap- 
 ' proachiug.' Other holidays coming seldom and 
 irregularly, come ' unprovided with any duty or 
 
 * Hail, sabbath ! thee I hail, the poor man's day : 
 On other days, the man of toil is doomed 
 
 To eat his joyless bread, lonely, the ground 
 
 Both seat and board, screened from the winter's cold, 
 
 And summer's heat, by neighbouring hedge or tree; 
 
 But on this day, embosomed in his home, 
 
 He shares the frugal meal with those he loves ; 
 
 With those he loves he shares the heart-felt joy 
 
 Of giving thanks to God . Grahume's ' Sabbath,* 
 
137 
 
 f employment; and the manner of spending them 
 ' being regulated by no public decency or estab- 
 ' lished usage, they are commonly consumed in 
 ? rude, if not criminal, pastimes ; in stupid sloth, 
 « or brutish intemperance/ * But the sabbath, 
 while it releases from fatiguing labour, and op- 
 pressive care, leaves not the mind unoccupied: 
 it brings with it its proper employments, every 
 way suited to benefit and bless the well-disposed 
 spirit, and to restore it, refreshed and invigorated, 
 not relaxed and unsettled, to the duties of the 
 succeeding week. 
 
 The Sabbath should ever be, in an especial 
 manner, dear to the poor, the laborious, and the 
 . busy. Nor should such persons ever imagine, that 
 it obstructs their interest. If, indeed, one man 
 should labour, while his neighbours rested, he 
 might earn \ another day's wages : but, if the 
 sabbath were abolished, and all worked, the con- 
 sequence would be, that, there being the same 
 work to be done, and more time to do it in, labour 
 would become cheaper, and for seven days' work 
 no more than the present six days' wages could 
 be paid.f 
 
 * Paley. 
 
 t ' Nor is there any thing lost to the community by the 
 4 intermission of public industry one day in the week, for, 
 ' in countries tolerably advanced in population and the 
 
 * arts of civil life, there is always enough of human labour, 
 
 * and to spare. The difficulty is not so much to procure 
 ' as to employ it. The addition of the seventh day's 
 ' labour to that of the other six would have no other effect 
 ' than to reduce the price. The labourer himself, who 
 
 * deserved and suffered most by the change, would gain 
 ' nothing, — Paley, 
 
 N3 
 
138 
 
 But, secondly, the sabbath is supremely valu- 
 able, as a day of moral and spiritual improve- 
 ment. 
 
 The great mass of mankind are, necessarily, 
 so much occupied with the business of the world, 
 that, even if desirous of doing it, they can find, 
 during the six days of the week, but little oppor- 
 tunity, in proportion to the magnitude of the 
 object, for sober thought, and serious reflection ; 
 for acquiring, what it is of so much importance 
 that all should possess, the knowledge of them- 
 selves, the knowledge of God, and the knowledge 
 of their duty. 
 
 But the sabbath comes in to their relief. On 
 that day, at least, undisturbed by the fear that 
 they may be neglecting any duties which have a 
 more immediate claim to their attention, they 
 may suspend their worldly occupations, banish 
 their worldly cares, and apply their minds to 
 what concerns them as rational and immortal 
 creatures. 
 
 And that they should do this, is, in all views, 
 of the highest importance. 
 
 It is important to society. — A people sunk in 
 ignorance, swallowed up in the pursuit of private 
 interest, insensible of moral obligation, uninformed 
 in their duty, unacquainted with whatever has a 
 tendency to humanize, and purify, and elevate the 
 mind, can never be expected to prove other than 
 a vicious and untractable people ; a people not to 
 be trusted ; fickle, headstrong, and ungovernable 
 but by the iron hand of force. 
 
139 
 
 It is impossible to express, how much society 
 owes to the Bible, (hated and despised although 
 it be by modern pretenders to wisdom,) for the 
 light and knowledge, suited to the capacity and 
 the situation of every man, which it has so 
 widely diffused among all ranks of the commu- 
 nity.* But this could not have been effected, 
 without the aid of those opportunities which 
 the sabbath affords. And therefore, observes the 
 eminent writer before alluded to, ' Whoever 
 ' considers how much sabbatical institutions con- 
 1 duce — to the happiness and civilization of the 
 * labouring classes of mankind, and reflects how 
 ' great a majority of the human species these 
 ' classes compose, — will perceive it to be every 
 ' man's duty to uphold the observance of Sunday, 
 ' when once established /f 
 
 But it would be very unworthy in one, speak- 
 ing from this place, and bearing the office of a 
 Christian minister, to rest the importance of the 
 sabbath, coasidered as affording the opportunity 
 and the means of moral and spiritual improve- 
 ment, solely or mainly on any temporal effects, 
 however great and good, which it may produce. 
 
 * In all Protestant and in most Christian countries, the 
 
 < elements of natural religion, and the important parts of 
 
 . * the evangelic history, are familiar to the lowest of the 
 
 ' people. This — general diffusion of religious knowledge 
 
 * amongst all orders of Christians, will appear a great thing 
 
 * when compared with the intellectual condition of bar- 
 
 * barous,' and it may be added, of all other than Christian, 
 
 * nations.' — Faley. 
 
 t Idem. 
 
140 
 
 It is as conducive and as requisite to the salvation 
 of the soul, that such improvement is supremely 
 important, and the sabbath superlatively valuable. 
 
 On this ground Christianity herself founds her 
 sovereign claim to our regard, and we are faithless 
 advocates of her cause if we are content to found 
 it, ultimately, or any lower ground than this, that 
 she, and she alone, " shews unto us the way of 
 '? everlasting salvation/' " There is no other 
 " name given under heaven, whereby we may be 
 " saved, than that of Jesus Christ." Only " his 
 " blood cleanseth from sin." 
 
 But that our sins may be washed away by him, 
 it is absolutely necessary that we, personally and 
 individually, " believe in his name," with a penitent 
 and living faith. In order to our being saved by 
 him, we must become thoroughly acquainted with 
 ourselves and with the Redeemer; we must " come 
 " unto God by him;" " the life which we live in 
 " the flesh," we must " live by the faith of the Son 
 " of God ;" continually deriving from him pardon, 
 peace, and grace, — all our strength, and all our 
 consolation. By the aids and influence of his 
 Spirit, we must fully inform ourselves in the truths 
 and duties of his religion ; must heartily embrace 
 it, and give up ourselves to live according to its 
 blessed rules. We must have our hearts drawn 
 off from the present world, and learn " to set our 
 " affections upon things above :" we must mortify 
 our sins, and cultivate Christian graces : we must 
 " put off the old man," and " be renewed in the 
 " spirit of our minds :" we must become humble, 
 
141 
 
 and meek, and patient, and contented, and disin- 
 terested, and kind, and useful, as well as pure and 
 devout : we must, on earth, acquire " a meetness 
 " for the inheritance of the saints in light." And 
 can all this be done without any pains? without 
 any cost of time and labour] without any dili- 
 gence in using ' the means of grace?' Can it be 
 done, if all our days and all our hours be spent in 
 hurry and bustle ? Can we become " dead to 
 " the world," while we live only to the pursuits of 
 the world ? * No : it is impossible. We must 
 take time : we must reflect : we must 'meditate on 
 " the word of God :" we must pray : we must 
 examine into the state of our souls. We must do 
 these things in some degree every day, if we 
 would maintain any pretensions to " seeking first 
 " the kingdom of God and his righteousness;" 
 any, to being true Christians. 
 
 But the sabbath, the blessed sabbath, is the 
 especial opportunity which God himself, in com- 
 passionate regard to our situation and our wants, 
 has given us for performing these great works, 
 in the most deliberate manner, and with diligence 
 proportioned to their importance. And, duly im- 
 proved, not only shall it conduce, eminently, to 
 our future salvation, but it shall bring down a pre- 
 sent blessing upon our souls, and even upon all 
 our affairs, beyond what he who has not proved 
 
 * ' We toil on in the vain pursuits and frivolous occu- 
 ' pations of the world, die in our harness, and then expect, 
 ' if no gigantic crime stands in the way, to step irnrae- 
 f diatelyinto the kingdom of heaven : but this is impossi- 
 '. ble.' Soame Jenyns : Internal Evidence. 
 
142 
 
 its effects can conceive. * I have ever found, by a 
 
 * strict and diligent observation/ says the great 
 Lord Chief Justice Hale, ' that a due observance 
 
 * of Sunday has ever had joined to it a blessing 
 
 * upon the rest of my time ; and the week that 
 ' has been so begun has been blessed and pros- 
 - perous to me : and, on the other side, when I 
 ' have been negligent of the duties of this day, the 
 
 * rest of the week has been unsuccessful and un- 
 ' happy to my own secular employments. So that I 
 
 * could easily make an estimate of my successes 
 
 * the week following, by the manner of my passing 
 ' this day. And (he adds) / do not ivrite this 
 ' lightly, but by long and sound experience,' 
 
 A well-spent sabbath has a natural tendency 
 to moderate our eager desires of the world; to 
 calm the passions, to cheer the spirits, to sweeten 
 the tempers: while it solemnizes the mind to 
 piety, it softens and expands the heart to pure 
 and benevolent affections. And that a peculiar 
 blessing of heaven should attend the observance, 
 and a peculiar curse the profanation, of the sab- 
 bath,* will not even in this age of unbelief, appear 
 
 * It is a fact which challenges serious consideration, that 
 so many, who have paid their Jives a forfeit to the injured 
 justice of their country, have, in their last moments, 
 expressly traced back their career of vice to its commence- 
 ment in the neglect and profanation of the Sabbath, The 
 extraordinary number of fata! accidents also, which befal 
 persons engaged in pursuing u their own pleasure on God's 
 " holy da\,"\\ill not escape the observation of him who 
 " wisejy com doe th of God's doings. "« — Nor ought it at all 
 to weaken the impression of the fact, that certain natural 
 causes may contribute to it, such as the intoxication of the 
 parties, their trusting themselves to vehicles, whether by 
 
143 
 
 the sentiment of weakness and superstition, to any- 
 one who has justly appreciated the importance of 
 the institution. 
 
 To the last view of its importance we proceed : 
 namely, as it is necessary to the due celebration 
 of public worship, — which cannot take place 
 without the general intermission of labour and 
 business, during times previously set apart. And 
 the importance of such worship, I presume, 
 none will call in question. It is expressly ap- 
 pointed by God himself: it is but rendering him 
 " the honour due unto his name:" it forms a 
 noble and animating avowal of that faith, which 
 is dearer to every true Christian than his life: it 
 affords an invaluable opportunity of instruction : * 
 
 land or water, which they are not competent to manage, 
 &c. &c. Natural causes are the order which the God of 
 nature has established, and by which, rather than by 
 direct interpositions, he commonly executes his purposes, 
 whether of mercy or of judgment. 
 
 * The ' general diffusion of religious knowledge amongst 
 e all orders of Christians,' mentioned in a former note, 'can 
 ' fairly, I think, be ascribed to no other cause, than the 
 ' regular establishment of assemblies for divine worship ; in 
 ' which either portions of scripture are recited and explained, 
 * or the principles of Christian erudition are so constantly 
 ' taught in sermons, incorporated with liturgies, or ex- 
 ' pressed in extempore prayer, as to imprint, by the very 
 ' repetition, some memory of these subjects upon the most 
 ' unqualified and careless hearer.' Pale.y. 
 
 I cannot but remark, that it must appear, to every 
 considerate and impartial observer, a strong recommenda- 
 tion of the services of the established church, that such 
 large portions of the sacred scriptures are interwoven and 
 publicly recited in them. Multitudes owe more to this 
 circumstance, than they will ever, in this world, be aware 
 of. 
 
144 
 
 and it is necessary to the preservation of any re- 
 membrance of God, and any regard for religion 
 among men, — ' the greater part of whom would 
 
 * exercise no religious worship at all without it," * 
 
 The same eminent writer, whom I have before 
 quoted, has some reflections upon the benefits, 
 even temporal benefits, of public worship, so 
 beautiful that I cannot deny myself the pleasure 
 of reciting them. 
 
 ■ So many pathetic affections/ he says, * are 
 ' awakened by every exercise of social devotion, 
 
 * that most men, 1 believe, carry away from 
 ■ public worship a better temper towards the 
 
 * rest of mankind, than they brought with them. 
 
 * Sprung from the same extraction, preparing 
 1 together for the period of all worldly distinc- 
 ' tions, reminded of their mutual infirmities and 
 ' common dependency, imploring and receiving 
 ' support and supplies from the same great source 
 c of power and bounty ; having all one interest 
 
 * to secure, one Lord to serve, one judgment, 
 ' the supreme object of all their hopes and fears, 
 ' to look towards ; it is hardly possible, in this 
 ' position, to behold mankind as strangers, com- 
 ' petitors, or enemies : or not to regard them as 
 \ children of the same family assembled before 
 ' their common parent, and with some portion of 
 ' the tenderness which belongs to the most endear- 
 ' ing of our domestic relations. It is not to be 
 ' expected that any single effect of this kind 
 'should be considerable or lasting: but the fre- 
 
 * Palcv, 
 
145 
 
 ' quent return of such sentiments, as the presence 
 
 * of a devout congregation naturally suggests, will 
 
 * gradually melt down the ruggedness of many 
 ' unkind passions, and may/ with the blessing of 
 God, ' generate in time a permanent and produc- 
 1 tive benevolence/ 
 
 And again : ' If ever the poor man holds up 
 1 his head' — not with the pride of insubordination, 
 but with the elevation of cheerfulness and hope — 
 ' it is at church : if ever the rich man views him 
 1 with respect, it is there: and both will be the 
 
 * better, and the public profited, the oftener they 
 ' meet in a situation in which the consciousness of 
 ' dignity in the one is tempered and mitigated, 
 1 and the spirit of the other erected and con- 
 
 * firmed/ 
 
 In fine, then, the sabbath is an institution em- 
 phatically " made for man ;" fraught with the 
 richest blessings, temporal and eternal, to the 
 human race. The comforts, the liberties, the 
 civilization of the world are influenced by it, more 
 than can be described : the very existence of true 
 religion among men, and, by consequence, the sal- 
 vation of their immortal souls, seems essentially to 
 depend upon it. 
 
 The infidel philosophers of modern times, who 
 have with so much subtilty plotted, and with such 
 malignant confidence anticipated, the extirpation 
 of the religion of Jesus from the earth, have duly 
 estimated its importance. The sabbath, they have 
 pronounced, is the palladium of chris- 
 
 
146 
 
 tianity: the two must subsist or perish to- 
 gether. Accordingly they have laboured, by new 
 divisions of time, and the iutrodnction of novel 
 calendars, to obliterate the remembrance of it 
 from the world. But here, as in other instances 
 of their hostility to religion, " He that sitteth in 
 " heaven hath laughed them to scorn." By a 
 series of crimes and miseries, worthy to mark the 
 age and nation which had disavowed all faith in 
 God, they have been compelled to proclaim anew 
 to all the world, the old, but by them exploded, 
 truth, that society cannot subsist without religion ; 
 to restore a form, though alas ! a corrupted form, 
 of Christianity; and, with it, to revive the 
 sabbath.* 
 
 And oh let us never forget of what a religion 
 it is, that the sabbath is made, and by its enemies 
 thus acknowledged to be, the impregnable bul- 
 wark. It is a religion which brings " glory to 
 " God in the highest," and diffuses on earth 
 " peace, goodwill among man." It ' insures 
 ' respect and obedience to the civil magistrate. 
 
 • It will have a good influence on those who 
 ■ govern, and on those who obey. It will teach 
 ' the former to rule over men in the fear of God : 
 c it will teach the latter to obey not only for 
 ' wrath, but for conscience' sake. Parents, in- 
 
 * structed in this religion, will bring up their 
 
 * See Pottalis' official speech on presenting the Concordat 
 to the Legislative body. — I intend not to ■ represent the 
 destruction of the sabbath as the only reason for tlie 
 adoption of the new calendar in France : that this was one 
 great object in view is sufficient for my purpose. 
 
147 
 
 * children in the nurture and admonition of the 
 
 * Lord: and children, thus brought up, will 
 ' honour their fathers and their mothers. Ser- 
 
 * vants will obey their masters, and masters will 
 1 give unto their servants that which is just and 
 ' equal. Christianity strengthens the bonds of 
 i civil society and social order: it humanizes our 
 ' nature, and cherishes all those charities of life 
 'which endear us to each other; and, finally, 
 ' it opens to our view the boundless prospcts of 
 ' eternity.' It discloses the way of everlasting 
 salvation : it pacifies the conscience, and purifies 
 the heart : it cheers the righteous, it awes the 
 wicked, it supports the afflicted, it exhilarates the 
 dying saint with " a hope full of immortality." 
 
 From this review, then, of the importance and 
 the proper uses of the sabbath, it will be easy 
 to discern both what practices are inconsistent 
 with the due sanctification of the day, and the 
 high degree of criminality, which attaches to every 
 disrespect shewn to so sacred and invaluable an 
 institution. 
 
 And here I must remark, that, in estimating 
 the evil of any profanation of the sabbath, we 
 are not to contemplate the act simply in itself, 
 and merely as it effects the immediate perpetra- 
 tor: we must take into the account all the 
 tendency it may have to destroy in others also a 
 proper reverence for the day ; and must allow for 
 the depression which the public regard for it must 
 O 2 
 
148 
 
 actually have suffered, before that particular 
 abuse could be tolerated and esteemed venial. 
 
 That all transaction of worldly business, not 
 only openly with others, but privately in the 
 retirement of the closet, in writing letters, ar- 
 ranging accounts, or forming plans, is a violatiou 
 of the sacred rest, need not be said. The express 
 design of the day is, to call off our minds from 
 worldly cares, that they may be occupied, without 
 distraction, in higher pursuits. 
 
 Travelling on the sabbath is proclaiming our 
 disregard, if not contempt, for the day, through 
 whole districts, to every village that we pass, to 
 every rustic whom we meet. It is contriving to 
 violate every branch of the divine precept at once, 
 as it respects " ourselves, our servants, and our 
 " cattle/' 
 
 That the indolent and trifling waste of the 
 sacred hours is an inexcusable profanation of 
 them, must be very obvious. What, do six days 
 afford time little enough, in our esteem, for the 
 pursuit of the world, for making provision for 
 our bodies, and is one day so far too much for 
 the service of God, for the care of our souls, 
 and for preparation for an everlasting existence, 
 that we must pass away its tedious hours in listless 
 inactivity, in vacuity of thought, in sordid sloth, 
 and sensual indulgence, or complain of the sabbath, 
 ■* What a weariness is it ! " Oh deplorable con- 
 tempt of whatever is most sacred ! 
 
 * But/ it is asked, * is it inconsistent with the 
 
149 
 
 < duties of the sabbath, cheerfully to entertain 
 ' our friends on that day?' — Answer the question 
 to yourselves. — Is your intercourse with your 
 friends, on these occasions, such as promotes the 
 great end for which the sabbath was instituted, 
 the religious improvement of all parties? Need 
 I urge the inquiry any further? What, is your 
 conversation, ye who make the sabbath the 
 leisure-day for the entertainment of your friends, 
 is your conversation with them suited " to 
 " minister grace unto the hearers ?" Is it 
 studiously calculated to cherish devout and holy 
 affections in your minds ? to raise you above the 
 present world, to strengthen your faith, and 
 hope, and love of God, and to advance your 
 preparation for eternity? What, do you recur 
 to your Bibles, and unite your prayers to God, 
 on these occasions ? Are the hopes, the doctrines, 
 the promises, and the duties of Christianity, the 
 delightful subjects of your communications to- 
 gether? Do you converse upou what you have 
 beard at the church in the morning, and then 
 " go up again to the house of God in company" 
 in the afternoon? — Go on, then, to enjoy your 
 Sunday parties, " no man forbidding you/' if they 
 are thus conducted ! This is indeed maintaining 
 " the communion of the saints" here upon earth, 
 and growing up together for the inheritance of the 
 heavenly bliss ! One caution only let me just hint 
 to you, — that you remember your domestics. Be 
 careful that what conduces so much to your own 
 edification, as well as pleasure, may not encroach 
 03 
 
150 
 
 upon that relaxation and those religious privileges, 
 which it was designed that they should enjoy on 
 this day : may not prevent the repeated attendance 
 of your servants upon public worship, or inter- 
 fere with your diligent care in instructing them at 
 home. 
 
 But if it be another sort of entertainment of 
 your friends which you intend, you cannot surely 
 mean to ask, whether what keeps your servants 
 from church, occupied and hurried in their com- 
 mon employments ; what excludes all family 
 religion, and consigns one half of your sabbath 
 to luxury and animal indulgence, or at best to 
 ordinary conversation ; whether this be compatible 
 with the sanctification of the day, you can never 
 seriously mean to ask. 
 
 In the same manner would I treat the subject 
 ©f Sunday excursions. If our situation be such 
 as to admit of a retired and contemplative walk, 
 it is a happy circumstance, and a portion of the 
 Sabbath may be profitably employed in taking 
 advantage of it.* But if we cannot go forth 
 
 * Hail, sabbath! thee I hail, the poor man's day: 
 The pale mechanic now has leave to breathe 
 The morning air, pure from the city's smoke, 
 While, wandering slowly up the river side, 
 He meditates on him, whose power, &c. 
 — — and while he thus surveys, 
 With elevated joy, each rural charm, 
 He hopes, yet fears presumption in the hope, 
 That Heaven may be one sabbath without end. 
 
 But now his steps a welcome sound recalls : 
 Solemn the knell, from yonder ancient pile, 
 Fills all the air, inspiring joyful awe: 6cc. 
 
151 
 
 from our doors unless mingled with the crowds 
 of the gay, the thoughtless, and the giddy, what 
 might otherwise well subserve the purposes of the 
 sabbath, becomes a dissipation directly obstruct- 
 ing them. 
 
 Again, the neglect of jmblic worship, when 
 we can possibly attend upon it, is a violation of 
 the duties of the sabbath. What has already 
 been said of the importance of public worship 
 must sufficiently evince this ; and, at the same 
 time, expose the extreme futility of the plea which 
 is sometimes urged for neglecting it, ' that our 
 prayers will be equally acceptable and efficacious 
 at home, and that we already know, or can more 
 advantageously learn from books, the truths which 
 the sermon will inculcate/ Both parts of this 
 position, when all circumstances are taken into the 
 account, may, I am confidently persuaded, be 
 denied. But waving that argument for the pre- 
 sent, I would say with the writer to whom I have 
 
 much I love thy tranquil dales: 
 
 But most on Sabbath eve when low the sun 
 Slants through the upland copse, 'tis my delight, 
 Wandering, and stopping oft, to hear the song 
 Of kindred praise arise from humble roofs; 
 Or, when the simple service ends, to hear 
 The lifted latch, and mark the grey-haired man, 
 The father and the priest, walk forth alone 
 Into his garden-plat, or little field, 
 To commune with his God in secret prayer: 
 To bless the Lord that in his downward years 
 
 His children are about him 
 
 Nor is the contrast between youth and age 
 To him a painful thought; he joys to think 
 His journey near a close; heaven is his home, 
 More happy far that man, though bowed down, &c. &c. 
 Grahame's Sabbath, 
 
152 
 
 already repeatedly referred, ■ They whose qualifi- 
 c tions and habits best supply to themselves all the 
 1 effect of public ordinances, will be the last to 
 ' prefer .this excuse, when they advert to the general 
 ' consequence of setting up such an exemption, as 
 ' well as when they consider the turn which is 
 ' sure to be given in the neighbourhood to their 
 'absence from public worship:' and, surely we 
 might add, when they consider the promises 
 and express injunctions of scripture upon the 
 subject. ' You stay from church,' we will suppose, 
 
 * to employ the sabbath at home in exercises and 
 
 * studies suited to its proper business: you next 
 1 neighbour stays from church, to spend the seventh 
 1 day less religiously than he passed any of the six, 
 ' in a sleepy, stupid rest, or at some rendezvous of 
 ' drunkenness and debauchery; and yet thinks 
 ' that he is only imitating you, because you both 
 ' agree in not going to church/ * 
 
 Nor do these arguments apply less forcibly to 
 the neglect of public worship in the afternoon, 
 than in the forenoon. He, who has any proper 
 love for the house and the service of God, will 
 never be content to attend them once only, in the 
 day, when another opportunity is afforded him. 
 
 But, finally, there is much more to be done, 
 much more for ourselves, and much more for our 
 families, than can be done in public, if we would 
 not grievously and very criminally fail of discharg- 
 ing the duties of the sabbath. This too must suf- 
 * Paley. 
 
153 
 
 Hciently appear from what we have already said, 
 in speaking of the uses of the day, and I will not 
 enlarge upon it. I will only observe, that we 
 ought to make a conscience of consecrating the 
 ivhole day to devout and benevolent purposes, to 
 the glory of God, to the good of our fellow 
 creatures, and to the improvement of our own 
 hearts. * 
 
 And here, I am afraid, even persons professing 
 greater religious strictness are often much in fault ; 
 either spending all their time in public and social 
 exercises, or wasting large portions of it in unpro- 
 fitable, even though not, it may be, altogether 
 irreligious company ; doing little for their families, 
 and little in private for their own souls. 
 
 * ' Surely an entire day should not seem long amidst 
 
 * these various employments. It might well be deemed a 
 
 * privilege thus to spend it in the more immediate presence 
 
 * of our heavenly Father, in the exercises of humble admi- 
 
 * ration, and grateful homage; of the benevolent, and 
 
 * domestic, and social feelings, and of all the best affections 
 ' of our nature, prompted by their true motives, conversant 
 
 * about their proper objects, and directed to their noblest 
 ( end ; all sorrow mitigated, all cares suspended, all fears 
 ' repressed, every angry emotion softened, every envious, 
 
 * or revengeful, or malignant passion expelled; and the 
 « bosom, thus quieted, purified, enlarged, ennobled, par- 
 ' taking almost of a measure of the heavenly happiness, 
 ' and become for a while the seat of love, and joy, and 
 ' confidence, and harmony.' — See an exquisite piece on the 
 Sabbath, the proper and the common mode's of spending 
 it, in Mr. Wilberforce's Practical View, p. 193— 199— If 
 we are disposed to complain of the gloom and dulness of 
 a Sabbath spent as here recommended, let us confess, and 
 ' tremble at the confession,' that we have no taste for 
 spiritual pleasures, and are utterly unqualified for that 
 eternal sabbath, the keeping of which u remaineth for the 
 " people of God." See Cooper's Sermons, vol. i. p. 266, &c. 
 
154 
 
 And, oh ! can even this cursory review be taken 
 of the sabbath, of its duties, and the violations of 
 them, without bringiug home to every heart the 
 consciousness of guilt, — of great and heinous 
 guilt ? of transgressions " more in number than 
 " the hairs of our head V Oh let us not stifle 
 the conviction ! Let us not call in, let us not ad- 
 mit, the aid of delusive arguments, with which to 
 persuade ourselves that the rule of duty cannot 
 be so strict, that our offences cannot be so nume- 
 rous. Let conscience speak, and let her voice be 
 heard, if we would ever save our souls. Her 
 wounds, though painful for the time, will prove 
 " the faithful wounds of a friend." She smites 
 but to heal. To our cordial, our effectual recep- 
 tion of the gospel, that sense of our need of its 
 remedies, is absolutely requisite, which nothing 
 but deep conviction of guilt can produce. With- 
 out this, Christ will remain to us as " the physi- 
 " cian to them that are whole;" " a Saviour" to 
 those who know not that they are " lost." Let 
 us welcome and cherish whatever would affect us 
 with a humbling apprehension of our sins, and 
 excite us " to flee from the wrath to come." Let 
 us know our guilt and danger, that we may con- 
 fess the one with truly contrite hearts, and betake 
 ourselves for refuge from the other to " the hope 
 " set before us" in Christ. Without this we may 
 • profess and call ourselves Christians/ but we 
 shall continue strangers to the repentance, the 
 faith, the hope, and the salvation of the gospel. 
 
155 
 
 The subject of the sabbatli is one, which the 
 circumstances of our times particularly require to 
 be brought forward. No one can open his eyes 
 to what is passing on every side, without being 
 witness to the great, the growing, the unblushing 
 profanation of the Lord's day, which prevails 
 amongst us. 
 
 Among remedies for the profanation of the 
 sabbath, and means of promoting a more just 
 regard for it, I would especially insist upon the 
 necessity of family religion, maintained every day, 
 but on this day above all others. What can be 
 so proper, so natural, (one would think) so 
 evidently obligatory, so serviceable, as this, alas! 
 neglected duty ? 
 
 Much has been done of late years, and much is 
 doing, for the better education of the lower orders; 
 and, heedless of ail the absurd objections which 
 are urged against the instruction of the poor, I 
 must maintain that the tendency of these efforts is 
 eminently beneficial : I ever must maintain, that 
 he who, from his youth, is informed in his duty, 
 and taught to exercise his faculties, is vastly more 
 likely to prove a good member of the family and 
 the community, than he who wants these advan- 
 tages; that the child who is " trained up in the 
 " way wherein he should go/' is incomparably 
 more likely to walk in it, than one who grows up 
 without instruction. 
 
 Yet, notwithstanding all that has been done, 
 it must be granted, I fear, that we are not a more 
 
156 
 
 virtuous people than we were; and one great 
 reason, which, in connection with our national 
 circumstances, I would assign for this, is — the 
 decline of family order and family religion, 
 throughout, I may say, all classes of society. 
 
 Masters and Mistresses ! you complain of your 
 servants : but what have you done, what are you 
 doing, to improve those servants in the knowledge 
 of their duty, to instil into their minds just princi- 
 ples, and a proper sense of religion 1 Nay is it 
 not little indeed that you do for your own chil- 
 dren, beyond sending them to school, and, per- 
 haps once only on the Sunday, to church 1 What 
 hear they from you at home, what see they in 
 your example, that indicates the Christian parent 
 and head of a family 1 Honourable exceptions, 
 I know, there are to the censure here conveyed : 
 but does not that censure too justly apply to the 
 great majority? 
 
 There is one prevalent evil which belongs to this 
 head, so gross, and productive of such fatal con- 
 sequences, that I cannot but notice it in the most 
 serious and pointed manner. The Sunday evening 
 is very commonly allowed, as if by common con- 
 sent, to servants, apprentices, and young persons of 
 every description, as their time of visiting and 
 amusement ; and the great bulk of them, as 
 observation may convince any oue, spend the 
 evening in the streets! Far, far be it from me to 
 inculcate any thing inconsistent with the liberal 
 and indulgent treatment of persons in the sub- 
 ordinate situations of life. They, as well as their 
 
U7 
 
 superiors, ought to be allowed seasons of re- 
 laxation, and opportunities of visiting their friends. 
 But thus to fix upon one time, when such numbers 
 shall together be released from all restraint, is 
 highly impolitic and unwise; and to make that 
 one time the evening of the Lord's day, is contrary 
 to all decency, good order, and religion. Let any 
 one look abroad into our streets on the Sunday 
 evening, and say, whether that be the season when 
 any head of a family, who has the least regard for 
 the virtue and the safety of his domestics, would 
 choose to trust them abroad. We complain of 
 the corrupt state of our female servants; and no 
 wonder, with such a practice as this in existence. 
 More young women probably are ruiued, first or 
 last, by this one cause, than by any other that can 
 be named. Not only for religion's sake, but for 
 the sake of good morals, yea, for the sake of 
 self-interest, let every householder determine to 
 put a stop to the custom in his own family : and, 
 if the inveteracy of the evil require, let all re- 
 spectable persons make a common cause, and 
 hold themselves pledged to one another to bring 
 it to an end. 
 
 But another means of the highest importance is, 
 that our superior people, * the makers of our 
 ' manners,' should consider it as binding upon 
 their consciences, to spend the sabbath much 
 more strictly than they usually do. There 
 is one law, both of God and of man, to them 
 and to their inferior brethren. They have no 
 exemptions to plead. Rather, a greater re? 
 P 
 
158 
 
 sponsibility lies upon them; arising from the 
 powerful influence of their example : for in vain 
 shall we expect the lower orders of men to 
 " hallow the sabbath," if the higher classes 
 neglect and profane it. 
 
 What then shall we say to the fact, that so 
 few of these classes are ever seen in our churches 
 on the Sunday afternoon 1 that so many are 
 seen hurrying into the country, as soon as the 
 morning service is over, to waste the remainder 
 of the day in self-indulgence, in unprofitable con- 
 versation, and amusement ; their closets forsaken, 
 tbeir Bibles neglected, their families deserted ? 
 that many more have no better method of em- 
 ploying their time at home, than in learning and 
 discussing the news of the day, or in ' reading 
 ' books which bear no relation to the business of 
 1 religion V * Alas! such persons may scorn the 
 
 * ' The duty of the day is violated by applying 
 
 ' ourselves to studies, or the reading of books, which bear 
 ' no relation to the business of religion.' Paley. — Surely 
 news-papers are books of this description. — I subjoin 
 from the same distinguished writer some further remarks, 
 well deserving attention. They are made in reply to the 
 demands of those who are prone to ask, • What harm in 
 1 this or the other little deviation from strict rules?' To 
 this question 'under a variety of forms,' says he, 'we 
 ' return the following answer: — ' That the religious obser- 
 ' vance of Sunday, if it is to be retained at all, must be 
 'upheld by some public and visible distinctions; that, 
 ' draw the line of distinction where you will, many actions 
 ' which are situate on the confines of the line, will differ 
 * very little, and yet lie on the opposite sides of it; that 
 ' every trespass upon that reserve, which public decency 
 ' has established, breaks down the fence by which the day 
 ' is separated to the service of religion ; — that these liberties, 
 ' however intended, will certainly be considered by those 
 ■ e who observe them, not only as disrespectful to the day 
 
159 
 
 reproofs of the pulpit: but let them know, that 
 they have to do with One who is " higher than 
 "they;" and He will another day exact from 
 them an awful account of all their unhallowed 
 sabbaths, their wasted opportunities, their mis- 
 used talents. 
 
 In the third place, The laws against immorality 
 and profaneness should be more strictly put in 
 force : or, rather, it should be made so certainly 
 known that they would be put in force against of- 
 fenders, as to prevent the commission of offences. 
 
 And here I would address myself rather to the 
 respectable part of the community, at large, than 
 to the Magistrates, in particular. We are often 
 ready to complain of the remissness of those who 
 are entrusted with the execution of the laws, 
 when we should rather chide our own. Our 
 Magistrates, I trust, are ready to do their duty; 
 and they will, I hope, increase their activity 
 with the growing exigencies of the times: but 
 cases must be brought before them : information 
 must be given them. And here, from negligence, 
 from love of ease, from the fear of odium, we 
 shrink from the part which properly devolves 
 upon us. To us, also, it belongs, therefore to 
 increase our activity. 
 
 * and institution, but as proceeding from a secret contempt 
 ' of the Christian faith ; that consequently they diminish 
 
 * a reverence for religion in others, so far as the authority 
 
 * of our opinion, or the efficacy of our example, reaches : 
 
 * or rather, so far as either will serve for an excuse of 
 
 * negligence to those who are glad of any.' 
 
 P2 
 
160 
 
 Finally, I will state my clear conviction, that 
 the establishing of Sunday evening Lectures, in 
 our large towns, would be productive of eminently 
 good effects.— I know the objections which are 
 urged against this measure. If all, or if the greater 
 part of our population, were able and willing to 
 improve their Sunday evenings at home, I would 
 recommend nothing that should tempt them to do 
 otherwise. But this is the case with compara- 
 tively, very few. — To some persons such a mea- 
 sure appears to approximate too much to the 
 customs of dissenters and separatists. But shall 
 we never learn, that, if we would wish our estab- 
 lishment to be utterly distanced by her compe- 
 titors in the race for public estimation, the very 
 plan to be pursued is, thus haughtily and systema- 
 tically to reject or reverse every more popular 
 and attractive expedient, which they may have 
 adopted ? I plead for none of the mean and un- 
 worthy arts, by which the favour of the populace 
 has sometimes been courted : I recommend no 
 dereliction of the spirit or manners, much less 
 any deviation from the excellent prescribed forms, 
 of our church; no accommodations which can 
 be shewn to be really exceptionable: but only 
 such as, innocent or laudable in themselves, and 
 consonant to the principles of the church, are 
 called for by the altered state of society. — 
 Hundreds, and even thousands, I am persuaded, 
 who now spend their Sunday evenings in idle 
 company, and in the streets, would, were the 
 opportunity thus afforded them, spend it in the 
 
161 
 
 house of God. Numbers also, who are detained 
 from public worship, during other parts of the 
 day, would then be able to attend upon it; 
 and not a few, who have too little regard for 
 divine ordinances, to sacrifice to them the indul- 
 gences of the afternoon, would be present at them 
 in the evening, and might gradually, perhaps, be 
 recovered to more devout habits. 
 
 It is said, indeed, that evening lectures afford 
 facilities to viciously disposed persons, in the pur- 
 suit of their criminal gratifications. But, not to 
 urge how little regard is paid to this consideration 
 when other meetings, not of a religious kind, are 
 concerned, I am convinced that, with proper 
 precautious, the evil would be found to a great 
 degree imaginary. Never, at least, let this ob- 
 jection be heard from the mouth of anyone man, 
 who sends forth his domestics, on the Sunday 
 evening, to seek their amusement wherever they 
 may think fit. 
 
 But, whatever may be thought of any particu- 
 lar provision which I have presumed to recom- 
 mend, I must earnestly call upon every individual 
 to co-operate, to the utmost of his power, in 
 promoting the great end in view — the due obser- 
 vation of the Lord's day. Every consideration 
 demands it of you. Regard for the authority and 
 the honour of God ; regard for the happiness of 
 individuals ; regard for the interests of religion and 
 good morals ; regard for the welfare of society ; 
 regard, in the awful times in which we live, for 
 
l6<2 
 
 the well-being, for the safety, for the preserva- 
 tion of our beloved country. If there be indeed 
 " a God that judgeth the earth," that " observeth 
 " the ways" of men, that " loveth righteousness and 
 " hateth iniquity/' the continuation of his favour 
 to us, and the consequent " prolongation of our 
 H tranquillity/' must stand in close connection with 
 our discharge of this duty. It must do so, even 
 without supposing any extraordinary interposi- 
 tion of divine providence to punish our disobe- 
 dience,* simply according to that settled order of 
 causes and effects which God hath established, 
 and which we call the natural course of things. 
 This is such as makes it the doctrine of reason 
 and experience, no less than of revelation, that 
 " righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is the 
 " reproach of any people :" and the state of our 
 public morals, our righteousness or depravity as a 
 nation, is most essentially dependent upon our 
 observance or violation of the sabbath. Improved, 
 that sacred day powerfully promotes every thing 
 that is virtuous and good among men: but abused, 
 it becomes the occasion of spreading vice and 
 wickedness, with ten-fold rapidity, among those 
 who are guilty of the profanation. 
 
 I call then upon all orders of men, " Remem- 
 " ber the Sabbath-day to keep it holy." I call 
 upon the poor and the busy. It has been shewn, 
 
 * * It is often rather in the way of a gradual decline, than 
 
 * of yiolent and sudden shocks, that national crimes are 
 
 * punished.' Vid. plura, Wilberforce's Letter on the Slave 
 trade, Conclusion. 
 
163 
 
 how much your happiness is consulted in this 
 sacred institution: Oh be not so ungrateful as to 
 despise, to reject, to abuse the gracious boon of 
 heaven ! Spend not the day of God in business ; 
 spend it not in sloth, in disorder, and carnal 
 pleasure. Love and hallow the sabbath, that 
 you may reap the blessings which it was intended 
 to yield you. — I call upon the rich. Remember 
 your responsibility for your influence. You too 
 are deeply interested in the observation of the 
 sabbath, at once from its effects on the behaviour 
 of your dependents, and from its connexion with 
 your own eternal salvation. — I call upon Magis- 
 trates. Diligently use your power in restraining 
 the profanation of the sabbath, and every other 
 immorality.— I call upon all the respectable 
 part of society. Render to the Magistrate the 
 aid that is indispensably needful. Especially, 
 Support the laws by your manners. — I call upon 
 heads of families. Rule your households in the 
 fear of God. Enforce the sanctification of the 
 Sabbath. Remember, the command is immedi- 
 ately addressed to you, and with express re- 
 ference, through you, to " your sons, and your 
 " daughters, your men-servants, and your maid- 
 " servants, and the stranger this is within your 
 " gate." — Finally, I call upon young persons. 
 O begin your days with hallowing the Sabbath. 
 Make a conscience of this duty from your youth. 
 It will bring the blessing of God upon all your 
 days. Many of you have lately been solemnly 
 
164 
 
 renewing and ratifying your vows to God, l that 
 * you will keep his holy will and commandments 
 ' all the days of your life.' Oh remember how 
 prominent a place the law of the Sabbath holds 
 among ' the commandments of God/ By this 
 then shall your obedience, your regard to your 
 vows, be proved. Here you can plead no ig- 
 norance of duty. Implore the grace of God to 
 aid you in performing it. Remember the 
 
 SABBATH DAY TO KEEP IT HOLY. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 J. Seeley, Printer. Buckingham. 
 
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