i:^ a o^ i^ .ii::^. i:a. "^2^ OF THE AT PRINCETON, N. J. SAMUEL AGNEW, OF PHILADBLPHIA, PA. ©r5. , - — . |j Cane, Divis-ion..^^rrCLA Booh, J L (J SERMONS, CHIEFLY ON OCCASIONAL SUBJECTS, BY THE REV, SAMUEL HORSFALL, CURATE OF SILKSTONE, AND LATE RECTOR OF GRESSENHALL, IN NORFOLK. BARNS LEY: PRINTED AT THE OFFICE OF C. GREAVES, "Price Seven Shillings. J 'It) Mr. and Mrs. Vernon, OP WENTWORTH CASTLE, FOR THEIR KIND ATTENTION, LIBERAL TREATMENT, AND THE MANY INSTANCES OF FRIENDSHIP CONFERRED ON Mr. and Mrs, HORSFALL: AS A SMALL TRIBUTE OF GRATITUDE, THESE SERMONS ARE MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, BY THEIR MUCH OBLIGED, AND TRULY GRATEFUL SERV.ANT, THE AUTHOR. SUBSCRIBERS' NAMES. William Alcock, Esq. Skipton Joseph Armytage, Esq. Thick- hollins, 3 Copies Rev. Stephen Allen, Lynn William Atkinson, R. of Wareham All-Saints James Allison, Burnham Mr. Allen, Chapel-Town Allen, Longley At hill. East -Dereham Addmel, Tadcaster Alpp, Gressenhall The late Mr. Thomas Armytage, Iloylandswain, 3 Copies Mrs. Alderson, Lynn Ashton, Pentonville Allot, Stainborough Miss Allen, Chapel-Town B The Hon. Robert Brudcnell, Hambleton, 3 Copies Rear Admiral Bentink, Ter- rington, 5 Copies John Baynes, Esq. Skipton Alexander Borley, Esq. Bake- well Richard R. Bramley, Esq, Leed.^ John Brooke, Esq. Leeds, 3 Co- pies William Brooke, Esq. Wakefield Peter Pegge Burnell, Esq. Wink- burn R. Burrowes, Esq. Whitchin ham John Bloom, E.^q. Wells John Brown, M. D. Sheffield | Hey. Dr. Samuel Byam, R. ofj Portland, 3 Copies I Rev. William Bawdwen, V. ot Hooton-Pagnall Miles Beevor, Mulbarton House John Beevor, Scarning Spencer Blofield, Hoveton E. Booth, St. Stephen's, Salford, Manchester John Bowman, M. of St. Peter's, Norwich Wil liam Brown, V. of San- dal-Magna J. H. Brown, Hingham Mr. John Bardwell, Sheffield IVL Bash forth, Dod worth Samuel Bates, Sheffield Thomas Batty, Silkstonc Bean, Walton Beatson, Cawthorne W. Beckett, Stainborough J. Beevers, Stainborough Bell, Flockton G. Berry, Barnsley F. Best,"^ Dod worth Birks, Hemingfield R. Birtwhistle, Skipton J. Bower, Sheffield Brakes, Walpole R. Bramah, Stainborough R. Bramley, Leeds C. Brookfield, Sheffield S. Brown, Wareham P. Brownall, Sheffield J. Buck, Sen. Hingham. R. Butteifield, Leeds Bates, Walpole The late Mrs. Bickerton, Dod^- vorth. Mrs. Lv'dia Barber^ Sheffield SUBSCRIBERS* NAMES. Mi^. Beales, Mileham Marianne Beales, Mileham Beardshall, Silkstone Beevor, Seaming^ Bone, East-Dereham Booth, Brush- House, 2 Co- pies Bridgenian,Northold-Green Broadhead, Stainborough Buckler, Nay land P. Burneil, Winkburn Burley, Dod worth Miss Bawdvven, CHtheroe Bent, Barnsley Sir George Chadd, Bart. Thurs- ford, 3 Copies T. W. Coke, Esq. M. P. Hoik- ham John Carr, Esq. Skipton T. Chamberlain, Esq. Skipton Robinson Chippendale, Esq. Skipton William Collinson, Esq. East- Dereham \V. Cooke, Esq. Ki lien- Hurst- Forge Robert John Coulman, Esq. Leeds Rev. Philip Candeler Henry Carrington, St. Ste- phen's, Norwich John Church, Cotishall, 3 Copies Mr. Collett, Swanton Charles Colly er, Gunthorp George Cooke, Fellow of St. John's Col. Cambridge Stewart Corbett, Wortley James Cory, Kettlestone, 2 Copies Charles Cory, Isle of Port- land, 6 Copies Ur. John Cuttle, Shafton Mr. Carey, Strand, London A. Chamberlain, Skipton W. Chamberlain, Skipton G. Chamberlain, Skipton ('hand^erlain, Kempstone Jonas Clarke. Barnsley ^y. Collev, Sheffield Cooke, Chute-House L. Cooke, Fawley-Court- Farm, 3 Copies J. Cooper, East-Dereham R. Cooper, East-Dereham J. Cooper, East-Dereham T. Cooper, Lynn W. Cooper, Lynn Cotton, Wingiield R. P. Cotton B. Couldwell, Coates C. Coupland, Leeds T. Crafer, East-Dereham Mrs. Cobb, Northold-Green Cotton, Haigh Crisp, East-Dereham Croft, Gressenhall Miss Coke, Holkham Case, Bath Cotton, Rainham-Place D John Daniel, Esq. Didlington John Darwin, Esq. Sheffield Martin Dennis, Esq. Kettlestone William Dixon, Esq. Sutton The Gentlemen of the Book- Club at Darton Rev. Mr. Dfeighton, East-Dere- ham James Dixon, A. M., V. of Ecclesfield John Dixon, A. M., R. of Boughton Henry Dixon, R. of Hod- dington Mr. J. Denton, Hadley- Housed 2 Copies SUBSCRIBERS' NAMES, vu Mr. R. Denton, East-Field Dewing, Rudham Didsbury, Sheffield Drosier, East-Dereham R. Duffield, Beetley Dunn, Docking Dunham, Norwich Dyson, Kidfield Mrs. Dade, Gressenhall Dennis, Kettlestone E Francis Edmunds, Esq. Wors borough John Ellis, Esq.Gunthwaite Hall The late Rev. Dr. Elliston, Mas^ ter of SydneyCoUege, Cam bridge Rev. E. Edwards, Lynn R. Ellerby, ThornhiU Mr. Ealsum, \yalpole G. Elsey, Hingham N. Everitt, Wells Engall, Avlsham W. Eaton,' Forfitt Mrs. Ellis, Dodworth Ellis, Silkstone Susan Elvin, Norwich Miss Edmunds, Worsborough Barbara Elvin, Norwich Lucy Elvin, Norwich F Richard Franklin, Esq. Beau- mont-Street John Frere, Esq. Royden-House Lady Eleanor Fenn, East-Dere- ham, 3 Copies Rev. Mr. Fawsett, Castle-Rising 3 Copies Mr. Frere, St unto n Mr. Josiah Fairbauk, Sheffield Foster, Lenward Foster, Stainborough Fowell, Rybergh D. Fox, Dodworth Mr. Freeman, Swanton F'urniss, Swanton G. Furaiss, Swanton Fullwood, Walpole The late Mrs. Fisher, Wimpok Street Mrs. Fisher, Bockmer, 3 Copies Framingham, Castle- Acre. Miss P'isher, Mile-End Forster, Northampton Foulds, Travvden G W. Garlick, Esq. Dodworth Thomas Girling, Esq, Seaming, 2 Copies George Bustard Greaves, Esq. Page-Hall John Greaves, Esq. Sheffield Captain Gillman, Hingham, 3 Copies Rev. Mr. Girling, Seaming John Goodair, V^ of Peni- stone A. Goode, Terringtoii Dr. Grasse, Cotishall J. G rover, R. of Rainham Mr. (rarforth, Skipton Giddens, Walpole Gillman, Hingham Girdlestone, Wisbech J. Girdlestone, Wendling Girling, East-Dereham Girt, Stainborough Goddard, East-Dereham Goodair, South-Mi Iford T. Goodair, London H. Goodwin, Lynn T. Goskar, Lynn W. Graham, Norwich, 3^ Copies L. Graham, Barnsley Graveley, Halton Graver, South-Creek J, Green, Sheffield vin SUBSCRIBERS* NAMES. Mr. P. Griffin, Walpole Mrs. Gayley, Stainborough Gibbs, Isle of Portland Bartlet Gurney, Cotishall 3 Copies H The Right Honourable Lad^ Ann Hudson John Hall, Esq. Ickles Joseph Helliley, Esq. Brierley Thomas Hardy, Esq. Birkgate John Heelis, Esq. Skipton John Hemmington, Esq. Lynn Money Hill, Esq. Waterden William Hoste, Esq. Stanhoe Rev. Peter Haddon,V. of Leeds T. Wigg Hancock, St. He- len's, Norwich, 3 Copies XL Hankinson, Lynn William Hardyman, Lynn John HavtOn, Thornhill W. Heath, R. of Inkburgh T. Heron, V. of Pontefract Joseph Horsfall, Denby Dixon Hoste, Godwicke Mr. Howmaii, ilockering Mr. Hulton, Quebec Mr. Humphiies, Thorpe^ near Norwich, 3 Copies Mr. J. Hall, Thornhill W. Harrison, Scamblesby T. Harrison, Weston R. Hart, Billingford T. Hastings, Longham W. Hastings Longham G. Hatterslev, Dodworth J. Haycock,'\Vells W. Heartley, Leeds, 2 Co- pies Hipkins, East -Dereham W. Hodgson, Gawber-Hall E. Hoole, Hallam-Gate W. Horsfall, Barnsley Howard East-Dereham i Mr. W. Howard, Bridge-Hill Mrs. Hawksworth, Silkstone Headington, Wargrave W. Holton, Nayland Hoste, Godwicke W. Hoste, Stanhoe Howson, Dale- House Miss Hill, Waterden Hoste, Godwicke I Richard Ince, Esq. Wirksworth R. Ingram, Esq. Wakefield Mr. T. Ibberson, Smithee-Wood Lane. J Nicholas Jickling, Esq. Wells Joseph Johnson, Esq. Goldthorp Rev. W. Jameson, Penistone Dr. Johnson, East-Dereham Mr. R. Jeary, Lynn E. Jervis, Sheffield T. Jex, Kettlestone S. Johnson, Wath C. Jones, Sheffield K Rev. G. D. Kelly, Canon Presi- dentiary, York, 3 Copies Rev. Francis Knipe, B. D., R. of Sandon, Essex Mr. R. Kettle, Norwich L Her Grace the Dutchess of Leeds The Right Hon. Lady Eliza- beth Loftus, Stiff key Thomas Lister, Esq. Bolton Lieutenant Liddle, of the Sea Fencibles, Isle of Portland, 2 Copies Rev. John Lambert, Chapel- Town Henry Wenman Lang- ton, R. of Wareham St, Mary*s George Lawton Sheffield SUBSCRIBERS' NAMES.. IX Rev. Mr. Lee, Hingham Mr. Loyd, Barney O. Lodge, Keresforth-Hill Mr. Lambert, Dodworth Lano, Isle of Portland T. Lee, Leeds C. Long, High-Hoyland Lownrian, Isle of Portland B. Love, East-Dereham Miss Large, Lytcham M Henry Martyn, Esq, M. P.Wors- borough William Manby, Esq. Rainham T. Midgelev, Esq. Cookridge- Hall C. Money, Esq. Rainham-Place John Moore, Esq. Great Marl- borough Street Rev. Thomas Martyn, B. D. Re- gius Professor of Botany, Cambridge G. V. Montgomery, Chap- lain to his R. H. the Duke of York, 3 Copies Alexander M'Kenzie, M. of St. Paul's Sheffield Mr. Matthews, Hingham C. Mellish, R. of Honing ham, 3 Copies John Metcalf, M. of Sutton St. Nicholas C. Middleton, the Close, Norwich C. Millard, Bracondale-Hill C. Mordaunt, R. of Great Massingham. I J. Cross Morphew, R. of Walpole St. Peter's I T. Crowe Munnings, R. of Beetley Mr. Marsden, Worral B. Micklethwaite, Billing- ky Mr. Mai-shall, Dean-Hill H. M'Donald Mawe, Shef- held F. Mawe, Barnsley Mellon, St. Mary's S. Mitcham, Dodworth Mitchell, Skipton J. Moakson, Dodworth W.Money, Rainham-Place Montgomery, Sheffield T. Moore, Wareham. J. Bell Moore, Reepham Mottley, Leeds Muskett, Ellingham-Hall Mrs. Money, Rainham-Place Muskett, Hopton A Friend of Mrs. Money's, Rainham-Place. Miss Middleton, East-Dereham Sophia Moore, Norwich Muskett, Rovden N The Right Reverend the Bishop of Norwich, 3 ( opies Rev.T. Newton, Bradfield R. Norris, R. of Tatterford, 3 Copies Mr. J. Neave, Scarning Nelson, .Sparham Newboulds,Sheffield-Moor Newconibe, Walpole B. Newton, :^heffield John Augustus Niedner, Hamburgh Norris, Sheffield J. Norris, Firs- Hill T. Norris, Sheffield O J. Owtram, Esq. Alfreton Mr. Olroyd, Walpole Miss Otway, East-Dereham P Sir G. Piggot, Bart. Pateshall Francis Page, Esq. Carsbalton b SUBSCRIBERS' NAMES. Governor John Penn, Esq. Pen syi vania Castle, Isle of Port- land. '2 Copies William Page, Esq. New-Bond- Street H. Page, Esq. Belgrave-Terrace William Parker, Esq. Dodworth W. Payne, Esq. Frickley, 3 Copies J. Peckover, Esq. Fakenham J. Perkins, Esq, Birchuaite-Hall R. Perkins, Esq. Dodworth Rev. Dr.Prettyman, Prebendary, Norw ich, 3 Copies Dr. Poyntz, Prebendary Durham, and R. of North Creek, 3 Copies II. Papillon, Prebendary, Norwich, 3 Copies R. Parr, Norwich B. Parke, Tilney W. Porter, Worsborough M. Preston, Assistant M. Old Church, Sheffield INIr. Page, Wendling E. Page, Wendling Patrick, Walpole B. Pearce, Easton, Isle of Portland W. Pearce, Easton, Isle of Portland H. Pearce, Easton, Isle of Portland W. Pearce, Fortune's- Well, Isle of Portland Peck, Lvnn Pegler, Nayland Pickering, jun. Red-Brook Pickering, Leeds T. Pierson, Sheffield A. Pigge, Lynn Philo, East-Dereham Pond, East-Dereham S. Priestley, Leeds Mr. W. Prince, Leeds Mrs. Powel, Little-Snoring Priest, Scarning R Riddlesdale, Esq. South- Green J. Rimington, Esq. Hilsborough Rev. W. Roundhill, Gledstone- House, inCraven, 6 Copies W. Railton, R. of Cumber- worth Mr. T. Rallison, Wendling N. Raven, Brancaster D Reeve, Beetle v Revells, Sheffield' J. Rider, Whitley-Hall Rivett, East-Dereham Rhodes, Sheffield Robins, Hoe Robinson, Sheffield Roper, Marlingford E. Rudge, Fakenham Mrs. Redgraves, Bowton Rosser, Stainborough Miss Rawson, Wards-End S Walter Spencer Stanhope, Esq. M. P. Cannon-Hall W. Sedgewick, Esq, Skipton Joseph Shaw, Esq. Staincross Ashton Aston Shuttleworth, Esq. Ilathersedge J. Sicklemore,Esq.Upnor-Castle M. Skelton, Esq. Sheffield J. Dixon Skelton, Esq. Shef- field, 2 Copies D. Smallpage, Esq. Wakefield T. Smith, Esq. Dunston T. Smythe, Esq. East-Dereham Croughton Stead, Esq. Ceau- chief W. ¥.. Stevens, Esq. Somerset- House J. Stephenson, Esq. Norwich SUBSCRIBERS' NAMES. XI W- Stokes, Esq. Fakenham Lieutenant Smith, of the Bill Sig- nal Station, Isle of Portland The late Dr. Sandby, Chancellor of Norwich, 3 Copies Rev. Dr. Smith, Prebendary of Westminster Dr. C. Sutton, Norwich W. Sadler, Hawksley Mr. S;mms, Nayland M. Skinner, Woodnorton, 3 Copies T. Skrirashire, L. L. B. Fa- kenham T. Sutton, V. of Sheffield Mr. M. Sadler, Leeds H. Stevens, of the Royal Navy Salter, Wimbergh A. Saunders, Thornhill J. Schotield, Gawber-Hall Seaman, Bradenham Shales, Walpoie Shaw, Attercliffe T. Shaw, Silkstone D. Shaw, Barnsley G. Shaw, Barnsley J. Shaw, Leeds J. Shepard, Wareham M. Shepard, Sheffield Slack, Dod worth Smith, East-Dereham Smith, Womb well J. Smith, Skipton M. Spring, Leeds W. Sturdy, Leeds D. Sudbury, SwafFham T. Sutton, Bilney E. Syer, Longham. Syllis, Norwich Speight, Barnsley Mrs. Stanhope, Cannon-Hall Shaw, Houndhill i^tevens, Edgeware-Road Mrs. Sumpter,Wingfield-Castle Miss Sadler, Henley E. Sadler, Henley Stevens, Fulmodestone Steward, Nayland T The late Most Noble the Mar- quiss of Townshend The Marchioness Townshend, Rainham The Hon. Lord J. B. N. B. Townshend, Royal Navy The Hon. Charles Vere Towns- hend, 3 Copies The Hon. Lady Harriot Towns- hend, Rainham Henry Hare Townshend, Esq. Bushbridge, 3 Copies John Winn Thomlinson, Esq. Cley R. Thomlinsoa, Esq. Cley T. Thomson, Esq. StainclifTe- Hall Samuel Thorpe, Esq. Banks W. Taylor, Esq. East-Dereham R. Turner, Esq. Sheffield W. Turner, Esq. Wath Lieutenant Thomson, of the Vern Signal Station, Isle of Portland, 2 Copies The ver}^ Rev. Dr. Turner, Dean of Norwich, 3 Copies Rev. Dr. E. Thurlow, Preben- dary, Norwich, 3 Copies J. Ambrose, Tickhill,V. of Wells Mr. R.Thicklethorp, Manches- ter, 2 Copies Thistleton, Waipole Tillotson, Skipton T. W. Trant, Leeds Mrs. Taylor, Barnsley Towsey, Henly Tuttall, Wareham b 2 &I1 SUBSCRIBERS* NAMES. Miss Taylor, Godwicke U T. Upwood, Esq. Lyr>n V H. Vernon, Esq. AVentworth- Castle Rev. J. Vickers, A. M., R. of Swamington Mr. Vevers, Morwick W Sir John Wrottesley, Baronet, Wrottesley W. Wainnian, Esq. Carhead, 2 Copies St. Andrew Warde, Esq. Hoo- ton-Pagnell T. West, Esq. Cawthorne Matthew Wilson, Esq. Manor House, Otley J. A. S. Wortley, Esq. Wortley Wright, Esq. Mattishall F. B. Watson, Esq. Rainham Captain Isaac Eyles Warren, Wareham The Hon. and Rev. Armine Wodehouse, Lytcham, 3 Copies Rev. P. Wodehouse, Prebendary, Norwich, 3 Copies G. Whitaker, Rawmarsh J. Wilcocks, M. of Sutton St. Mary's W. Wilkinson, Norwich Mr. Watson, Norwich Mr. Wadsworth, Stainborough Wain Wright, Shetlield J. W^alker, Stainborough, 3 Copies T. Walker, Stainborough Mr. R. Walton, Dodworth J. Ward, Sheffield R. Ward, Dodworth J. Wardell, Lynn T. W^atson, Sheffield Watts, Bintree J. Webber, Wells Whincop, Lynn White, I3arnsley Z. White, Isle of Portland J. Whitworth, Barnsley J. Wildsmith, Worsbro* W. Wilson, Pond St. Shef- field J. Wilson, Westbrook T. Wilson, Clifton Winter, Long-Sutton R. Winter, Fakenham, 2 Copies T. Winter, Long-Sutton Wood, Walpole J. Wood, Leeds Wright, Hingham Wright, Tilney A. Wright, Silkstone Mrs. Walker, Stainborough Walker, Leeds Walton, Smithley Whitaker, Wareham Wilson, Manor-House, Ot* ley Wrench, Norwich Miss White, Henley Y Rev. Archdeacon Yonge, SwafF- hani Mr. Young, Sheffield Yeomans, h^heffield Mrs. Young, Henley ADDRESS. Highly honoured by such a numerous and res- pectable hst of names, the Author requests tliat every Subscriber will accept of his sincere acknow- ledgments. As to those Friends by whose means most of them have been procured, he feels himself inadequate to ex})ress those sentiments of gratitude he entertains for their very friendly effbrts in his behalf. The Author humbly hopes his friends will excuse every thing they may find incorrect in these Ser- mons, as a long and tedious affliction has prevented his giving that attention to their publication, ho otherwise w^ould have done: — an affliction, which has rendered him the more incompetent to the task, from the certainty of its being incurable, and the little hopes he had of outliving their publication. This must, in a great measure, also be the apology for the Sermons not being ready at the time men- tioned in his prospectus. Unambitious of literary fame, the Author sub- mits these Sermons to the candour of his friends, and he hopes no exceptions w^ill be taken to those he has published, as they are the Sermons, the partiality of his friends recommended to hnn, to lay beiore a cimdid and liberal public. ERRATA. Page. Line* II, 20, For avails, read avail. 19, 8, For Tliei/ are, read TJie ivords are, 20, 17, For evohitionst read revolutions. 3], 9, For a scene of felicity so vast, read a scene so vast. 33, 2, For benefited little, read benefited but little, 59, 12, For Being, read /;e//?o'. ]18, 5, Vov comes, read cow e. 135, 17, ¥or purposes, re^id promises. 137, 3, For avails, re forsake me not. ^JJ*''* -'"-'-' 1^^%.. " PlillTCSTOIT % CHRISTMSMyAY. Hebrews xii. % Looking unto JesuSy the Author and Finisher of our Faith. If mankind had any real desire to obtain that glorious crown of immortality — that inconceiva- ble splendour and unutterable felicity purchased for our eternal enjoyment in the next life by " The " Author and Finisher of our Faith'* in this: — that faith would manifest itself by an implicit obedience to every divine precept, and as it " Works by *' love," we should see universal concord prevail, and an anxious solicitude to practice those mu- tual good offices which ought to be observed between man and man. But that they have not any such real desire to obtain these eternal B 21 SERMON I. blessings is surely apparent, either from their not having proper notions of the practical faith which Christianity teaches, or that they are so engaged in the pursuit of their worldly advan- tage, as to pay little or no attention to those precepts, by the observance of which, they can only hope to "Work out their salvation.'* For if a true spirit of heavenly love and gratitude enflamed the breast for the glory regained, by the coming of the Son of God on earth, we should see a religious sense of so great a sacri- fice infuse itself into the actions of men: — " Looking unto Jesus," every deed would carry the mark of an inward rectitude of thought, and indicate a zeal to act up to the tenets of the " Blessed Author and Finisher of our Faith." This day, my Brethren! presents to us re- flections that ought to excite us to such a con- duct, as would evince we have too just a sense of the goodness of the Almighty towards us, than to suffer the pleasures, the riches, or honours to get the ascendency over that praise and grati- tude due to the Father of Mercies, for sending SERMON I. 3 his beloved Son into the world to restore us to the felicity lost through the lapse of Adam, and who, by being the " Author and Finisher of our '' Faith," has shewn us the only way to prove the sincerity of that faith is, " To fulfil all righte- '^ ousness.*' Praise and gratitude for the blessings of our redemption ought certainly to appear in every instance of our conduct through life; nor can we better shew forth the praise of our Redeemer^ or attest our gratitude to him, than by making the rules he has left us, and the pattern he has set us, our guide and example, to lead us from this world to that which, by his being " Born as at " this time of a pure virgin" he has obtained for us. Man was created in innocence, and intended for a happiness, pure and without alloy — suita- ble to the dignity of his divine origin as possess- ing a portion of the celestial spirit, when his Creator *' Breathed into his nostrils the breath *'of life, and he became a living soul." As free- agents, placed in a garden abounding with all things richly to enjoy; God, to shew his good- B 2 4 SERMON I. ness to the favourite creatures of his bounty, would not controul their freedom of action ^ but in order to display the justice and liberality of his dealings towards them, and to give them an opportunity to manifest their gratitude and obe- dience for the blessings he had given, and further intended to bestow; he prohibited the eating of a certain fruit, harmless in itself, but once tasted would be the cause of their forfeiting their pres- ent and future felicity. Man disobeyed and he fell: — fell from a felicity which angels regarded with admiration, and wondering, beheld them sheltered under the protecting wings of the Al- mighty's love, and surrounded with every bless- ing an indulgent God could bestow : — they sought their converse, and man, highly favoured man ! became the companion of those celestial spirits, who disdained not the fellowship of this favourite of the Most High. They left the abode of bliss to join their praises with the orisons of the first-created man, to the glory of their com- mon Creator. Enviable felicity ! — that disobe- dient spirit, for his rebellion, banished from hea» SERMON I. 5 yen with his apostate companions, and for ever excluded the presence of the Eternal, saw and envied their supreme happiness, and resolved on its overthrow. Man too soon gave proof how liable he is to yield to temptation; and that very power of acting freely, given him for the gra- cious purpose that his obedience might have the merit of being uncontrolled, and consequently have a juster title to the recompense intended, proved the means of his undoing, and his enemy thereby for a while triumphed in his victory. No prospect of his being restored to his former happiness could have been discovered, but that the God of Mercy, whose throne is founded in righteousness, beholding the degradation of that nature, on which he had bestowed a living soul, ordained from that very woman, by whose means Satan had worked it» overthrow, should spring a Saviour that should res- tore man to his former felicity, and satisfy the of- fended justice of Almighty Wisdom. But as no created being could oifer an equivolent sacrifice to atone for the transgression, how admirably does Providence carry on the mighty work of man's re- 6 SERMON L storation, at once to evince his mercy and to satisfy his justice! Through the mysterious, but subhme language of prophecy, the mode in which it should be accomplished gradually opens, till at last, the whole is unfolded to the astonishment of man, the joy of angels, and the confusion of our infernal ene- mies. With an ecstasy of amazement mixed with awe, we see that nothing less than one " Equal '^ with the Father as touching his Godhead,** could make an adequate atonement : and that atonement could not be complete, unless it was made in that nature which had offended, that so it might undergo the punishment of death due for its transgression. As the time of man's redemption drew near, the prophecies become more clear, and point out in express terms, the union of the divine with the hu- man nature — '* Behold a virgin shall conceive and "bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." And when this evangelical prophet contemplates his mysterious dignity and exalted prerogatives, he bursts forth into all the sublimity of language that can convey an idea of the excellence and divinity of his character : — '' Unto us a Child is born, unto SERMON I. 7 '< us a Son is given, and the government shall be ** upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called "Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the *^ Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.*' What tidings could be more acceptable to man, fallen as he was from his former dignity, than these prophecies with many others that so clearly pointed out the Deliverer of Sion — the Messenger of the Covenant who brought the news of the accomplish- ment of man's restoration ! Yet though God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, with what a strange indifference did man receive the annunciation of the divine forgiveness ! The Re- deemer " Came to his own and his own received "him not." Not so the celestial spirits, as by the fall of man they had lost his converse in paradise, they now see him by the bounty of heaven restored to the divine favour — and one of them, as harbinger of the birth of this great Restorer, appeared to some shepherds who were watching their flocks by- night: — " Fear not," says he, "for behold I bring " you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all " people, for unto you is born this day a Saviour, 8 SERMON I. "which is Christ the Lord." Surrounded by a ce- lestial brightness that shone around, others now join in a choral hymn of triumph and of praise, and hovering over on suspended wings with united voices proclaim, *' Glory to God in the highest, on ** earth peace— good-will towards men." Yet notwithstanding man will not be made sen- sible of his own happiness. The Saviour of the world — the Messiah foretold by the prophets — the Desire of all Nations, he, for whom they waited in anxious suspense, when he comes on the work of man's redemption, makes his first appearance in the stable of an inn : the heavenly attestation of his divinity by angels is disregarded, and the intel- ligence excites only a moment's wonder at what the shepherds told: and though a star was ordained to be a guide to the Magi who came from the east to pay their adorations, and to offer frankincense ^ gold, and myrrh to this God, this King, and Priest ; yet this certain and indubitable proof of the divini- ty of the babe, instead of exciting an enquiry into the cause, and searching into the prophecies con- cerning so wonderful a prodigy, produced a decree SERMON I. 9 from Herod, that " Every child in Bethlehem, from " two years old and under, should he massacred." Astonishing blindness ! What could be more ob- vious than the union of the two characters divine and human ! — In the former nature, he could only consistently with the divine justice, be deemed a sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the world: and unless clothed with a mortal body like ours, he could not have undergone the punishment of death for man's transgression : nor could he have entered his kingdom, till he had risen a conqueror from the prison of the grave ; the bars of which having burst asunder, he now reigns in Mount Zion gloriously, " KlNG OF KlNGS AND " Lord of Lords.'* Such benefits did the coming of our Saviour on earth bring to man, that we cannot too highly value the glorious restoration of our nature. Sin debased its original purity, and sin alone can again pollute it, and render it unfit for those refined enjoyments for which it is restored by our Redeemer. We are ready to blame the hardness of belief, which cha- racterized the Jews when our Saviour appeared, c 10 SERMON I. and are astonished they should not understand their own prophecies, which so clearly point out the time of his coming, his earthly abasement and hea- venly kingdom; but w^e never reflect, that we are daily rendering ourselves unworthy of all the bless- ings obtained for us. — Are we christians ? — Do we believe the Messiah is come ? — Why then do we not act worthy of that belief? — Why do we not ^' Look to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our " Faith r'^ Alas ! the extraordinary purpose of our Saviour's taking upon him the nature of man, is still, by the malice of our adversar}^, rendered abortive. Some there are, and not a few, who believe that as Christ came to bring salvation by being made a sacrifice for sin, suppose that nothing more is necessary to obtain it, than having a faith in his merits; never once reflecting, that he also came to be '^ An en-^ ^^ sample of godly life." Is this then the faith of which he v»^as the Author ? — Is this what he declared to he^finished before he expired on the cross .^ — As a Finisher of our Faith, his precepts and example can alone stamp it perfect and complete.-—*^ Faith with- SERMON I. 11 *^ out works is dead/* as wanting those proofs that can alone demonstrate its existence. Our Saviour's coming on earth only restored us to the capabiUty of obtaining that which had been lost, and cannot produce salvation without our testifying proper qualifications for it, and that can only be evinced by '^ Looking unto Jesus," and following the com- mandments and the example he has set us. It is sufficient it is in our power to obtain it; and in a world where there is a reciprocity of want, mutual good offices must be performed: and it is a great kindness in the Almighty to accept our performance of actions, wherein he cannot be benefited, but our- selves are rendered necessary and useful to one another. Our blessed Saviour's life is of no conse- quence, if a mere belief that he came into the world to save sinners, be all that is necessary to sal- vation; his death in the manger, or rather his murder with those innocents massacred by the cruel Herod, would have been of equal efficacy. What avail^ his growing up in favour with God and man! — his going about doing good ! — his miracles of mercy I — ■ and those divine precepts which prompt to virtues C ^ 12 SERMON I. which can have no existence amongst men, but as living in society, where an interchange of mutual good offices must take place !— Fruitless, and with- out one cheering hope of future approbation, are all our exertions to promote each others felicity : — The tear of sensibility is shed in vain, and the hand is extended in charity to no purpose, if a bare leaning on Christ be effectual to salvation. The sullen un- social character, insensible to the pains or pleasures of his fellow-creatures, wrapt up in his own pharisai- cal importance, ascribing to himself a superior sanctity — affixing to his opinions the seal of inspi- ration, and arrogantly presuming on his own in- terpretation of the gospel, having this inactive faith in the merits of Christ, not only rejects the works of righteousness, but blasphemously denounces damnation on all the workers thereof. As our Saviour Christ was the Author of our Faith, when he became incarnate, so was he also the Finisher thereof, by shewing us both by precept and example, that our faith cannot be complete, un- less like his, our lives be filled with good works, which alone can prove its sincerity : — '^ Ye are my SERMON I. 13 ^*^ disciples indeed/' says he " if ye do my command- '' ments." But the principal and most general means, by which our Adversary renders abortive the design of the salvation procured by the coming of our Savi- our on earth, is to v\^rest the passions of men to their own destruction, and to enkindle them to that height, that neither precept nor example will avail to make men see their own real felicity. The free- agency of man, given him for the wisest and best of purposes, turns to his prejudice — reason is per- verted, and the coming of our Saviour on earth — nay, even his sacrifice on the cross, is of no avail with too many. Alas ! the enemy of man still pre- vails, and we are too apt to yield to his temptation. But, my brethren! let us not suffer ourselves to be seduced to a faith that is lifeless and void of the genuine proof of its sincerity, nor be subdued by the tempter, to seek our own sensual and worldly gratifications in despite of the gospel of benevo- lence, but " Let us look unto Jesus, the Author " and Finisher of our Faith." At this season m particular, when his incarnation is set before u:^. 14 SERMON I. for our contemplation, surely we cannot reflect on the wonders of his love and condescension without an ecstasy of admiration, and feeling our hearts impressed with the most lively gratitude: — nor can we meditate on the benefits we reap therefrom, W'ithout feeling every string of the heart accord with the example and precepts he has left us. AVhile our fellow-creatures, on all sides around us, feel the heavy burden of various woes and afflictions — and distress in every shape meets the eye — Oh " Look '' to Jesus," and bv acts of kindness and humanity, as far as your capacity reaches, strive like him to give consolation to the children of calamity. It is not merely the distribution of alms — advice, ten- derness, friendly treatment, are no less acts of cha- rity, than pecuniary donations. And not only to the distressed, but fulfil every precept with regard to others, as they invariably relate to men living in society — and thus by acts of kindness to one ano- ther, and walking in uprightness and true holiness, you will best prove the sincerity and perfection of 3^our faith, Who can meditate on the blessed effects of our SERMON I. 15 Saviour's incarnation, and not attest his gratitude by every possible means ? Had he not completed our faith, by giving us the example of a life led in actual services to mankind in general, and to every distressed individual in particular; we ought still to have done much more than barely to rely on his merits; how much more, when he has shown us, that by our love to each other, we best prove our- selves to be his disciples, ought we to shew forth our gratitude, by a lively and active principle, and evince to our fellow-creatures, that love which is the fulfilling of the law ? But there is a selfishness in man, that prevents his imitation of this example and obedience to the precepts of the gospel. The pleasures, the riches and honours of the world, are the strongest tempta- tions our adversary sets before us, to destroy the bene- fits of our Saviour's incamiation. AYhy will not man be more circumspectin what concerns his everlast- ing interest? Reflect, my brethren! Man was created in innocence, and surrounded with every blessing he could either want or enjoy — ^yet he sinned and fell into the snare of the tempter, and by that means 16 SERMON I. forfeited the vast bliss which had been vouchsafed him. God, still indulgent, sends his Son to become his ransom, who to redeem him from eternal death, suffers the punishment, and so satisfies offended jus- tice. Man again sins, being " Tempted of his own " lusts," when mercy is still held out and pardon promised on his repentance. Oh, let us not thus abuse the long-suffering of God, but let us " Look *' up to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our Faith," who in the days of his incariiafion, fulfilled all man- ner of righteousness. His precepts and example are registered in the gospel for our observance : let us make both the one and the other our guide, to lead us to that happiness which he took our nature upon him to procure : — let us abhor all manner of sin, which could render so great a sacrifice necessary as a God incarnate: — let us by every means resist the temptations of our unruly appetites, knowing that these are the instruments used by Satan to render abortive that sacrifice: — let us prove our faith by our w^orks, and promote happiness and mutual good-will as far as our influence reaches : — and for our encouragement therein, let us recollect SERMON I. 17 that although sin procured the exclusion of man from paradise, after he had eaten of the tree of knowledge, lest he should also take of the TREE OF LIFE, yet man has now, since a sufficient atone- ment has been made, the same offer placed within his reach. — " Blessed are they that do his com- " mandments, that they may have a RIGHT TO THE " TREE OF LIFE, and may enter in through the ^^ gates of the city," Which may God^, &c, &c. I) [ 18 3 NEW-YEAR'S -DAY. Jeremiah xxviii. Part of the 16th Verse. This Year shalt thou die, Xhese words were spoken by the prophet, after Hananiah had broken the voke from off the neck of Jeremiah, which he wore by the command of the Lord, to typify the yoke under which the Israehtes should serve Nebuchadnezzar — saying, that in Hke manner, the Lord would break the yoke of that monarch from off their necks: — '^ Hear now, Hananiah," saith the prophet, " the "^ Lord hath not sent thee, but thou makest this " people to trust in a lie : — Therefore thus saith the '^ Lord — behold I will cut thee off from the face of ''the earth:— This year shalt thou die. So SERMON II. 19 " Hananiah the prophet died in the same year in *Uhe seventh month." Such was the occasion on which the words of the text were spoken! — Hananiah fatally proved by his death the truth of the prophet's prediction. It is to be hoped he made the most of his time, to prepare for the event, by a speedy repentance, af- ter receiving so solemn a warning: — They are re- plete with abundant reflection, and to render them as instructive as possible, let us consider them as addressed to each of us on our entering upon a new year, and in that view, you will allow, they demand our most serious meditation. Time is a thing of which we are most prodigal, yet nothing demands our attention more — in child- hood, in youth, in manhood, and even in age, we let the golden moments pass, and let our pursuit of trifles, pleasures, honours, and riches, occupy all our time, and leave very little thereof, in compari- son, for the preparation of the greatest of all con- cerns. Days, weeks, months, and years pass away neglected and unimproved: — we provide only for a precarious existence in this world, and seldom D 2t so SERMON 11. think of the future — let our object be what it will, we devote more time to it than we do to that which ought to engage it the most. Could the great concerns of eternity be trans- acted when every other object is gratified, we should want no warning voice to inform us either of the velocity of time, or the certainty of death ; for a man knowing these truths, would re- serve his preparation for these events, to those mo- ments when be felt fatigued with business, or sa- tiated with pleasure: — But as the contrary is a truth confessed by all — every day, month, and year turns into a monitor, and reproves our waste of fleeting time. When we survey the Sun, placed in the firma- ment, as the original source of light, with the planets, performing by stated ^evolutions in their respective orbits, their diurnal and annual courses, measuring the times and seasons by immutable laws; is it in the power of the human mind to re- flect on the regularity with which they dispense spring, summer, autumn, and winter, and the truth with which they mark out days, weeks, months, and SERMON II. 21 years, and not carry his thoughts to that Eternal Being, who formed them for his use? — Shall the Creator of these wonders have less attention paid him, than we pay to the meanest of his works? — By the aid of this luminary, time is divided to us in such portions, that we can exactly adapt our pur- suits in life to certain periods. We embrace with ardour, the stated return of those seasons most fa- vourable to the objects we have in view, and will not neglect the opportunity they afford to procure them. We have our fixed intervals for pleasure and for bu- siness; but, for the Creator of the A^z/zi, and of all the host of heaven, by which we distinguish the periods of time, we have only one day in sevcn^ and that we devote to his service with such coldness and indifference, as if we regretted that any day should be set apart, to worship the God who made us. But this glorious luminary, the Sun, who governs the day, and the Moon, who governs the niglit, with all those glittering Stars that sparkle in the canopy of heaven, must one day terminate their courses, when the firmament shall depart as a scroll:— This Earth too must perish, and all its ^^ SERMON IL beauties fade away : — nay, that period is hastening, when the mighty *' Angel setting his right foot ^* upon the sea, and his left foot upon the earth, shall *' lift up his hand to heaven, and swear by him **that lives for ever and ever, that EVEN TIME " SHALL BE NO MORE.'' But man shall not perish along with this gene* ral wreck of nature, nor become as though he had never been, for '' God created man for immor- ''^ tality, and made him to be an image of his own " eternity,*' and though in consequence of the fait of Adam, the sentence of death is passed upon all men — yet through that gloomy passage shall he regain the eternity lost — shall enter on that state where the SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS illumines the glorious splendour of the eternal throne, and shines in ever-during brightness. Exalted privilege! — Worthy of man's utmost efforts to obtain it : with this view, can the objects which must be left, when we are ahout to exchange this transitory life, for one that is eternal, engage our chief attention ? — Let it not be a continual re- proach to us, that we prefer them to our everlast- SERMON II. 25 ing interest — " Seven times a-day do I praise thee,*' said David, in his pious addresses to God, but I fear too many of us let day after day pass over, and never oiTer even an ejaculatory prayer or thanksgiving to our Creator and Preserver. Surely when we rise from sleep, a few moments on our bended knees might be devoted to the praises of our God, for our preservation through the night, and the same when we retire to rest, for the bless- ings daily vouchsafed us : And besides, if w€ spared a few hours during the day to the closet, it would better prepare us for our worldly pursuits of busi- ness or relaxation; and when the sabbath returned, we could with a secret assured confidence of hav- ing done our daily duty, unite our voices with the assembled congregation, to give praise to God; thanking him for the blessings received, and pray- ing for others that are needful. With a mind thus habituated to a daily practice of praising God, and occasionally joining in the ser- vice of the temple, we could not but feel the pleasing reflection of having done our duty to our Creator, mingle itself in our transactions with our fellow- 24 SERMON 11. I men : and as our prayers and praises were offered through the mediation of our Intercessor and Re- deemer, his precepts would be our constant guide, and insensibly prompt us to act with uprightness and integrity in our deaUngs with others, and with sobriety and temperance in regard to ourselves : — And mindful of the high privileges obtained by his most precious blood, we should so act, as not to lose the blessings of eternit}^, for all the enjoyments this sublunary world can afford. To a man who regulates his life in this manner, death is no more than a passage to a life that is eternal; — he therefore is always prepared for that event : — he needs no prophetic warning to tell him he must die : — he knows its uncertainty, and ex- pects it daily. It is the men, who are so immersed in pleasure or in business, as to have no leisure to attend to their future inheritance in another world, that a prophetic warning, like the one in the text is ne- cessary; and it need be sounded in their ears, not only at the commencement of a year, but daily. In vain doth the year revolve round, and bring with it the sad appearance of universal decav: — SERMON II. ^5 The leaf is dead and fallen from the sapless branch ; — the flower is faded on the withered stem; — and vegetation is at a stand: — Yet man will not receive instruction from the objects which surround him at this season : — Unmindful of the desolate appearance of every scene, where " A " seeming death reigns over the faded landscape," he seeks only the gratification of his ruling appe- tite, and how to render the season subservient to his sensual and worldly enjoyments. This is not the practice of the good and religious man: — ^This with him is the season, when the in- clemency of the weather prompts to search for ob- jects, to whom he may impart the overflowings of his hospitable board: — he has also his relaxations, his amusements, and his pleasures; but they are rational and suitable to the dignity of his nature, and the claims of rehgion ; following whose dictates, he experiences that delight, known only to the truly beneficent, of seeing objects of happiness multiply round his dwelling. But these are pleasures the wordly-minded men cannot understand: — Neither the pleasures of de- E ^6 ^ SERMON II. votion, nor those of benevolence, have any charms for them : — ^The gross deHghts of sense and appe- tite have taken such hold of them, that the awful sound of " This year shalt thou die,'' would be no more regarded, than the daily spectacles of mortality around, where numbers are cut off from the land of the living, at all ages and all seasons. One would imagine, that this awful warning coming to any individual, would aw^aken him to a due sense of his folly, in disregarding the superior calls of religion upon him, for the preference to any other object: — But what need is there of it?— Every thing around him is perpetually giving him this warning, and seems to say to him, not only this year, but this moment " Shalt thou die." For what can he view that does not carry the symp- toms of decay? — ^The impregnable fortress — ^the strongest edifice — the stateliest structure, and the most magnificent pile, fall into ruins around us: — And not only the works of art, but those of nature, moulder away under the destructive hand of time: mountains crumble or sink into unfathomable ca- verns, islands are swallowed up by the surround- SERMON II. 27 ing element, and even the continent imperceptibly loses vast portions of its land, by sudden and un- seen excavations. But if he looks to his own spe- cies, his fellow-creatures around him, still less does he v^ant this warning voice. " In the midst of life "we are in death." The King of Terrors is per- petually scattering his darts around, and no age is exempt from his fatal stroke, and which, if he strike^ not in the midst of health and vigour, his ghastly train of dire disorders seize on all, and stretch them on the bed of sickness, that they may fall easier victims to his unwearied arm: — How tlien can man want this warning voice? — Nay, does not every year bring along with it, this cer- tain truth, even to ourselves ? — Who does not feel his vigour decline as years increase, till tottering with disease, he feels the effects of not attending to this warning voice in his earlier age? — But flushed with youth, and in the spring of life, the gay visionary dreams of imaginary bliss, in the pursuit of pleasure, so play before the deluded fancy at that season, that no one will regard his mortality, till sinking in years, he accutely feels E 2 28 SERMON II. in some lingering disease, the effects of his prefer- ence of the pursuit of pleasure, before the calm delights of virtue. With the prospect of a year before him, the man of business speculates how he may improve his temporal advantages; — and to provide for all un- foreseen exigencies, he carefully vratches wherever he can see the least likelihood of a failure in his schemes; and he looks with certain hope to the end of the year for success, from his care, to guard all accidents that may happen. It is the same with the man of pleasure — he lays out schemes for amusement — plans for a succession of pleasures, adapted to the seasons as they follow in rotation : — he allows nothing for that variety of intervening circumstances, that perpetually thwart the best laid plans, but imagines pleasures will rise out of pleasures, and thus differs from the prudential caution of the man of business: — and yet both, while thus provident for future profit or pleasure, never reflect farther on the circumstance, that death may frustrate all their schemes, than that in case such an eyent should happen, they will provide SERMON II. ^9 for it in such a manner, that as little prejudice shall accrue to their worldly interest as possible : — but as to their ete7mal interest, it is seldom taken into the account : — it is left to those casual oppor- tunities, that may occur when business stagnates, or pleasure cloys. Now, my brethren ! we ought so to act with re- gard to our eternal interest, as the men of business or pleasure, act for their temporal profit or sensual gratifications. We have only to suppose that the prophet's warning is spoken to each of us, that we shall die this year, upon which we have noAv en- tered; and, as we cannot but be sensible that such a circumstance may happen, we ought to adopt the prudential caution of living, so as to be at all times prepared, let death come at what season he may. As a traveller, at stated periods of his journey, looks back on his past road, and recollecting the dangers he has gone through, resolves to avoid running the same risks in future; so ought we, now we are arrived at the end of what may properly be deemed a stage of our journey, to take a view 30 SERMON IL of the years that are past, correct what has been amiss, and carefully observing where dangers have beset us niost, prudently adopt a wiser course, and resolve that the stage or the year we have begun, should exhibit that religious wisdom we ought to preserve, the nearer we approach to our journey's end, praying that the grace of God may be with us in all our steps; that if it should please him to permit us to see the end of this year, and to indulge us with a few stages more, we will strive that every succeeding one, shall see us improved in virtue, as we increase in age. In our present state, we are obliged to divide time into several regular portions, in order to as- certain the dates of events; and to regulate our proceedings through life, we take advantage of the rotation of the planets which the God of Nature has appointed, for the purpose of the division of time: — But when this world is finished, which will be eternally so to ourselves when we die, no divi- sion of time will be wanted, for an immense, bound- less, expansive aera will be before us: — In vain would the fancy grasp it: — Millions of years added SERMON II. 31 to millions, can give no adequate idea of the eter- nity for ever before us : — The same eternal God, whose throne has been from everlasting, and will endure to endless ages, with countless multitudes surrounding and for ever singing hallelujahs, still before us, whose goodness, praise, and power shall be our eternal theme; what tongue can express ! — what pen describe ! — or what idea of ours can em- brace a scene of felicity so vast, so glorious, and so happy ! — If from this view of inconceivable bliss, we can draw our intellectual eye to this ball of perish- able earth which we inhabit; what are the objects on which men set their hearts in this world, com- pared to the scene I have imperfectly endeavoured to set before you : — a scene, that shall continue for evermore, and where the blessed enjoy the bea- tific presence of our God, whose inconceivable glo- ries will occupy their united praises throughout all ages. I have little more to add; for with this view of that eternal happiness, which awaits those who so improve the years they have to live in this frail transitory world, as to secure its enjoyment; surely 32 SERMON IL we shall avail ourselves of whatever portion of what we call timCy we have to live in future, so as to devote it to the duties of our religion, the service of God, and the salvation of our souls. [ S3 ] GOOD -FRIDAY. Hebrews xii. 2. Who for the joy that was set before hm, endured the cross, despising the shame. In the primitive ages of the world, mankind seem to have benefited Uttle by the miseries of others; and notwithstanding they could not but be sensible that every man was liable to misfortunes, and sometimes no doubt beheld him rising above them ; yet they appear not to have known how properly to apply that consolation which the afflicted find in looking up to some eminent example, whose sufferings, long and tedious, have been borne with becoming patience, and at length recompensed with a distinguished prosperity :— We cannot sup- pose they could want such patterns in a world F 34 SERMON III. where misery has been the portion of mortals ever since the lapse of Adam. — '* Man is born to trou- " ble" — it is as natural to him, as it is for the *' sparks to fly upward:" — And it was with a view to impress upon the children of Israel, whilst they were amongst the Madianites, so useful a lesson as patience under afBiction, and to exhibit before them a noble example of that virtue under a severe complication of distresses, that Moses proposes to them the history of Job, taken no doubt from real life. In distress — in afBiction, the knee would bend; the hand would be raised in prayer to heaven with earnest entreaty; yet still the knowledge of others in similar distress, as having no better consolation than himself, would yield no hope to the mind in its affliction. — The short-sighted reason ofm an could not discover the ends God has in view in sending calamity; despair would render his sufferings insupportable, and he would be too apt to murmur at the dispensations of Heaven: — But point out to him a man eminent for his piety, goodness, and virtue, enduring every affliction that could befal SERMON III. 35 him, with patience and resignation ; — bearing every insult and sustaining the foulest reproach with for- titude and equanimity, and at last rising superior to his misery, and rewarded with unexpected pros- perity; and he would with steadfast hope look for similar relief in God's good time, from his affliction. How advantageous then is it for us, my brethren ! who, when the bitterest storms of adversity descend with fury on our defenceless heads, and plunge us in the depths of misery — when keen want preys on our famished frame, and all around is a scene of wretchedness and woe — when slander, malice, persecution, combine to aggravate the sharpness of our affliction: — hov/ advantageous is it to have a pattern before us, who has trod in the lowest vale of humiliation — tasted of the bitterest cup of hu- man misery — had not where to lay his head — was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief — and to close the melancholy scene, expired under the tortures of an ignominious crucifixion. To this exalted pattern, this day's commemora- tion leads our meditations. Though through his life, evenfi'om the manger, we might trace the va- F 2 W 36 SERMON III. rious afflictions which on all sides beset him, yet we will confine our reflections to those unparalleled sufferings more immediately belonging to his cru- cifixion — here they converge to one point — here every thing that could add poignancy to human misery, was united to pour on him its utmost fury : ' — Persecution, malice, envy, revenge, nay, every direful passion the Adversary could raise up in the bosom of his enemies, was enflamed against him, nor abated till he had brought him to the fatal cross. As the time approached when our Saviour's suf- ferings were to begin, that were to be inflicted on him, as the propitiatory sacrifice for our sins, his magnanimity in meeting them w^as extraordinary: — " Behold,** says he to his disciples, '^ we go up " to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be be- '' trayed into the hands of the Chief Priest, and " unto the Scribes, and they shall condemn him " to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles, '^ to mock, to scourge, and to crucify him." Yet with this view of his sufferings, he shrinks not from the death that awaits him, but proceeds to Jeru- SERMON III. 37 salem, with a great multitude of followers, who " Spread their garments and strewed branches in *' the way,'* and he makes his entry into the city amidst the shouts of '' Hosanna to the Son of *' David — blessed is he that cometh in the name *^ of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest." He then proceeded to theTemple, and cast out them that bought and sold therein, and overthrew the ta- bles of the Money-Changers, and the seats of them that sold doves. Having thus purged the Temple of those who had polluted it, by making it a place of traffic — the blind and the lame here resort to our Saviour and are healed, while the children ut- tered the same acclamations as when he entered the city: " And when the Chief Priests and Scribes '' saw the wonderful things that he did, and the '^ children crying in the Temple and saying, Ho- '' sanna to the Son of David, they were sore dis- " pleased, and said unto him, hearest thou what "these say? — and Jesus said unto them — ^yea — " have ye never read, out of the mouths of babes " and sucklings hast thou perfected praise?— And '' he left them and went out of the city into Beth- *^ any, and lodged there." SB SERMON Iir. We now come to the commencement of our Lord's sufferings leading to his crucifixion : — ^The Chief Priests, the Scribes, and Elders, with the High Priest, forming a Sanhedrim, instigated by Satan, enter into a consultation how to murder him of whom their own Prophets had spoken. Dictated by motives of revenge, they listen only to the sug- gestions of malice, but fearing the people, whose acclamations still sounded ungrateful in their ears, "They consulted how they might take him by " subtlety." When Satan has enslaved the heart, to what meanness does not the mind descend to indulge its malice ! — The Jewish Sanhedrim, the superior council of the nation, dare not seize our Saviour openly — " Not on the feast-day," say they, " lest " there be an uproar among the people." Mean while the innocent object of their resent- ment had retired to Bethany, to the house oi Simon the leper — when Mary, the sister of Lazarus, came with an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head — this enraged the covet- ous Judas : — '^ To what purpose is this waste ?" says SERMON III. 39 he- — " for this ointment might have been sold for *^ much and given to the poor. This he said," says St. John, " not that he cared for the poor, but " because he was a thief and had the bag, and " bare what was put therein.'* To this reproach our blessed Lord thus pathetically remonstrates — " Why trouble ye the woman ? for she hath wrought '^ a good work upon me — for ye have the poor al- " ways with you, but me ye have not always: For " in that she hath poured this ointment on my body *' she did it for my burial." These expressions, which would have soothed an ingenuous mind, enraged the traitor Judas only the more: and listening to the malice that lurked in his breast, he rose and went to the Sanhedrim, and covenanted with them to betray his Master to them in the night-time, for thirty pieces of silver: with malicious joy they received his proposals. Here one would be astonished at such a combina- tion of malice in the heads of the Jewish nation, if it were not to be accounted for, from their being under the influence of diabolical agency, and the permission of the Almighty, to render their perse- 40 SERMON III. cution of the innocent Jesus, a means of his being made a sacrifice to redeem us from all sin: our wonder therefore gives way to admiration of the mysterious ways of Providence. Thus was our blessed Lord and Saviour, the holy and innocent Jesus, betrayed and sold by a com- panion — a disciple, and one of the twelve whom he had chosen to be an Apostle : But Satan had so far blocked up his heart, that our Saviour, when eat* ing the passover with his disciples, uttered this aw- ful denunciation against him without making the least impression on him — he heard it with an un- feeling disregard — neither blushed, nor repented of his traiterous intention: — " The Son of Man in- •' deed goeth as it was written of him — but woe to " that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed^ *Mt had been better for that man had he never " been born." Our blessed Lord then instituted the Sacrament of the Sapper, to be a perpetual commemoration of his sufferings, and after a hymn was sung, he went out to the Mount of Olives; — he then informs them, that they all should be offended that night, because SERMON III. 41 of him — when the too confident Peter asserts — *' Though all men should be offended because of '^ thee, yet will I never be offended. — Jesus said " unto him — Verily I say unto thee, that this night " before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. " Peter said unto him — Though I should die with " thee, yet will I not deny thee. — -Likewise also " said all the disciples.'* He then cometh to Gethsemane, and bidding his disciples sit there, he retired to a private place with Peter, James, and John; to these confiden- tial disciples he declares the anguish of his mind : — - " My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death." Who could hear this complaint unmoved ! yet no sooner was our Saviour retired, than the disciples, being weary, sunk into sleep. But what must his feelings be to produce such a complaint ! — We may perhaps have a faint idea of their poignancy from the agony which followed, which was so great, that he sweat as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground : — prostrate on his knees before his Father, in all the violence of mental anguish, he begs with earnest supplication, that " If it were 42 SERMON III. " possible the cup of death might pass from him" — but with pious resignation adds — '' Nevertheless, " not as I will, but as thou wilt :" Thrice does he utter this prayer, and thrice does he return to his weary disciples. The conflict was painful, but his divine nature overcame the sufferings of his hu- manity, and he rose with firmness, and calling to his disciples — " Arise, let us be going — ^behold he "is at hand which doth betray me." The agony over, we again behold the magnani- mity of the Hero fortified by prayer, he approaches the band without fear — " Whom seek ye? — They " answered, Jesus of Nazareth — he replied I am he." Confounded at such heroic firmness in one whom they took to be a malefactor, they retreated back- wards: — he repeats it a second time ere the traitor J udas ventured to approach, and give to the band the pre-concerted signal by a treacherous salute of his innocent master. '' Then came they and laid *^ their hands on him and took him." The manner in which our Saviour was taken he felt very sensibly; he barely notices the treacherous Judas v.ith a slight question: But to those who SERMON III. 43 came to apprehend him — '^ Are ye come out, says " he, as against a thief with swords and with staves ^' to take me. — I sat daily with you teaching in the ** Temple and ye laid no hands upon me. — But this " is your hour and the power of darkness. — Then *' all the disciples forsook him and fled." The power of darkness now indeed prevailed — he was then led bound as a malefactor alone to the Judgment-Hall, where sat the council ready assem- bled; and ready, by the influence of Satan, to pro- nounce sentence: But that their proceedings might have some shew of justice, they suborned false evidence, to whose accusations Jesus was silent: — " As a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he " opened not his mouth" — till the High Priest ad- jured him by the living God — " Tell us whether " thou art the Christ." — To this solemn adjuration according to St. Mark, Jesus answered — " I am — *^ and hereafter, ye shall see the Son of Man " sitting on the right hand of Power and coming in *^ the clouds of heaven." The High Priest adjures him with no design to believe on him, in case he acknowledged himself to G 2 44 SERMON III. be the Christ, but as he knew the evidence was too sHght to take away his life, he adjures him in that solemn manner to extort from him an acknow- ledgment, that the council might hear what he deemed his own condemnation from his own mouth : And when he heard him apply to himself the pro- phecy of Daniel which he knew related to the ex- pected Messiah-^he rent his clothes and said— ^ ^' What further need have we of witnesses? — Ye " have heard his blasphemy — ^what think ye ? — " They all answered he is guilty of death." Mean while Peter who had followed our Lord at a distance, and gained access to the Judgment- Hall, was present at this mock trial, and being ac- cused of belonging to Jesus, thrice denied that he knew him — but recalled by a look from Jesus to his recollection after the crowing of the cock, he remembered the words of his master — and he went out " and wept bitterly/* Now, my brethren! we come to the most grievous sufferings that could be invented by Satan wherewith to torment our Saviour: unparalleled were they in number and degree : — Many of us SERMON III. 45 may perhaps have been in the lowest depths of misery — felt all the smart of poverty — the stings of reproach and the slanders of enemies — -been be- trayed by friends and forsaken in the hour of trial; These are circumstances that are continually oc- curring to most, but our blessed Lord underwent such relentless barbarity from his persecutors in addition to these, as renders him the chief of suffer- ers; — we shall briefly note them, though they would take a volume to note their malevolence and infernal cruelty, " When the morning was come, all the Chief " Priests and Elders of the people took council " against Jesus to put him to death." How im- placable their resentment ! — They sit up all night rather than their victim should go unpunished; — and when they had bound him, they led him away and delivered him to Pontius Pilate, who, though but an indifferent character, yet could see the in- justice of putting an innocent man to death, who had done no evil ; in vain he remonstrates with the Chief Priests— the clamour of ^^ Crucify him, cru- " cify him," overpowers his arguments; and being 46 SERMON III. according to annual custom, obliged to set a pri- soner free, whom they should require at that feast, he proposed Jesus — when the multitude, who had before greeted his entry into Jerusalem with loud Hosannas, now headed by the Chief Priests as loudly cry, *' Not this man, but Barrabas : now " Barrabas was a robber. — When Pilate saw that '*' he could prevail nothing, but that rather a " tumult was made — he took water and washed his " hands before the multitude and said, I am inno- " cent of the blood of this just person — see ye to it, " — thenansw^eredall the people and said — hisblood " be upon us and upon our children.** Pilate then released Jesus, and w hen he had scovrged him, he delivered him to them: the bodily torments of our Saviour now begun. Scourging w as thus performed — ^two men first scourged the condemned person wdth rods of thorns — then two others with w'hips of cords full of knots — and lastly, two more with whips of wire: — All this did our blessed Lord un- dergo; — 'tis too horrid for the mind to dwell on — imagination shudders — let us however profit by it and learn to abhor that sin which could render SERMON III. 47 such punishment necessary to be borne by him who was our Redeemer — " By whose stripes we are « healed." He then was cruelly mocked — had a scarlet robe thrown over his lacerated body — a crown of thorns placed on his head— and a reed, as a scep- tre put in his hand : — all mock emblems of regal dignity, when in derision they bow the knee be- fore him and insultingly exclaim — '^ Hail King of " the Jews ! They then spit on him, and took the '* reed and smote him on the head ;" — this over, they strip him of these mock ensigns of royalty, and putting on his own raiment, led him away to cru- cify him. To complete the catalogue of his sufferings, he was forced to bear his own cross, the ignominious tree on which he was to suffer; and under that burden he was led towards the place of crucifixion ; but a Cyrenian was compelled to bear the cross, which Jesus fainting with, the smart of his torn flesh could not support. — Being come to Calvary, the cross was there erected, and he was nailed thereto by his hands and feet. " He was numbered 48 SERMON III. " with the transgressors" also, being crucified be- tween two thieves. The maHcious triumph of Satan was not yet complete — he utters these taunts by the mouth of the Chief Priests, the Scribes, and Elders — " He " saved others himself he cannot save: If he be the " King of Israel, let him now come down from the " cross and we will believe on him. He trusted in "God; let him deliver him now if he will have " him : for he said I am the Son of God. The " thieves also which were crucified with him cast " the same in his teeth." Now from the sixth hour to the ninth there was a darkness over the land. Nature seemed to mourn its expiring Creator, who, though the nails pierced his hands and feet, yet felt keener anguish in his mind in being in those awful moments ap- parently deprived of his Father's love, as the mourn- ful complaint he uttered before he expired testifies : — " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken *'me! After this, Jesus knowing that all things " must be accomplished, that the Scripture might '* be fulfilled saith, I thirst — now there was set a SERMON III. 49 *^ vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge " witii vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it " to his mouth. When Jesus therefore* had received " the vinegar, he said, it is finished, and he bowed "his. head and gave up the ghost." Thus, my brethren ! have we gone through the painful sufferings of our Saviour, and throughout the whole, what magnanimity, what patience is exhibited ! Every virtue to which we can give the epithet either of heroic or amiable, shone forth in him with tenfold lustre. Being " Manifested that " he might destroy the works of the devil," the object he had in view was our restoration, from the fatal effects of the trespass brought upon the whole race of mankind, by the contrivance of Satan. This was " The joy that was set before him," the glory of God and the redemption of Man, for which '' He endured the cross, despising the shame,'* and which inspired him with such invincible forti- tude, that the malice of the infernals, and all the tortures they could invent, could neither shake nor terrify him. Exalted goodness ! " Looking up to Jesus, the H 50 SERMON III. " Author and Finisher of our Faith, who for the ^^ joy that was set before him, endured the cross, " despising the shame/* what, my brethren! can shake our constancy ! — What are all our sufferings compared with what our Saviour endured, when " The Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all !" He has shewn us the way to triumph over the artifices of our spiritual enemies ; let us then strive, as far as our weak endeavours can, to suppress the vio- lent emotions of every lawless passion, which are their instruments by which they tempt us to sin. In our dealings with each other, let his precepts be our guide, and under every trial and difficulty, let his example teach us fortitude and resignation ; by so doing we shall manifest, that " For the joy " that is set before" us^ we can rejoice in hope and he patient in tribulation. Now to God, &c. &c [ 51 ] EASTER -DAY. Isaiah lxiv. 6. We all do fade as a leaf. Nothing can be more beautiful or judicious, than the comparison which is so frequently made in Scripture of the life of man, to the productions of nature. The circle of a single year is supposed to comprehend every thing emblematical of our natu- ral life. The Seasons, exhibiting in their rotation, the influence which time may be supposed to have upon it at different periods, are not inaptly com- pared to the four remarkable divisions of the life of man. The gay verdure of Spring, when every bud begins to expand, and all nature serenely smiles around, represents the sportive age of youth. H 2 52 SERMON IV. which beholds every thing decked in the m,ost beau- tiful colours — the fond imagination opens to the most flattering ideas of pleasure, and nature seems to wear the face of enchantment. Summer, when every production has attained its perfect growth, and arrived at full maturity, is then competent to answer the various purposes for which it was de- signed by Providence: — So we, arriving to a state of manhood, become capable of those rational du- ties for which we were permitted to arrive at the full meridian of our years. Autumn is that season, when nature having flourished through the sum- mer, and produced its ripened fruits and gayest flowers, gradually loses every attractive charm, and withering, droops into that decaying state which marks its swift decline. Man in a similar manner having flourished through the summer of his years, now by degrees, declines into the so- lemn season of life; — he droops, he begins TO FADE AS A LEAF, and to put on the symptoms of a rapid decline. Then comes Winfer^ when the whole vegetable kingdom dies, and leaves not a trace of its pristine beauty remaining : — Thus man SERMON IV. 55 sinks into the hoary winter of his age, the last concluding season of life, when he falls like the leaf — dies — -and his former gaiety, activity, and decline, are totally obliterated and obscured by the shades of death. How just a comparison! and how exact an emblem of human life ! To shew us its shortness still more, it has been compared even to a day — morning, noon, evening, and night, like spring, summer, autumn, and winter, equally represent the life of man. '' In the morning " it is green and groweth up, but in the evening it •' is cut down, dried up, and withered." And again the Psalmist says in another place, *' As " for man, his days are as grass — as a flower of '^ the field, so he flourisheth, for the wind passeth " over it, and it is gone, and the place thereof '^ shall know it no more. Man,'* says Job, " comes '* forth like a flower and is cut down, he fleeth '' also as a shadow and continueth not.'* Tlie prophet Isaiah in a similar comparison remarks, *' All flesh is grass, and the goodliness thereof as ^^ a flower of the field — the grass withereth, the *^ flower fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord 54 SERMON IV. " bloweth upon it, surely the people is grass." And in the text he observes, " We ALL DO FADE " AS A LEAF." But the most melancholy consideration, and the most awful warning to human nature is, the re- flection suggested daily to us by the loss we sus- tain of our friends, at all ages; — that numerous disasters often befal us in the helpless age of in- fancy, nip the bvid of youth, or crush our riper years. The infant is snatched in all its innocence, from its doating parents' arms. The youth is re- luctantly dragged from the gay allurements of pleasure, and man, in his best estate, is arrested in the midst of his fond schemes and plans for the future. Few are permitted, comparatively speak- ing, to enter into the concluding season of life, or even to reach the autumn of their age. Few at- tain to the meridian of their strength, and still fewer pass through the first season — the verdant spring of life. To add to this melancholy consideration, on the uncertainty of life, the reflection that it was brought upon the whole race of mankind by sin SERMON IV. 65 and disobedience, must double the bitterness of its remembrance : — That man was created for im- mortaHty, with a nature suitable to such a state; — that he was surrounded with every thing pleasant to the eye, and for the supply of every appetite, with innocence and virtue; — seated in a happy abode, where the most High God deigned to visit him : — How painful the reflection ! How odious the sin that corrupted human nature, must we needs exclaim, that lost it the enjoyment of paradise, the fellowship of Angels, and the converse of God! How lamentable the state of man, who, even in the days of innocence could be subdued by the Tempter! Children of the same frail parentage as we are, we must find it still more difficult to overcome in the hour of trial : but let us not despair, " As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be ^^ made alive. The first man Adam was made a " living soul, the last Adam was made a quickening " spirit. We are all created anew in Christ Jesus.'* He is the second Adam, and like the first, was tempted and overcame. The first was made a living soul, when God breathed into him the breath of life: 56 SERMON IV. the second Adam is a quickening Spirit, or a Re- storer to a life eternal of that soul, dead through the fall of the first, in trespasses and sins. But to carry forward the comparison in the text, and prove the justness of the emblem, we are to consider, that when the leaf falls, and winter rages with a tyrant's sway over the v»'hole vegetable sys- tem, the nutritive juice of the plant recedes to its primitive recess in the earth; — the sap dries up, and the tree in appearance dies: — The cold-chil- ling frost holds in firm compact the parent stem, and binds it with its icy powers. All nature seems to be under the iron hand of winter, and every thing we see, wears a withered aspect. Thus man falls, and is buried in the silent tomb, and death seems in triumph to hold him in his adamantine grasp, and he is left to moulder to his native dust, and mix with the terrestrial element, out of which he first was formed. But as the tree revives, when the genial sun, with his all-cheering beams brings on the verdant spring, and draws up the sap through the opening pores; so man revives at the command of him who is the first-fruits of them that slept; SERMON IV. 57 whose awakening summons shall reach the remot- est caverns of the dead: — '' Awake thou thatsleep- «est — arise from the dead, and Christ shall give « thee life." This argument, St. Paul, in the lesson appointed for the burial service, urges by a similar compari- son: — '' But some man will say, how are the dead " raised up ? — And with what body do they come ? '^ — Thou fool! that which thou sowest, thou *' sowest not that body that shall be, but bare " grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some " other grain. But God giveth it a body as it hath *^ pleased him, and to every seed his own body." — Proving from this argument, that as a seed sown in the ground, must there die before it can be quickened: So man must die ere he can be revived, or his original nature restored; For though we de- posit in the grave a corrupt and perishable body, not having the nature in which it is to be raised^ yet God will give it at that time, " A body as it '' pleases him, and to every seed his own body: — It ^' is sown," {or put in the ground) '' a corruptible " body, but it will be raised an incorruptible one ; I 58 SERMON IV. " It is sown in dishonour, it will be raised in glory: ** It is sown in weakness, it will be raised in power: '^ It is sown a natural body, but it will be raised a " spiritual one.'* Thus what we lost by the first Adam, we gain by the second, who, as he was " The first-fruits of '* them that slept,'' is called the second Adam, as being the first who rose from the dead, and Lord of the new creation, whose nature, like his, should hereafter be raised, incorruptible, glorious, power- ful, and spiritual. Blessed be the Saviour! who thus restored our fallen nature to its capability of enjoying the immortality for which it was created: let all na- tions give him praise for his boundless love to fallen man; even to our " Lord Jesus Christ, the faithful '* witness, and the first-begotten of the dead, and ^^ the Prince of the Kings of the earth. Unto him " that loved us and washed us from our sins in his *^ own blood, and hath made us Kings and Priests '^ unto God and his Father, unto him be glory and " dominion for ever and ever.' ' How inestimable the fund of consolation here SERMON IV. 59 set forth in this doctrine, of the restoration of our nature, when it shall be raised from death, and clothed with immortality. The soul that mourns the loss of friends here below, w^ill consider death as a messenger that is conducting him to that blest abode, where they reign in bliss unspeakable — en- joy the presence of God and their Saviour, and partake of all the joys of heaven. Happy thought ! To the good and virtuous, this reflection, so far from producing sorrow, ought to be a source of endless gratitude. What is life and all its follies, compared to that eternal Being, our friends are now enjoying? Then arm yourselves with patience, and ere long, the sorrows of this world will terminate in the joys of the next. A bright example our Saviour hath set us ;— by the way, he has pointed out, we can alone accom- plish that preparation for the glorious change in our nature he has obtained for us ; even that change, when in the grave, we leave our corruptible body on being summoned from the sleep of death, and assume the blessed robes of immortality. With the glorious light of the gospel illuminating I 2 60 SERMON IV. the path that leads to immortality, who can err? None can, but the wilful and obstinate infidel: — none but he, one w^ould . imagine, would wilfully shun the path: But alas! we find too many who are so immersed in other cares of a temporal and sensual nature, though they know the path, yet avoid it for the present, as chusing to w^alk in the dangerous mazes of sin first ; and Avhen the wild career of carnal indulgencies are over, then to pur- sue the path that leads to immortality. Is this the way, O sinner ! you requite the good- ness of God ? — Was he nailed to the cross ? — Did the blood stream from his wounds ? — Did he yield up the ghost amidst all those torments, in order to make satisfaction for your sins ? — And do you pre- fer the course of wickedness still ? — Nay more, af- ter having made this atonement — did he rise from the dead — ascend up on high — enter the everlast- ing doors, and take his place on the right hand of God, to intercede for you, and plead his blood shed for your redemption, in order that you may enter by the same path — ^be clothed with the same effulgent robes of immortality, and dwell with hin^ SERMON IV. 61 in the presence of his Father for evermore? — And do you set at nought all this, and pursue a course that will lead you to unheard of misery, and defeat the very gracious purpose for which he underwent all these sufferings ? . Forbid it gratitude ! Forbid it every thing that is honourable to your character as men! No, my brethren! let us remember, that although sprung from the dust, yet God gave us immortal souls — and though through Adam we became corruptible, yet our nature was restored through Christ — is divested of its sinful and mortal principles in the grave, and will have the glorious privilege of living with him in the kingdom of his Father. How then can we continue in sin, and forfeit this invaluable title to immortal bliss, and a life that will know no end, gained through the life, sufferings, death, and resurrection of our Sa- viour Christ? — A contrary conduct is thus pro- nounced by the Psalmist, to procure us many esti- mable privileges in this life: — '^ Blessed is the " man that hath not walked in the counsel of the " ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, and fMiath not sat in the seat of ,the scornful: but his 62 SERMON IV. ** delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law *^ doth he meditate day and night. And he shall *' be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that " bringeth forth his fruit in his season. His LEAF '"ALSO SHALL NOT WITHER; and whatsoever he " doth shall prosper." Though the /ot then "Tarry the Lord's leisure?'* The discontented and the fretful will not, but will be the arbiter of his own fate ; and if he cannot im- mediately see the end of his afflictions, he will ter- minate them his own way. But as afflictions, of what kind soever, are trials of our patience, we certainly evince a want of that virtue when wc murnmr under them; and therefore under the trial, w^e render ourselves unworthy of the favour which God intended. But the sincere and patient christian considers tribulation as a mark of God's kindness, and will *' Tarry the Lord's leisure" for the removal of it, and if not removed, he will pa- tiently endure to the end, that he may receive a crown of life. Nothing can shake his confidence m the Lord : he is strong in faith, and he sensibly feels that God comforts his heart, with a conscious- ness of his bearing up under his afflictions, with that stedfastness becoming the elevated hopes which Christianity affords. And surel}'', my bre- thren! "Looking up to Jesus, the Author and " Finisher of our Faith, who, for the joy that was " set before him, endured the cross, despising the SERMON VI. 89 " shame, and is set at the right hand of God. — ^We '^ ought to run with patience the race that is set *' before us : for consider him that endured such " contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye " be weary and faint in your minds.'' The confidence which David placed in the Lord, is manifest in almost every psalm, and he declares it in such heart-cheering language, as might arouse the most desponding soul to put his trust in the Lord : — " I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. " The Lord is my stony rock and my defence ; my "Saviour, my God, and my might, in whom I *^ will trust; the horn also of my salvation and my *' refuge.*' In every season of distress, in every trying calamity, God was his upholder : and the same trust in God must be our support. Who would do any kindness for one who doubted his word, or discredited his promises ? To doubt there- fore the goodness of God, is to suppose that he is as capricious in his dealings with us, as we are with each other. What distresses did not the holy men of old endure, with which our sufferings are not worthy to be N 90 SERMON VI. compared ! — They relied upon the promises of God, and therefore were able to sustain them; and if they did this under the dark ages of the world, surely we, living in the glorious display of the gospel, which has brought life and immortality to light, ought to trust in the Lord, that he will make good his promises: and if we patiently abide in the day of tribulation, he will give us a reward beyond our highest hopes. O then, let us not yield to the tempter — -let him have no advantage over us — let us put our whole trust in the Lord !■— Mercy and long-suffering are the attributes he de- lights in most; and though he delay the proniised blessings, it is because we are either unworthy of them, or that they would not in the end be for our advantage. Well then has he reserved his choicest blessings for a better world, where death shall not put any period to their enjoyment. No man therefore who looks forward to the joys of another life, would wish to have his reward in this, which must terminate with it : — No 1 he takes tribulation of what kind soever, however grievous, as a trial of his virtues, his faith, and trust in God; and his SERMON VI. 91 whole study is to suffer with patience and submis- sion :— r*' To tany the Lord's leisure," who will not fail " To comfort his heart," with the hopes of immortality. He puts his trust in the Lord, and " Does not faint, but he verily believes he " shall see the goodness of the Lord, in the land of « the living:* The real christian is the noblest of characters; he has duties to fulfil, and virtues to practice, that quahfy him for a throne in heaven: — "To him " that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in ** my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set ** down with my Father in his throne." How uu- speakably glorious this exalted privilege, to par- ticipate in the glories of our Lord, who endured every temptation, and has gained a crown of im- mortality for himself and his faithful followers! — Patience, submission, humility, resignation, and all the nobler virtues of the soul, would have no existence, if prosperity attended us through life; — if success in all our schemes and projects met us in every undertaking for our temporal interest, and no disappointment thwarted our endeavours, there N 2 92 SERMON VI. would be no exercise for their trial; and yet they are the only virtues that are to qualify us for the kingdom of heaven. How gracious then is Provi- dence, to give us, by afflictions and disappoint- ments of any kind, an opportunity to practice them ; to shew by our example, we are not unwor- thy of them ; that we have a firmer reliance on his promises than to sink under the trial; and that our aim is that excellence of character, exhibited by our Saviour on earth, through all his temptations, that so we'may, *^ Inherit the promises/* and reign with him in his kingdom for evermore. With these expectations — with these glorious privileges awaiting him, the christian is led through every trying scene: From the furnace of affliction he comes forth purified and prepared for the splen- dours of a heavenly crown. The world and all its vanities fade away from before him, and enraptured with the glories awaiting to reward him, he endures io the end, and obtains that recompense of reward, for which all the saints and holy men, the pro- phets, apostles, and martyrs so triumphantly passed thro* the manifold afflictions of this transitory life. SERMON VI. 93 Who then would faint under any calamity or distress of body or mind, with these examples be- fore him, and this prospect in view ? The good- ness of the Almighty is the same yesterday, to-day, and for evermore. Jesus Christ, his blessed Son, and our Redeemer, is our Leader and Guide: He passed through every temptation, every trial, every sorrow that could befal the children of Adam, who are " All born to trouble as the sparks fly upward j** but for whom he has obtained a seat in heaven, and those blessed robes of immortality, with which all his faithful followers shall be invested who en- dure to the end: — " Tarry thou then," O man ! "the " Lord*s leisure : — Be strong and he shall comfort *' thine heart; and put thou thy trust in the Lord.'^ Amen, [ 94 ] BENEFIT- CLUB. Proverbs xv. 16. Better is a little zvith the fear of the Lord, than great treasure and trouble therewith. Throughout the whole of the Mosaical dispen- sation to the chosen race of the Israehtes, and from them to all mankind, is seen the peculiar care taken by the Almighty, to secure to man every blessing his nature is capable of enjoying; and to guard him against every thing that would not only endanger its loss, but embitter its enjoy- ment. All his commandments have a regard to us as fallen creatures, and are calculated to lead us to a felicity, both pure and perfect, by the safest and most easy steps: and would we but suffer our- selves to be guided solely by his will, happiness SERMON VII. 95 would be our portion in this world, at least, as much so, as in our fallen state we are capable of enjoying. There is not a law given us, but in its obedience, we should reap more solid satisfaction at the moment, than in its transgression; even without any regard to the future recompense of another life^ or to the soothing consciousness of a mind at peace with itself, in having fulfilled its duty. God created man for happiness, but he himself forfeited the blessing; yet he gave him rules, by the performance of which, he might re* gain it: And would man but pursue the path pointed out, he would find it, every step he took in his varied journey through life. It is this sense of the divine goodness^ in the promulgation of his laws, which have a view throughout to man's happiness in this world, that has induced the wisest amongst the lawgivers of the world, to devise a sys- tem of morals, that shall stand the test of ages; grounding them upon this evident proof of God's peculiar regard to man, as revealed by inspiration : And amongst those wise and sententious maxims that have been delivered for the instruction of man- 96 SERMON VII. kind, the proverbs of the enlightened Solomon may be ranked amongst the chief. When he uttered them, he possessed a wisdom given him by the Al- mighty, surpassing the common understandings of men, with this advantage, that to this knowledge he could add a judgment, founded on the valuable lessons of experience. Living in the magnificent style of ancient splendour, amidst all the exterior pomp, the empty glitter and parade, that then reigned throughout the gorgeous palaces of the east ; he could neither want experience of the cares and wearisome pageantry of royalty, nor observation of the troubles attendant on the treasures of the wealth3^ He clearly perceived that happiness was seated in the mind, not in the accumulated pos- sessions of grandeur, or in the riches of the opulent, which brought along with them their consequent troubles and uneasinesses : — that neither pleasure, enjoyed in all its tempting diversities and changes, nor any thing the world so eagerly search after, could produce real happiness; but that it was of- tener found at the frugal board of him who pos- sessed only the bare necessaries of life, and whose SERMON VII. 97 trust in the Lord, produced in his mind that con- tentment, for which he had in vain sought, amidst the glare of regal prosperity, and the alluring blandishments of giddy pleasure. " Better is a lit- "tle," says he, " with the fear of the Lord, than " great treasure and trouble therewith." As if he had said — if you have but a just sense of the fear of God, and of his righteous judgments, you will see it nothing but proper for you to submit to what- ever he decrees, as founded on his known good- ness to fallen man. If he have given but little, as it is his doing, and he intends your happiness, (which he himself could certainly see the best means of procuring) you will be perfectly satisfied with the small portion he has shared you amongst his numerous creatures, dispersed on the globe; and be content in that state allotted you. You will also labour to adorn it with industry, prudence, and frugality, under a religious sense of the good- ness of the Almighty ; who, if he had seen that a more elevated situation of life, would have been for your real happiness, would have placed you therein : And duly sensible of this, and of the o Srs SERMON VII. cares and troubles attendant on superJQuous wealth, from which you are exempt, you will be convinced, that — '' Better is a little with the fear of the Lord, '' than great treasure and trouble therewith.'* Impressed with these sentiments, conteiitment will infallibly ensue, and you will experience that peace of mind which is the source of every happi- ness; as the contrary disposition is ever productive of misery. Envy, the companion of the dissatisfied mind, can never disturb the harmony that reigns in the cottage, nor destroy that peace which fills the bosom cf its contented owner. Whilst fru- gality and industry procure him the means of sus- tenance, every corroding care which superfluous wealth produces, can never detract from the sere- nity of his tranquil mind. Here then is the advantage of possessing but lit- tle of what are called the good things of life. When the wishes and desires are moderate, nature is easily satisfied. We want not that variety which over- loads the tables of the rich and voluptuous; and therefore when labour produces the frugal aliments of our board, health will give an additional relish to every morsel. SERMON VIL 99 Not but there are casualties that may destroy this happiness, and spite of the moderate wishes of the humble and contented man, produce suiTicient cause for afBiction: but whilst the fear of the Lord prevents him from murmuring and repining, he will endeavour to obviate the sad consequences of those accidents, which are as likely to befal the man of affluence as himself: And of all the casu- alties that can happen to him, surely sickness must be considered as the most deplorable. Happy then are they w^io wisely unite, and timely contribute, a part of the produce of their labour, against such a calamitous event. Though at first sight it may appear a hardship that, in the curse denounced against man for his disobedience, he was doomed, *' To eat his bread ** in the sweat of his brow," yet, by the goodness of the Almighty, that very cultivation which the ground was in future to require at man's hands, is made productive of health. Labour, in any occu- pation or calling, is an exercise which banishes many disorders, to which those who are exempt therefrom are liable: And when cheerfulness, O 2 100 SERMON VII. peace, and content fill the bosom, health is the most certain consequence of such a tranquil state. But as sickness, from innumerable causes, befals us daily, and is, in general, the harbinger of death, how beneficial must it be for a man in a humble station of life, to have a fund, to which he can at all times apply, and which, by his stated contri- butions, can hardly be missed from the common wants of a family ! There is something in these so* cieties that gives pleasure to a benevolent mind, in seeing a body of men contribute the overplus of their industry to relieve one another, at a time, when the sickness of a brother-member prevents him from labouring to supply the wants of his own family. It attracts our applause, and every good heart must be pleased in seeing these societies flourish, and universally prevail. It likewise evinces a sense of brotherly love and humanity towards one another in the humbler w alks of life, which cannot be too much encouraged. It has been lamented that no institution of man has yet been formed, capable of softening the natural asperity of the uncultivated mind, and infusing a SERMON VII. 101 spirit of Immanity into those, in whom a brotherly feeling for the distresses of their neighbours can rarely be found: but if we consider the probable effects of these societies, the complaint must cease: for not to mention their rules, which have a parti- cular regard to the morals of their members, there is no one, I should suppose, if attacked by illness, that has deprived him of strength and ability to provide for his own family, and has reaped the be- nefit of his brother-member's contributions, but on his recovery, must be awake to every sentiment of kindness and good-will; and feel a pleasure that his own contributions can now yield a^ brother a similar return, when it pleases God to stretch any of them on the bed of sickness. But when we consider, that the benefit of these societies extends to their respective families, when death takes away a member, and sees him depo- sited in the grave, at a time when his loss must be felt in all its severity, it strikes us with admiration of these benevolent associations, which, after hav- ing supported their members through sickness, pay them the last tribute of their mournful assistance,- 10^ SERMON VII. '' Better is a little with the fear of the Lord/' when thus prudently used, and rendered produc- tive of a future assistance when most of all needed, than the treasures of the opulent, which are too of- ten squandered in pursuits and amusements, that promote not the welfare or happiness of any in- dividual. It is the doing good in our generation, for which we shall be applauded by God himself at the last day, as far as our humble capacities extend. Prudence and forethought are superemi- nently useful to every member of the community, but to no one more so, than to the members of a society of this kind. It behoves them therefore to proceed as they have begun, and by industry and sobriety, continue their contributions: so shall they by the latter, render themselves less obnoxi- ous to many disorders, and by the former, secure to themselves a ready assistance, whenever sickness overtakes them. I have observed that the goodness of the Al- mighty had a regard to the felicity of man in the present world, as is manifest by the rules he has prescribed for his observance; and demands there- SERMON VIL im tore a ready acquiescence in all he appoints, as being certainly designed to promote our present liappiness. But when we carry our meditations fur- ther, and consider that the fulfilHng of his command- ^ meats, not only procures our felicity in this world, but obtains for us the invaluable and inexpressible happiness of a future and a better Avorld, what have all the treasures of this world to compare therewith? When man had transgressed the law given him, and forfeited his innocence, and with it the felicity with which he had been favoured in the Paradise of Eden, God not only sent him law^s by the mouths gf all his holy prophets, by which to rule his con* duct; but in the fulness of time, sent his Son to make atonement (or the sin, and to shew him by his example, the sure method to regain his former felicity, and to obtain far more valuable and glori- ous privileges than he had lost ; even a place among the blessed inhabitants of heaven, and the enjoyment of the unfading pleasures of eternity, in the pre- sence of God and his holy angels. Consider this, my friends ! and when you reflect that you are en- titled to the benefits of this redemption, and as 104 SERMON VII. much the heirs of these eternal glories as the most wealthy; while you live righteously, soberly, and godly in the present world, and you fdl up the du- ties of your respective stations, whatever be their estimation in the scale of society, contentment vawit fdl your bosoms with the most solid satisfaction. But let me remind you that you have other du* ties to fulfd besides those of industry and sobriety. Your stations in this world are ordered by the wis- dom of the Almighty, and although your privi- leges, as christians, rank you with the highest of the children of men as to the next; yet to those wdiom Heaven has in any way placed above you, there is a becoming respect due, and he who has a just sense of the fear of God, will never fail to pay it. All subordination, and the different ranks we fmd in society, are the work of the Almighty, for purposes which are best explained by their be- neficial effects, as we daily perceive their utility, and sensibly feel their necessity. You have there- fore submission, reverence, and other duties of the same kind to dischar2:e as members of a commu^ nity, in which all of us have our respective parts to perform : and while each man acts up to the SERMON VII. 105 part and station assigned him, he has a claim to that respect due to the rank he holds in public; and if in his conduct to you, he is mild, affable, and condescending, he certainly merits both your submission and esteem. Consider then all above you, whether in the enjoyment of wealth and ho- nours, as entitled to respect and submission in those matters, in which they have also their parts to act for the good of the whole : and while with industry, prudence, and temperance, you follow your respective occupations, you may be assured of that protection from those who are in supe- rior stations, your worthily filling up the duties of your callings justly demand. By the most enlightened of the children of men, contentment \\2ls ever been placed in the humble walks of society. Few are your cares in com- parison of the troubles attendant on superior stations; and had Solomon known where else to have placed it, he never would have made the de- claration in the text. From the natural evils of life you cannot expect to be free; but if upon the whole, you have less of the cares and anxieties of P 106 SERMON Vir. the world, and are rich in the divine gift of con- tentment ; blest with the moderate desires which temperance and industry inspire; you will sooner reap that solid satisfaction, which being seated in the mind, will give such a relish to your simple and homely fare, as they are not able to enjoy, whose stations in many instances, demand such a perpetual care and attention, as to exclude all hopes of a tranquillity, peace, and satisfaction, like that which you may experience. To add to this happinesSj or rather to fix it more firmly in the mind, you have only to let your duties be conformable to the precepts of that God and Saviour, who has given you all things richly to enjoy, and has not with- held from you any thing necessary for your happi- ness in that station he has allotted you, which you may be assured is the only one, wherein you could have been either happy here, or have rendered yourselves worthy of being eternally so hereafter. Our blessed Lord himself, by chusing the low- est degree of society, amongst whom to appear, when he came on the great work of our redemption, in order to confound the pride of earthly pomp. SERMON VII. ^ 107 has given a dignity to that station, which you will do well to consider, demands duties of a superior kind; and which he has shewn us by his example, cannot appear with equal lustre in the higher walks of life. Humility, patience, submission, meek- ness, shine forth in the most amiable light, where the riches of this world least are found: not but these virtues may, and do shine, where opulence and wealth abound, and give lustre to earthly rank and dignity; but they attract our esteem the most, when we see a man humble, resigned, and content, whose station is far removed from all possible hope of ever enjoying more than the bare necessaries of life. It is this character that rises in the estimation of all good men, who delight to see industry and so- briety flourish amongst the lower orders of society : and when to these are added, the virtues just mentioned, the continual regard of our God may be justly expected, agreeable to the apostle's de- claration to the Hebrews, with which I conclude : *^ Be content with such things as ye have ; for he ^' hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.'* P 2 [ 108 ] CHARITY* Acts xx. 35. Hemember the words of the Lord Jesvs how he said; It is more blessed to give ttian to receive. If with regard to the happiness of this world only, the truth of the text will be found incontrovertible. In the Mosaical dispensation it was the promise, thiit " He who gave to his brother sufficient for his *' need in that -which he wanted, the Lord would " bless him in all his works and in all he put his ** hands unto." The soothing reflection that we have performed an act in conformity to the dictates of our nature, is a proof that every man is blessed in his deed. Even amidst the accumulative distress that may befal us, we may find abundant conso- lation in having, during the season of prosperity, * Preached at St. Paul's, Sheffield, for the benefit of the Boys' Charity School. SERMON VIII. 109 discharged this primary duty, as children with the afflicted, of the same universal parent. Why are our tenderest feelings excited at scenes of distress? — Why does the tear of sensibility start from the eye at the bare recital of the tale of woe? — As '^ The poor are never to cease from the land,** these tender emotions were given us, that in that compassion woven in our frame, those who are doomed to poverty and want, may securely appeal to the passion that prompts the ingenuous mind to commiserate and relieve: and no pleasure equals that mental transport which we experience in obe}^- ing these propensities of nature. Thus Job, un- der the complicated distress that beset him on all sides, grounds his consolation on those acts of kind- ness he had manifested to every species of distress: - — " When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; '^ when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me, be- " cause I delivered the poor that cried, and the fa- *^ therless, and him that had none to help him ; the " blessing of him that was ready to perish came " upon me, and I caused the widow^*s heart to sing "for joy.** no SERMON VIIL The beneficent man is also regarded with respect by othei-s. Openly the illiberal mind may suggest calumnies to detract from the motive of real cha- rity; yet he inwardly venerates a character he has not the heart to imitate, but lets his approbation be smothered by the malice that ever lurks in his bosom. Who can behold a good man dispensing the superfluous blessings with which Providence has enriched him, and not feel a respect for so be- nevolent a character? — Man has within him that internal evidence of what is just, good, and mer- ciful, that it requires a long habitude of indulging selfish principles, ere he can refrain from giving that applause, which beneficent actions always ex- cite in the mind. Thus again we find Job justi- fying himself to his friends by the reverence he met with when he appeared abroad :^-" When I went " out to the gate through the city; — when I prepa- " red my seat in the street, the young men saw me " and hid themselves, and the aged rose and stood " up ; — the princes refrained talking, and laid their " hands on their mouth ; — the nobles held their '* peace and their tongue cleaved to the roof of " their mouth." SERMON VIII. Ill Although to us finite beings who cannot sepa- rate good from evil, nor positively say what are real blessings or otherwise, yet it is certain that we enjoy many blessings which are intended as re- wards of our good deeds, but which we are apt to frustrate by an impatience under the dispensations of Providence, especially if the least afflictive to our feelings; though at the same time we must be sen- sible we cannot approach to happiness, but through disappointment, nor duly appreciate its value, but by a comparison therewith, of the afflictions we have gone through to attain it: and in truth, by what other estimate can we properly value the hap- piness of this world, transitory and imperfect as it must be, but by the reflection on the sufferings we have endured ! — Nought else will give us a relish for those temporal enjoyments to which we affix the term happinessf were it not for afflictions ; even riches would pall in the possession, or yield those cares and vexations, that would mar the relish even of the comforts they are intended to procure. But with regard to the happiness of the next worlds there are so many promises given in scrip- 112 SERMON VIII. ture to the charitable man, that no one can doubt the certainty of a reward that shall recompense him above any merit he may have; even if he sur- pass in deeds of charity, the most benevolent of the sons of men. Charity is the primary virtue in the catalogue of the christian excellencies, and sure I am, no character is held more dear by that God who created the world;- — formed man from the dust; — compassionated his fall; — and with a charity surpassing human comprehension, redeem- ed him at the invaluable price of the blood of his only begotten Son. The whole scheme of the re- demption is a stupendous act of charity. What in- deed are all the glorious gifts we enjoy from all boun- teous nature, but the gift oi charity f — It sustains the fabric of the universe, and upholds the world it made, whose inhabitants restored to the divine favour shall, after this life is ended, enjoy the eternal pre- sence of this God of charity, provided they trust in the word of their Redeemer, observe his precepts, and like him, practice the divine virtue of univer- sal benevolence. It is certainly more pleasing to commend than to censure, to congratulate than to SERMON VIII. lis reprove : and in this godlike virtue, I am proud in being able to assert without fear of contradiction, that no kingdom surpasses this in every work of charity. What nation can boast of so many pub- lic buildings, for the reception of every species of affliction, that can befal the children of men, whe- ther corporeal or mental ! — What a fund of resources for their maintenance! — What noble institutions are formed to encourage industry — promote useful learning — improve the morals — and meliorate the condition of the lower orders of society ! — Happy, thrice happy nation, may I truly exclaim, whose works of charity exhibit the national character in the aggregate, to be conformable to the primary virtue of the christian religion ! — Nor is it mucJi less so individually -, for although some may distri- bute charity, and perform acts of beneficence out of ostentation and other degrading motives; yet I am confident, that national zvorks of chariti/ would not have been so abundant^ were it not that real benevolence and love to mankind, actuated the bo- soms of the far greater majority of individuals. Having thus seen, that either with regard to the Q 114 SERMON VIII. happiness of this world, or of that which is to come — " It is more blessed to give than to receive," I ihsdl Jirst speak of charity in general, and the7i apply the subject to the present occasion. This divine principle is nowhere so ably de- j8cribed as by St. Paul : and it is impossible to read the many virtues it comprehends, without per- ceiving he had the transcript of our Saviour's life in his eye, when he drew so amiable a representa- tion thereof: — " Charity suffereth long and is kind ; " charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, " is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, " seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, *^ thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but "'rejoiceth in the truth: beareth all things, be- ^' lieveth all things, hopeth all things, and endureth '^ all things." That is, the charitable man is pa- tient, unenvious, boasts not of himself, nor is proud of any attainment; he his affable in his deportment, and is not anxious after praise; he is not easily provoked, but is meek and imagines no evil against any one; he rejoices not when evil is done, but re- joices when truth prevails; he bears all things SERMON VIII. 115 without murmuring ; he believes every thing to be done with a good intent, and hopes all things will turn to good ; and to conclude the whole, he en- dures all things with perfect resignation. It is impossible to read the properties of this amiable virtue, without being filled with admira- tion at the description, which includes all the gra- ces of the christian character. To confine it there- fore to almsgiving, is to give it its least commenda- tion, and to deprive it of the greatest: it is too narrow a scale for that diffusive benevolence, which ought to be found in all who would be thought to possess the real spirit of Christianity. Almsgiving, or the distributing of pecuniary donations, has un- doubtedly much merit. The alms of Cornelius ascended with his prayers ** For a memorial before "God;" Dorcas was "Full of good works and " alms-deeds which she did;'* and the poor widow, who cast her mite into the treasury, was pro- nounced by our Saviour to have cast in more than the rest, in proportion to their possessions, for she had cast in all that she had: so that almsgiving is not to be neglected ; it is certainly a duty, but in Q 2 ri6 SERMON VIII. the comprehensive representation of charity, is of the least value, and will have none at all, even " Though we give all our goods to feed the poor," unless it is done from a proper motive — a real love of God and our neighbour. But what is most to be lamented, not only in the giving of alms, but in most other donations of this kind, they too frequently fall to the share of the unworthy, who partake of your bounty to the loss of the really destitute: and indeed, in any kind of charity y though every possible care is taken to prevent imposture, yet, ingratitude too often repays your beneficence : but as this, in the eye of Heaven detracts not from your motive, it is your duty ; nay, I will venture to assert that if real be- nevolence prompts your actions, '\t\?>yo\!iv pleasure to give both comfort and happiness, in the way that appears to you most proper to produce these blessings to the objects, who present themselves as candidates for your charitable assistance. Indeed, in many cases, there not being that real occasion for pecuniary donations, as there are for other branches of this virtue, the laws of the SERMON Vlir. 117 land having provided for the maintenance of the poor, that they shall not absolutely vv^ant; discre- tion must in most, if not all cases, direct you to distinguish the objects proper for relief; and their respective distresses point out the mode of apply- ing your bounty. The channels are innumerable in v^hich your goodness may flow. Alas ! poverty, wretchedness, and disease, are meeting our eyes daily: — where can we turn that the children of affliction do not challenge our pity? — And that object whose distress strikes you as the most ca- lamitous, will soonest obtain your relief: and it is best on these occasions, to follow the immediate impulse of your benevolent feelings, and you will then know what our Saviour meant when he said : — "It is more blessed to give than to " RECEIVE." In directing your steps to the habitations of dis- tress, objects may be found no doubt who are really worthy; but these being in general more so- licitous to conceal their misery than to expose it, they require some pains to search after; and when found, the utmost tenderness is requisite: a gentle IIS SERMON VIIL hand must administer the balm of consolation, and the relief must be imparted almost imperceptibly to themselves. The real objects here depicted, having known perhaps better days, are little able to meet the frowns of fortune, which come^ upon them as an armed man, and will, if not timely rescued, sink them under the pressure of misfor- tune, and terminate in death, their lives and mise- ries together. These are the objects that do truly claim your compassion. Poverty cannot be so afflictive to those who have been born and bred to a liomely sustenance, and a scanty supply of necessaries, and are accustomed to brave its rigours by a con- stitution inured to labour, as it must be to those who have fallen from a more exalted condition, to a state, where having no resources to fly to, by which they may brave its violent assaults, their affliction must be the more poignant. I paint no fictitious picture of imaginary woe to affect the feelings; it must strike every benevolent heart, that there is no man, let his station be ever so ex- alted, or whose means are most secure, but may SERMON VIII. 119 suddenly be deprived of his alfluence, and re- duced to the very state I have depicted: then let him now^ whilst secure in his wealth, and pros- perity smiles around; let him search out the ob- jects who have experienced like him, the favours af fortune ; — have basked in the sunsliine of afflu- ence, but are now compelled to sustain all the hardships of poverty: and let him administer that assistance they need, but for which they know not how to ask. Then shall he experience, if ever reduced to distress, that divine aid promised by the Psalmist: — " Blessed is he that considereth the *' poor; the Lord shall deliver HIM in time of " trouble." But in all cases, relief must be applied accord- ing to the exigencies of the objects in distress; and this is therefore a considerable advantage of this christian virtue, and an observation peculiarly ap- plicable to the present occasion. For on this ac- count it is, that there are so many public edifices supported by voluntary contributions, and such excellent institutions to promote industry, and to preserve the morals uncontaminated by the prin- 120 SERMON VIII. ciples of a dissolute and extravagant age ; especially among the younger part of the lower ranks of life, in every populous town throughout the kingdom ; which certainly evinces a noble principle of this divine grace; and their number, and the variety of objects they comprehend, seem almost to ex- clude the possibility of finding out new channels, in which the streams of your beneficence may flow : but alas ! the reflection will still wring the heart of the benevolent man, that numbers yet feel not the liberal bounty of these excellent and extensive in- stitutions ; whose sorrows and afflictions are almost beyond the power of human consolation to relieve : and in a world where misfortunes and trials are the portion of the best of men, who from the cradle to the grave know little else but disappointment, care, and anxiety, there must be many beyond your power to find out, and consequently removed from your benevolence to comfort or relieve: but still, if you strive as far as your power lies; search for objects to whom to impart what consolation your means will allow, and give to these institutions your charitable support; what shall prevent you SERMON VIII. Ul from enjoying the conscious satisfaction of having ftilfilled every charitable duty, and entitled your- self to receive the approbation of him who has said — "It is more blessed to give than to "RECEIVE." In this populous town, a^> institution established for the education of the children of the lower or- der of inhabitants, manifests a most laudable and praiseworthy disposition, and merits the amplest encouragement, as every possible care is taken, as far as their means will allow, of preventing the^ baneful effects of the want of education, perni- cious in any place, but more particularly in manu- facturing towns. From the want of education and a due attention to the morals of youth, spring those vices that too much abound among the lower ranks of society. To enumerate these is unnecessary ; every one who has any fejelings of humanity; any love of decency and order, or any sense of religion, must be shocked at their prevalence, as he cannot but see the most flagrant acts committed daily, in violation of the laws of God and man. To lend his assistance R 122 SERMON VIII. then, to aid an institution which designs the pre- vention of these evils, is to fulfd the great duties oi charity y and to entitle himself to the blessedness of heaven: and when, from a laudable motive of pro- curing the objects of their benevolence every suita- ble accommodation, the managers have been obliged to enlarge the house, and have done every thing to promote health and cleanliness, which have cau- sed the disbursements to exceed the receipts, surely no one will withhold his contribution from aiding an institution, which has such numberless benefits and advantages attending it. In a place so crowded with inhabitants, and with artisans of all descrip- tions, amongst whom though perhaps it is totally impossible to prevent those practices, which are in opposition to the general welfare, yet surely, to take care, as far as lies in their power, of the morals of the rising generation, and to " Bring them " up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord," should inflame each person with such emotions of true charity, as not to quit this place without con- tributing his mite for a purpose so laudable, and mi institution so beneficial. SERMON VIII. 123 In what I have said, I have endeavoured to pre- vail with you to practice the duty of charity, from the hopes of obtaining the blessedness of heaven, and have refrained from urging you to its perform- ance, by setting before you the awful denuncia- tions of eternal punishment, which are threatened against those who neglect this primary duty of our religion; because I would not act upon your fears, but would have your bomity proceed from motives of liberaUty : I would have it flow^ as it ought, from the pure, uncorrupted stream of benevolence, and from those sentiments of universal love, which alone can render it congenial to the charity of the gospel, or conformable to the example of its divine Author. The blessedness of the text is as universal as the virtue it is meant to reward; and he, who in his deeds of charity acts up to the means allotted him, will as assuredly be blessed here as he will be here- after. If his benevolence expand to the impulse of compassion, and he pursue the dictates of his feelings, and if he see the means, which he has adopted, succeed in giving the relief and assistance R 2 124 SERMON VIII. he intended, what words can describe the mental transport of his bosoni at the moment? — He knows the approbation of his God awaits him, and he has the assurance of being accepted by his Redeemer, whose example he has imitated in every act of charity: his days are cheered with the most en- livening hopes, and he meets death with the joyful expectation of being received with that welcome, which will be pronounced at the last day by his Saviour and Judge: — " Com^e ye blessed children " of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for "you from the foundation of the world: for I was " an hungred, and ye gave me meat — I was thirsty, " and ye gave me drink — I was a stranger, and ye " took me in — naked, and ye clothed me — I was " sick, and ye visited me — I was in prison, and ye " came unto me. — Inasmuch as ye have done it " unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye " have done it unto me." [ »25 ] HUSBANDRY. ECCLESIASTICUS VII. 15. Hate not laborious work, neither husbandry, which the Most High hath ordained. Although we cannot but lament the cause which excluded man from Paradise, where all things destined for his nourishment spontaneously grew; and where every variegated beauty, want- ing no regular succession of seasons, afforded a perpetual ornament to the blissful spot appointed for his abode: yet we have ample cause to be thankful to God, who hath ordained, that not- withstanding the evil produced, many benefits should arise. For though beyond the boundaries of Paradise (into which the flaming sword forbade his re-entrance) the earth, which had received the 12G SERMON IX. impression of the curse, presented nothing but a wil- derness of thorns and thistles; and consequently required man's incessant labour to render it fertile ; yet, b}^ that labour he should preserve his body free from the variety of disorders, to which his altered na- tiu^e now rendered him liable: and from this labour also, should proceed a spirit of industry and inven- tion of all those different articles, necessary for the various purposes of mankind. Hence originated a multiplicity of arts to provide for the necessities of the communit}^: and hence labour w^as pro- tected and encouraged, as its advantages were found to be of such general utility to a w^orld rising fast in population; and which, spreading into dif- ferent parts, imder different leaders, became in process of time, great and powerful kingdoms. Labour, in general, when the constitution has not been previously impaired, is no moi e than an exercise that invigorates the body, and prevents numberless distempers, so that every man has, or ought to have, if only for his own health's sake, some kind of employment: but, more especially, as in a political view^, the laborious, the diligent. SERMON IX. V27 the faithful and the honest are protected, encou- raged, and rewarded, in every civiHzed nation. Labour is the foundation of every production, that art can render profitable or convenient to man : it takes every thing from the hand of nature, and then adapts it for the general utility. Labour, from the earliest ages of the world, has ever been found highly conducive to the prosperity of everv communitv, and the wise son of Sirach, with the greatest propriety advises, not to " Hate '^ laborious work,'* as being the basis not onh' of a man's own health, but a means of obtaining many valuable blessings for himself and others. Indeed, when we consider, that employment of any kind, enables a man to be serviceable to him- self and his fellow-creatures, it is no A\onder, if, instead of finding it an irksome task, he should take a delight therein, particularly as it then must be attended with that pleasure, happiness, and contentment, " The Most High ordained" it should. Sensible that on himself depends the bread he is to eat, his labour is pleasant, and every morsel sweet : his industry renders him independent of others. 128 SERMON IX. and affords him no cause to envy any one : his en- joyments are all attended with a conscious satisfac- tion of their being innocent, and suitable to that state in which he is placed; and because that state is become habitual to him, contentment gives him a serenity of mind, which industry establishes and no vexation destroys. Besides this inward happiness and solid content- ment of mind which attend his labour^ he has the approbation of his equals, and the protection of his superiors, who all delight to see industry, and to recompense it as it deserves: above all, God beholds him with a benignant aspect : and when to the virtues of industry, faithfulness, and sobri- ety, he adds the duties of religion, he may, with confidence, expect success will attend his labour, and health, peace, and contentment, for the most |)art, meet him in e\evy step he proceeds in his passage through life. It is true, industry is not always rewarded, nor does labour always succeed ; but, as the practice of these virUies can never be prejudicial, but must be advantageous in some de- gree to a man's welfare, he may rest assured, that SERMON IX. 129 contentment, and all its attendant blessings, must be found where he is, and would not attend him, even if one continued course of uninterrupted suc- cess, crowned his labour and industry. Hate not then laborious work; pursue your avocations with diligence; and what happiness you are to enjoy in this life will be your portion, if you confine your views to your occupation, whatever it may be. Sickness and misfortune are casualties daily happening to all men : from these, therefore, you cannot expect to be free, but from other incidents your labour, industry, and temper- ance, will guard you as much as is possible, in a world where " All things come alike to all," and where " There is one event to the righteous and to '' the wicked." As the industrious ar^ protected, so the idle are left to reap the fruits of their own folly and neghgence. Justly is idleness esteemed the root of all evil: there is no vice of which it is not the parent, and from which, we may not expect every possible wickedness to be committed. Who will — nay. Who can offer employment to one Avho will s ISO SERMON IX. not labour for the sup})ly of the common wants of nature? Wliile the laborious are everywhere pa- tronized, and he that will work may find employ- ment, an idle man is considered as the pest of society. Look around you, my brethren, examine every fatal register of crimes daily committed, and you will find they all originated in idleness. It is indeed a most melancholy reflection, that where industry is promoted and protected both by the laws of the kingdom, and. by almost every indivi- dual amongst the ranks of men above the lowest, that there should be any, ivillingly, destitute of em- ployment: but alas ! oui' streets and roads give tes- timony to the fact, and evince the necessity of the severest correction, to curb the licentiousness of the idle and dissolute. The character most estimable amongst the su- perior classes of men, and thank God, they are not sparingly difiused, is he, who offers constant em- ployment to him who will work. This is to be a pa- triot indeed, and to be more truly noble than if a ducal coronet, nay, even a regal diadem encircled his temples ! It is to be eminently useful, and to SERMON IX. 131 spread happiness round his domain. It takes away from the idle all excuse, who would be left to perish deservedly in their own sloth and negligence, were it not that want prompts them to every kind of depredation on the property of others, rather than by honest labour, to procure for themselves, the common necessaries of life. The general opinion of most men at the present day, justifies what has been advanced, of the en- couragement given to labour, and the high esti- mation in which it is held almost universally. But the latter part of the text now calls us to confine our observations upon that branch of labour, which more particularly belongs to hiisbandrij : and here, in this respect, as men of landed property natu- rally look to the improvement of their estates, it can be no wonder, if they give more encourage- ment to agriculture than to any other art, seeing by it alone they can be benefited: but this is no more than what the merchants or manufacturers do, in respect to the articles of commerce, or the persons they employ. It is no part of my intention to en- ter into a discussion of this subject, nor am I com- S 2 132 SERMON IX. petent to it; my only design is to consider it as a branch of the text, and after having shewn you, as I hope I already have done, that labour of every kind is a religious duty, to shew you that hus- bandr}^ as " Ordained by the MoST HiGH," has many peculiar blessings annexed to it, in the opinion of all men, in every age. In the primitive ages of the world, while many sought distant habitations, led by a spirit of novelty and enterprize, and turned their ingenuity to the invention of every useful article, for their fel- low-creatures' accommodation ; God's ancient peo- ple, the first descendants of Adam, still preserved their primary occupation, to which man was doomed before he could eat his bread. Husbandry was the employment " Which the Most High or- " dained," and herds and flocks comprehended all their riches. There is in this reflection on the patriarchal simplicity, a proof, that under the curse pro- nounced on the earth, they were convinced, the blessings of health, tranquillity, and contentment, could alone be perfectly enjoyed by a life led in hus- SERMON IX. 133 bandry : and conscious of the truth, that God from evil had deduced good, they handed down from father to son, the same original simphcity and healthful employment : and accompanied with the blessings annexed to a life of labour and innocence, they carefully preserved in their families, the wor- ship of the only true God. The blessings of contentment have ever been deemed as more appropriate to a life led in hus- bandry, than to any other occupation, where laborious work is required. Health and tran- quillity seem to attend it, from its office being amongst the beauties of the vegetable kingdom. The lives of shepherds have been the theme of every bard in every age; the muses have conse- crated the lyre to pastoral subjects: a proof that heaven was thought to have cast a peculiar felicity around it, which no other occupation can boast. Indeed it is apparent, no small degree of honour was attached to it, for God in an especial manner has distinguished the followers of husbandry. If, after the Patriarchs, who were all husbandmen, we examine the lives of several of the most illustrious 134 SERMON IX. characters recorded in Scripture, we shall find that Gideon was taken from the thrashing-floor, to be a leader of Israel. David was taken from the sheepfold, as he was following the ewes great with young. Elisha the Prophet, was ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen, and himself with the twelfth, when Elijah threw his mantle upon him. And many others, which evince how much the follow- ers of husbandry were favourites of Heaven. In- deed, after the settlement of the Israelites in Ca- naan, it became their principal occupation. We may well suppose that the country of Canaan, wasted by Avar, must be neglected in its cultiva- tion, and of course must want the labour of its new occupiers, to whom it was divided by lot, before it could be profitable to them: hence the patri- archal occupation was renewed: the land became fruitful in its produce, in vineyards, and oliveyards, ill fruits, in corn, in herds and in flocks: from this it spread, till it became the chief employment of the mass of people, save of those who lived in towns, and pursued such other avocations, as were essential for the supply of the public necessities. SERMON IX. 135 It is impossible to read the Scriptures without perceiving that all the allusions therein, do figura- tively refer to the lives of husbandmen, shepherds, or their occupations. The language of the Pro- phets, in a more particular manner, is clothed v^^ith metaphorical allusions to agriculture, by which means, as it was the chief occupation of the Jews, they more readily understood and comprehended the meaning of those passages, which, relating to their duties to God and their neighbour, were easy, simple, and readily learnt : but when God would shut vip his councils from the understandings of men, a mysterious sublimity is adopted, which fu- ture circumstances should alone unfold: teaching them that futurity was what they were not to pry into, but to leave the accomplishment of the divine purposes to God himself. Hard as the lot of the laborious man may ap- pear to a superficial observer, yet as a consequence of the curse denounced on the earth, we are all alike doomed thereto in some degree or other. Let a man's station be what it will, we are not to sup- pose he feels not this consequence: he has his 136 SERMON IX. cares, his vexations, and his labours, which, whe- ther of body or mind, are as irksome to him as he whose labour is of the most wearisome kind. Every man from the crowned head has an employ- ment assigned him by Heaven, for which he is accountable to God, and in which he is to labour as well for others as himself: and though he may be exempt from the bodily exercise of the common labourer or mechanic, yet, as living in society, he has offices to perform, and duties to fulfd, ac- cording to the station he therein holds. Consider no man, however abundant in riches or honours, as exempt from the consequences of the curse. The labour of the mind, in general, impairs the constitution more than the labour of the body: and he who devotes his time and his studies, to qualify himself for those various offices necessary in society, which his rank or fortune authorizes him to expect, is in the eye of Providence no more than a labourer in the vineyard of God, and will be entitled to no greater reward, than he who is doomed to manual labour. It is true he is placed in a situation superior to him, who is to earn his S E R M O N IX. 137 bread by the sweat of his brow, and he has the enjoyment of many things out of the reach of the common labourer. But what avails these ? These are no advantages in the sight of God, any further than they enable him to apply with greater abihty to the office he is to fill in society. For instance, you feel the necessity of a protector and dispenser of the laws ; otherwise how could the hard earnings of your labour be secure from the rapacious hand of the midnight plunderer? But should this judge be necessitated to earn his bread as you are obliged to do, where would be either his qualifications for his office, or his leisure to attend to its several du- ties? No, my brethren! He has his labours, as well as you have yours; and probably not attended with that health, ease, and comfort, which you may enjoy: his real happiness can arise from no other source, but from what yours must -do, viz. from the mental satisfaction of fulfilling your duty to God and that station you hold in society. Consider then no man as an object of envy, but consider him in the station of one, whose duties, if worthily fulfilled, is entitled to respect. Subordi- r 138 SERMON IX. nation, or different degrees of men there must be, in all societies: take away these and your pro- perty will become the prey of every depredator, who has no law but his will, and whose strength is exerted to reduce the weak in subjection to his violence. Few are the cares and anxieties of the laborious man ! — What has he to torment him, who can re- lish the morsel he has honestly and industriously earned with conscious satisfaction? Cheerfulness exhilarates his spirits, and renders him perfectly sa- tisfied with his station : if he have not the super- fluities of life, he has sufficient to satisfy the wants of nature -, and to these, it is in his power to annex the solid blessing of CONTENTMENT, which can only dwell in the mind, from a conscious sense of having performed every moral obligation and reli- gious duty, and therefore its attainment depends upon himself. This is the balm of life, the richest gift that indulgent Heaven ever sent on earth to bless mankind ! Let your station be what it will, CONTENTMENT will give every thing a double relish; it will tranquillize the storms of passion. SERMON IX, 139 that ruffle the temper, and will hush to silence every murmur and every complaint. Happy, in- expressibly happy then is he who can thus say with the Apostle — '' I have learnt in whatsoever " state I am, therewith to be content." T 2 [ 140 ] PEACE,* GeNISES VIII. 11. And the dove came in to him in the evenings and loy in her mouth, ivas an olive leaf pliickt off: So Noah knew that tlie ivaters were abated from off the earth. i HE dove announcing to Noah the abatement of the waters from the face of the earth, by producing a leaf which she had plucked from the olive-tree, intimated to him an approaching restoration of tranquillity to the agitated bosom of nature: even so, metaphorically speaking, has peace, like the dove, her truest emblem, having long found no rest for the sole of her foot, at length returned to our isle, Avhile under the sheltering branches of the olive we may sit, and enjoy her serene and tranquil delights, " And none shall make us afraid." * Preached June 1st, 1802, the Day appointed for a General Thanksgiving. SERMON X. 141 The turbulent passions of men, ever since the fall of Adam, from the tranquil state in which God created him, have been justly compared to the bois- terous waves of the deep, w^hose waters cast up mire and dirt. Every evil, every sin, which does so easily beset us, arises from the headstrong torrent of our passions, and till we admit the still small voice of reason, the dove with the olive of peace, into the ark of our bosoms, we shall produce no- thing but " The overflowings of ungodliness." We have long, my brethren! seen the factious and discontented spirit of man produce such num- berless causes of misery to mankind, during the war we have now terminated, as nothing parallel thereto can be found in history. The civil wars of our vmfortunate monarch, Charles I., can alone bear a comparison therewithj which- begun, not in- deed with an open defiance of Providence, and an avowed blasphemous denial of the living' God, but what was neanlry aS; bad, they commenced with an hypocritical pretence of defending the reformed religion, while their restless spirits laboiu'cd only for the, full and entire gratification of their bound- less ambitjon. U2 SERMON X. Examine every history from the remotest period, and it has ever been the case, that men of ambi- tious minds have strove to shelter their arrogant designs under some plausible pretence. The de- struction of empires and kingdoms, the fall of the greatest sovereignties have ever been brought about by men who endeavoured to give their am- bitious designs some appearance of rationality; which plainly indicates an innate sense of a Deity being deeply and naturally engraven on the hearts of men: but seldom has it occurred, that a syste- matic unbelief, founded on a long-digested plan for the overthrowing all notions of God and reli- gion, has stirred up in its votaries, a spirit of dia- bolical malice and persecution against principles inherent in the mind, and established therein, by the innate conviction of truth and justice. This was peculiarly the characteristic of the first pro- moters of the disturbances in France; for whatever causes of murmur and discontent might spring from arbitrary powder, ancl abuses in the form of such governments; yet such a revolution would never have produced those sanguinary consequences SERMON X. 143 it has unfortunately done, to the disgrace of human nature, and the indeUhle infamy of that kingdom in particular, unless the belief of a God had been eradicated from the minds of the first instigators of it. Long before the revolution in France broke out, with all its train of dire events, some men, whose learning might have taught them better, being at enmity with all religious establishments, which alone could check the indulgence of their licen- tious or ambitious projects, ventured to broach doctrines, which could only be suggested by that fiend, who, in these latter times, as was foretold, was to have rule in the councils of men : not content with denying their Saviour, but in direct opposi- tion to the testimony of ages, in all the madness of Atheism, absolutely denied the existence of a God, and magnifying their own short-sighted rea- son above the revealed evidence of Scripture, blas- phemously placed it on the throne of Almighty Wisdom. To trace to you the progressive course of these hellish principles, how they begun, have been 144 SERMON X. carried on, till they gradually terminated in rebel- lion, in murder, and regicide, would carry me beyond the intent of this discourse, which designs only the warning you against those principles, which maj' deprive you of your expectations of that vast bliss, in the enjoyment of heaven, which the gospel alone promises to every true believer, and which, I would fain hope, every individual here present wishes to obtain. To combat these dangerous principles, there have not been wanting the labours of many pious men, who have exposed their fatal consequences, and pointed out their destructive tendency : but as these are not within the reach of men in the or- dinary course of life, it has been the preacher's care, and it surely was his duty, to caution his hearers against listening to opinions, which have been, with indefatigable industry, instilled into the minds of the unlearned part of mankind. The blessings of peace, contrasted with the ca- lamities of war, must make the return of it grate- fid to every well-wisher to his country, and sure I am, except the self-interested man, whose feelings SERMON X. 145 of humanity are absorbed in his own selfishness, there is no one who does not rejoice in the circum- stance of peace. Is it not a cause for our rejoicing that we can sit down in the expressive language of holy writ — " Every man under his own vine and under his *^ own fig-tree?'' — That we can, in the tranquil bo- soms of our own homes, find that inward satisfaction resulting from the consideration, that peace is re- turned to our land, and that wild havoc rages no more? — Happy are we in our situation as an island ! The dreadful scenes of war can but rarely reach our dwellings, while the invincible valour of the British navy guards our coasts. Let not this cir- cumstance lose its energy on your minds; let it ex- cite you to gratitude to God, who " Maketh w ars '^ to cease in all the world ; who breaketh the bow, " and knappeth the spear asunder." With war, we may be assured, all its concomitant train of evils will vanish. Plentiful through the blessing of God, was the harvest of last year, and the dread of scarcity was thereby removed : let us but beseech the God, who croWneth the year with V 146 SERMON X. his goodness, to make the next equally so; and then we may reasonably hope, the necessaries of life will be within the reach of industry and frugality. Happy, unspeakably happy is that man, who can, with pleasure and satisfaction, enjoy the calm delights of a tranquil home -, and with every pleas- ing reflection, that springs from a love of concord and harmony, can relish the fruits of his industry and sobriety; and with a truly tender anxiety for the peace of bis native land, can rejoice in its possession of that invaluable blessing, and con- tribute to its preservation, by his duty to his God, loyalty to his sovereign, and love to his neighbour ! Can he be impressed with these sentiments, which lead him to the adoration of the Supreme Being, the Deity, who beholds him with a gracious eye, and not be inspired with the liveliest gratitude for the blessings which surround his humble dwelling? Will he not rather be zealous to evince that grati- tude by studying the precepts of his blessed Son, who has taught him to subdue the tempestuous passions of his nature, and to look beyond the tu- multuous billows of this stormy life, to that celestial SERMON X. 147 shore, where serenity and love dwell eternally; where the God of peace displays his mild benevo- lence, and extends the sceptre of mercy to the pe- nitent and believing christian ? When this is the case; — when we make the bless- ings we enjoy, in how small a portion soever al- lotted to us, a motive for contentment and resig- nation, by subjugating our passions, and by that means, make them conducive to our happiness in this life, and productive of our immortal felicity in the next; then do we prove ourselves worthy of the blessings of peace: but when we give way to the current of our passions, and suffer them t6 overrule the mild dictates of reason, we may then bid adieu to composure of mind: peace will fly from our bo- soms, and we shall never be able to regain it in this life, nor enjoy it in that which is to come. Let me here appeal to yourselves: — When you come hither to praise the God who has protected you through the week, and to thank him for your creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; do you not feel a conscious pleasure arising in your bosoms, from a conviction of your acting in V 2 148 SERMON X. conformity with your obligations as a christian? And when this duty of praise and thanksgiving is performed as it ought to be, each morning and evening in your closets, can any thing equal the mental satisfaction you experience, when on your knees you pour forth the effusions of gratitude to the bountiful Providence of God, who has given you that peace which the world cannot give; — has filled your bosoms with tranquillity, and rendered you capable of relishing the calm delights of a christian life? Then suffer no opinions, however speciously urged, to rob you of this felicity: the God who made you — the Saviour Avho redeemed you — the Holy Ghost who sanctified you, have done for you what a whole life spent in praises and thanksgivings cannot repay. Surely then, my brethren, while a pleasure is found in those moments you devote to their service, let nothing prevent — let nothing obstruct your performance of your duty, and then you may securely defy the attempts of the infidel, to shake your faith. Look to the death-bed of the unbeliever— draw SERMON X. 149 back the curtain, and see him in all the agony of despair! Behold him tormented by his own un- easy reflections: his conscience bringing to his view the God he has denied and the Saviour he has renounced: his imagination paints, in the strongest colours, all the horrors of his situation, and the '^ Terrors of God are set in array against him." Would you lose the tranquillity and composure of the humble and resigned christian, for the misera- ble state of this man, when death approaches to carry you from this world, where your probation is ended, and the reward or punishment is bestowed, according to your conduct under that trial ? — No, my brethren ! " Take unto yourselves the whole *^ armour of God, that ye may be able to with- " stand in the evil day, and having done all to " stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt " about with truth, and having on the breast-plate '^ of righteousness, and your feet shod with the '^ preparation of the gospel of peace: above all, '* taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be " able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked ; ff and take the helmet of salvation and the sword 150 SERMON X. " of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying *' always with all prayer and supplication in the " Spirit/* Every good man must rejoice in the retvirn of peace to our country, and the thanksgiving we are this day called upon to give to God, who is *' The ** Author of peace and the lover of concord," cannot be better performed than by observing that recti- tude of conduct, which will preserve the peace of our bosoms; and so the better enable us to imitate the example of our Saviour, who, in all his words and actions, proved himself the Prince of Peace. God Almighty, in the first lesson for this day's service, makes the following declaration to the Israelites : — " If ye walk in my statutes and keep " my commandments, and do them; then will I ** give you rain in due season, and the land shall " yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall " yield their fruit. And your thrashing shall reach " unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach " unto the sowing time, and ye shall eat your " bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. " And I will give peace in your land." Then fol- SERMON X. 151 lowjs a number of blessings, wliich would flow on them in consequence of peace ; and therefore, when we consider that these blessings were only condi- tional on their walking in his statutes, and keep- ing his commandments; we, my brethren, may discern our duty, and the means whereby we may secure the same blessings to ourselves, and our pos- terity. The remaining part of the chapter is filled up with God's threatenings to the Israelites: if they would not hearken unto him, nor keep his com- mandments, then he would appoint over them ter- ror, consumption, and the burning ague ; and that they should sow their seed in the land in vain. It would appear strange that the Israelites should stand in need of threatenings, to deter them from sinning against the Lord, after the gra- cious promise of so many blessings, in case they would only keep his commandments, and do them, did we not, at this time daily see, that the same disobedience is found amongst the children of the new covenant, as of the old. But let the text recal to your remembrance the 152 SERMON X. dreadful punishment inflicted on the whole human race; with the exception of one family only, for their sin and wickedness. When the impiety of mankind was risen to the highest pitch, God brought a flood to drown the world, and singled out Noah and his family as the only one meriting to be preserved alive. They con- tinued in the ark, while the deluge swept away every other inhabitant of the earth. Till the dove brought the olive leaf, Noah knew not the waters were abated; but on seeing that token, he w^as convinced the anger of God was appeased, and that all nature would soon be reinstated in its pristine verdure and beauty. In like manner, w^e have seen a deluge of infide- lity and a flood of iniquity, overspread the nations of the earth, carrying a swift and irresistable de- struction along with it ; and we consequently must have seen the arm of the Almighty made bare, to avenge the honour of his name. Aw are of this, let us be cautious how we give way to the suggestions of those, who are ready to catch at the least deviation from that steadiness SERMON X. 153 we owe to God, to religion and ourselves : let us give the Holy Spirit admittance into our bosoms. It descended from lieaven in the bodily shape of a dove upon our Saviour — in the semblance of that winged messenger which brought to Noah the olive leaf, to shew the abatement of the waters from the earth : so shall we by its influence find all har- mony and tranquillity within ; the stormy billows of this life will roll heedless over our heads, and with a steady composure, we shall smile at the ap- proach of death, and welcome that stroke which bids the soul take her flight to those everlasting hills, where, in serenity and peace, we shall rest for evermore. [ 154 ] FAST-DAY. 2 Chronicles xxxii. 6, 7, 8. A7id he set captains of war over the people, and gathered them together to him, in the street of the gate of the city, and spake comfortably to them, saying j Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the King of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is ivith him, for there is more ivith us than with him: zvith him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God, to help lis and to, fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the ivords of Hezekiah, King of Judah. The propriety of appointing a portion of the his- tory of the invasion of Judah by the King of As- syria, for one of the lessons of this day's service, is pecuHarly striking; and in conformity therewith, I have selected a passage from the same history, which, I doubt not, will afford abundant matter for SERMON XI. 155 meditation, and excite us in our present situation, to rely on the Almighty, who never failed to work the most wonderful deliverances for his people, whenever they humbled themselves, and turned to him with sincere sorrow for past offences, and seri- ous purposes of future amendment. The kingdom of Judah was at that time go- verned by a pious monarch ; but it had long been its lot to have a succession of wicked and idola- trous kings, with not above one or two exceptions, whose apostacy from the true religion, gave encou- ragement to the natural proneness of the Israelites, to follow after strange Gods ; insomuch that the piety of the few good kings they had to reign over them, from David to Hezekiah, could not avert the final captivity of the nation, long threatened them by the mouth of the Prophets of the Lord, although they might protract the day of vengeance. Hezekiah was now the King of Judah, when the Assyrian army under Sennacherib was brought up against Jerusalem, by the chastising hand of the Lord, to bring the inhabitants to a due sense of their sins; as had been usual with God, in the X 2 156 SERMON XI. reigns of the preceding Kings of Judah : and it is worthy of our observation, that the Israehtes, not- withstanding they had experienced so many judg- ments of the Lord, and undergone so many scour- ges from the invading arms of both Egypt and As- syria; yet still persisted in their sins, and forsook the God of their fathers, and followed the idola- trous worship of the heathen nations that sur- rounded their kingdom. The good and wise monarch seeing that the As- syrian army were entered into Judah, and were encamped in fenced cities, and threatened to lay siege to Jerusalem, took council with his princes and his mighty men, to stop the waters of the foun- tains which were without the city; which was in- stantly done, notwithstanding these fountains, in that parched and sultry climate, supplied them- selves with water; yet they utterly destroyed them, as we read in the fourth verse of the chapter from whence the text is taken, and we there fmd the reason likewise given, " Why should the Kings of ^' Assyria come and fmd much water." Water in the eastern countries was, and is now. SERMON XI. 157 of such value, on account of its scarcity in those parched and sandy deserts, as nothing could jus- tify the destruction of their fountains, but the dread of their affording refreshment to the invading enemy, and thereby enabling them to continue their incursions and depredations with vigour and spirit: and for this reason it has ever been held as sound policy, to destroy what cannot be carried away, or to render useless what might prove in the hands of an invading army, a means to strengthen their power to continue their plunder- ing warfare. Hezekiah, after this precaution, repaired the walls and fortifications; he raised up the towers to the walls thereof, and made darts and shields in abundance, and then it follows as in the text: — " He set captains of war over the people, and " gathered them together to him in the street of '^ the gate of the city, and spake comfortably to '''them, saying; Be strong and courageous, be not " afraid nor dismayed for the King of Assyria, nor *^ for all the multitude that is with him, for there f' is more with us than with him: with him is an loS SERMON XL " arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to " help us and to fight our battles." The King of Assyria himself went from Judah and laid siege to Lachish, while he sent the rest of his army to Jerusalem, with that blasphemous message which Rabshakeh his general delivered, and to which Hezekiah prudently commanded no answer to be returned, but he repaired to the Tem- ple, and poured out this prayer to the Almighty: " O Lord God of Israel ! which dwellest between '' the Cherubims, thou art the God, even thou "alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou '' hast made heaven and earth — Lord, bow down *' thine ear and hear; open. Lord! thine eyes and " see, and hear the words of Sennacherib, which " hath sent him to reproach the living God. Of a " truth, Lord ! the Kings of Assyria have destroyed " the nations and their lands, and have cast their ^' Gods into the fire, for they were no Gods, but " the work of men's hands, wood and stone, there- " fore they have destroyed them. Now, there- " fore, O Lord our God, I beseech thee save thou *' us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the SERMON XL 159 " earth may know that thou art the Lord God, " even thou only." This devout and sincere prayer, offered up to the throne of the Almighty, in the fervour of real piety, entered his ears who is ever ready to hear the petitions of his servants, when genuine devotion dictates the accents, and obtained this encouraging answer from the Lord, by the Prophet Isaiah: — ''Thus saith the Lord "concernin.g the King of Assyria; he shall not *' come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor '' come before it wdth a shield, nor cast a bank *' against it : by the way that he came, by the " same shall he return, and shall not come into '' this city saith the Lord.'* And to fulfil this pro- mise — " The Lord sent an Angel into the camp of '' the Assyrians, which cut off all the mighty men " of valour, and the leaders and captains of Sen- ^' nacherib their King, who immediately returned " with shame into his own land;'* and there fell by the hands of two of his sons, who slew him, as he was worshipping Nisroch, the great idol of his . nation, and then escaped into Armenia, and Esar- haddon, another of his sons, reigned in his stead. 160 SERMON XL From this example of the pious Hezekiah, we learn to whom we must apply in our present situ- ation. In many respects we are certainly unlike the inhabitants of Judah; we are not, nor is it likely we should be idolators; but we are sinners, and are this day called upon to humble ourselves before the footstool of the Almighty, acknowledge our offences, and earnestly implore him to avert his vengeance from a guilty land. If sincere in our repentance, and devout in our purposes of amendment, we may take to ourselves the words of comfort which Hezekiah spake to his subjects wiien he called them to him in the street of the gate of the city : — " Be strong and courageous, be " not afraid nor dismayed for the enemy ^ nor for all " the multitude that is with him, for there is more " with us than with him: with him is an arm of " flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help " us and to fight our battles." If then, my brethren! there is more with us than with him, who threatens to invade our isle : if he trusts only in the arm of flesh and with Rab- shakeh exclaims, '' With the multitude of my cha- SERMON XL 161 " riots am I come," and we can assure ourselves that *' The Lord our God is with us to help us> " and to fight our battles/* then we have reason neither to be afraid nor dismayed: but, alas! few there are who are not sensible of manifold offences committed against the conviction of their better judgment; and whose inattention to the high claims of their christian profession, does not render them forgetful of that " Holiness, without which, '* no man shall see the Lord." War has ever been the scourge of the Almighty, to punish guilty nations. The ancient Jews were thus used as instruments of divine correction, to punish the heathen nations of Canaan, for their sins and idolatry ; for thus God himself declares : '^ Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness *^ of thine heart dost thou go to possess their land ; " but for the wickedness of these nations, the Lord " thy God doth drive them out from before thee : *' understand therefore, that the Lord thy God giveth '' thee not this good land to possess it for thy righ- ^' teousness, for thou art a stiff-necked people." And now the Jews themselves, who were formerly T 16^ SERMON XI. thus used as instruments of divine correction, to drive out the wicked and idolatrous kingdoms of Ca- naan, were in their turn chastised for their sins, by the arms of the Egyptians and Assyrians. Whe- ther the sins and provocations of this nation have so far incurred the vengeance of the Almighty, it is not for me to judge, but it is my duty to point out to you, the necessity of a speedy repentance and amendment of life; and to convince you that the dreadful calamities of war have ever been the scourge with which God has punished guilty nations. Let not, therefore, the timid rail at war; let not the man of feigned sensibility, pretend to deplore the calamities of war, when the sword of divine ven- geance passes through the land; but let him rather lament for the sins of the nation, which have provoked the Lord to mould the councils of the state, so that the purposes of his wrath may be executed. The councils of wisdom may appear the suggestions of a man's own understanding, but it is the Lord who ]X'nders them subservient to his purposes. It is highly advantageous to consider war in this lidit, bein^: in strict conformitv with what we read SERMON XI. 163 in our Bible, of God's dealings with mankind; and therefore we ought to provide for oin- everlasting seciu'ity, by fervent addresses to the Almighty; with contrition for past transgressions, and resolu- tion to act with better judgment for the time to come. Our blessed Saviour prophesied, that wars and rumours of wars should prevail, before the day of his visitation came : — nation would rise up against nation. This is the case now, and who shall say that these are not the signs of the near approach of the " Day of his coming?" Come when it will, it will " Come as a thief in the night," and there- fore he bid us " Watch, for in such a hour as ive " think not, the Son of Man cometh." The best preparation for such an event, is un- doubtedly a good life; following the command- ments of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ; and then we may rest on him, upon any emergency like the present, *' I'o help us and to fight our "battles." The arm of llesh, or the having confi- dence in oar own power, valour, or strength, will be of no avail, unless the grace of God be with us. Y 9 164 SERMON XI. We have justice on our side, and therefore our re- liance should be stronger in the day of trial : and to add to this confidence, we have only to bring an unfeigned sorrow for sin, and serious purposes of amendment. Our enemy, by his own arm, will not then be able to do us any violence, nor be suf- fered to approach to hurt us ; and perhaps, for our sincerity, the issue of the present contest, may turn out beyond our sanguine expectations. The God we adore, is the same yesterday and for ever: he is a God of justice, and in his equal balance he weighs the merits of nations : he is the God whom sinful man offended, almost as soon as he was created; and yet so wonderful was his love towards him, that he sent his only Son to be a ransom for him ; and to restore him to that inno- cence he forfeited by sin : and not only this, but by his example, his sufferings, and patience, taught him to tread in such steps, as would infallibly lead him to be crowned with glory and immortality. Let us then look to this pattern, and imitate him to the utmost of our power. Had we only the bare transcript of his life, unblamable, holy. SERMON XL 165 and pure as it was, we should have suflicient to obtain its a place in his kingdom: but when we have rules laid down for our observance; rules that are unfettered with painful or wearisome ceri- monies ; for *' His yoke is easy and his burden light ;" and the whole of our conduct pointed out by such plain directions, as no one can mistake, who is sedu- lous in searching out the truth ; surely it must be our own faults, if we fail of obtaining the glorious prize of an incorruptible crown. To enjoy the everlasting presence of our Crea- tor; to adore him encircled by all the host of hea- ven; to fall down and worship him on the throne of his Almighty power; to praise the Lamb who was slain, and has redeemed us to God by his blood, out of every kindred and tongue, and peo- ple, and nation; to sing eternal Hallelujahs to the glorious Trinity, with all the goodly fellowship of the Prophets, the glorious company of the Apostles, and the noble army of Martyrs; to taste pleasure pure and unmixt with any alloy ; to share in bliss unutterably great, and inconceivably happy, with those, to whom, in this world, we were bound by 166 SERMON XL the ties of amity and love, and that bliss to last for ever and ever. These are the peculiar privileges of good men after death: Avho then would hesi- tate with such a prize in view, to look beyond the petty disturbances of this world, and contend for it with every exertion in his christian profession! Our blessed Saviour is both our Leader and our Guide. He has marked out our line of conduct: and therefore, as we are candidates for an incor- ruptible crown, let us with stedfast faith pursue our way, and when death approaches, we shall welcome the stroke, that opens to us the everlast- ing gates which lead to its enjoyment. If this view of our eternal inheritance in the next life, purchased for us by the blessed Son of God, do not inspire us with a firm reliance on him, who has done so much for us, nothing w ill. If God be with us, it is of no consequence who is against usr the arm of flesh may assault, but cannot hurt us, while we have " The Lord our God to help us *' and to fight our battles." The prayer of the pious Hezekiah was success- ful, because he poured it forth in sincerity, and in SERMON XI. 167 a firm reliance on God's supporting aid, in the danger lie was in from the invading arms of the Assyrians. Let us be equally sincere 3 let us rely on the everlasting Rock of Ages, who will support us in the cause in which we are engaged. He is a sure refuge in time of trouble, and to whom can we better flv for succour to aid our arms? On whom can we rely, but on him, who can and will defend those who trust in him ! Without his assistance, the arm of flesh will not avail : it will be to no purpose, though the blood of our defenders is shed in our cause, unless God be with us. But, my brethren, if we are duly sensible, that without the favour of God, we must cease to be numbered amongst the nations of the earth, and add to those who have been humbled by the pride and arro- gance of kirn, who has threatened to bring fire and sword to our dwellings; we shall be sincere in our addresses, and steady in our purposes of amend- ment: and particularly as we are now assembled in his Temple, and in his presence; let us adopt the prayer of the wise King of Israel, which he used at the dedication of that Temple he had 1G8 SERMON XL built for the worship of God: — " If thy people go '' out to battle against their enemy, whithersoever '' thou shalt send them, and shall pray unto the Lord "^ toward the city which thou hast chosen, and to- "w^ard the house that I have built for thy name; " then hear thou in heaven their prayer and sup- '' plication, and maintain their cause." Ameii, [ 169 ] VICTORY.* Psalm xcviir. 1. O sing unto the Lord a neiv songy for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand and his holy arm hath gotten him the victory, Xhe occasion of our meeting this day, my bre- thren, is one of the most glorious circumstances which the Almighty has been graciously pleased to attest to the world, of the justice of our cause, and the valour of our fleets, ever since the British island rose to be distinguished among the king- doms of the earth. It has, it is true, been dearly purchased, at the expense of the valuable life of the heroic commander; but while we mourn the loss we have sustained, w^e should reflect, he fell z _■ ■ i> I * Preached on the Thanksgivmg-Day, December 5th, 1805, for the im- portant Victory obtained October 21st, 1805, over the combined fleets of France and Spain, under the command of the late Lord Viscount Nelsgn, wha 170 SERMON XII. in the bosom of victory ; at that moment, which the heroes of all ages have ever considered as the most glorious event which could befal them. A nation embalms his memory with her tears, and history will hand down to posterity his memora- ble achievements, by whose means the Almighty " Hath done marvellous things." Let this be our consolation, and let us look up to heaven, and with unfeigned gratitude, praise him for his goodness, in giving us such a signal instance of his protection, - as it is " His right hand and his holy arm," which alone " Hath gotten him the victory." Gratitude for benefits received, evinces a real goodness of heart, and is the most acceptable ser- vice we can pay to God in our individual capacity: it reflects honour upon us, as dependent creatures on the mercy of a gracious Being, as debtors to him for creation, preservation, and every blessing we enjoy in life; for the salvation procured us by Christ, and the certainty of an everlasting felicity in heaven. To pay the grateful homage of a thank- ful heart for these and every other blessing we en- joy, is ever pleasing to the God of bounty; and I am perfectly convinced, that there is no person who SERMON XII. 171 Is capable of feeling the generous impulse of gra- titude towards '' The Author and Giver of all good " things/* who does not experience the highest de- gree of intellectual pleasure, when on his knees, pouring forth the effusions of his heart to the di- vine Founder of all his enjoyments: but this plea- sure becomes more exalted and enlarged, in the public assemblies of the congregation, especially when, as at this time, he joins with his fellow-sub- jects in the Temple, and in the presence of God, falls prostrate, and unites in the praises given for the victory vouchsafed to the fleets of his native country. Seldom have we had an occasion to meet on an event more illustrious in the annals of Britain, than the present: but I should neglect a most impor- tant part of my duty, were I not to point out to you, the very great cause we have to be thankful, not only for this victory, but for various other bless- ings conferred u[)on us as a nation; particularly that the dreadful scourge of war has not yet come home to our dwellings. The self-sufficiency of man may arrogate to himself prudence, foresight, Z 2 172 SERMON XIL and courage; but as it is the Lord who sends war as a judgment upon an offending nation, he sure- ly can avert the impending stroke, and arrest ^' The proud in the imagination of their hearts/* Surely then it must strike every unprejudiced mind, that God, who governs the nations of the earth, and discerns with an impartial eye their respective merits, removes far from us the dire effects of in- testine war, and crowns us with victory on that ele- ment which encompasses our isle, because his re- ligion is here preserved in its purest form, and bears the greatest resemblance to the Apostolical doctrine, taught in the primitive ages of the Church; and that, collectively considered, we have less to answer for, than those who have shook off the ties of religion; trampled on the rights of hu- manity, despised the laws of nations, and filled the world with the sanguinary marks of their blood-thirsty ambition. But though this is the case as a nation, and the daily practice of all manner of wickedness may seem to contradict the asser- tion; yet, from the manifold blessings we enjoy, in a superior degree to any other people, may SERMON XII. 17;^ fairly be inferred the christian piety and devo- tion of the far greater part of the nation. Let^ us not then despair of the goodness of the Almiglity, nor doubt, but in the progress of the present ^\ ar, , he will, in his good time, smite the vaunting foe, by the hand of our allies, and cause him to return with shame to his own land. But for the present, let us consider the glorious event that has assem- bled us together, as demanding our grateful tribute of praise and thanksgiving to God, who by the late success of our arms, has shewn to the world, the justice of our cause. Not only have we reason to be grateful for the success vouchsafed us in the late engagement, and in the prevention of invading warfare, but for the benefits accruing to us, from the best form of government ever bestowed on mankind : I am far from thinking it, notwithstanding, so perfect as to need no reform: the best human establishments must have their imperfections, and for this very reason, because they are human. But still, thanks to the Almighty, our government stands on so firm ^ basis, as to deride the insulting attacks of licen- 174 SERMON XII. tioiis freedom — a government which having reli- gion for its foundation, and its sanctions supported by so divine an institution; so pure in its faith, and so subhme in its doctrine, will ever defy the secret attempts of evil-minded men; — will curb their boldness, and check their insidious arts to over- throw it: and was it suffered to have its due influ- ence, would prevent bloodshed, and all the cala- mities of war. Tlie piety and wisdom of our superiors, have com- manded us this day to assemble in the Temples of our God, to send up our united praises and devout- est acknowledgements to the Almighty, for a very signal and important victory — a victory indeed not unusual to the British fleet, whose valour, for a long succession of time, has been confessed to be invincible; but which is at this period peculiarly striking, considering the idle vauntings of our am- bitious foe; whose aim to attain a place, even higher than the kings of the earth, has been marked with midnight murder, and the bloodiest deeds of the darkest assassin. Victory over such a foe, shews the immediate protection of Providence, and de- SERMON XIL 175 mands a nation's praise — a nation's gratitude: and surely there is something noble in the idea, that, at the same moment, the rehgious of the nation in union join, to set forth the glory of their God, and in his Temples utter the voice of praise and thanks- giving: Angels themselves might behold the solem- nity with pleasure, and our guardian God smile benignant, as the grateful accents ascend from the lips of every sincere worshipper. The God of our forefathers demands our grati- tude for giving them wisdom to raise a glorious fa- bric, on the basis of a religion, restored to its Apostolical purity : and while our governors and commanders are sensible of the inestimable value of our envied constitution, and of the excellence of that religion on which it is built; justly may we hope, that, with the permission of the Almighty, the valour and intrepidity of our arms will stand unrivalled to remotest time : but still, my brethren ! to insure a continuation of such signal instances of his protection, while thus we return our sin- cerest acknowledgements, O let us not return to miv former transsrresfvions ! To merit the continued 176 SERMON XII. blessings of God's protection to our arms, we must henceforth forsake all evil ways. Yes, my brethren I while every heart beats with triumph at the success of our arms in the late en- gagement, I am compelled to remind you, that you have other duties to fulfil, which more than ever demand your exercise of them : praises and thanksgivings ever indicate a generous heart, and are the noblest instances we can give of our sense of the divine mercies; but if this sense of gratitude is once lost in the round of sensual enjoyments, which usually bring on an inattention to our other duties, we may then expect to lose the future fa- vour of our God ; who has now shewn us, that if we will but persevere in our religion and in all its holy duties, he will continue to distinguish our arms with that success, with which thy have hi- tlierto been indulged. Then let us shew we have minds deserving this favour — that we possess souls, whose hopes, soaring above this world, penetrate into the *' Heaven of heavens;" and that the con- scientious discharge of the duties of our christian profession, gives us confidence to hope that through SERMON XII. 177 the intercession of our Redeemer, our devout pray- ers and praises, may reach the God of grace. Shining as piety does, from the throne of these realms, he must be depraved indeed, on whom that example has no influence: and I should hope, that those would be instigated to copy so illustri- ous a pattern, who are sensible of its efficacy, and disposed to reflect on themselves, as having little more to do with this world, its jars and discords, than to pass through it, as through a state of pro- bationary exercise of duties, that are to qualify them for a better. As " Our rejoicing should always be with mo- " deration;'* knowing no joy is to be without its portion of bitterness in this world : so will every good man, while his loyalty to his sovereign, and love to his country, cause him to exult on the pres- ent occasion, drop a tributary tear over the ashes of the brave commander : but let us at the same time reflect, that we have no cause to be dejected, inasmuch as an equal spirit still pervades the de- fenders of our isle, as every day brings proof of their heroic bravery ; and therefore we ought stili 17B SERMON XII. to place our confidence in God, that he will by their means, continue to crown our arms with their wonted success : — '' Will fight our battles and main- '^ tain our cause." But let me again remind you of your other obli- uations to God. You live under the best form of government, that ever was adapted for the security of the subject; and you possess a religion which the Son of God came down upon earth to institute : he descended from heaven to shew you the way to ascend thither. It is the master-piece of the works of the Almighty, wherein he reserved the manifest- ation of his wisdom and justice, and displayed all the mysteries of his redeeming love. " Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord " Jesus Christ!" Vvhile a nation, prostrate before him, pour out their sincerest acknowledgements, for the manifold blessings vouchsafed them. Blessed for ever be his most holy name, who hath bid us hope for his protection and favour, while we walk in the steps of his Son! The grateful effusions of every heart, pouring forth in sincerity, its praises before the throne of mercy, with all our fellow- SERMON XII. 179 worshippers, who have shared with us in his kind- ness; magnifying the Lord our God, our Protec- tor and Guide ; present to the imagination a faint idea of what shall be our portion hereafter, when joined to the multitudes eternally surrounding the throne of the Most High, and uniting our Hallelu- jahs to the praise of God and the Lamb. Exalted felicity ! Yet notwithstanding all this happiness, which God intends shall be our portion in the next life, how effectually does the envious foe of the human race, mould the minds of the dis- contented, the restless, and ambitious, to defeat the gracious intention of Providence towards them ! The glories of heaven are derided — the otTers of mercy are rejected, and God, even the Most High God, is set in competition with that reason he himself bestowed, when he made man a little lower than the Angels. Shall he that was created from the dust, contend with his Creator, and dispute the decrees of his wisdom, because incomprehen- sible to his finite understanding? Far, very far be such blasphemy from any here ! Let us, my bre- thren] with all humility confess, that having sufli- 21 A 2 180 SERMON XII. cient light to shew us the path that leads to his presence, we will wait with faith the accomplish- ment of his promises, when all the wonders and mysteries of his Providence shall be unravelled, and mercy and truth conspicuously shine with ef- fulgent splendour, to the utter confusion of every gainsayer. Upon this faith, my brethren ! Christianity stands built as on a rock of adamant, against which the gates of hell shall not prevail. The attempts of the infidel to overthrow it, are vain and fruitless, and will in the end, recoil on himself; when shud- dering at his doom, with outstretched hands he flies for refuge, to that despised Galilean, whom he has so long persecuted. The libertine also, who with a seeming boldness, attacks its foundation, will at length fmd, when death approaches, arrayed by conscience in all his terrors, that the arrows of the Almighty, will pierce him through with many sorrows. But let us, my brethren ! act from better hopes, and let our gratitude spring from that devotion which we owe to God, Our holy religion requires SERMON XIL 181 us to acknowledge our obligations to be infmite. We esteem it a reproach to a man, to be destitute of gratitude for favours bestowed on him by a libe- ral benefactor, especially if the favour be conferred unsolicited, and he promises a continuation of his kindness, so long as he merits his attention. What thanks, what praises then shall we not render to our supreme Protector and Benefactor, who hath not only made bare ^^ His holy arm'' in our defence, and *^ Gotten him the victory'' over an insulting foe; but has translated us " From the kingdom of dark- *' ness, into the kingdom of his Son, whom he de- ** livered up for us, and with him has promised, ** freely to give us all things." Shall we not then, my brethren ! reckon our- selves eternally indebted to the iniinite goodness of God, and stir up all that is within us, to bless and praise his holy name ? Far be it from me, to depreciate the value of the blessing bestowed on us in the late success of our fleet: we have all of us great reason to laud and magnify the name of the Lord, and to rejoice in the occasion of this day's general thanksgiving: but at the same time. 182 SERMON XII. we are not to forget our other manifold obligations to the Almighty, and never cease offering our praise and thanksgiving, for keeping from our dwellings, the sword of the destroyer — for the best constitution ever bestowed on a nation, and for the most perfect religion, that ever blest mankind with '* The means of grace, and the hopes of '' glory." [ 183 ] INUNDATION.* Proverbs xxvil 1. Boast not thyself of to-morrow : for thou knoivest not ivhat a day may bring forth. '^ In the midst of life we are in deatli 1" an obser- vation fatally verified by the calamitous circum- stance that lately occurred in this place. Acci- dents, which are sudden and unexpected, shock and terrify us, especially when attended with the loss of life to our neighbours. There is no element, in these inland parts, from which we imagine we have so little cause to apprehend danger as water. On the maritime parts of our island, Ave expect, as the indubitable consequence of every storm, to see the most horrid devastations, where that element * Preached at Silkstone Maj' 10th, 1807, being the Sunday after the Fu - neral of the Persons who were drowned the 2iid of that ^tonth bvthc Intjndation. 184 SERMON XIII. rages in all its dreadful terrors, and almost con- tinually exhibits spectacles of wreck, and wafts the bodies of the wretched sufferers on the shore. But to see a peaceful brook, that seldom rises above its usual channel, suddenly increase to a headlong torrent ; sweeping every thing along with it^ impetuously bursting through every obstacle 5 and in a moment rushing into the dwellings of the astonished inhabitants, allowing them no time to escape from the danger, but overwhelming them with a sudden destruction; fills every person with the most awful impressions, who has any feelings of humanity. When the approaching tempest blackens the face of the sky, and the clouds are big with threa- tening storms; when thunders roll with incessant din through the troubled air, and the lightenings dart with tremendous flashes ! — then we fly to our habitations, and beneath their sheltering roofs, we deem ourselves perfectly secure: but alas! this calamitous event shews us, that even there we are not safe, when the Almighty pursues to destroy. The clouds burst and the rain came forth — the tor- SERMON Xlir. 185 rents poured down the hills; every brook swelled beyond its customary bounds; and uniting in the narrow vale, instantly rose to a rapid river, that destroyed every thing as it rushed onward, sparing neither man nor beast. We, who have witnessed a scene so awful, and now deplore its fatal consequences, have here a lesson presented to us, which we cannot study too much, in order to profit by so clear a manifesta- tion of the power of God. It is not the loss only of a neighbour we lament, or the commiseration we feel for those who have been deprived of their dearest relatives by this circumstance ; but there is an indescribable awe impressed on the mind, on contemplating the operations of the Almighty Ruler, who directs the dreadf idlest storm to fulfil his will; and who alone can arrest the hurricane, and calm the most furious tempest into peace. Whilst under these impressions, we ought to carry our meditations to the throne of infinite Power, and to reflect how wonderous the Almighty is in his works ! how^ wise in his councils ! how righteous in his judg- ments ! how sparing in his punishments ! and how !2 B 186 SERMON XIII. boundless in his mercies towards us ! but more es- pecially, how frail and uncertain our abode is, in a world stained with transgression, and polluted by sin; and of which death is the certain consequence ! It is not the natural decay of age; it is not the ef- fect of some latent distemper undermining the constitution; it is not the numerous and melan- choly catalogue of diseases, that alone take man from the world: a thousand accidents beset him daily on every side. He is exposed to the sudden attacks of every element. The em^th^ with con- vulsive tremblings, has overthrown the strongest foundations, and has swallowed up cities and their inhabitants; the air, when strongl}' impregnated with electric fluid, has shot forth its vivid flash, and in an instant, has stretched lifeless both man and beast : ihe^fire has spread ruin and dismay around ; has consumed the stateliest works of art, and de- voured millions of our fellow-creatures: the water, with sudden inundations, has rendered waste the most fertile lands; and wdth impetuous torrents, has swept away herds and flocks; removed habita- tions; rooted up trees, that have stood for ages; SERMON XIIL 187 and in its desolating progress, has destroyed, with irresistible fury, every human being in its way. Who then can build any security on a life, whose period may be terminated in a moment, by one or other of these elements? Who is there so inatten- tive to the calamities of others, as not to have his feelings painfully and almost daily wounded, from men meeting death both suddenly and unexpect- edly, from a variety of unforeseen casualties? Why then should we " Boast of to-morrow,** when we know not what even this " Daij may bring " forth." These words are not meant to set aside that care and providence, which every man is in duty bound to have, for the future provision of himself and fa- mily. Solomon, the wise monarch of Israel, blest with a wisdom from above, certainly intended not to advise a neglect of the future, but only not to boast of another day, as there could be no cer- tainty that a man should live over the present, for as we know not what a day may bring forth, it is madness to lay out schemes for another, and to build upon the assurance of living till to-morrow: 2 B 3 188 SERMON XIII. therefore it behoves us so to act with that circum- spection, as frail and mortal creatures, whom death may overtake in a moment, that our worldly affairs may not lull us into a fatal neglect of being prepared in our spiritual concerns, should a sudden stroke hurry us before the judgment seat of Christ, How inimitably does the Apostle James, with the dignity of an inspired writer, reprove this boasting of another day ; — " Go to, now ye that '' say, to-day or to-morrow we will go into such a " city, and buy and sell and get gain: whereas ye " know not what shall be on the morrow ! for what ^* is your life? It is even a vapour that appeareth *^ for a little time, and then vanishes away : for " that ye ought to say, if the Lord will we shall ^'live and do this or that.*' Here the Apostle suggests an amendment, and tells us what we ought to say on such occasions : — '' If the Lord " will we shall live, and do this or that." If it please God that we live over this day, as the issues of life and death are in his hands, and he vouch- safe us to see another; we will, bearing in mind that we live by his grace, so transact our worldly SERMON XIII. 189 affairs, with a sense of our uncertainty here, as that death may not come unawares; but find us prepared to meet our judge, with the conscious boast of having provided a gracious acquittal at his hand. Sudden death is no otherwise shocking, than ou the supposition, it may fmd us unprepared, and take us away in the midst of our sin and folly — at the banquet, at the assembly, in the hour of fes- tivity and intemperance. Besides all men are con- scious of innumerable sins known unto God and themselves alone, to whom they would be recon- ciled, and have leisure to atone for transgressions by repentance: — sudden death on this account, must be acknowledged truly alarming. "' The only way then to disarm death of this terror, is to live always so as to be prepared for his stroke, come when it will. And what should prevent us from being so pre- pared ? The concern we take to provide for this world, reflecting as we ought to do on its vmcer- tain duration, ought not to engross our attention more than the great concerns of the next, which is 190 SERMON XIII. to be eternal. The religious man's first care, is to regulate his life in such a manner, as to ensure those everlasting treasures, which are of too precious a value not to be preferred to the perishable riches of this world: and then with a mind fdled with the most cheering satisfactions, he endeavours to obtain with industry, and to })reserve with frugality, those necessaries of life, which are for the support of himself and family; and which enable him the better to fulfd the duties he owes to his fellow-creatures, as living in society: — well knowing they must cease with this life, he regards them only as secondary objects, in respect to the essential duties, that are to pro- cure him those invaluable treasures, which he shall enjoy throughout the ages of eternity. Such should be our plan. We have our Saviour's express promise, that, " If w^e seek j^r.9/ the king- " dom of God," then ^' All things necessary will " be added to us." God has implanted in us a wish to provide for ourselves and families; in or- der, that as living in society, w^e may, in regard to necessaries, as far as in a w^orld subject to calami- SERMON Xlir. 191 tous circumstances can be, be independent of one another. " If a man," says the Apostle, " provide " not for his own, he has denied the faith, and is " worse than an infidel," but then this care for our families, is not to supersede our greater duties as dependents on a Being for life, health, and all things. We lament that death, which suddenly deprives a whole family of a parent, by whose maintenance they are supported : — we are concerned for such a loss, as deeming it almost irreparable; and our hearts bleed at the distress to v/hich they are re- duced. This, so far as it is the genuine effects of real compassion, is hcmourable to our feelings; but we seldom reflect, that perhaps he is taken off, in the midst of his thoughtless negligence of God and religion, and hurried away without the power to utter even an ejaculatory prayer for mercy. It is this consideration, that ought to awaken us to a proper sense of the awfulness of a death that finds us unprepared. When a sinner has lived long enough to discern good from evil, to know virtue from vice; surely he is abusing the long-suffering 192 SERMON XIII. of God, if he have not profited by the knowledge given him; and we ought not to call in question the goodness of God, if no longer respite be given in such a case, and a man be taken away without time to repent, and to reconcile himself to God. Repentance can only be efficacious through the kindness of the Almighty, who is pleased to accept thereof, when the signs of its sincerity are genuine: when the sinner, abhorring his past transgressions, flies to him with intreaties for mercy, and vows of amendmend : God Almighty then, who alone can discern its merit, may accept thereof in lieu of obedience. But this is no ground for the sinner, upon which to build any assurance of pardon, or that he shall have leisure to evince the sincerity of his contrition, which may flow more from a dread of punishment, than an abhorrence of sin. God gave us life, and if he see that we abuse the gift, he has a right to take that away in any manner he judges best; and he certainly knows whether or not a longer life would avail to bring us to repentance : therefore he is good in depriving us of the means of further abusing his mercy, in- SERMON XIII. 193 curring greater guilt, and thereby provoking a heavier chastisement; and whether he takes us away in a sudden manner or not, his mercy is still the same. " Have I any pleasure at all that the '' wicked should die, saith the Lord God, and not " that he should return from his ways and live?" He delights not in the death of a sinner; he would have him return from his evil ways and live : but when he, from his knowledge of the future, sees this would not be the case, he takes the sinner away from a farther commission of ill, and in a manner that his death mav strike the living: with a sense of their mortality, and cause them so to live, that needing no repentance, they may meet the stroke of death, with the conscious joy of be- ing received with approbation by the God they love and have faithfully served, let them be sum^ moned to his presence in any mode, or at any time he sees fit. Let us not then complain, when God suddenly calls men to himself. Many, frequently, it is to be feared, are hurried away in their sins, but more, let us hope, are hurried aw^ay to enjoy his presence, 2 c 194 SERMON XIII. and to reap an early reward for their righteousness; but if borne awav in the midst of their sins, we may be assured that God has tried all methods to turn them from their evil ways, and to lead them to repentance. His iong-sulTering is great, and his patience with transgressors beyond all example. How pathetically does he remonstrate with the Israelites, on their manifold provocations: — ''As '' I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in " the death of the ^vicked; but that the wicked *' turn from his ways and live. Turn ye, turn ye "from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O " house of Israel." Many are cut off to prevent future evil: we who cannot sec beyond the present, mourn their untimely loss; but had they been vouchsafed a longer continuance with us, we should, perhaps, have had cause to regret their having lived so long. God foresees events and acts accordingly; and as he means our good, it is our duty and our happi- ness to submit. In the late calamitous event, the liand of the Almighty may be traced; and however awful and distressing, it behoves us not to confine SERMON XIII. 195 our meditations to the novelty of the circumstance, but to become wiser and better by the useful les- son it affords: for since God may adopt what means he chuses to bring us to himself, it is our duty to be prepared. If in our lives we take care that the principles of true wisdom, which consist in a religious conduct, so govern our actions to God and man, that we can with confidence look to Heaven for support in the hour of danger; ilieji let thunders roll and lightenings blast! Let the earth quake and floods overwhelm — nay, let the elements melt with fervent heat ; the sun be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, and all nature indicate the immediate dissolution of tliis perishable world, yet, supported by our God, and cheered by our Saviour, we shall meet death with an assurance of being future inhabitants of those heavenly kingdoms of peace and joy, where storms and tempests shall affright no more. Amen. 2 C 2 r 196 ] DEATH. Job 21. 23. One dkth in his full strength y being wholly at ease and quiet. This observation represents that solemn event, which frequently with a short, and sometimes with no warning at all, cuts off our days in the middle of their course. Many a man, as in the text, is " Wholly at ease and quiet," and thinks not of death: yet, says Job, in a few verses follow - ing, '' He shall be brought to the grave, and shall " remain in the tomb.'' The truth of this observation is daily before us : we feel its force, and must acknowledge it a lesson of the most important use to mankind. When we are in our full strengthy we reflect too little on our SERMON XIV. 197 mortaiity; we are "Wholly at ease and quiet:" we live careless of an event, that may suddenly deprive us of that strength, and reduce our mortal remains, till they mingle with their kindred dust. In vain does every day present to our view, the funeral procession of a friend or a neighbour, whom a little before we beheld animated with life and activity. We regard not as we ought, the in- struction these scenes are meant to inculcate: — we sigh at the moment, but the reflection makes no lasting impression; at least, it produces not that improvement it ought, in causing us to meditate on the uncertainty of life. '' One dieth in his full '' strength;" who then can tell but before this day expires, he may be numbered with the dead. This is an awful truth, that cannot too often be impressed upon our minds. Death spares neither friend nor relation: our dearest connexions are suddenly broke asunder: we cannot assure our- selves of their enjoyment for an hour, though at present, in the prime and vigour of life. Our hopes and expectations are terminated in a moment; our fairest prospects blighted, and every comfort 198 SERAI ON XIV. which we promised to ourselves, is torn from our embrace, by tlie unwearied arm of death. Two or three instances will prove the justness of these observations. The parent, solicitous for the welfare of his child, labours incessantly at his employment, and wearies out his strength for his future establishment in the world: he grows up beneath his eye, and he w atches over his educa- tion with a parental anxiety, that he may answer the fond expectation he entertains. Every event that befals him, alarms him for his safety, and his perpetual care is to ward off every threatening dan- ger: at length he is repaid by seeing him settled in the world: — all is smiling; all his hopes termi- nate in prayers, that the cares and anxieties he has felt, may be repaid to his child by a long life of success, health, and prosperity. This is the com- mon wish of every parent; but alas! soon, in the very midst of all these flattering expectations, a sudden stroke of some unforeseen illness, shall stretch his child a lifeless corpse, and bury in his tomb, every anxious hope along with it. A son whose filial piety delights in beholding SERMON XIV. 19i) the parent, whose care watclied over liis infant years, enjoying his health and vigour, and pro- ceeding with alacrity in his calling, has no greater pleasure than to join him in the labour of his oc- cupation, and ease the burden of his employment. His sole pride lies in the hope that he shall one day be able to recompense his beloved and indulgent fa- ther, with every comfort and support, in his declin- ing years, for all the pains and tender apprehen- sions, with which he nurtured him up through in- fancy, and guided him through the maze of inex- perienced youth; when suddenly the King of Ter- rors arrests his beloved parent, and his whole com- fort in following him to the grave, is, in having ful- filled every filial duty. When a man is established in life, and entered into all the cares of a domestic union, and is be- come the master of a family, he begins to feci himself of some consequence in that society of which he is a member. He has a part to act, and a station to fill, that establish his use in the com- munity, to whom he is accountable for the well or the ill filling up the duties of his calling. In this ^y 200 SERMON XIV. he is assisted by the members of his own domestic circle, who have their respective offices assigned them, according to the relation they bear to the principal. Now let us imagine a man thus sur- rounded by his family; sharing with him in his toils; filling their respective places with attention and alacrity; — in the midst of all this family anx- iety to ease each others burden, and to alleviate the cares of all; if one branch of this circle of domes- tic happiness and content, should be seized with illness, and precipitately carried off by death, what a gap is made in their comforts! and what a flood of grief overwhelms that family, where peace, content, and joy before serenely dwelt ! To the sur- vivors all is lonely ; there seems a vacancy ; a want of something to fill up the space wherever the eye turns; — missing their wonted object, recollection comes across the mind, and the tear starts at the remembrance of the loss. Again. Suppose a man has lived to see every ])ranch of his family grown up, and all settled to his amplest wishes, and become the heads of other ian\ilies; he sees peace, love, and harmony reign SERMON XIV. 201 amongst them ; and success attend their industry in every Hne of their respective caUings: he flat- ters himself they are permanently established; and that, w^ith the blessing of God on their endea- vours, they shall live and flourish in their respec- tive generations. How natural the wish ! but yet a train of melancholy events and fatal distem- pers, shall scatter the darts of death around, and spread grief and dismay through every branch of his once happy domestic circle. Here is the " Sting of death,'' and the " Victory '* of the grave." It is here the ghastly tyrant stalks from family to family; and armed with all his terrors, sweeps whole generations to the insatiate tomb. These are common circumstances daily occuring, and many others might be drawn equally as true, and equally as calamitous: but it is suflicient to have recalled to your minds, those instances where death smites in the midst of the most flourishing hopes — blasts the fairest expectation of our fondest wishes, and plunges whole families in the deepest sorrow. Sorrow is natural, nor can it be blameable, 2 D 202 SERMON XIV. only when carried to excess; for to bemoan the dead is useless, unless we carry our meditations further, and reap the benefit intended. We should reflect not only on the death of those we have lost, with seriousness becoming christians; but also on our own, as not far distant ; and with that advan- tage, as to assure ourselves of meeting them in ano- ther and a better world. What I have already advanced must liave proved to you, that the words of Job are founded on the daily instances of mortality we see occur- ing in every family. " One dieth in his full " strength, being wholly at ease and quiet." We should therefore improve every event of this kind, so as to be the better for it the short time we have to live on this side the grave. " Jt ease and quiet T It is astonishing that any man should live so, when he know^s from daily ex- perience, that " One dies in his full strength" — in the midst of his most vigorous years, when he ap- pears in the possession of both health and strength; enjoying the blessings of good spirits and cheerful- «iess, and seeming to bid fair for a long and happy SERMON XIV. ^03 life : yet one stroke of a latent disease, or contagious malady, shall suddenly extend him pale and ema- ciated, till he falls an easy victim to the fatal stroke, that cuts him off from the land of the living. But the words of Job do not so much mean that " Ease and quiet,*' which denote a carelessness and inattentiveness to our latter end, as they sig- nify that state of mind, at rest from the cares of the world, and as possessing, whilst in the strength of manhood, the comforts of life, and the sweets of a decent competence. But as mankind in gene- ral, enjoying either the inheritance of their fore- fathers, or the fruits of their industry, are '' Easy " and quiet" about their eternal interest, I wish to take them as indicating that indifference to their mortality, too much the case with men at ease in their circumstances : urging t/ou by no means to be careless of an event, which is to consign you to a place of happiness or misery, according to your conduct before that event, as the uncertainty of the time when it shall happen is totally hid from our knowledge. 2 D 2 204 SERMON XIV. Indeed, did we know the precise term of our lives — that our death would occur on some known day J what better should we be? Alas! experi- ence shews us, that it would be an useless know- ledge with regard to our preparation for it : but where, let me ask, would be that future regard to the welfare of succeeding generations, so essential to a world that subsists only by the continuation of arts and sciences, which would be checked in their progress towards perfection ; as a spirit of enterprize w^ould be damped by the idea of death, were the days of men known that they should live on the earth? Improvements in any thing would never take place; life would be painful in many instan- ces, as no hope of a future enjoyment would stimu- late us to procure more than the bare necessaries of life. It could neither answer the ends of Providence, nor of the world we live in, to know the day of our death; and it is kept from our knowledge for the most gracious purposes. It is sufficient for us that we know we rmtsf. die; and as the ends of so- ciety are best promoted by a man's living righte- SERMON XIV. 205 ously, soberly, and godly in the present world; and as neither happiness nor real pleasure is to be found, independent of virtue and goodness; we must be convinced that it is best to live uprightly, and in the fear of that God, who can at a moment summon us to appear in his presence, to answer for every deed done in the body, whether it be good or bad. But, blessed be God ! we are not left to this; God Almighty has not left us to wan- der in the dark: he formed us for happiness; and though we sinned, and for a while lost the path that leads thereto ; yet he graciously sent his Son to shew us the way to regain the road that leads to immortality — to light ineffable, and to a glory that knows no termination. In proceeding onward along this path, surely we must be encouraged when we regard him who has gone before on the rugged journey of life; and though he suffered much, yet, he is now restored to the glory he had before the world was, and to his place at the right hand of God most high. He has obtained the glorious end he had in view, which is to reward his faithful followers with a 206 SERMON XIV. crown of life, for all the evils they have sustained;, in their passage to immortality and bliss eternal. Let us look then to this bright pattern, whose ex- ample has dignified the path of suffering, and ren- dered it the surest way to obtain a participation in his glories, provided we govern our conduct by his precepts, and take him for our guide in every step through this troublesome world; and to the end of our journey, where peace and joy, freedom from pain, anxiety, and sorrow, eternally dwell; we shall hold on our way rejoicing, with the confidence becoming travellers, only passing through this vale of tears, to enjoy a life that will know no end, and a bliss that has no bounds; and to which death is the certain entrance. " But as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall " all be made alive.'* Here, my brethren, is our hope and confidence ! Let every mourner who has lost the friend of his life, and the partner of his soul, here pause: let the afflicted parent, husband, or child meditate on these words, and whatever be their loss by death, consolation will infuse itself into their bosoms. If a parent is taken from them ; SERMON XIV. 207 if a husband or wife is snatched away, and they seem to be left soHtary; if a child is removed from the world, and torn as it were from their arms; let them consider, that although by Adam death reigns over all, yet by Christ they are made alive, and live for evermore. We convey their mortal re- mains to the grave ; we deposite them there with all the solemn rites of a christian burial ; w^e shed the genuine tears of sorrow for their loss, from a world of pain, grief, and anguish : but we never reflect on the unspeakable advantages they have gained: that while their bodies are dead to us, their immortal souls have taken wing, and ascended up into the presence of God, to enjoy the light of his countenance for evermore. Instead of mourning their deaths, let us rather congratulate them on their arrival at a w^orld, where everlasting peace and happiness reign with^ out alloy; and only let us take care, that if we are summoned in our *^ Full strength," we may not be found at " Ease and quiet" about our eternal sal- vation: but that we may with confidence take to ourselves the words of Jesus, as addressed to all 208 SERMON XIV. his faithful followers, just before his sufferings: " I " go to prepare a place for you, that where I am " ye may be also." Happy thought ! Surely my brethren ! with this idea, that with all those friends and relatives gone before us, to that place which our blessed Lord has prepared for us, we shall no longer mourn; but endeavour so to live, by the example he has set us, that we may rejoice in receiving that stroke of death, whicli is to usher us to the friends we love, and the Saviour we adore. Amen, [ 209 3 PRIDE. ECCLESIASTICUS XXIII. 4. O Lordy Father and God of my life, give me not a proud look, but turn away from thy servant al- ways a haughty mind. What is Apocryphal is not always to be slighted. Jesus, the son of Sirach, in the book of Ecclesiasti- cus, has published many wise sayings, that would not have disgraced the enlightened monarch of Is- rael, whose Proverbs make a part of our sacred vo- lume; and which, though not of equal authenti- city with the other parts of sacred writ ; yet as pos- sessing sound maxims of piety and wisdom, per- fectly conformable to the moral law, were deemed too beneficial to be disregarded, and were there- fore placed amongst the Addenda of the Old Testa- ment, for the benefit and instruction of future ages. 2 E 210 SERMON XV. The wisdom of the prayer of the text will be seen, I hope, by what 1 shall now offer against the detestable sin of pride j as no man can give a greater affront to his Maker, than to have a " Proud '' look," that regards his fellow-creatures with dis- dain; and a " Haughty mind,'* that considers every mark of humiHty in others, as the charac- teristic of a mean and grovelling spirit. To rescue the humble from this unjust reproach; to set this most amiable virtue in its true light, by a repre- sentation of pride in its most odious colours, shall be the business of the following discourse. That a man, formed from the dust of the earth, should arrogate a dignity to himself, because the Almighty hath given him a " Reasonable soul,'* and *' Placed him a little lower than the Angels," is a proof of his ignorance of the divine economy, who made all mankind of the same dust, in order that no pre-eminence of one man over another should be arrogated, beyond those subordinate dis- tinctions essential to the security and welfare of men living together in society. But we are not here speaking particularly of SERMON XV. 21i pride, on account of any superiority as to rank or station a man may chance to hold in society, but of that innate self-arrogance, which assumes a " Proud look** and a " Haughty mind** towards all, with whom it hath any thing to do. This vice assumes many forms, according to the possession it has taken of the soul. In some it shews itself in a supercilious air; an affectation of the politeness of the gay world; and clothing itself in smiles, endeavours to hide its ignorance in the ridiculous gestures of a fashionable coxcomb. No man indicates more inconsistency: one day he condescends to be familiar, the next he passes you without the least notice. Ask a favour of this man, he wonders at your presumption; claim your due, he considers himself as having conferred the obligation. In others it shews itself occasionally, but in all it is contemptible. But where it has taken deep root, and the mind is become haughty, sour, and morose, we always find such an insufferable self-conceit of his own imaginary consequence, as to brow-beat and tyran- nise over every one that falls in his way: and woe 2 E 2 212 SERMON XV. to that man, whose unhappy lot it is to fall into his power; for, of all the means to tyrannise in- the hands of a proud man, the worst, and most suited to the blackness of his soul, is the power to oppress: this is his favourite weapon, and he wields it with an unrelenting arm, that knows no abate- ment, till the object of his hate is humbled in the dust: for whenever this man, in his self-sufficiency, deems an affront is given, no conciliatory mea- sures can appease his offended pride. Forgive- ness, that genuine offspring of heaven, the blessed tenet of the religion of the merciful Jesus, he knows not. Instigated by the most inveterate malice, he pursues the offending culprit, till he sinks under the rod of oppression: then will he add insult to cruelty, and exult over the victim he has ruined : and as his malignant spirit cannot be appeased by the lowest dejection and abasement, when his arm can no longer crush, his envenomed tongue, poi- soned with the deadliest hate and malice, asperses the humbled object of his unrelenting fury. Detraction suits the gloomy malice of his soul : every virtue is wrested by him to a different mean- SERMON XV. ^13 ing, or il Is only with him another name for vice. According to him. It is weakness of mind, to be open and candid; to be generous, is the height of extravagance; it is folly in the extreme, to shew the least compassion to the misfortunes of others, or a disposition to assist them In distress; to con- descend to the civility of inferiors, is low and vulgar ; and should you enter their places of con- course, you shew an attachment to low company. In short, to the jaundiced eye of this man, every virtue is but vice, concealed under a more specious name; for having no other standard to judge of others, but by his own rancoijrous disposition, he considers all mankind to be hypocrites like himself. This is a vice that may most truly be called di- abolical : it procured the banishment of Satan from heaven, and transformed him from an Angel of Light to a Fiend of Darkness. The bosom of the proud man, bears such a resemblance to his own, it is there he delights to dwell; to shew his influ- ence, and to exercise his power. But with all his arrogance, the proud man is al- ways the meanest. Could your eye follow him to 214 SERMON XV. where his interest lies, who so supple, so fawning, so servile ! There is nothing that is degrading or debasing, to which he will not stoop to gain his ends. He is also a prey to the most abject cow- ardice, and will himself suffer any indignity or af- front, from the instruments of his oppression, ra- ther than his iniquities should be brought to light: and this, as he practices to others, either through fear or interest, he requires all, of whom he has no such expectancy or apprehension, let their rank in life, or superiority of talents be what they will, to pay to his self-created sufficiency. The gloominess that sits on the countenance of the proud man, constantly betrays the darkness of his malignant mind. No smile ever brightens his sullen features, but that of disdain or self-com- placency. He is a prey to a thousand anxieties : the workings of his haughty mind, which cannot stoop to acknowledged merit, renders him the malicious persecutor of the unhappy victim, whom a train of unfortunate circumstances may have placed within his reach. This vice is throughout Scripture, pointed out as a sin of the most perni- SERMON XV. 215 cious tendency, as hateful both to God and man. It is the fountain of all the wickedness that has stained the world from the beginning. In short, pride is the root of every vice, whether riches or honours be the object, for the man in whose bosom this detestable vice has found a place, will stop at no crime to attain to the possession of either, in or- der that he may arrive at a distinguished superiority over his fellow-creatures, by their means; being conscious that in sense, goodness, and merit, he is inferior to most; and if his insidious artifices are crowned with success, there are no bounds to his tyranny, oppression, and malice. This representation is not overcharged: it is the picture of the really proud man. There may be some modifications, but in all, in what degree so- ever it is found, it is a sin: therefore, in order to paint it in its most hideous colours, was to shew you to what a dreadful degree it reigns in the bo- soms of some men. Never did pride receive such a complete over- throw, as when our blessed Saviour was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted of th<^ ^1(3 SERMON XV. Devil, who offered him all the kingdoms of the world, if he would fall down and worship him: " Get thee behind me Satan," said our Lord to him: — and to this exalted pattern, I would point out to you the only method we have to conquer the suggestions of this infernal fiend: — " Resist the " Devil and he will flee from you:'* and not only in this instance, but look at our Saviour's conduct through life; and from the cradle to the cross, his example calls out to you in the beautiful language by which he himself pathetically invited all that are weary and heavy laden : — " Learn of me, for ** I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall " find rest unto your souls." By pride man fell, by humility he was to be raised; a decree founded both in wisdom and in justice, passed from the Almighty, that it should be so: and that man might learn the heinousness of that sin, through which he fell, God Almighty permitted his only begotten Son, when he gave him up, to be an atonement for the sins of men, to tread in the lowest vale of humiliation; and accordingly, when he came into the world, he de- SERMON XV. 217 spised its pomp and its splendors, and all those gaudy insignia, with which we decorate the trap- pings of grandeur, and chose to appear in the low- liest condition. He preferred its poverty, and would have none of its riches or its honours; and the same lesson which through life he exemplified in so beautiful a manner, he taught his disciples: " Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth, '* where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where '^ thieves break through and steal; but lay up for " yourselves treasures in heaven." Our blessed Saviour's humility was of that ami- able nature which dignifies humanity: it partook not of that servile dread that the feeble-minded experience at the " Proud look" and '' Haughty ^* mind" of a man like themselves: his conduct was firm and unshaken — he bore all with an uiiparal- Jeled patience, yet with a courage and magnani- mity that confounded his enemies: he fled from no persecution, but met their combined malice w^ith resolution and fortitude: his behaviour in every trying scene, w as calm, collected, and dig- nified: he exhibited no cowardly fear, but met 2 F ^218 SERMON XV. their crudest treatment with a composure, that spoke him above human resentments: and what must for ever set the inveterate mahce of the proud in its most diaboHcal Hght, and give dignity to persecuted humiHty; he, with a sentiment that proclaimed him truly divine, could utter, before he expired on the cross, where he was suffering all that their malice could inflict — "Father! forgive " them, for they know not what they do.** Here is a lesson which the proud man would do well to contemplate, till he learns to subdue the arrogancy of his haughty mind: but this he will never do; his self-sufficiency renders him blind to the pride that sways his actions; and not unfre- quently he deems himself only preserving what he calls his dignity of character: and while he did this and no more, he would be doing, perhaps, not much amiss ; but in his acting up to that dignity, he too often despises his less assuming neighbour; as much depends upon what he may think neces- sary to maintain that dignity. There is a becom- ing pride no doubt, necessary for the preservation of respect, and which is both amiable and proper; SERMON XV. ^19 and which will always prevent a man from acting derogatory to his station and character: but this by no means, is what we are inveighing against, and dissuading you from; it is that disgusting haughtiness, which in look and gesture, has its origin in meanness, and in every dispicable passion that can lurk in the heart of man : in all its actions it is offensive and ridiculous, and would be scarcely- worth the moralist*s attention, were it not that in some bosoms, it reigns with a terrible ascendency, and with infernal fury, persecutes the meek and humble. Indeed, could any thing mortify the pride of man, it would be the reflection, that God has expressly denounced it to be a sin of a most diabolical nature, and placed humility as the first of virtues, and in fact, as the only path to obtain the invaluable treasures and honours of an eternal life. As by our Saviour*s life and example, by his doctrine and parables, he hath taught us to despise and contemn the *' Proud looks" and the " Haughty *^ minds" of men; so has he shewn us, that altl)ougli humility must suffer persecution from the vain and arrogant in this world, yet he has proved it the ^ F 2 220 SERMON XV. only way to obtain the unfading honours of an incorruptible crown, in that which is to come. '' God," says St. James, " resisteth the proud, but " giveth grace to the humble. A proud look," says Solomon, " is the first of the seven things " which God hates." And again he says, " Every '' one that is proud in heart, is an abomination to " the Lord;" but of the amiable virtue of humility, he declares, that by it and the " Fear of the Lord, " are riches, honour, and life." In truth, there is not a vice of a more destructive tendency than pride, to the soul of man ; for in his self-conceit, the proud man despises the lessons of virtue and wisdom: his own understanding is his counsellor, and like the sluggard, mentioned in the Proverbs, " He is w iser in his own conceit, than seven men, " that can render a reason. Seest thou a man '' wise in his own conceit," says the same wise monarch, in a few verses preceding, *' there is " more hope of a fool, than of him." Thus, my brethren ! we have seen the wisdom of the prayer of the son of Sirach ; and from the de- scription of the proud man, and setting before you SERMON XV. 221 the example of our Saviour, we see the great con trast, and the folly and sin of pride: let us, there- fore, banish all ideas of self-conceit, that may kin- dle in our bosoms the latent sparks of pride, which may there lie hid even to ourselves. We have no- thing to boast of or to call our own: why then should we be arrogant over our neighbour? Why assume a " Proud look," or a *' Haughty mind,'* towards any man, whom, though God has placed below us in the scale of society, or depressed by misfortunes from a more elevated rank; yet in the virtues of a good life, may be infinitely our supe- rior? I shall conclude all in the words of our Sa- viour: — "Whosoever exalteth himself, shall be *' abased, and he that humbleth himself, shall be " exalted." [ 222 ] SLANDER. Exodus xx» 16. Thou shalt not hear false witness against thy neigh- hoin\ On viewing the inconsistency stamped on the va- rious characters of mankind, one would be apt to imagine, that God had never appeared to Moses on Mount Sinai ; but that the whole narrative of that astonishing display of divine glory and good- ness, was merely the invention of the Legislator, to give a greater sanction to the laws he intended to introduce. But this cannot be! An individual could not — durst not delude a whole nation, and that nation the peculiar favourite of Heaven. Who that had beheld all Sinai tremble — the thun- der and lightenings issuing from its summit, with SERMON XVI. 22.3 the sound of the trumpet, proclaiming the divine presence? Who that had beheld this tremendous scene, could a moment doubt that these Command- ments were dictated by the voice of Omnipotence? All Israel heard and confessed them the words of God ! Surely then we, enlightened as we are by revelation, will not presume to dispute their divine origin ! Yet, alas, my brethren ! cast but your eyes around, and view the melancholy prospect, and you will too readily perceive every Commandment broken — every divine precept trampled under foot, as if these laws, handed down to us by the sacred historians, existed only in the heated imagination of some enthusiastic devotee. What strange in- consistency ! Their excellence is sufficient even to shew their divine origin, if no other proof existed, as they must be acknowledged to be replete with such beneficial instructions, and to comprehend such a system of religious and moral duties, as no poetic fiction, nor eastern allegory, under which, although the rules of virtue and wisdom are couched in pleasing semblances^ can equal. Of these excellent precepts, I have selected one 224 SERMON XVI. for the subject of our present meditations, as it for- bids a practice very prevalent amongst the gene- rahty of mankind, which is slandej- or dtlractioji ; than which, one more destructive to the happiness of individuals, is not to be found in the catalogue of those vices, prohibited by the Laws of God or man. Bearing false zvitness in the text, does not parti- cularly mean that false evidence, too often I fear, given in a court of judicature; but the bearing, (as I conceive it) or being the messenger of a false intelligence, that is against, or prejudicial to our neighbour. This is slander, and a more danger- ous vice lurks not in the bosom, as sometimes it lies concealed, even from a man's ownself; and breaks not forth but on certain occasions, w^hen the degradation of a character is intended, from some private pique, malice, or revenge. But the bearer of a false intelligence, it must be acknowledged, may mean no prejudice to the in- dividual of whom the slander is forged: he is merely the vehicle to disperse it abroad: he is one of those, who, like the Athenians of old, pass their time in SERMON XVI. t^5 hearing some new thing; and being as eager to teli it, as he was to hear it, he is the fitter instru- ment in the hands of the original detractor; whose blackness of heart I would in this discourse unfold to view, and expose him to your just aversion in his most horrid deformity. But before we proceed, let us examine who may be called our neighbour. The lawyer in the Gospel, asked our Saviour this very question; to which he replied in this beautiful parable : " A *^ certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jeri- ^' choy and fell among thieves, which stripped him ** of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, *' leaving him half dead: and by chance there " came down a certain priest that way, and when *Mie saw him, he passed by on the other side: ** and likewise a Levite when he was at the place, " came and looked on him, and passed by on the ** other side. But a certain Samaritan as he jour- " neyed, came where he was, and when he saw " him, he had compassion on him, and went to " him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in Avine *' and oil, and set him on his own beast, and Q.Q6 SERMON XVI. "brought him to an inn, and took care of him: " and on the morrow when he departed, he took ** out two pence, and gave them to the host, and " said unto him, take care of him, and whatsoever " thou spendest more, when I come again I will " repay thee." Our Saviour having finished the parable, in his turn asks the lawyer — " Which now " of these three thinkest thou was neighbour to " him that fell among the thieves?" The lawyer answers, "He that shewed mercy;" then said Jesus — " Go and do thou likewise." From this parable, it appears that we are to con- sider all mankind as our neighbours, and that each individual, particularly if in distress, has a claim upon our services. How glorious a design, that would connect every human being on the surface of the globe in one endless chain 1 Our Saviour w ould have universal love and charity extended to all in need; an idea so diffusively benevolent, could onl}^ spring from an heavenly being ! We, who profess ourselves to be disciples of this bene- volent master, fondly conclude, that if we live in perfect peace, and keep up a good correspondence SERMON XVI. 227 with our respective neighbours, we are acting the part of a good Samaritan. And is this all ? Is nothing more required of us? Is he wounded by the stroke of adversity, and do we pour into his wounds, ought that can mitigate his sufferings, or afford him the necessary consolation ? Alas ! would I could say we did ! but a contrary disposition, to our shame be it spoken, too often manifests itself on such an occasion. I would not willingly be imagined too severe, but I think a picture may be drawn, which, though horrible at first view, yet, when become familiar, is stript of every frightful appearance, and regarded with the eye of indif- ference. For instance; no sooner shall a man have drunk of the bitter cup of adversity, than those, who, when he reclined in the lap of plenty, shared in his pleasures and lived in his presence; nay, even those, who, in the unreserved gaiety of his heart, partook of his purse, shall, on the eve of misfor- tune, fly from his presence as from a pestilence; and, as if his calamity had not rendered him sufficiently wretched, blacken his character with 2 G 2 Q28 SERMON XVI. the foulest calumnies. Alas ! one would imagine that the misfortunes of a fellow-creature, would rather provoke our pity than our malevolence ! In vain shall man boast of his sensibility, if he can calumniate the wretched ! Suffer me to present to your imagination, a mi- serable, but not an uncommon object, who, en- veloped with the dark clouds of misfortune, wan- ders desolate and forsaken. A deep melancholy has taken possession of his soul, and fell despair has marked him for her own. His bosom heaves wnth unutterable woe, his swollen heart is ready to burst. With hasty step he wanders in search of a friend, in whose sympathizing bosom he may pour forth all his sorrows. Alas ! he finds none ! all shun him — all fly before him : the big tear, in anguish at the disappointment, starts from his eye, and trickles in silence down his cheek. Be at ease fond wretch ! there is none to comfort, none to sooth thy sorrows: thou art unfortunate, therefore must expect to be despised and abandoned of men. Strange! Gan misery like this be an object for detraction ? To add poignancy to the woes of the SERMON XVI. 229 afflicted; can it be humanity? No! for that strictly enjoins — " If thy brother be fallen to dc- " cay, thou shalt relieve him, yea, though he "be a stranger." Then is it Christianity? Far from it; for the great Author of our rehgion, he, who would not break the bruised reed, has com- manded that we should " Love our neighbour as *' ourselves." But alas ! neither the precept of the Decalogue, nor the charitable mandate of the Gos- pel, hath any effect on the generality of men. The detractor too often asperses the brother he ouglit to relieve, and joins in calumniating the neighbour our religion has commanded us to es- teem, protect, and defend. He who in the Gospel is called a " Neighbour," is in the Mosaical precept stiled a " Brother" — names that convey the most interesting ideas of mutual esteem and good offices. The name of brother, suited the Jewish people, separated as they were from the rest of the nations, by pecu- liar laws and ceremonies, and as the descendants of one man, " In whose family all the kingdoms *' of the earth should be blessed." But when that S30 SERMON XVI. promise was fulfilled, he, who broke down the par- tition between Jew and Gentile — boundless, like the charity he displayed to all without distinction, he would unite all mankind in one universal cord of amity and love, however different in rank, in fortune, or in colour. This divine philanthrophist, " Is no respecter of persons, for in every nation, " he that feareth God and worketh righteousness, is " accepted with him/' How then is it, that we of the same charitable religion, disciples of the same compassionate Redeemer, should mutually endea- vour to add to the burden of the oppressed; and give to the w^orld, every little foible of the man, whom adverse accidents has reduced to a state, which, though beyond our wish or power to relieve, should never be beyond our pity to commiserate. By no means shall I descend to notice the petty slanders, that sometimes mingle in our common topics of conversation: these are trifling faults, in comparison with the magnitude of that which I am now decrying, where the heart, poisoned with the most inveterate malice, persecutes with the vilest slanders, the man whom it has already deeply in- SERMON XVI. 231 jured. For if the detractor has been the means to push him from the elevation in which he stood; he has recourse to cahimnies to asperse his cha- racter, in order that his glaring and manifest cru- elty, may, in the eyes of the world, have some shew of justice. Envy indeed, not unfrequently excites to this diabolical practice; to depress the man, whom he thinks stands in his way, or whose vir- tues glaringly contrast the odiousness of his own character, and set it in its true light; renders the envious man ever ready to encourage the secret whispers of scandal; to which he will never fail to add his own glossary, to throw a deeper shade on the reputation already blackened by the mali- cious slander of secret enemies. Distress, however strange it may appear, seems to be that state, which more particularly brings forth this passion for aspersion. Every cause for calamity is attributed to some careless or extrava- gant action of the sufferer. By these detractors mode of reasoning, there is no such a thing as an unexpected accident or misfortune befaling the meritorious. Industry and prudence can never fail. '2o2 SERMON XVI. but must always be successful: all calamities that happen to a man, are of his own bringing on. He may in general, say they, thank himself for these; if it had not been for his own carelessness and ex- travagance, this misfortune had never happened: had he been prudent, industrious, and circum- spect, he would have prevented this calamity; he therefore falls deservedly. And in order to justify these uncharitable opinions, every little foible is exaggerated, every trifling fault is magnified into an atrocious act. But let us appeal to these detrac- tors, and ask them, if brought themselves to dis- tress (as Vv'hose station is secure even for a moment) how they would like to have their own characters thus aspersed, vilified, and misrepresented. Not at all ! But they seem to exclaim with the wicked man in the Psalm: — *' Tush, I shall never " be cast down, there shall no harm happen to *' me!" All their desire is to see the object of their aspersions universally condemned: and alas! their base wishes are but too soon gratified, for there is nothing carries so swift destruction along with it, as scandal : it destroys, it blasts like the lightening : SERMON XVI. 233 it gathers fresh invectives as it passes from tongue to tongue, till what was at first a trifling error, be- comes at last an enormous crime. Scandal spreads discord through families; it breaks the bonds of friendship, and bursts asunder the most sacred ties. It irreparably injures the innocent, and fixes an indelible stigma upon the most unsullied reputation. The most unshaken fidelity and invincible constancy ; the most unble- mished life and irreproachable morals, can never effectually wipe away the stain of a foul name. To attempt to undeceive the world — to vindicate your injured character, is vain and fruitless: you must never expect to do this, for men will sooner believe the detractor than all your attempts to clear yourself. He has now succeeded; he exults that his secret slanders have banished from you every one, who, before the propagation of the scandal, wished you well ; and you are left deso- late amidst a censorious world. There is none to pity, to console, or befriend you; to guide you with his counsel, to ward olTthe envenomed shafts of slander, or to vindicate your injured name and character. ^ H 234 SERMON XVL But amidst this obloquy, my brethren ! this de- famation of enemies, and neglect of pretended friends — if j^our consciences join not in the accu- sation with your calumniators, you have still a friendy to whom you can at all times appeal, who is a refuge for the oppressed, a sure help in time of need — " Even God in his holy habitation'* Our blessed Saviour underwent the utmost ma- levolence the slanderous tongues of his enemies could utter. His doctrines were traduced, his mi- racles ascribed to infernal agency, and his divine person was insulted, spit on, scourged, and cru- cified. All this he suffered from those amongst whom he went about doing good, and for whose sake he came down from heaven. Never was good- ness so misrepresented, nor benevolence so slan- dered. While his enemies reviled him with acting in concert with the infernal powers, they them- selves were under the controul of diabolical influ- ence, and with all the inveterate malice of demons, persecuted him till they brought him to the igno- minious death of the cross. If then, my brethren, he who was goodness it- SERMON XVI. ^35 self, whose doctrines were promulgated to lead men to eternal happiness in the next world ; and whose miracles were wrought to relieve the af- flicted of the sons and daughters of distempered nature in this, was thus aspersed; who are we that can expect to escape the slanderous asper- sions of the envious and malicious? This is one of the persecutions we must expect to suffer in this world, where good and ill are so blended, that it is difficult, often, to distinguish one from the other; but for our consolation, we know that there is a God in heaven, who sees the motives of our actions: to him then let us leave the vindica- tion of our injured name. The time will come, when, before an assembled world, convened to receive their final doom, it will be knore^n to the confusion of our enemies, that — " He who privily " slandereth his neighbour, HIM WILL GOD DE- " STROY." 5^ H 3 [ 2S6 3 COVETOUSNESS. Mark x. 25. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle^ than for a rich man to enter the king- dom of God. VV HEN our first parent transgressed the prohibi- tory command of his Maker; sin, with all its fatal consequences, entered the world, changed the face of nature, and all the direful passions that now in- habit the mind of man, assumed the controul of his bosom. He became the slave of every appetite that could debase his original nature, and pur- sued that predominate lust that held the chief place in his corrupted mind, and with a senseless depravity, rushed headlong into every crime. Rea- son, though so much boasted of in these our days of infidelity, could not alone oppose the torrent without SERMON XVII. 237 the divine assistance; it sunk before the violence of every lust, and became subservient to every un- ruly affection, till God, in his great goodness to this fallen state, announced his laws, promising re- wards to the obedient, and denouncing punish- ment upon the transgressors. Thus, through the condescension of the Almighty, in appealing to the free-agency of man, reason was called to use her original powers, and the consequences of sin and obedience, were readily seen and allowed. To check — to counteract the dreadful effects of these passions overpowering the feeble efforts of unas- sisted reason ; to reduce, but not to suppress them ; God, in delivering his laws for man's observance, had a benevolent regard to his present state, as formed for society, and if duly observed, to render him capable of being restored to his primitive happi- ness, in the fulness of time; when, as a God of justice, as well as mercy, the former was to be satisfied by the seed of the woman, bruising the heel of the serpent. Nothing less than the infmite wisdom and good- ness of God, could thus defeat the purposes of Sa- 238 SERMON XVII. tan, and render them productive of a far more ex- alted happiness to man, than that of which his temptation, though successful, had deprived him. His design, in rendering him disobedient, was to make him forfeit the felicity for which he was cre- ated, and Hke himself, be for ever doomed to en- dure the displeasure of an offended Deity. He had seen and envied his happiness in the Paradise of Eden, enjoying every bliss with innocence, a kind Creator could bestow. With w hat astonishment and rage, must he then see the Divine Goodness interfere in man's restoration, by a wise and mer- ciful decree, in which his only -begotten Son should satisfy offended justice, assume our nature, die for our justification; and thus by the sacrifice of him- self, obtain for highly-favoured man, not a terres- trial Paradise, but the eternal enjoyment of the beatific presence of the Almighty, which he^ with his follow^ers was for ever debarred from enjoying ! No wonder, that he now " Goes about as a roaring "lion, seeking whom he may devour.'' He is our adversary, and his whole bent is to render our pas- sions deaf to the calls of reason, and to mould SERMON XVII. 239 them to his purpose, in order, still to defeat the gracious design of the sacrifice of God Incarnate, and to render every precept inefiicient to promote the end for which it was given. There is not a passion lurks in the soul of man, that he does not endeavour to bend to his infernal purposes. He watches our weakest side, and where we are least able to stand up against his attacks, he takes the advantage, and by the help of that passion which has got the ascendency, leads us captive at his will. But of all the passions in the heart of man, that on which Satan works with the greatest success, is covetousness. Here he finds the heart ready dis- posed to act up to his infernal suggestions: and what scarcely any other passion can be found to do, it renders a man callous to every species of distress. Neither pride, ambition, or revenge, ever so effectually close up the avenues to the heart, as this uncharitable sin of avarice. The cries of the distressed — the melancholy pleadings of genuine woe, have made the proud, the ambitious, the re- vengeful relent, but never have they been known 240 SERMON XVII. to soften the stonv bosom of the sordid miser. He is ever the bitter persecutor of his fellow-creatures, and what is still more unaccountable, while all other passions spring from a regard to self-interest, the miser pays as little attention to his own neces* sities, as to those of others. As charity or love to our fellow-creatures, was the very virtue on which our Saviour founded his re- ligion, he would have the same charity or love to be exercised among his disciples, as had induced him to leave the bosom of his Father, in order to die for their redemption: — " This is my command- " ment," says he, " that ye love one another as I " have loved you: greater love hath no man than " this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." And as he well knew that no passion was so de- structive of this love, as avarice, he took every op- portunity to warn his disciples, against the least desire, even for more than the bare necessaries of life, and even for them not to be over anxious, but to seek first the kingdom of heaven, and the7i all things necessary would be added unto them. And that charity was to be the first requisite in SERMON XVII. 241 the character of his disciples is evident from the text. When a young man, with seeming earnest- ness, came and asked our Saviour what he must do to inherit eternal life — he told him he must keep the Commandments, as set forth in the Decalogue; the young man replied, he had observed them from his youth: — *' Then Jesus beholding him, loved "him, and said unto him; one thing thoulackest: ^* go thy way ; sell whatsoever thou hast, and give " to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in hea- '* ven ; and come, take up the cross, and follow me; " and he was sad at that saying, and went away "grieved, for he had great possessions.'* Such is the case with worldly men in general, in whose bosoms, though absolute avarice has not found a place; yet the love of the good things of this life hath so far engaged their attention, that they cannot forsake them, even when their eternal salvation is at stake. This young man is not re- presented as an immoral character, for he had kept the Commandments from his youth ; but he lacked one thing which, indeed, in what had brought him to the feet of Jesus was, the one thing needful, 2 I 242 SERMON XVII. Our Saviour admired his zeal, but saw he had not that self-denying spirit, necessary to become his disciple — to take up his cross and to follow him^ and to convince him that his heart was not in a proper state to act up to the zeal for eternal life, with which his self-confidence in the moral duties of the law observed from his youth, had inspired him; puts him immediately to the test: — "Sell " whatsoever thou hast and give to the poor, and. '^ thou shalt have treasure in heaven ; and come, ^' take up the cross and follow me." Hard condi- tions these for a rich young man to perform ; there- fore as he could not obtain the inheritance of eter- nal life on his own terms — ** He went away sor- « rowfui;* Our blessed Lord seeing this, turned to his dis* ciples, and observed: " How hardly shall they that " have riches enter into the kingdom of God. ^* And the disciples were astonished at these words; " but Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them; " — children, how hard it is for them that trust in *' riches to enter into the kingdom of God: it is " easier for a camel to go through the eye of a SERMON XVII. 243 ** needle, than for a rich man to enter into the '' kingdom of God.'* Riches, however men may vahie them, or boast of their acquisition, whether obtained by industry or inheritance, are only entrusted to their care as stewards, a\id for the use or abuse of which they are accountable. If a man be possessed of riches, and he use them according to the intent of the donor, who crowned his industry with success, or permitted the inheritance of his fathers to de- scend to him: — if he regard them only as the bounty of Heaven, and himself as an instrument to distribute them, as shall be most beneficial to others, as well as to himself: in this sense of the Gospel, he is no rich man ; not being the abso- lute or real proprietor of the riches, with which he is entrusted, but is to be considered in the light of a steward, " Of whom it is required that a man be " found faithful." But if instead of considering himself as a stew- ard, a man arrogates to himself an absolute and uncontrollable property in his riches, and in all the pride of his heart, boasts within himself — ^i I 2 244 SERMON XVII. " My power and the might of my band, hath got- " ten me this wealth ;'* and disclaims the calls of religion upon him, to dispense his superfluity to the necessitous: he is the man of whom our Sa- viour speaks, who, since he considers his wealth as his own, to dispose of as he thinks fit, it is but just that he should be dealt with, as with a rich man. Although nothing immoral may be imputed to him ; yet he refuses to acknowledge God, as having any authority over the riches he has put into his hands: aiid though he would obtain eternal life, yet, when charity is proposed — to distribute to the poor as the first step thereto, he rejects heaven, rather than part with his beloved wealth. As no man is deemed a rich man but the covetous, in the eye of the Gospe) ; such will find it as hard, as they have riches, and will not part with them, for our Sa- viour's sake and the Gospel's, but put their trust in them, rather than in the promises of God; such will find it full as difficult " To enter the kingdom " of God," as it is for " A camel to pass through " the eye of a needle." This expression means no more than to shew SERMON XVir. 245 the utter impossibility of a rich or a covetous man (for in the language of the Gospel they are sy- nonymous terms) to enter the kingdom of God: and with every degree of justice. Love or charity, as I have before observed, is the foundation of our religion. Our Saviour's love to man was bound- less : he left heaven — all the glories that he had with the Father, before the world was, for our sakes; and even though he has vouchsafed to say, that if we shew pity, even to the least of those (whom he is pleased to style) his brethren, we shew it unto him. Yet the miser will not part with a single mite to relieve the distressed: but " Who- ** soever hath this world's goods, and seeth his bro- *' ther have need, and shutteth his bowels of com- " passion from him, how dwelleth the love of God "in him?" Notwithstanding what God has done for him, in sending his beloved Son upon earth, manifestly *^ To destroy the works of Satan," by dying for his redemption; and that Son has declared, if we would be his disciples, we must love one another; and has made our eternal felicity to depend on our 246 SERMON XVII. charity to the distressed, as is obvious in his own account of the day of judgment; yet so closely has Satan blocked up the miser's bosom with the love of riches, that the most grievous calamity that can befal the children of men, cannot reach or melt his soul to pity. But the folly of this man, though it calls for the severest reprehension, is nowhere so ably set forth as by our blessed Saviour himself: — " The ground " of a certain man brought forth plentifully, and *' lie thought within himself, saying; What shall I *' do, because I have no room where to bestow my "fruits? And he said, this will I do; I will pull '' down my barns, and build greater, and there "will I bestow all my fruits and my goods; and I " will say to my soul ; soul thou hast much goods " laid up for many years, eat, drink, and be " merry. But God said unto him, fool ! this night " thy soul shall be required of thee, then whose " shall those things be, which thou hast provided ? " So is he, that layeth up treasure for himself, and "is not rich towards God." But this vice, when carried to excess, is generally deemed more wor- SERMON XVI L 247 thy of ridicule than reproof, as, contrary to every other passion, it then preys upon itself, and be- comes its own tormenter. We, therefore, shall confine our considerations to that degree of it, which more immediately belongs to the subject, and caused the observation of our Saviour. The young man had nothing immoral, with which to be reproached; but it is evident, he had pride in his having observed the Commandments from his youth; and fully expected to be admitted the disciple of Jesus, as his vanity in his obser- vance of the moral law told him he merited. When our Saviour recapitulated the precepts of the Decalogue, by no means was his ardour checked; but he exults with an air of confidence: "All " these I have kept from my youth up ; what lack "I yet?" Charity! " The very bond of peace " and of all virtues, without which, whosoever " liv^eth is counted dead before the Lord." That a man, who gains by his industry, more than a competency or sufficiency of riches, should feel a degree of self-complacency, we allow and excuse: it is natural for a man to indulge sentiments of 248 SERMON XVII. self-satisfaction, on such an occasion: but then— '' Let him not think of himself more highly than '' he ought to think," but ^vith that humility, as shews he has a just sense of his obligations to the Giver of all good things, and to whom he w ishes to shew his gratitude, in the way most pleasing to him ; and therefore, let him apply to the means, which has been pointed out to him, and thereby prove that he has a due sense of the obligation he is under. Let him bestow on the poor and needy, the superfluous and perishable riches of this w orld, and by Ihu,^ making friends of the mammon of un- righteousnes, he w ill " Lay up for himself trea- " sures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust " doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break " through, nor steal." But what is here condemned in the text is, when riches are preferred to religion; to w'hose dictates not the least attention is paid, where its charitable Author has bid us consider the poor as our brethren, and consequently entitled to share with us in the bounty of Heaven. The text gives the covetous no hopes of mercy, w^hen they trust in their riches^ SERMON XVIL 249 and prefer them to their everlasting interest. Can a man deem it hard to be excluded from the king- dom of heaven; from the enjoyment of eternal happiness, when he himself has refused to give a momentary relief to the necessities of his fellows- creatures ? The crumbs (comparatively speaking) which fall from his table, would make many a perishing object happy; and yet he neglects to give them; even boasting at the same time, that he keeps the whole moral law. But we are not to confine charity to eleemosy- nary deeds; that would indeed be to confine it to very narrow limits. It is that boundless love to mankind, attested by every deed, that the religion of the amiable and merciful Jesus alone teaches: it is that universal good-will, that considers every in- dividual child of Adam with equal regard, and ex- tends its good offices to all, as far as its power reaches. Were we to confine ourselves to the mere duty of alms-giving, and not practice universal be- nevolence, we might " Give all our goods to the " poor,** nay, " Our bodies to be burnt,** and yet " Have not charity.** There is no man, in what- ^ K 250 SERAI ON XVIL ever state he is, but may practice this duty, as prescribed him at large in the Gospel:— '^ Charity " suliereth long and is kind: charity envieth not; " vaunteth not itself; is not puffed up; doth not " behave itself unseemly; secketh not her own; is '' not easily provoked." In short, this excellent representation of charity, comprehends the most amiable virtues; kindness, patience, humility, and is nothing else but that love unfeigned, which is " The fulfilling of the law." It expands to all alike without distinction; it mingles with the softer pas- sions of the soul, and " Rejoices with those that " do rejoice, and weeps with those that weep." AVhere it cannot relieve, it flows out in acts of kind- ness, and exerts itself to soften every species of distress, and feels a mental transport, in seeing content and joy reign in every bosom. Oh, could the miser, but for a moment, taste the delight the benevolent man feels, at seeing the object of his bounty happy and cheerful by his means, surely he would hug his sordid dross no more, nor place a value upon an useless heap, which can have no value but in its currency; and which he must one SERMON XVII. 251 day quit; for ever^ " For he can carry nothing away " with him when he dies, neither can his pomp « follow him.'' My brethren! without extending your love of superfluous riches to the avaricious extent of the sordid miser, you may, if you are not careful, suf- fer it so far to get the better of your disposition, as to close your bosom against those acts of kind- ness, which are no less acts of charity, than the distribution of your money. I have shewn you the utmost extent of this vice, with the design of warning you against the least inclination towards a superfluity; which once obtained, too often so effectually closes up the avenues to the heart, that nothing can penetrate or melt it into acts of kind- ness.' It is then our adversary begins his attempts; and by working on the laudable wish to provide for your offspring, soon teaches you not to distin- guish what is a sufficiency, but leads you on gra- dually, till the love of wealth shuts up the heart against the claims of individual distress, as well as the greater calls of society, for your practice of the moral duties of your christian profession. ^2 K 2 [ 252 ] OLD AGE. Psalm vxxl 18. Now that I am old and grey-headed, O God for- sake me not. Old age has something in it, that with the seri- ous part of mankind, never fails to obtain respect. To see a man who has Uved beyond the usual term, to an advanced period of hfe; respected and beloved for his integrity and uprightness; punc- tual in his duties to God and man; making a con- science in every thing he does; surrounded by a family, whom he has brought up in " The nurture "and admonition of the Lord;" is at once to be- hold a man, whom good men must reverence, and God delight to sustain. The example he has given ; the steps he himself SERMON XVIII. 253 lias marked out, by which he has attained to an honourable old age, followed by his children and children's children, give lustre to his years, and add " A crown of glory" to his " Hoary head," as ** Founded in righteousness." We see in him the happy effects of a youth led in temperance and so- briety, from the glow of health, that still animates his venerable countenance; and the mild benignity of his looks bespeaks the calm dignity of his mind, acquired by a long life of conscious rectitude to God and man. A life led in this manner, we may reasonably conclude, will be terminated by a death suitable thereto. With the blessing of God, he may expect to sink gradually into the vale of years; and when the lamp of life is about to be extinguished, with perfect resignation and steady composure, he will lie down in peace, and happy in the prospect of a virtuous and well-established offspring surround- ing his death-bed, he will resign his soul into the hands of that God who gave it, with a calm tran- quillity. Contemplating this scene, who would not adopt the wish of the venal and te'-nporizing 254 S E R M O N XVIII. Balaam; ^^ Let me die the death of the righteous, ^' and let my last end be like his?'* It is true that old age does not always obtain respect. In the thoughtlessness of youth, we dis- regard what we think is a check upon the liead- strong passions of that giddy age, and consider the hoary head as a sage monitor, always reprov- ing the follies of inexperienced 3'Outh. What is this but the checks of conscience, not yet stifled by the dissipating gaities of the giddy circle of youthful intemperance, that render| us appre- hensive of the rebuke of elder years, and continu- ally to imagine, that in the serene temperature of old age, we see a perpetual reproach of our w^ild pursuit of pleasure? Pleasure! how falsely so called! Short-lived its joys, and transient all its attractive wiles! It lures to destruction, and lays the foundation of those manifold infirmities that attack our sinking years. Instead of a calm, pla- cid, and temperate old age, we feel their effects in a weak and emaciated frame, tottering with disease; and w^e are ushered into the dark cham- bers of the grave, through some painful and acute SERMON XVnr. ^55 disease; the fatal effects of the intemperate abuse of our early years. To enumerate the catalogue of diseases that at- tack the imbecility which accompanies our sink- ing }/ears, is a painful task: but considered as the consequences of an early habitude to intemperate indulgencies, may warn the incautious youth to avoid the path of seducing pleasure; strewed, as it may appear, with never-fading flowers: yet, in the excruciating diseases of infirm and decrepid old age, they may discover that it terminates in misery — the roses are withered, but the thorns remain. It is likewise a melancholy truth, that not only the intemperance of youth may produce the bur- densome and painful diseases incident to old age, but the variety of sad accidents that may befal us in our pilgrimage through life. Our cares and anxie- ties in a world, in which we are destined to eat our bread with the sweat of our brows, produce an incapacity to sustain the rigorous assaults of a racking distemper in the winter of life, or to bear up with fortitude against the necessities of pro- 2.56 SERMON XVIII. tracted old age. We are also bound by ties of so tender a nature to others, that we cannot but par- ticipate in their distresses, and feel their afflictions '^ Bring down our grey hairs with sorrow to the " grave." But the most distressing calamity of old age is, when it is attended with poverty and want; I mean not that poverty, in which those who have been born and bred, whose wants being few, feel not its most poignant sting: but that po- verty w hich has come upon a man, from those ac- cidents, to which the best of men are liable: for, will any man, though his affairs may be ever so prosperous, and his certainty for the supplies of old age ever so secure; will he say that he has provided for the necessities of an age, in which he shall have an ample sufficiency for all his wants? The wealthiest individual has been on a sudden re- duced to the lowest ebb of poverty; and the man who seemed to have built a sure foundation for all the events that can happen, has been unexpect- edly thrown dow^n from his fancied security, and humbled with the lowest order of society. The bit- terness of poverty is here felt in its sharpest degree; , SERMON XVIII. %51 old age with its infirmities, adds to his load of af- flictions; distress and keen-griping want, with an impossibility to procure for himself, either food for his sustenance, or remedies for his distemper, re- double his torments, thus wringing under the bur- den of poverty, and the torments of disease. Alas ! my brethren ! contemplating so miserable a scene, the bare idea that such an event may befal us, the eye and the hands are spontaneously lifted up to- wards heaven, and we exclaim with the Psalmist, *^ When I am old and grey-headed, O God forsake " me not." Distressing as this scene is, yet it may be, and too often is, rendered still more afflictive by a man's own self. Strange that a man should lay up in store, what will add poignancy to those calamities, usually attendant on old age, and make them the more intolerable ! The diseases of old age are, as I have observed, for the most part, the conse- quences of youthful intemperance; and seldom the follies of that inconsiderate age, are left off in manhood, but are then often pursued with more avidity; and having obtained a more systematic ^ L 258 SERMON XVIII. form, they insensibly gain such a hold, that as the strength dechnes, tlie passions assume a greater ascendency, till the whole man becomes vitiated. Then, when poverty and disease attack the wretch, enfeebled by age, vice, and debauchery, con- science arrays death in his most dreadful terrors, and the hoary-headed sinner, trembles at his ap- proaching doom, and the pallet on which his shri- velled limbs are stretched, becomes a bed of tor- ment ; till he sinks into the grave, unpitied — unla- mented; a sad and fearful example of a life led in vicious pursuits, and without that due sense of the dignity of his nature, in possessing a soul destined for the glories of immortality. But not to dwell on a subject so painful, yet so true a picture of sinful old age, there are other dis- tresses, not produced by a man's own self He has ties that unite him to others, by the most endear- ing of all connexions. Though his own course of life may not occasion any grief to himself: yet if he see those to whom he is bound, by the tender relation of a parent, so far from following his ad- vice or example ; that in spite of his admonition, SERMON XVIII. S59 they run headlong to vice and wickedness; how must his sinking years be deprived of that comfort he fondly hoped to enjoy, when he nurtured them up in good principles ! All is lost ! all is thrown away ! and nothing is wanting, to render him the most wretched of beings. Conceive a parent of a family, bestowing on the children God has given him, the best education in his power; — see himin- cessant in his labour for their future conlfort and support; imploring Heaven for their safety; guid- ing them with his counsel, and watching their un- guarded moments, lest they fall into the snares of the wicked; instilling into them the principles of prudence, duty, and piety, and promising to himself they will prove a comfort and support to his declining years, and an honour to his grey hairs: view this pleasing prospect utterly disappointed by the un- towardness of his children: some taking vicious courses, others disobedient, and following only the bent of inclination. How wretched ! how riiiserable is this man's situation ! Say ye, who are parents, . if there can be a lot more grievous, than to have your children thus frustrate your hopes; and dis- ^ L 2 ' - 260 SERMON XVIIL appoint all your fond expectations! In vain have you toiled! In vain have you sat up early and late! Nothing remains but to appeal to God, who can justify you, in having fulfilled every parental duty; and can at length, in recompense thereof, reclaim your untoward offspring, to see the error of their ways. As our best endeavours may thus end in disap- pointment, we have only to be careful to fulfil the duties of our stations to the best of our abilities. If our conduct have been such, that although our dearest-formed connexions, in spite of our endea- vours to the contrary, wring our hearts with the most pungent sorrow; yet we may take comfort to ourselves, should God permit us to descend into the vale of years, and to silver our locks with de- clining age; that our recompense will be propor- tionate to the duties we have performed, and those good actions that have filled up the measure of our days. The Patriarch Jacob, whose " Days were " few and evil,*' yet was recompensed in this life, with the filial love of a son, w'hom he had long mourned as dead, who proved to be the comfort of SERMON XVIIL 261 his declining years, and the glory of his grey hairs. Feiv, indeed, with respect to the ages of his forefa- thers, had the days of his life been, and evil or unfortunate with respect to the vicissitudes of life. Banished from home at an early period, to avoid the resentment of his brother; and for twenty years an hired servant to Laban his uncle, whom he served for his wives Leah and Rachel. The tortur- ing afflictions he suffered from the untowardness of his sons; their cruel revenge upon Hamor the Hivite; the loss of his favourite son Joseph, whom he lamented as dead, for a number of years, which had well nigh brought his grey hairs with sorrow to the grave ; proved, lamentably proved, that evil or unfortunate had been the days of the years of his life. Yet after all these afflictions, how was this wor- thy Patriarch compensated for all he had suffered? His dying moments are attended with circumstan- ces, that marked the distinguivshed favourite of Heaven. While leaning from the top of his staff, with all the fervour of an inspired Prophet, dis- pensing the blessings of Heaven, or predicting the 262 SERMON XVIII. rise and fall of some of the branches of his sur- rounding family; we behold the dignity of age, long tried in the furnace of affliction, and found holy, just, and good; while Heaven, attending, waits to distribute the blessings, or to fulfil the de- nunciations of the dying Patriarch. How does this idea, my brethren ! strike us with admiration, of the wonderful love of God to these chosen men? From which we may rationally conclude, that the prayers of good men, at their dying hours, will be thus ever attended to by God, who appears in these instances, to give a sacred sanction to the last wishes of devout and holy men. How ought this consideration, my brethren ! to excite us to a diligence in our respective callings, and in our religious duties; and stir up all that is within us, to bless and praise the holy name of God, who, so far from forsaking us in old age, will convey to our virtuous offspring, the blessings we enjoy. It was this idea that caused David to exclaim — '' I have been young, but now am old, ** yet never saw I the righteous forsaken, nor his *' seed begging their bread/' SERMON XVlir. 263 Let not youth deride the hoary head of age, which, if founded in righteousness, is a crown of glory; but let him gather from his lips the lessons of experience, and reverence in him that venerable deportment, which ever attends the man, whom virtue encircles with the sanctity of length of days: and inspired by a laudable emulation to pursue his steps, by persevering therein, he shall himself, when sinking in the decline of life, become to his posterity, that respectable character, which at- tracts the applause of the worthy, and the appro- bation of the good; till at last, at peace with God, and with the world around, his children blest with the protection of an approving Deity, he shall, amidst their blessings, sink gradually into the arms of death, as a man falls into a peaceful slumber. To the aged, after what has been said, there is little occasion to use any further exhortation: they must know the value of a peaceable death, too well, to endanger its loss, by living in direct opposition to those duties of their religion, that alone can ob- tain it. Speaking of religion, under the name of wisdom — " Length of days,'* says Solomon, *^ are- i264 SERMON XVIII. ** in her right hand, and in her left, riches and ho- " nour." And in another place — " The hoary head ^' is a crown of glory, if it be founded in the way " of righteousness." Therefore since " Length of "days," is pronounced by this wise monarch, to be the recompense of a religious life, and when so obtained, " The hoary head is a crown of glory;** what encouragement is this to liv e in such a man- ner, as to procure for ourselves, " That peace " which the world cannot give !" — th^it peacCy which neither the storms nor tempests of a world, which itself v/ill soon pass awa}/, can disturb, nor the vain derisions of deluded youth shall abate ! — that peace, which at your dying hour, shall infuse an inexpressible tranquillity into your bosom, that while it gives you a foretaste of the joys to which you are about to enter, will sooth the anguish of the parting moment, when death shall gently close your eyes from every friend you love, and usher your soul to where, under the shadow of the Al- mighty's wings, you will for ever enjoy, an im- mortal and eternal calm! Which may God, &c. C. GHEAVES. r-RINTER, BARNSLEY. ^^a 99 99 9