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innocence, and which cannot with impunity be greatly violated. Thus, luxury has been restrained within bounds; the higher orders of society are prevented from carrying a licence of manners far beyond the limits of propriety; and while they are indulged in those elegancies of life which are suited to their station, they are yet kept in check by the warning voice, that they must “ use these things as not abusing them."

If the manners of the affluent have thus been improved, the interests and happiness of the lower orders of society have met, in the progress of the gospel, with a regard and an attention which was quite unexampled in the former history of the world. It is impossible, my brethren, that within my present limits I can do any justice to this most distinguishing feature of Christianity. That it was one great object of our Saviour's mission, appears from his declaration, that he came to " preach the gospel to the poor:" it appears from the constant application which he gave, when on earth, to the relief of the infirmities of the lowest of the people: it appears still more from the striking fact, that he was himself a poor man, who had "not where to lay his head." I know not any conceivable circumstance which could have had a more powerful influence in raising and digni fying the condition of poverty; in making it respectable in the eyes of the proudest and most affluent; in making them zealous to relieve the distresses to which it is liable, than this most astonishing fact, that the same person, before whom the potentates of the earth now bow the knee; whose name in every Christian land is classed with the highest which is named; whose dignity is so lofty, that the imagination of man loses it amidst the

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splendours of Deity; that he, when he lived among men, should have appeared in the obscurest condition, and with the fewest external advantages. That all these circumstances have had a prodigious effect in removing the worst prejudices which arise from the inequalities of rank in society, appears, in the first place, from the comparative freedom and importance to which the lower orders have attained in every Christian country; and, secondly, from the many institutions which, wherever Christianity is disseminated, have been established for removing the wants, and for relieving the diseases of the poor.

It is thus, my brethren, that our Saviour has bestowed present gifts upon men, and that the same divine person who undertook and accomplished their eternal salvation, is, in the present life, their greatest benefactor and friend. This reflection, pursued through all the departments of human life, in which Christianity has been beneficial, either by its precepts or its spirit, restores us again, in some measure, to the times of its origin, and makes us still partake in the benefit of our Saviour's presence. When we accustom ourselves to behold his hand spreading abroad happiness among nations, or pointing out to men the paths of peace in private life, we can still fancy that we are enjoying his company, and listening to his sublime instructions. We even are witnesses of his miracles; we see the worst diseases of body or of mind healed or relieved in those institutions which his Spirit inspired, and over which it presides; and, like the disciples of old, we hear his voice sending us forth to be fellow-workers with him in these labours of love, with him " to preach the gospel to the poor; to

heal the sick; to cleanse the lepers; and freely to give, as freely we have received."

On the subject of the institution, which at present claims our assistance, my words shall be few. It is most evidently a Christian institution, and breathes the genuine spirit of the gospel. It supplies the poor of our people with aid and advice, under the pressure of disease; restores to their families the labour of fathers and of sons; and smooths the bed of death to the infirm and the aged. "It suffers likewise the little children to come unto it ;" and by the application of that blessed discovery*, which has in our day been a " gift unto men," and which has for ever freed the anxious minds of parents from one of their heaviest alarms, it preserves to the poor man those children to whom he yet looks forward for his future support, and whom he hopes to render a blessing to their country. I need not add one farther word of recommendation. You have here, my brethren, an opportunity of co-operating with your heavenly master in his benevolent designs for the good of mankind. You have lately risen from his altar, where you beheld him "ascending up on high, and leading captivity captive." He now sends you forth to be the ministers of "his gifts to men." Go, then, and rejoice that you are thoughtworthy to be so employed; and remember with gratitude, "that, inasmuch as ye do good to one of the least of these his brethren," he esteems it done "unto him!"'

* Vaccination.

SERMON XIV.

THE SUPERIOR IMPORTANCE OF MORAL DUTIES.

MATTHEW, ix. 13.

"But go ye, and learn what that meaneth; I will have mercy, and not sacrifice."

THE Pharisees, who were particularly rigid in their outward demeanour, although their hearts were very far from being penetrated with just sentiments of religion, pretended to find fault with our Saviour, for the case and freedom with which he frequented all kinds of society, as if, by so doing, he was derogating from that high character which he assumed." Why eateth your master with publicans and sinners?" was a question which they frequently put to his disciples; and the answer which it received from Jesus was one into the spirit of which they were probably very little capable of entering." They that be whole (says he) need not a physician, but they that are sick :" and then in the words of the text he proceeds: "but go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice.”—As if he had said: "In consequence of your perverted notions of religion, you cannot at all comprehend the nature of

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my mission. You suppose that religion consists in a formal attention to rites and ceremonies; I came into the world to show that it is an active principle, operating upon man as a member of society, and leading to a course of unwearied beneficence: you suppose that the Deity is gratified with the pomp of worship and the sanctity of the countenance; I came to show that a good heart is what he requires, and that he judges of the heart much more from the conduct of man with man, than from any praises or adoration which can be bestowed on himself."

The error of the Pharisees, which our Saviour here exposes, is one which is very apt to insinuate itself into the minds of those, who, having acquired a speculative belief in matters of faith, have yet neglected to apply their religious principles to the discipline of the heart. Religion, considered merely as a speculation, opens up so wide a field, whether we inquire into the divine attributes, into the immortality of man, or that peculiar dis. pensation of Providence revealed to us in the gospel; that the mind which is occupied with such investigations is frequently liable to be carried away from the business of life, and lost in the unseen world; to quit sight of those ties by which it is connected with the present order of things.-It is thus that religious views occasionally abstract a man from the duties which he owes to his fellow-creatures, and lift him out of that sphere in which Providence designed him to walk.-Fixing his thoughts on things above this world, he is apt to look with contempt both on the common pains and the common pleasures incident to human nature; he becomes unfeeling and austere; moving in a higher circle, he

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