ness of your own resolutions and your own efforts, and turn with deep distrust from yourselves to that almighty Being who is ready to succour you. Supplicate with earnest, with humble, with persevering fervour, that all-powerful grace which alone, by quickening and strengthening your own powers and exertions, can keep you from falling, can defend you through the vicissitudes of life, and through the seducing temptations to which, in this your state of probation, you are constantly exposed.

"Ye know not what shall be on the morrow." How unwise then that inordinate attachment to the world, which prevents us from preparing for the inevitable, but, as to the time of its occurrence, uncertain event which is to separate us from it.

If daily experience did not verify the lamentable fact, could we be persuaded to believe that man, who is doomed to sink under the stroke of death, who labours under fearful uncertainty in regard to the time when that stroke shall separate him for ever from the world, would yet remain in a state of indifference and insensibility as to those eternal interests that succeed the evanescent concerns of time; as profoundly occupied with sublunary objects, as if the tie that binds him to them were never to be sundered, or as if he could place this dread event at an immense distance? Though every day conducts to the tomb some of his fellowmortals, arrested in that vigorous bloom of health which now freshens his countenance and enlivens his heart, in the full flush of that worldly desire and enjoyment in which he revels; though the unerring aim of death sometimes arrests, without warning, his careless victims, and instantly palsies

the stoutest frame, man shuts his heart to this voice of warning which speaks from the chambers of the dead-" Be ye also ready."* He celebrates his impure pleasures over the ashes of his friends and kindred that are scarcely cold. What infatuation! what criminal folly! Boastest thou that thou holdest life by a tenure that cannot be shaken; that, mocking the assaults of death, thou canst securely prosecute thy ambitious projects, and indulge thy sensual desires? Yes-whatever may be thy deliberate opinion, this is the language of thy conduct. To judge from the eagerness, the solicitude, the ardour, the supreme devotion with which thou dost pursue the objects of thy passions, we would suppose that here thou wast to terminate thy existence; that the world contained the only objects worthy of thy pursuit, and that could gratify thy desires. Ah! "thou knowest not what shall be on the morrow." Thy separation from the world is inevitable. An eternal destiny awaits thee. The awful period of thy entrance on it is hidden in the gloom of futurity. It cannot be far distant. It may be near at hand. Perhaps now the sentence is passed from the lips of thy almighty Judge-" Thy days are numbered❞— and the angel of death is marking thee for his next victim. And wilt thou then indulge thy worldly passions, when the arms of death may be encircling thee? When eternity opens upon thee an irreversible destiny, shall the fleeting pleasures of time engross thy thoughts? When the tribunal of thy Judge is pronouncing thy eternal doom, wilt thou remain careless and secure? Alas! that the sinful indulgences, or even the lawful pursuits and enjoyments of to-day should entirely occupy us, when

* Matt. xxiv. 44.

we know not what may be on the morrow-when, on the morrow, the bright scenes of prosperity in which we now delight, may have vanished in darkness and in sorrow; when the health which to-day gives vigour to our exertions and zest to our enjoyments, may to-morrow be exchanged for the languor and the pains of sickness; when that life which to-day is ours, may to-morrow be extinguished in death; when to-day is the appointed time, the day of salvation, and to-morrow may behold us in that eternity where is to be the award of happiness or misery eternal.

Brethren, let the reflection daily occur to us, and be seriously pondered by us-" we know not what shall be on the morrow." Let it be pondered by us, in order that we may make him our refuge under whose control is that morrow, and who can mark it to us either with the light of prosperity or with the darkness of wo; who can continue it to us as the gracious period of our probation, or, closing with it our mortal course, summon us to the unchanging scenes of an eternal existence. In the consideration of the uncertainty which hangs over the morrow, let not this day pass without the resolution, if that resolution has not been already made and executed, to make our peace with that almighty Being who thus regulates the destinies of time and eternity, and whom we have offended by our sins. Let his pardon be implored and obtained in deep penitence, in entire dependence on his mercy and grace through his eternal Son, who, as at this time, he sent into the world, to take upon him our nature, and to become obedient to the law, that he might free us from its penalties. Reconciled unto God through penitence and faith in the merits and

mediation of his Son Jesus Christ, renewed to holiness in the powers and affections of our souls, and evermore studying to do the will of our Father in heaven, we may confide in his protection and his favour. Whatever may be the changes of tomorrow, whatever may be the number of the days of our probation, whatever may be its vicissitudes, we shall enjoy the assurance of that high and holy One who sits on the throne of the universe, that they shall "all work together for our good,"* all contribute to our spiritual improvement here, and to the perfection of our natures and the consummation of our bliss hereafter. Then the blessings of prosperity will be heightened to us in the grateful recognition of the goodness and love of the almighty Benefactor who bestows them; the sufferings of this vale of tears will be eased in the humble but lively conviction, that even these our heavenly Father and God designs for our good, our eternal good. And then, even the close of life, the entrance on a future and eternal state of being, which to sinful and unsupported nature is so full of apprehension, if not of terror, will be viewed by us with resigned composure, if not with triumphant hope; for to us it will be the commencement of that day which will never be changed by the vicissitudes, nor clouded by the sorrows, of time, but which will shine forth in the splendour of divine glory, in the lustre of a felicity glowing more and more through the revolutions of eternal ages.

That such may be to each one of us, brethren, the termination of the present life, God of his infinite mercy grant, for Christ's sake; to whom, &c.

* Rom. viii. 28.

SERMON IV.

THE INSTABILITY OF HUMAN REASONINGS IN CONTRAST WITH THE STABILITY OF THE WORD OF GOD.

1 COR. vii. 31.

The fashion of this world passeth away.

AND yet, to witness the eagerness, the constancy, the irrepressible perseverance with which men pursue its gratifications and pleasures, the confidence which they place on its principles and maxims, one would suppose that it would endure for ever. Is not this infatuation as extraordinary as it is absurd, that the aspiring thoughts, the vigorous desires, the exalted affections of an immortal spirit, a spirit which sprung from the eternal source of goodness and bliss, is designed finally to centre its enjoyment in him, should be wrapt up in a world, "the fashion of which passeth away?" Ah! may it not be said that deep sleep hath fallen upon man, darkening his understanding and benumbing his noble powers, so that he values not the moral excellence of the divine perfections, the glories of that celestial kingdom for which he is destined, while he is pleased with the glittering toys of worldly pleasure, and eagerly seeks for happiness in the illusive phantoms of worldly wealth and honour? In vain does the unerring voice of inspiration declare the utter incompetency of all created enjoyments to fill the boundless desires of a soul VOL. III. 5