we shall next proceed to an examination and an illustration of such particulars as may be deemed proper on the present very important and joyful occasion. And,

1st. Let us enquire concerning those things which may be shaken; show that these are things which men have made; and contemplate their removal.

Though it is not deemed proper on this occasion, to dwell much on the iniquitous schemes and oppressive rule of despotic governments, by which the great mass of mankind has been kept in slavery, yet as such government is, without question, one of those things which may, and must be shaken and finally removed, that the permanent rights of man, which are established in the law of our common nature, may remain, we may safely calculate on the final and entire demolition of all such power and authority, so that wherever law and government shall exist, the people at large shall contemplate them as their dearest rights, their safe defence, and not as their oppressors. Past events and our country's experience have furnished sufficient proof that the whole creed of monarchical doctrine is the wicked offspring of that wisdom which an inspired Apostle calls earthly, sensual, devilish; and recent events in the political world have shown that the example which has been furnished by these United States, has had the effect already to shake the throne of despotism in other sections of the earth. Nor shall all the powers of earth combined, be able to withstand the majesty of truth and the light of reason until their glorious march shall have franchised the world.

Our labours may more particularly be directed to examine the elements which compose the erroneous creeds of Antichrist, and show that they are things which men have made, things that may be shaken and removed. But here we find ourselves presented with a mass of rubbish, whose incoherence produces confusion, in comparison with

which, the confusion of languages at Babel might seem like harmony.

A God of infinite wisdom, power and goodness, is supposed to have ordained from all eternity, the everlasting happiness of a few of the human race, and the eternal misery of all the rest. Then in order to hide such abominable partiality and cruelty, the just and good Creator is represented as furnishing a tempter, whose business was to se duce our first parents, in the garden, and lead them to the commission of one crime, which should justly condemn them and the whole human race to the pains of hell for ever. And in order that the original scheme of everlasting condemnation might find ample defence in the conduct of men, Almighty God gave them a sinful, depraved nature, and charged the account to Adam's transgression.

Here let us pause: Let us examine these elements of doctrine. Who invented the notion that our Creator ordained, from all eternity, some to everlasting life, and others to endless condemnation and death? Is this proposition found in any part of divine Revelation? When God made promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, which promise certainly constituted the patriarchal faith, and is the divine monument which exhibits the wisdom, power and goodness of our heavenly Father, and is the foundation on which the New Testament builds the New-Jerusalem, the City of the living God, the promise was, that in them and in their seed, which is Christ, all the nations and all the families of the earth should be blessed. My christian friends, can any thing be more certain, than that the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob never decreed that any portion of the human family should be for ever unblessed, for ever miserable? When the Lord was about to destroy Sodom, he said, "Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; seeing Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him ?" If

votions. It was not to make the Lord kind to his people that they were directed to feast, with joy and gladness, before him; but it was because he had already blessed them, and because this feast itself was one of the greatest blessings they enjoyed. Thus it is with the christian congregation; we worship God in spirit and in truth, not expecting thereby to induce our bountiful Father in heaven to bestow on us his favours, but because we already enjoy them, and because the solemn exercises of devotion constitute our most exquisite pleasures. Nor do we, when guided by the spirit of truth, vainly offer to the Lord our devotions, expecting thereby to pacify his wrath and disarm his vengeance, which a disordered imagination supposes are burning against us; but realizing the true doctrine of the divine name, we offer our grateful devotions to him, who is gracious and merciful, who forgives our iniquities, transgression and sin, through the mediation of him who hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood.

Our heavenly Father requires nothing of us, but for our own comfort and edification; and as it could not be well pleasing to one of us, who is a father, to see his children approach his table with horror, with dread, with fear and trembling, and eat and drink for no other purpose than to appease his wrath, so it cannot be consistent with the divine spirit, for us to adhere to those sentiments which induce devotions corresponding with such horrible fears.

The entertaining exercises of that religion which is well pleasing to God, are represented in the scriptures by several emblems which are worthy of our careful notice. Looking forward to the day of the Messiah's grace, the prophet Isaiah, represented the sentiments of divine truth as follows; "And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast." It is evident that the gospel dispensation was in the prophet's mind,

when he delivered this testimony, for if his views had been limited by the separating wall which divided the Jews and the Gentiles, the feast would have been made for Jew, but not for Gentile. But Jesus hath broken down the middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile, that of the twain he might make, in himself, one new man.

A feast made by our heavenly Father for all people cannot be designed to reconcile him who makes the feast to those for whom it is made; nor can this feast be composed of sentiments which exclude any from its blessings. The same prophet, stimulated by the quickening energies of the nourishing qualities of this feast, exclaims as follows; "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? And your labour for that which satisfieth not? Harken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness."

As other emblems of this divine repast, the same prophet speaks of rivers of waters in dry places, streams in deserts, and pools in parched ground. All these beautiful representations are realized in Jesus, who declared himself to be the bread of God, which came down from heaven to give life to the world; and who said that the water which he should give should so satisfy, that those who drank of it should never thirst.

In view of Jesus, in this extensive character, we understand his testimony, in which he says; "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me;" in which declaration he speaks of the fulfilment of the words of Isaiah, who said: “And it shall come to pass, in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it." The spirit of the christian religion, and that

which leads the devotions of the sanctuary, is unfeigned gratitude to our merciful Father in heaven, who graciously forgives our iniquities, transgressions and sins; and who never fails to administer those salutary chastisements, which, in his hand, are means of grace, mercy and peace; and who has endowed his holy child Jesus with power to bring life and immortality to light through the gospel; and a lively active benevolence towards all mankind, as the offspring of our universal Parent, who is equally good unto all, and whose tender mercies are over all his works. Under the influence of this spirit, and in the enjoyment of this feast, which God hath made in Sion for all people, a christian assembly presents, in the exercises of devotion, the most pleasing and delightful entertainment that our imagination can conceive.

Where parents and children, neighbours and friends, the old and young, assemble to confess their sins and realize the mercy of a pardoning Redeemer, to offer prayers in faith for all needed favours, to feast their hopes with the bright prospect of immortal glory, and to offer anthems of praise to the giver of every good and perfect gift; while all the social affections are warmed and strengthened, we may justly call such a place an heavenly place in Christ Jesus. Of such a place, the pious Watts, expressing the sentiment of the sweet singer of Israel, says;

"I've seen thy glory and thy power
Through all thy temple shine:
My God, repeat that heavenly hour,
That vision so divine

Not all the blessings of a feast

Can please my soul so well,

As when thy richer grace I taste,

And in thy presence dwell."

3dly. We are to speak of the design or object to be promoted by the public worship of God.

This is definitely expressed in the last member of our text, as follows: "That thou mayest learn to fear the Lord thy God always."