though the utmost degree of exertion, of which we are capable, can never carry us to the perfection which the gospel requires, or make us worthy of the mercy which it holds forth, still it is right to remind mankind of those imperfections, inherent in their nature, lest they should relax from the exertions of which they are really capable;-to shew, to the best of human creatures, that they are still miserable sinners, checks that arrogance which is so apt to rise up in our hearts; compels us to turn our minds away from the imperfect examples of goodness, we can meet with here, and to lift them up to that image of purity, which makes our goodness more energetic, more prolific, and more permanent: to put us out of conceit with our own exertions, preserves that feeling of dependance upon an higher power, which is the preservation of our present, and the pledge of our future happiness. If our Saviour had told us, as human philosophers have told us, that good men were glorious, and dignified; if he had dwelt perpetually upon the grandeur, and importance of virtue; upon what cheap, and easy terms would men have been con

tented with themselves;-how soon would these notions of their own dignity have broken that chain, which reaches from the heart of man to the throne of God. The gospel now says there are eternal rewards, and there are eternal punishments; to gain the one, and to avoid the other, you must do good; but you must add to that goodness the deepest humility, and the firmest dependance upon the help of God. You must not look backward upon what you have done, but forward upon what you have to do. You must consider not the little difference between you, and the rest of your species, but the immeasurable interval between you, and the highest purity; and you must gather from these reflections, that humility of righteousness which will make you desirous of doing more, by making you dissatisfied with what you have done. All this good naturally follows from the doctrine of man's fallen nature; from the profound humility which the gospel enjoins to him; and from the impossibility under which we are now so wisely placed, of claiming any merit from our actions, except through the mercy, and mediation, of Christ.

1

Quitting this subject, and coming now to that part of our conduct which is variable, to that small, and contracted sphere, in which it is allotted to us to do better, or do worse, I shall begin with the subject of religion; and here the great evil to deplore,, and the afflicting circumstance which cannot but be noticed by every true friend of the orthodox church, is that prodigious increase of sectaries, of all ranks, and descriptions, which are daily springing up in this kingdom, and falling off from the mother church ;-these men seem to think that the spirit of religion consists in a certain fervid irritability of mind; and that agitation, and eagerness, are the most acceptable sacrifices which they can make to their Creator; the calm address of the established church is, in their estimation, a species of impiety; and, before he prays to the God of Heaven and earth, an human being must lash himself up into wildness, and enthusiasm.

Another unfortunate peculiarity of these seceders from the established church is, that they are always straining at gnats,

always suspecting happiness, always casting over religion an air of something bordering upon that which is frivolous, and vexatious; degrading the majesty of the gospel, and painting the Lord of all things, as a God of trifles, and narrow observances; as a God raging for ever against those most trivial omissions, which even the best, and ablest 'of his creatures can forget, and forgive. But the most fatal of all errors which proceeds from this modern fanaticism, is, the contempt, and the horror, which they express for all the practical doctrines of christianity insisted upon from the pulpit; the zeal with which they cry down any attempt to render men better in their daily conduct, and to produce some actual useful improvement: We might suppose, from such notions of the Christian faith, that christianity was a set of speculative disquisitions, where, if a man agreed only with the barren, and useless results, he was left in liberty to follow the devices of his own heart, and to lead what manner of life his fancy, or his passions, might dictate. It is evangelical, according to these notions, to preach to men of high and exalted mysteries; it is unevangelical to warn

men against pride, against anger, against avarice, against fraud, against all the innumerable temptations by which we are hurried away from our duty to our Creator, and from the great care of salvation. All these subjects, it is now in the practice of fanatics to call by the name of moral, as if they had nothing to do with the gospel, as if (as I before observed,) the gospel busied itself only with some unfruitful propositions, and remained quite passive at, and unconcerned by, the actions of mankind. But let any man turn to his gospel, and see if there is a single instance of our blessed Saviour's life, where he does not eagerly seize upon every opportunity of inculcating something practical, of bringing some passion under subjection, of promoting the happiness of the world, by teaching his followers to abstain from something hurtful; and to do something useful. The effort, and the object, of our blessed Saviour, is always to draw some inference, and to make some application from the events before him ;-the most practical book that ever was written is the gospel; and the great point, where it differs from human morals, is, that human morals say, do so for present