holden up, for their imitation, to the weak eyes of youth. May honest counsellors keep this poison from the mind of the young Queen. May she love what God bids, and do what makes men happy!

I hope the Queen will love the National Church, and protect it; but it must be impressed upon her mind, that every sect of Christians have as perfect right to the free exercise of their worship as the Church itself— that there must be no invasion of the privileges of other sects, and no contemptuous disrespect of their feelings -that the altar is the very ark and citadel of freedom.

Some persons represent old age as miserable, because it brings with it the pains and infirmities of the body; but what gratification to the mind may not old age bring with it in this country of wise and rational improvement? I have lived to see the immense improvements of the Church of England-all its powers of persecution destroyed-its monopoly of civil offices expunged from the book of the law, and all its unjust and exclusive immunities levelled to the ground. The Church of England is now a rational object of love and admiration-it is perfectly compatible with civil freedom-it is an institution for worshipping God, and not a cover for gratifying secular insolence, and ministering to secular ambition. It will be the duty of those to whom the sacred trust of instructing our youthful Queen is intrusted, to lead her attention to these great improvements in our religious establishments; and to show to her how possible, and how wise it is, to render the solid advantages of a national Church compatible with the civil rights of those who cannot assent to its doctrines.

Then again, our youthful Ruler must be very slow to believe all the exaggerated and violent abuse which religious sects indulge in against each other. She will find, for instance, that the Catholics, the great object of our horror and aversion, have (mistaken as they are) a

great deal more to say in defence of their tenets than those imagine who indulge more in the luxury of invective than in the labour of inquiry — she will find in that sect, men as enlightened, talents as splendid, and probably as firm, as in our own Church; and she will soon learn to appreciate, at its just value, that exaggerated hatred of sects which paints the Catholic faith (the religion of two thirds of Europe) as utterly incompatible with the safety, peace, and order of the world.

the

It will be a sad vexation to all loyal hearts, and to all rationally pious minds, if our Sovereign should fall into the common error of mistaking fanaticism for religion; and in this way fling an air of discredit upon real devotion. It is, I am afraid, unquestionably the fault of the age; her youth and her sex do not make it more improbable, and the warmest efforts of that description of persons will not be wanting to gain over a convert so illustrious, and so important. Should this take place, the consequences will be serious and distressing land will be inundated with hypocrisy - absurdity will be heaped upon absurdity— there will be a race of folly and extravagance for royal favour, and he who is furthest removed from reason will make the nearest approach to distinction: and then follow the usual consequences; a weariness and disgust of religion itself, and the foundation laid for an age of impiety and infidelity. Those, then, to whom these matters are delegated, will watch carefully over every sign of this excess, and guard from the mischievous intemperance of enthusiasm those feelings, and that understanding, the healthy state of which bears so strongly and intimately upon the happiness of a whole people.

Though I deprecate the bad effects of fanaticism, I earnestly pray that our young Sovereign may evince herself to be a person of deep religious feeling: what other cure has she for all the arrogance and vanity which her exalted position must engender? for all the

flattery and falsehood with which she must be surrounded? for all the soul-corrupting homage with which she is met at every moment of her existence? what other cure than to cast herself down in darkness and solitude before God-to say that she is dust and ashes -and to call down the pity of the Almighty upon her difficult and dangerous life? This is the antidote of kings against the slavery and the baseness which surround them: they should think often of death — and the folly and nothingness of the world, and they should humble their souls before the Master of masters, and the King of kings; praying to Heaven for wisdom, and calm reflection, and for that spirit of Christian gentleness which exalts command into an empire of justice, and turns obedience into a service of love.

A wise man struggling with adversity is said by some heathen writer to be a spectacle on which the gods might look down with pleasure: but where is there a finer moral and religious picture, or one more deserving of Divine favour, than that of which, perhaps, we are now beginning to enjoy the blessed reality?

A young Queen at that period of life which is commonly given up to frivolous amusement, sees at once the great principles by which she should be guided, and steps at once into the great duties of her station. The importance of educating the lower orders of the people is never absent from her mind; she takes up this principle at the beginning of her life, and in all the change of servants, and in all the struggle of parties, looks to it as a source of permanent improvement. A great object of her affections is the preservation of peace; she regards a state of war as the greatest of all human evils; thinks that the lust of conquest is not a glory, but a bad crime; despises the folly and miscalculations of war, and is willing to sacrifice every thing to peace, but the clear honour of her land.

The patriot Queen, whom I am painting, reverences

the National Church frequents its worship, and regulates her faith by its precepts; but she withstands the encroachments, and keeps down the ambition natural to establishments, and by rendering the privileges of the Church compatible with the civil freedom of all sects, confers strength upon, and adds duration to, that wise and magnificent institution. And then this youthful Monarch profoundly, but wisely religious, disdaining hypocrisy, and far above the childish follies of false piety, casts herself upon God, and seeks from the Gospel of his blessed Son a path for her steps, and a comfort for her soul. Here is a picture which warms every English heart, and would bring all this congregation upon their bended knees before Almighty God to pray it may be realised. What limits to the glory and happiness of our native land, if the Creator should in his mercy have placed in the heart of this Royal woman the rudiments of wisdom and mercy; and if, giving them time to expand, and to bless our children's children with her goodness, He should grant to her a long sojourning upon earth, and leave her to reign over us till she is well stricken in years! What glory! what happiness! what joy! what bounty of God! I of course can only expect to see the beginning of such a splendid period; but when I do see it, I shall exclaim with the Psalmist, - "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation."

123

SERMON XV.

ON THE KEEPING OF THE SOUL.

MARK, viii. 37.

What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

A QUESTION this which excites surprise at first, but which is justified by sad experience of human life, that men do too often set a price upon their souls, -a -a price in avarice, a price in revenge, a price in ambition, a price in any one of those numerous objects of human desire which men foolishly consider to be of more value than their souls. But I will state to you a few of these unhappy contracts, and you will then see better what I

mean.

A man sells his soul who gives up his honour and his integrity in pursuit of wealth; who becomes one atom more rich than good faith, than the law of the Gospel, and the dictates of conscience, tell him to be right. Give up his soul, in strict language, he cannot, for that is immortal and indestructible; but he gives up all that happiness which the soul may impart to him here, or secure to him hereafter in the kingdom of heaven. He gives up peace of mind; he gives up the consciousness of well-doing, which is the great ornament and support of life; he gives up the approbation of just men; he gives up hope in Christ; he gives up inward support and outward cheerfulness; he gives up dignity and solid happiness; and so, he sells his soul!

A man sells his soul when he gives himself up to foul and sensual vices, not remembering that beautiful word