creatures. That which elevates my soul, and inspires me with hope, is, that thou art the God of my heart, where thou dost all that pleaseth thee. When I am good, it is thou that maketh me so; it is thou that lovest thyself in me; it is thou that animates my soul, as my soul animates my body thou art more present and intimate to me, than I am to myself; this self, for which I have so much sensibility, and which I love so much, ought to be a stranger in comparison of thee; it is thou that gavest it to me, without thee it would be nothing, therefore thou requirest that I should love thee more than it.

My brethen, the discourses which we usually preach to you absorb your minds in a multitude of ideas. A collection of moral ideas perhaps confound, instead of instructing you: and, when we attempt to engage you in too many reflections, you enter really into none. Behold then an epitome of religion; behold the greatest instruction in a few words. Return to your houses, and every where carry this reflection with you; God is in the midst of us, and beholds all our actions. To all the wiles of the devil, to all the snares of the world, to all the baits of sin, oppose this reflection; God is in the midst of us, God sees us.

If, clothed with human form, he were always in your path, were he to follow you to every place, were he always before you with his majestic face, with his eyes flashing with lightning, with looks inspiring terror, dare ye before his august presence give a loose to your passions? But you have been hearing that his majesty's face is every where, those sparkling eyes do inspect you in every place, those terrible looks do consider you every moment. Let each examine his own heart, and endeavour to search into his conscience, where

he may discover so much weakness, so much corruption, so much hardness, so many unclean scources over-flowing with so many excesses, and let this idea strike terror into you; God is in the midst of us, God beholds us. In a word, take St. Bernard's advice: "Chuse that place to offend in, whence God is excluded;" a sense of whose adorable presence will keep a rein on the most unruly appetites, and, in fine, an apprehension of whose severe judgments will make you bring forth the spirit of salvation, which is to prepare in his holy season the way for a Saviour, whose grace is our only comfort in this life, and whose presence our happiness hereafter. As we are then, every moment of our lives, under the immediate ever watchful inspection of God, let us reflect how guarded we ought to be in all we do, and all we think. When the dishonest fraudulent man misemploys his understanding, in overreaching and defrauding others, injuring and oppressing those whom he ought to assist, let him remember that the eye of the most just God is upon him, whose vengeance he can no more escape, than he can hide his iniquity from his view, and he must surely resolve to turn from his wickedness, and do. what is lawful and right. Does the heart of the proud and vain man swell and dilate with the idea of his supposed eminence and distinction? Let him consider in whose presence he stands; in the presence of that infinitely glorious Being, in whose sight man is but a worm, all the nations of the earth as the dust of the balance, and he must feel what the son of Sirach says, that pride was not made for man.

Do we at any time assume the veil of piety, and put on the mask of religion, and honour God with. our lips, whilst our hearts are far from him? Let us reflect how thin the veil we wear, and how

transparent to the eye of God. "The Lord beholdeth the ways of man, and considereth all his steps." And again, says holy Job, "Doth not he consider my ways, and number all my steps?" + Yes, to his view are exposed our most secret follies and iniquities; those which we would wish to conceal from the eye of the world, and, if it were possible, from ourselves. And what can more affect the mind of man, than the consideration that we live under the inspection of a perfectly holy and omnipotent Being, who is as intimate to us, as the soul is to the body; as inseparable from us, as we are from ourselves; that he attends our going out and coming in, goes along with us from our first entrance into the world, till we depart out of it; that no where can we cover ourselves, not even our thoughts, from his eye; no where retire from his presence, for it fills the universe?" Whither shall I go from thy spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy face? If I ascend up to Heaven, thou art there. If I descend into hell, thou art there. If I take to me the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there also shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. And I said: perhaps darkness shall cover me, and night shall be my delight in my pleasures. But darkness shall not be dark to thee, and night shall be light as the day: the darkness thereof and the light thereof are alike to thee." To this omnipresent and omniscient God be ascribed all honour and adoration now and forever. Amen. + Job. xxxi. 4.

* Prov. v. 21.

Psalm cxxxviii.

SERMON IV.

FOURTH SUNDAY IN ADVENT.

On the most striking circumstances that distinguished the birth of our Redeemer.

And all flesh shall see the salvation of God. Luke iii. 6.

To the present memorable season, all the ancient bards and prophets bore witness; and from it borrowed all that splendour and illumination, by which they adorned and enlightened the earliest ages of the world. In this season, the anxious hopes and longing expectations of all the wise and good, over the whole earth, happily terminated. It is now that all flesh shall see the salvation of God."* It is now that his coming on this gracious embassy, is wisely ordained and consecrated by the Church as the subject of her attention and devotion, till Christmas, or the glorious festival of our Lord's Nativity. Nor can we be better employed on the last Sunday in Advent, than in recollecting and contemplating a few of the most striking circumstances which distinguished that

* Luke iii.

event, for the celebration of which the present season is set apart as a solemn preparation.

Of these, the first, and not the least wonderful, is his imniaculate and mysterious conception. Ancient mythology teems with instances of a fictitious correspondence between divine and human kind. In that credulous age, whoever had the good fortune to excel his competitors in wisdom, arts, or arms, boasted an alliance with heaven. Even the best among them did not scruple to blast maternal honour for the sake of this imaginary distinction. But, fantastical as it was in them, it is an evidence to us, that the idea was then sufficiently popular to warrant and protect the fact from implicit reprobation when it happened. Indeed the various impostures of this kind, which mark the annals of paganism, most probably resulted from some of the earliest predictions of the Messiah's birth, which might be propagated among the Heathens by tradition, as it was preserved among the Jews by scripture: for most of these seem rather a description of what is past, than an intimation of any thing to come. "A virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel,"* says that sublime and evangelical Prophet, whose personal and picturesque account of the Messiah, discovers more of historical truth, than of prophetical ambiguity; and so well does this singular circumstance comport with his character, that he could not otherwise have been so holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, as he was.

It is a circumstance, however, which unbelievers have often attacked with all the weapons of ribaldry and ridicule. Incredulity distinguishes not between the unintelligible and mysterious,

Isaiah vii. 14.