upon himself the form of a servant," and submitted to hardships, to sorrow, and to ignominy-nay, even to be "numbered with the transgressors," and to die the death of the vilest of mankind, in order to purchase their salvation. Yet we ourselves value them so meanly, that we are content to let them perish, if we may but obtain full enjoyment of the vanities of this world. But if we take so little thought for ourselves, brethren, we might, at least, so far consider the pains which he endured, as not to let them be thrown away; we might, if not for our own sakes, at least in gratitude for that unbounded love which he manifested towards us, take upon ourselves some share in the task of working out our own salvation, and not vainly suppose that the whole labour is to rest with him. "He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all:"1 for how could we have borne our own sins? The very least of them would be sufficient to

Isa. liii: 4. 6.

overwhelm us with its weight; and how could we have sustained the whole burden, had not he taken it upon himself? Are we then to make no return for his mercy ? Are we to give ourselves up to a round of thoughtless and heartless vanity, consuming our whole lives in frivolous diversion, like ephemeral insects that sport and glitter a few hours in the sunbeams, and then die, perish, and are no more? My brethren, our souls are not our own; we first voluntarily yielded them up as servants to sin, and bond-slaves to the devil. Jesus Christ has redeemed them at the price of his most precious blood. His, then, they are by the right of purchase and contract; his they are by our own solemn vow and covenant entered into at our baptism; and we have no right to take the disposal of them out of his hands; to squander them away in idleness and vice; to "sit down," like the Israelites, "to eat and drink, and rise up to play; to lavish our time upon sensual gratifications, when Christ is daily

2

2 Exod. xxxii. 6.

and hourly calling upon us for his due, and reminding us that we are dissipating his property, and not our own.

And are we then, you will say, to have no enjoyments in this life? Are our days to pass in one dull, joyless round, without variety, without diversion? Is the elasticity of youth to be repressed, the vigour of manhood to be relaxed, the comforts of old age to be damped and destroyed, by a continual thinking upon the gloomy horrors of death and the grave? To what purpose, then, has Providence heaped upon us the good things of this life? Why has he "crowned the year with goodness, and caused his clouds to drop fatness?" Why has he "covered our valleys with corn, that they shout for joy, "4 and made "our oxen strong to labour, and our sheep to bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets?" 5 Are not all these things the gifts of God, and are we to despise them, and set them at nought? Are we to let them waste and decay for want

3 Ps. lxv. 11.

4 Ps. lxv. 13.

5 Ps. cxliv. 13, 14.

of use, while we ourselves sit in listless apathy, thinking of nothing but the world to

come?

This, however, is making a wrong estimate or rather, it is considering only the extremes of the case, from which a correct judgment can never be formed. There are innocent pleasures and recreations enough for youth, by which its buoyancy and spring may be preserved, and yet it may be trained to think upon and devote itself to God, and to know the value of its own soul. There is business enough to keep in action the vigour of manhood, without withdrawing its thoughts from the more important concerns of its spiritual interests. And for old age-alas! what comfort can old age desire, but the near prospect of that scene which is opening before it, and which offers, through Christ, an eternity of peace and joy? Old age can have but little pleasure in looking back upon the past, upon a life of bitterness and grief, perhaps of vanity and sin ;--it can have but little pleasure in the present, borne down as it is by infirmity and trouble,-it is to the

future that it must look for comfort and relief-and that future can only lie beyond the tomb, "where the wicked cease from troubling, and where the weary are at rest."6 My brethren, the gospel does not bid you brood upon the gloomy terrors of death and the grave-no; it bids you think of death as deprived of its sting; it bids you think of the grave as vanquished by that triumphant arm, which has robbed it of its victory; it exhorts you to look upon dissolution, not as a dismal cloud that shuts out the scenes of

enjoyment and happiness which you have so long cherished, but as a gate which opens to a treasure-house of everlasting joys, and admits you into the immediate presence of God, "at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore."7

Neither does the gospel forbid you to enjoy the good things which God has given you if he has blessed your fields with increase, and stored your coffers with wealth, you are permitted to use and to enjoy these blessings; but so to enjoy them, as those

6 Job iii. 17.

7 Ps. xvi. 11.