out any disposition to indulge in the common-places which are now so much in fashion, we must feel that those are nobly engaged who are redeeming a portion of their time from the wasting and low cares which terminate upon the body, for the culture of the higher part of their nature. Yet letters may be abused to the soul's injury. There is no little danger in any pursuit which is likely to become engrossing. There is a fascination in literature. which enables it speedily to gain an ascendancy whenever it is cordially loved. Its pursuits are so innocent, as they are called, so exciting, so far removed from the grossness of coarse vice, that the most delicate minds are not likely to be alarmed by the increase of their devotion to its objects: the greater indeed becomes their enthusiasm, the more they are disposed to be satisfied with themselves, the further they consider themselves removed from what is wrong. Yet we cannot look upon the thing as Christians, we cannot weigh it in the balance of the sanctuary, without perceiving that there is danger here, and that the

most harınless, as well as the most equivocal pursuits, at once become sinful, when they hinder our "attending upon the Lord without distraction."

The subject might be pursued much farther. I might point out the danger of ambition, and the love of being conspicuous. I might show the hazard that lurks in public business, and, indeed, all kinds of intercourse with our fellow-men. The heart readily takes up with the present; and if what we do has matter of excitement in it, if it kindles the passions, and provokes the appetite, it contains abundant seeds of mischief. It may weary us, so that we have not remaining energy to "attend upon the Lord." It may irritate us, so that we have not that self-command, without which we cannot walk worthy of our vocation. It may enfeeble us, so that we cannot endure the hardness to which we are called as soldiers of Christ Jesus. The business of the Christian's life is to "attend upon the Lord without distraction." We have all engaged "to renounce the devil, and all his works, the pomps and vanities of this wicked

world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh: to believe all the articles of the Christian faith; and to keep God's holy will and commandments, and walk in the same all the days of our lives." This is no slight engagement. It cannot be fulfilled if we neglect the means of grace, if we run into unnecessary temptation. If we are in earnest in the work of salvation, we must walk circumspectly; we must avoid every thing which would draw us off from the one great object-"To know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge,” and to be "known of God,"-this only is of real importance. For that all else must be sacrificed. Yet we are not called to impossibilities; but exercising in religion the prudence we exercise in secular concerns, we may, with God's blessing, walk safely through the dangers that beset us; and with love of Christ in our hearts, and his word in our mouths, advance triumphantly forward to that blessed place where, in a sense infinitely higher than we can here, we shall "attend upon the Lord without distraction."

M

SERMON XIV.

CHRISTIAN FRUITFULNESS.

ST. JOHN XV. 5.

"Without me ye can do nothing."

THERE was never a title that carried with it more of significancy than that of a Christian. It has not, either in ancient or modern times, been very unusual to distinguish sects or parties, by denominations derived from the names of their founders; and it has generally been the boast of such sects or parties, that they faithfully retain the sentiments of the eminent persons whose name they bear. But such is the difference that obtains between different individuals, such the variety between various minds, that it is probable that

there were never two individuals who thought on all subjects exactly alike. And if we had the means of examining, there is every reason to think that the most bigotted disciples of particular schools entertain, upon many important subjects, opinions very different from those whom they profess to honour as their masters. And this they may well do without any breach of their allegiance. Their profession only engages them to receive the magisterial dogmas of their authorities; on other subjects they are left free to act upon their own knowledge or their own ignorance. They may, and they often actually do, entertain opinions which their masters held in contempt or abhorrence, without deserving to be regarded otherwise than as very faithful disciples.

And this is why I have asserted that there is something peculiarly significant in the name of a Christian. The person who bears, or at least who deserves to bear, that name, does not merely join himself to a sect, or enrol himself on the lists of a party; he does not merely profess certain tenets,