to their portion, even, 66 the blackness of darkness for ever." Hence we gather the essential truth, that we came not into the world for slumber, but to undergo temptation, trial, and misfortune; and in our progress through it, we shall do well to consider our souls as in a state of preparatory tuition for their eternal destiny.

Devotion must subdue, virtue must purify, endurance must prove, and grace must sanctify them, and all these must continue in active and unceasing exertion, till on the tree of earnest and undoubting faith be grafted the beauteous blossoms and the fruit of righteousness, and like the good Cornelius, our prayers and our alms shall have gone up together as a memorial unto God."

66

For it is not the actions alone which the Lord regardeth; he " searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts." For sins conceived as well as for sins actually committed, we are amenable to his tribunal, and God of judgment as he is, how awful is the reflection, that he records them all in the volume of his remembrance. Our blessed Saviour has instructed us how to restrain and regulate our evil thoughts. He has taught us to purify our desires as well as our actions; to dedicate the affections of the heart, and the powers of the mind, together with the temple in which they are lodged, to the service and worship of our God;

-"to him all hearts are open, all desires known, and from him no secrets are hid." In vain, ye troublers of the world, would ye seek the shades of night to conceal your deeds of darkness, in vain would ye retire from the haunts of society to perpetrate your wickedness; with regard to the Almighty's perception, ye are in constant day, and to him your machinations are exposed in all their naked depravity. God looks unto the seed as well as to the fruit of evil, and duly appreciates the endeavours to eradicate and the desire to retain them. No victory over the passions, no contest with the instigations of Satan, which pass within the deep recesses of the mind, are unobserved or unrecorded by him. Every instance of self-denial, every sacrifice performed for the sake of conscience, every trial undergone in the cause of religion, every pleasure relinquished for the cross of Christ, are written in the Book of Heaven, in the ineffacable characters of life and light; while every vicious emotion yielded to, and every bad intention formed, and every sinful concupiscence indulged, will find a potent tongue of accusation to implead the wretched criminal at that last Assize, where Jesus has resumed his Godhead, and the Saviour has become the Judge.

III. I would offer some remarks on the promises of God to them who seek him, and his threats to them who forsake him.

in the unexpected removal of calamity, and the return of health? God indeed " tempers the wind to the shorn lamb ;" his love gives us all that we enjoy, and removes from us all the contingent evils we have escaped. It is this love, that feeds the gale of morning with incense and with health; invests the beams of noon with splendour; robes the parting day in mellowed glories, and gives to night her shades and her quiet, her safety and repose. How varied are the means, by which the Deity makes known his attributes; how powerfully nature pleads to the eternal truth, that " God is love!" He is in the refreshing breeze that visits my throbbing temples; He is in the affections that comfort my aching heart; "He compasseth my path and my lying down, and is acquainted with all my ways.” In society, when, with shame be it spoken, I am forgetful of him, he remembereth me; in the solitude of my chamber he is with me also, and in the silent watches of the night. Every breath I inhale is drawn by his permission, and if he take it away, I shall suddenly die. He is the protector of my life, and I will know him; He is the friend of my soul, and I will love him; He is the "God of my fathers," and I will "serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind."

II. I would direct your attention to the omniscience of God; which is privy to all the ac

tions of men, and will never suffer goodness to go unrewarded or villainy to escape unpunished.

The love and fear of God are certainly better motives for virtuous behaviour, than the applause and blame of man. They are holier and purer as principles, more general and efficacious in their extent, and more safe and exalted in their reward. Let these then, My Brethren, be the springs of action among you. Let a consciousness of the presence of a never-sleeping evidence incite you to the constant discharge of every duty. Let this assure you, that of every lust you sacrifice, and of every charity you perform, though men be ignorant and fame be silent, yet angels shall be the witnesses and God the judge; and that one good work wrought in secret for the benefit of your neighbour and for the honour of your Heavenly Father, shall gain for you," a weight of more exceeding glory," than the proudest display of pharisaical exactness. Be it yours then, my Christian friends, to keep this consideration, so replete with comfort, constantly in your minds, and to remember, that although the blessings and chastisements of God be not always the immediate followers of virtue and of vice; although this mortal life is often too short in its duration for the purposes of divine retribution; yet sooner or later the day of reckoning will infallibly arrive, when the good shall be received into glory, and the wicked be consigned

to their portion, even, " the blackness of darkness for ever." Hence we gather the essential truth, that we came not into the world for slumber, but to undergo temptation, trial, and misfortune; and in our progress through it, we shall do well to consider our souls as in a state of preparatory tuition for their eternal destiny.

Devotion must subdue, virtue must purify, endurance must prove, and grace must sanctify them, and all these must continue in active and unceasing exertion, till on the tree of earnest and undoubting faith be grafted the beauteous blossoms and the fruit of righteousness, and like the good Cornelius, our prayers and our alms shall have gone up together as a memorial unto God."

66

For it is not the actions alone which the Lord regardeth; he " searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts." For sins conceived as well as for sins actually committed, we are amenable to his tribunal, and God of judgment as he is, how awful is the reflection, that he records them all in the volume of his remembrance. Our blessed Saviour has instructed us how to restrain and regulate our evil thoughts. He has taught us to purify our etions; to dedicate the

The h, and the powers of the the temple in which they vice and worship of our God;