blessed it. He expects us to bless him on it, and we may expect him to bless us. He does bless it. From the beginning of the world until now, his people have found it good for them to wait upon God. His service is perfect freedom. His ways are full of pleasure. "This is the day which the Lord hath made, we will be glad and rejoice therein."

APPLICATION.-How awfully is the day of God profaned! It is a great sin. It is a national sin; for though the laws of England require us to obey this law of God, yet it is despised by all sorts of people. The great and rich set the example. They generally travel on the Lord's Day. Others of them have feasts, and some music and card parties; while others ride abroad to shew their fine horses and carriages. Tradesmen, casting off all regard to religion, form parties of pleasure, and resort to the coun

try for carnal amusement. Inferior persons spend the day

in idleness, drinking, and lewdness. Thus, all sorts of people conspire to cast contempt on the authority of God, to ruin their own souls, and bring down judgments on a wicked land. In some parts of this kingdom, the Sabbath seems almost forgotten; and though the church-bell rings, and the shops are shut, yet people buy and sell, drink and swear, proclaiming to all men, that the fear of God is not before their eyes. Magistrates and church-wardens take little or no care to prevent these evils, and so become partakers of other men's sins.

But stop, and consider what will be the end of these things? Will not God require it? He certainly will. Yea, he often shews his anger now against Sabbath-breaking. It is dreadful to consider how many persons are drowned, or otherwise destroyed, while committing this sin. There are ten times more accidents of this kind on the Lord's day than other days. Sabbath-breaking is the inlet of all other evils, and the certain road to ruin. Habits of vice, contracted by evil company on this day, are often their own panishment in this world. The drunkard beggars his family, and destroys his constitution; and the thief commonly ends his days at the gallows. How many dying malefactors have warned others to avoid this sin, confessing that it was by breaking the Sabbath they were brought

to such a dreadful end. O Sirs, if you have the reason of men, if you have any fear of God, if you have any regard for your family or country, if you have any love to your precious souls-"Remember the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy."

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And, O, be thankful for this privilege, you who enjoy it. Blessed be God, the Sabbath is not abolished in England, as it is in France. May God ever preserve to us the blessing of a Christian Sabbath, and enable us to employ it diligently. Let it be remembered, that "bodily service profiteth little ;" God says, "My son, give me thine heart." Let him be worshipped in spirit and in truth. Attendance on the means of grace will answer little pose, unless we are brought by the influence of his Holy Spirit, to know and feel our lost and ruined state as sinners, and are led to know Christ as revealed in the Gospel, and to believe on him to the saving of our souls. "Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God." Let us therefore "take heed what we hear," that it is the Gospel of the free grace of God, and not a system of mere morality; which never converted a soul yet, nor ever will: and let us take heed how we hear," that it be seriously, and with a desire "to be taught of God." Let us "mix faith with the work that it may profit our souls." Let us lay it =up in our hearts, and practise it in our lives. Thus shall our sabbaths on earth prepare our souls for the perfect knowledge, love, likeness, and enjoyment of God our Saviour, in the realms of everlasting happiness above. To which may God, of his infinite mercy in Christ, bring us all! Amen and Amen.

SERMON XXXII.

THE ONLY FOUNDATION.

1 Cor. iii, 11. For other foundation can no man lay, than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

A FOUNDATION is that part of a building which is first laid, and upon which all the rest stands: if the foundation of a building is bad, or gives way, the whole edifice VOL. I.

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is in danger: it is therefore of great importance that it be solid and durable. Now, the Scriptures often compare spiritual things with natural things; and the church of God is here compared to a house or temple, "a habita tion of God through the Spirit," or, as it is expressed, Verse 9, "Ye are God's building." Of this building, Jesus Christ is the foundation. The whole church of God, in all ages and in all places, rests entirely upon him. He is, to every true member of it, what a foundation is to a building; he bears the whole weight of it.

The occasion of these words was this. There had been divisions among the Christians at Corinth. They admired one preacher and despised another. One party was for Paul, another for Apollos. St. Paul reproves them for it; and shews them that all their ministers were but like workmen employed in the same buildings. Paul, who taught them the first principles of religion, laid the foundation. Apollos, and other preachers who followed him, built them up, or took further pains for their instruction. But as to the foundation, it was already laid and no teacher, taught of God and sent by him, would direct the people to any other way of salvation than through faith in Christ. For, saith he, "Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." The great truth contained in these words is often mentioned in the Scriptures. When St. Peter was brought before the Jewish rulers for preaching Christ, he told them boldly, that “He was the STONE which they had set at naught," and added "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." In like manner St. Paul, shewing that God alone must have the glory of our salvation, says, that "Christ Jesus is made to us Wisdom-and Righteousness-and Sanctification-and Redemption-that is"Wisdom to enlighten our ignorant minds-Righteousness to justify our guilty persons-Sanctification to renew our depraved natures-and Redemption, to complete the whole, in the resurrection of our bodies." Or, as more briefly expressed in another place, Christ is all, and in all.

There are four respects in which Christ may be said to be our foundation.

I. He is the foundation of all saving knowledge. II. He is the foundation of our acceptance with God. III. He is the foundation of all holy obedience; and IV. He is the foundation of all true happiness, here and hereafter.*

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I. Jesus Christ is the foundation of all saving knowledge -I mean of that knowledge which is necessary to salvation; for it is eternal life truly to know God the Father and Christ the Saviour. Christ came to save us from our ignorance as well as from our sins. All men, as born into the world, are in a state of complete darkness and blindness as to the things of God. Reason, or the light of nature, as it is called, leads no man to Christ. The wisest heathens were "vain in their imagination, and their foolish heart was darkened." Rom. i. Nor is this the case of the heathen only; the natural man, that is, every man by nature, receiveth not the things of the Spirit of Godthey are foolishness to him; neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned," 1 Cor. ii. 14. And what is worse, the natural man hateth the light. As the thief and the adulterer dread the morning, so every sinner, being under the power of the prince of darkness, "hateth the light, neither cometh he to the light, lest his evil deeds should be reproved," John iii. 20. He shuns the light of God's word, lest he should see himself, and be filled with shame and painful conviction by the discovery of his sin. Now it was one principal end of Christ's coming from heaven, to be the light of the world. He preached recovery of sight to the blind. He opened the bodily eyes of some who were born blind, to shew that he could also open the eyes of the mind. He is to the soul of every believer, what the sun is to our bodily eyes. One great design of the Gospel is "to open men's eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light. Not that the word alone is sufficient for this purpose, unless accompanied by the power of the Spirit of God; "HE only, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, can shine into our minds," so as to give us the true light.

*The plan, with some other parts of this sermon, are borrowed from Two Discourses, on the same text, preached by the late Rev. W. Romaine, before the University of Oxford.

Here let us stop a moment, and enquire, what do we know of this? Is it so that all men are born blind? Have we been sensible of this? We should think it a miserabl thing to sit for several days, as the Egyptians once did, without the light of the sun. But our state by nature is far worse. It is a good thing to be sensible that this is the case; for, saith St. Paul, in the 18th verse of this chapter," If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool that he may be wise; that is, if he seems to have a large stock of worldly wisdom, let him renounce it all as insufficient to lead him into Gospel truth; let him make Christ, by his word and Spirit, the foundation of all his wisdom, and then, patiently endure to be called a fool by the world. O, let us be like that poor blind man to whom Jesus said—“What wouldest thou that I should do unto thee? Lord, said he, that I might receive my sight." Happy man! he prayed not in vain. "Immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way." Mark x. So shall it be with us, if, like him, we cry, แ Jesus, have mercy on us!" With this desire let us come to the preaching of the Gospel: and whenever we open our Bibles, let us pray, "Lord open thou mine eyes, that I may see wonderful things in thy law." We are next to shew,

II. Jesus Christ is the foundation of all acceptance with God the Father.

All men are sinners. This is generally confessed. But till Christ enlighten the mind of a sinner, he is not affected by it. He sees not the sinfulness of sin. He sees not the horrid impurity of his heart. He is not alarmed with the danger of his condition. He is not aware that the holiness, Justice, and truth of God are against him. But this is really his case. The law of God requires perfect love, and sinless obedience; or it puts the offender under the curse; for it is written, "Cursed is every one who continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them." You must continue (without intermission) in all things (not keeping nine commandments and breaking the tenth, and not keeping them all outwardly and breaking them in thought) not only to purpose well, but to do them. And which of us has kept the law in this manner? Who