strangers to true religion, but without violent prejudices, increase the number. The aggregate, in a season of external prosperity, is considerable. These form a world of their own, where measured degrees of vanity, dress, company, trifling, ostentation, covetousness, ambition, mingled with some projects connected with religion, some knowledge of evangelical truth, and an attention to many religious duties, serve as effectually to produce a secular spirit, as the more marked dissipation of the great body of mankind. From the spirit and practices of these, the sincere Christian will find it necessary to withdraw, that he may gird himself to a higher enterprise, and tread more elevated ground. He will propose to himself bright and distinguished examples; men from whom he may catch some heavenly influence; men whose conversation may tend to instruct and purify; men who are walking, like Enoch, with God, deeply humble in their frame of heart, sincerely delighting in Christ Jesus, and having no confidence in the flesh; men who are evidently raised by communion with the Divine Spirit, to a higher measure of simple faith and sacred abstraction from the world; who have themselves learnt to anticipate the joys and service of heaven, and can assist us in aspiring after similar measures of holiness and love.

11. The consideration of the peculiar obligations which lie on us as Christians and Ministers to be separate from the world, may assist us in the performance of this duty.-For what is our Christian calling but a solemn separation from the service of sin, and a dedication of ourselves to God in the covenant of grace? What the proper effect of faith, and repentance, and love? What the design of the Holy Spirit of God? What the end of all the means of religious instruction? What of the word of God? What of the sacraments of the Church? What of the

promises of God? What of the hope and preparation for heaven? Did not our Saviour give himself for us, that he might deliver us from this present world? Has he not redeemed us, that we might be a peculiar people unto himself? Does he not plainly tell us, that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Does he not require and deserve all our esteem and love? Is not this world a state of probation for another? What then can be so strong and paramount a duty, as fidelity to our Master and only Lord; as a spirit of devotion to his service and indifference to every other? But if, in addition to our calling as Christians, the care of souls is entrusted to us, how greatly are all these considerations heightened? Are we ministers of reconciliation? Have we solemnly meditated on the vows of our ordination? Have we openly before the church separated ourselves from every other pursuit, and professed an unreserved devotion to the salvation of our fellow-sinners? How diligent, and holy, and spiritual should we be! We are to be ensamples to the flock. The difficulty of escaping from the spirit of the world, we know by our own cases. How then can we even ask others to come out from its vanities and allurements, unless we lead the way? Whatever the consistency and purity of our conduct may be, the great body of our parishioners will be far enough behind us; but if our own steps towards heaven are doubtful or tardy, there can be little hope that they will take any at all. Besides, the time is short, and therefore must not be frittered away on inferior objects, or wasted on unprofitable visits or studies; but redeemed for the ennobling and exalted duties of Christ's kingdom. A worldly spirit, however, will not merely injure our ministry by occupying our time, or distracting our attention; it will infect every thing we do. Our views, our feelings, our conversation, our

very doctrines will be weakened and adulterated. There is no art that can conceal this. The ointment in the right hand does not more bewray itself, than a worldly temper in the minister of religion. There is a holy simplicity and fervour of affection, a spiritual apprehension of the great scheme of Divine Truth, a tender compassion for the souls of our hearers, an ardent zeal in the discharge of our ministry, a sacred kindling of heart, touched with the love of Christ, and the peculiar unc. tion of his Spirit, which the secular and declining mind will neither understand nor value, and yet on which the far greatest part of the real effect and influence of the Christian ministry depends. To the worldly minded pastor may be ap. plied the thrilling denunciation of the Prophet;" Wo to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! The sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye; his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened." Zechariah, xi. 9.

12. Frequent meditation on the eross of Jesus Christ, is a point of eminent efficacy on this subject. "God forbid that I should glory," says the Apostle, "save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." It is only by contemplating the glories of Christ and the virtues of his death, that the world will really be vanquished. To the of faith intently fixed on the person, and love, and sufferings of the Son of God, the world will appear no more attractive than the disgusting spectacle of a malefactor extended in torture. As the empty vanities of this life utterly vitiate the mind, and exclude all the real peace and delight which flow from the doctrine of a crucified Saviour; so those views of the agony and wo

eye

taste is engendered. The gla tinsel of all earthly things a tected. Their intoxicating and malignant poison are laid The love of Christ and holine cupy their place. The soul after God, the source of all true The topics of natural religion duties of Christian morality, a general motives of the Gos Christ, important as they al derive their whole virtue fro cross, the mysterious cross incarnate Saviour. This has force of an example to guide, a motive to inspire. This will i rate and nourish the spiritual ple in the Christian's mind. stupendous subject be well stood in its real extent; if the which are necessary to prepa mind for receiving it, those detail its nature and properti those which follow it out i consequences, are thoroughly prehended and felt, the wor flee before. us. The contem of the cross of Christ will te the real extent of human dep It will produce hatred of sin : reconcile to sufferings: it wil er from the fear of man: it wil Christ into the heart: it will God: it will purify and elev affections: it will make obedie lightful it will fill the min gratitude and zeal. And in a ways it will directly tend to st en us for our conflict with th and temper of the world.

13. But even this sugges well as every other, will be tual, unless it be accompani fervent persevering prayer.the more necessary to be on, as it is the spring of al duties; and falling, from its less under the notice of our creatures, is too often per with remissness and neg There is no difficulty in any

tian duty which is to be compared with that of secret and fervent devotion. The reluctance of the heart to communion with God in prayer, is one of the clearest and most melancholy proofs of its apostacy and corruption. We may lose Christ and religion in family and public prayer (which are yet of indispensable importance) unless they be united with constant supplication in private. The very principle of worldly-mindedness, on which the success of all external temptations depends, is the tendency of the heart to depart from God as the source of happiness; and therefore, the duties of the closet, if conducted with holy importunity, direct ly lead to the mortifying of the very root and first element, from which conformity to the world springs. Prayer places the soul immediately under the eye and grace of God. Prayer exercises all the religious principles of the heart; as sorrow for sin, faith in the merits of Christ, love to God, watchfulness, and humility. Prayer also brings the Holy Spirit into the soul, with all that light and freedom, and consolation, and strength, and purity, which flow from his sacred inspiration. From the neglect of prayer arises the low and worldly kind of religion which prevails amongst us. Our religion is too often the religion of education, of company, of system, of criticism, of philosophy-it is any thing rather than the religion of the closet, which, derived from holy intercourse with Heaven, partakes largely of the source from which it springs.

14. Connected with this subject is the kindred one of the necessity of having death and eternity continually in our view.-We are what our object is. One reason, amongst others, why we are so worldly, is because death is contemplated as a confused and distant event. We each exempt ourselves from the probability of that immediate summons, which we admit in the case of others. Let death be brought near to our minds, let the realities of an eternal

world break in fully upon us, and how trifling will the pursuits, the projects, the opinions, and the customs of the great body of mankind appear! This world is, indeed, never overcome but by the intent meditation on another. If philosophy is extolled as tending in many instances to correct the impressions of sense, and as leading us to neglect present advantages for the prospect of future and more important ones, how much more does the grace of Christianity correct the deductions and vain reasonings of a fallen creature, and teach him to despise the momentary and turbid pleasures of this world, for the pure and unfading glories of eternity! Let death then, and judg ment, and heaven be much in our view. Especially let us bring near to our hearts the bliss and purity of the saints above. Let us aim at that love and joy and peace which constitute their happiness, and desire to have more of that life of God in our minds now, which we hope to possess perfectly and uninterruptedly in his presence hereafter. Such anticipation's of the vision of heaven, such aspirations after its light and its holiness, such foretastes of its employ. ments and bliss, would directly tend to mortify our hearts to the world. We should breathe a purer air. We should account ourselves strangers and pilgrims upon earth. We should be absorbed in our great work and greater prospects. We should have less disposition to descend to the meaner trifles of time. We should endure as seeing, and believing in, him who is invisible.

last thing to be thought of by a Christian. When men sleep, the enemy comes and sows tares. Other men may leave their work, and find it on their return in the same state. Not so the Christian. If he suspend, even for a day, his activity and circumspection, the foe rears its head. The world is about us-within uson the right hand and on the left. To resist its fatal influence will cost us incessant exertion. The current flows so deep and strong, that unless we maintain a constant opposing effort, we shall inevitably be carried down the stream. A fallen creature, quickly occupied with the objects of sense, called to perpetual duties in the world, with feeble principles of spiritual resistance, losing sight continually of his higher end, and too frequently irresolute of purpose, can obviously have no safety but in a wakeful apprehension and unceasing vigilance. In this way are In this way are we to "work out our salvation with fear and trembling." To acknowledge, with whatever sincerity, our depravity and danger, is not enough. Confession will not supply the place of effort. Indolent desires are insufficient for this emergency. The exertion of the candidate in the race, of the wrestler in the struggle, ofthe warrior in the combat is that which we are to put forth in this high and arduous contest. We are to "keep under our bodies and bring them into subjection, lest by any means after we have known and professed the Gospel of God, or even preached it to others, we ourselves should be cast-aways."

16. In doing this, let us humbly repose all our trust in the grace and power of God-I place this particular last, because it is intimately connected with all the preceding. In the honest and diligent use of every means of grace, as well as in the contemplation of every Christian motive, our whole confidence must be placed on the Almighty arm of our heavenly Father. Severed from Christ, we can do nothing. Relying

upon him, we need not despond: He bids us be of good cheer: He has overcome the world: He will not forsake his sincere servants in the moment of difficulty: He will "keep them by his power through faith unto salvation." This hope will be the helmet to the Christian warrior: it will animate and strengthen him. The exceeding great promises of the Gospel are expressly designed to deliver us from the corruption of the world, and make us partakers of a divine nature. Afflictions are employed by our heavenly Physician for the same end. Our worldly hearts require this discipline. Nothing more tends, under the grace of God, to separate us from all sinful reliance on things below, than sorrow and disappointment. These rend the world from our embrace, and are the ordinary means by which the mercy of God carries us on towards final salvation. May we learn, then, to employ our various losses and trials, as well as our privileges and comforts, for this important end! May we grow in the grace which is in Christ Jesus! May we rely simply on the teaching and mercy of the Holy Spirit! May we continually, in His strength, get further and further out of the world, and into the spiritual church! May we thus be gradually led on through the conflicting scenes of life, till at length, by the mercy of our Saviour, we are delivered finally from the burden of the flesh, are for ever liberated from the snares of this sinful world, and enter on a new and better state of light and glory, and holiness and joy! D. W.

FAMILY SERMONS. No. LXXIV.

(For Good Friday.*)

1 Pet. ii. 21.-Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that

we should follow his steps. On this day, appointed to commemorate the death and passion of

*The following sermon is a faithful abstract of the two homilies of our

our Saviour Jesus Christ, it would ill become those whom he hath redeemed from sin and death and everlasting damnation to omit the occasion of meditating on that great work which his mercy and love have wrought out for us miserable sinners. By his death he hath purchased for us the pardon of our sins, peace with God, adoption into his family, and an inheritance in the kingdom of heaven. And for this end he quitted the glory in which he was with the Father, entered into this vale of misery, took on him our mortal flesh, and the form of a servant; and all this for our benefit, who were his enemies, who had renounced his holy law, and had preferred to follow the lusts and sinful pleasures of our corrupt nature. He placed himself, as it were, between God's deserved wrath and our sin. He paid that debt we owed to God, and which was far too great for us to pay, and which if he had not paid, God would not have been reconciled to us.

Can we think upon all this; can we consider that to God sin was so hateful that it could only be redeemed by the death of his only and wellbeloved Son, and shall we not fear and hate it also? It was for our sins this Lamb of God was driven to death. We did the deeds by which he was pierced and stricken; the Jews were only the ministers of our wickedness. Shall we not, then, bewail our misery and sin? For we may be assured that if Jesus was thus stricken for sin not his own, we shall be much more sorely strick

church, "concerning the death and passion of our Saviour Christ." Whatever be the defects of those homilies, considered as literary compositions, when examined by the modern rules of criticism, they will be found to contain the grand fundamental truths of the Gospel, clearly laid down and powerfully enforced; and may we be allowed with all humility to add, that they will also be found to contain that precise view of those truths which we have uni. formly laboured to inculcate.

en for our multiplied sins, if we do not earnestly repent. No man can be in the favour of God, and yet love the sin which He so much hates. No man can say that he loves Christ truly, and yet cherish sin which was His mortal enemy. Our love to God and Christ may be measured by our hatred to sin. If we take pleasure in sin, we are enemies to God and traitors to Christ. Those who commit sin are represented by St. Paul as even "crucifying the Son of God afresh." "The wages of sin," we are also told, "is death;" death everlasting: and, again, "if we live after the flesh, we shall die." In short, we can live to God only by dying to sin. For Christ hath not so redeemed us from sin that we may indulge in it, but he hath redeemed us from sin that we should for ever renounce it and live to righteousness. Therefore in our baptism we are washed from the filthiness of sin, that we should live thenceforth in pureness of life; and we also promise to renounce the devil and all his suggestions, and as obedient children to follow God's will and pleasure. If he, then, be our Father, 'let us give him dues honour. If we are his children, let us obey him after the example of Christ, who "was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."

But to return: "He was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities." On the

cross

"he bore our griefs and carried our sorrows." No pain did he refuse to suffer, that he might deliver us from pain everlasting. The consideration of this should not only excite our thankfulness and bind us to his service, but it may inspire us with the hope that as "God hath not spared his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, he will with him also freely give us all things." We shall be his children, if we believe in Christ; for as many as believe in his name, to them gives he