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be misled. When the world smiles upon us, we are too ready to regard it as our " abiding city," and to conceive that we are left to our own disposal. We are then too apt to forget our duty to man, and our responsibility to God. Yet, my brethren, let not the truths, which this day* has recalled to your thoughts, be speedily dissipated. At the altar you have been told of better worlds. You have seen the Son of God rise from the grave in the form of a man; and you have heard him call you, to raise your ambition above the enjoyments of a temporary being. "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God." "Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth.”

Follow your Master in all the paths of social duty; be willing ministers of good in the hands of your heavenly Father; ever say with the prophet, "Here am I,” wheresoever thou wilt, O God, "send me." Thine I am, from the first moment in which my eyes were opened to the light, to that hour when they shall again be closed in death; and, through this fleeting circle of time, so enable me to do thy will in all the labours of love, that I may still be thine, when time shall be no

more!

* Easter Sunday.

SERMON XXV.

ON PUBLIC WORSHIP.

PSALM c. 3.

"Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his

name."

IT is a melancholy truth, that the occupations of life should possess the minds of men so entirely, as to leave them but little leisure for religious reflection. • Although nothing can be a more certain truth, than that all the good which we either enjoy or hope for, is from God; yet it is one which we are not apt to consider with attention, so as to awaken in our souls emotions of gratitude and piety. The institution of set times and places for worship, must, accordingly, be acknowledged to be highly beneficial, since it affords an admirable opportunity for making a retreat from our common worldly business, and of fixing our thoughts on that unseen Benefactor, from whose hand are derived all the blessings of our lives. Yet the spirit of irreligion prevails so far, that men rather avoid these opportunities, than avail themselves of them; or even if they seem to lay

hold of them, it is often with such a temper of mind as to derive no benefit from their recurrence.

There are two leading views from which a regular attention to public worship may be recommended: the spiritual improvement of the individual, and the good example which is thereby set to others. In the first place, a proper attention to public worship contributes much to the spiritual improvement of the individual. The fact which I set out with stating is undeniable; that in the present life we are necessarily so much occupied with worldly concerns, as to render us on the whole inattentive to religious truth, and the concerns of futurity. This fleeting scene occupies all our thoughts; and our heads are too often laid in the grave, before we have seriously reflected, that the grave is the gate which opens on an eternal world. Of this, and all other religious truths, we frequently require to be reminded, and to have them impressed upon our reflections in such a form, that they may keep their hold amidst all the seductions of present things, and establish somewhat of a celestial temper within us, even while our souls are borne down and fettered, by the incumbrance of our material frame.

The stated and regular worship of God is an admirable expedient for this purpose. When we "enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise," when our souls are elevated with the contemplation of his invisible glory; when we awaken in our hearts sentiments of gratitude, and entreat with humility the continuance of his favour; when we are instructed from his holy word, and listen to those heavenly precepts which the divine teacher gave to the children of

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men; when we are so employed, the world will surely for a time retreat from our thoughts; and, feeling the full force of religious impressions, we shall be ready to exclaim, with the patriarch of old, "How dreadful is this place! this is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!"

I am aware, my brethren, that such sentiments may be only momentary, and that, when we return into the world, the tide of human occupations and passions may carry us along with renewed force; yet something will always be apt to remain, some holy emotion, which may check the turbulence of unhallowed desire, or which may elevate the mind above the mean pursuits of avarice, or vulgar ambition. And, by frequently permitting such impressions to be repeated, a habit of piety, and of serious reflection, will be wrought into the soul, sufficient to bear it in triumph through the delusions of the world, and finally to convey it into that uninterrupted bliss, which awaits the good in the presence of their heavenly Father.

There is, indeed, a careless and inattentive manner of being present in form only, while the offices of religion are performed, which, so far from producing any improvement to the soul, rather tends to render it callous to all religious impressions. It is not uncommon for men to imagine, that their duty to God is sufficiently fulfilled, if they merely attend in person the places appointed for his worship, without really applying their minds to prayer, or endeavouring to derive any instruction from the truths which they may hear delivered. These men, indeed," enter into the gates of God's house," but it is without "thanksgiving and praise ;” without any

disposition to honour their Maker, or to be rendered capable of honouring him. It is unfair, however, to argue against the utility of religious institutions, from the small influence which they seem to possess over many of those who appear to treat them with due regard; because it often happens, that those men who seem the most zealous for religion, have yet never permitted their hearts to be affected with any genuine sentiments of piety, and, having a form of godliness, they yet deny the power thereof."

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That we may receive improvement in the courts of the Lord, it is, indeed, necessary that we should call to mind whose service it is in which we are employed; to remember that we are addressing him who is praised by the voices of angels and archangels; and that it is from the sincerity of our worship alone that our feeble voice can be thought worthy of joining in unison with theirs. When such are our impressions, and when we feel our devotion inflamed by sympathy with our surrounding brethren, the most thoughtless among us will, for a time at least, think soberly; and the wisest and best of us will return from the gates of the house of God, wiser and better than when he entered in.

The second view, from which this practice may be recommended, is under the head of example, which applies chiefly to men of character and influence, whose conduct is remarked, and who are as "cities set on a hill, that cannot be hid." There is no man, indeed, who may not have some influence, whose example will not probably be copied by some one or other. All parents are under strong obligations to set a good example to their

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