and not promotive of our real happiness; and who hath promised, in that degree and at that period which infinite wisdom and goodness deem most fit, to those who seek his kingdom and the righteousness thereof, all things necessary to their temporal comfort.

Do adverse events, in rapid succession, overwhelm the edifice of the Christian's prosperity! Holding fast his confidence in God, the tempest agitates indeed, but does not prostrate his soul. In the midst of the wreck of his worldly goods, he can cast the look of composure and of trust to that Being who never yet afflicted but for the good of his creatures, never but in proportion to their deserts, and never without opening to the dejected spirit those consolations of his favour, those hopes of future bliss, which the world could neither give nor take away. The Christian, confiding in the promise that he will not be forsaken, is animated to those exertions that may be necessary to repair the ruin that has overwhelmed him. There is an unfailing promise-" Sorrow may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." Often the morn of joy succeeds, even here, the night of sorrow; but assuredly, a morn that no sorrow can cloud, the morn of an eternal day, will dawn, and bring the fulness of felicity to the soul of the Christian. Light is sown for the righteous, and joyful gladness for the upright in heart.

Do bereavements still more severe than the deprivation of worldly goods pierce with anguish the spirit of the Christian? Are his friends and his relatives, one by one, wrested from him; and is he left desolate on the bleak desert of the world? He rises above it, rises in holy faith to that celes

tial region which is his home, the home to which his Christian relations and friends are translated before him, and where he will again meet them in the presence of God, never to experience the anguish of separation, or to suffer any diminution of the fulness of their bliss.

The Christian, animated by faith in God, lives above the trials of the world.

4. Lastly. Under the influence of the same holy principle, he lives above its enjoyments: not that he childishly disregards them-not that he proudly deems them unworthy of his attention—not that he pharisaically refrains from them, as necessarily incompatible with his virtue. Incompatible with virtue they often are, through excessive indulgence, or through the particular temperament of the individual, or the circumstances in which he may be placed. But to refrain from the good things of the world, when they do not abate the strength and fervour of our pious principles, or relax our virtuous efforts, would be an ungrateful contempt of the bounties of that gracious Being who hath conferred them upon us, that in the submissive, and thankful, and moderate enjoyment of them, we might glorify him, the beneficent Giver.

Still, the Christian, surrounded as he may be by worldly comforts and enjoyments, lives above them. He bears in mind that he is the heir of joys infinitely more exalted in their nature, and endless in their duration; not subject, as are his present joys, to the changes of time, to the imperfections of the world, to the stroke of calamitybut fixed in God's presence, and pure and exalted as the divine glory. In his progress to these joys,

the Christian thankfully and piously indulges in those which the bounty of a gracious Providence here bestows upon him; but the imperfect pleasures that solace his journey, only serve to increase his ardour for the full delights of his home; there his heart is surely fixed, where true joys are to be found; and anticipating there the consummation of the virtuous pleasures in which he here indulges, the enjoyment of them is not diminished by the fear of their termination. Oh! how truly are the ways of religion ways of pleasantness, and all her paths peace! The Christian loves not the world, and yet he only truly enjoys it.

If these things be so, how great is the mistake of those who regard a religious life as incompatible with their enjoyment! With a supreme devotion to the things of the world a religious life is indeed incompatible; for it is the characteristic of the Christian, that he looks not at the things which are seen. Animated by a supreme concern for the salvation of his soul, and regulated by an habitual regard to the authority of God, and by the powerful and elevating principle of faith, he discharges with fidelity all the duties of life; and while he derives consolation under its trials, looks beyond its highest pleasures to the incorruptible and unfading joys of his heavenly inheritance. Thus living above the world, he is consoled under its trials, and animated, in the experience of its virtuous pleasures, by the prospect of their consummation in the full glories of heaven.

Oh, then, Christians, look not at the things which are seen. By pious reading and meditation, and above all, by habitual prayer for the quickening and sanctifying inspirations of God's Holy Spirit, che

rish that faith which is the principle of the spiritual life; daily, hourly, constantly realize that you are the servants of God and the heirs of heaven-the servants of God, bound in all things to please him, who will make all things work together for your good-and the heirs of heaven, not to be seduced, by the imperfect pleasures which surround you, from the incessant and supreme pursuits of those joys that are reserved for you in your heavenly inheritance. For this purpose, frequently participate of that holy supper, in which your spiritual privileges are effectually confirmed. When the world assails you by its trials, make Him your refuge and your friend, who, as a Father, loves and pities his children, loves and pities those who fear him; and be excited, by the experience of the vanity of earthly joys, to secure those which flow, pure and satisfying, from the city of the living God. And when the world surrounds you by its innocent enjoyments, indulge in them, but in moderation, remembering that you have a better and an enduring inheritance. Be constantly on your guard, that even the thankful and moderate enjoyment of the things which are seen, does not withdraw your attention from the heavenly objects which are not seen, but which are eternal-the only satisfying joys of the immortal spirit; in anticipation, its highest delight here-in possession, the fulness of its bliss hereafter.

SERMON XXXV.

THE NATURE AND IMPORTANCE OF SELF-DEVOTION TO

GOD.

ROMANS xii. 1.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

THIS chapter is, with admirable propriety, recited by the church, in the epistles for the Sundays after the Epiphany: for having, on that festival, celebrated the manifestation of her Saviour to the Gentiles, as well as to those who before were God's chosen people, it is her design, on the succeeding Sundays, to enforce those holy graces and virtues which Christ in his Gospel enjoins; and with this view a chapter is selected which cannot be surpassed for a clear, and affecting, and impressive exhibition of Christian morals. I shall at present confine myself to the important and interesting verse which I have recited as my text, which will afford sufficient matter for a single discourse.

The first part of the Epistle to the Romansthat which precedes the chapter from which my text is taken-may be styled, from the nature of the subjects which it discusses, the speculative or argumentative part. The apostle answers the objections of the Jewish converts to the admission of the Gentiles to the privileges of the Christian VOL. HI. 54