still glowing, who supplies all the orbs of heaven with undiminished lustre, and whose single smile spreads joy over the moral world.

Thus, the very idea of a perfect Being is a source of high pleasure to the mind; but to us there is more implied in the idea of the Deity. For these perfections are not dormant in the Divine nature; they are perpetually employed for the happiness of man. This glorious Being is our Father and our Friend. He called us into being at first, to make us happy; he hath given us many proofs of his goodness, and he hath allowed us to hope for more. He is soon to give us an opportunity of commemorating the most signal display of his grace, his noblest gift to the children of men. And, if he spared not his own Son, but freely gave him up to the death for us all, may it not be depended upon, that with him he will give us all things? Entering into these ideas, and animated with this spirit, the pious man is never so much in his element, as when he is drawing nigh to God. The mind never makes nobler exertions, is never so conscious of its native grandeur and ancient dignity, as when holding high converse with its Creator. The heart never feels such unspeakable peace, as when it is fixed upon him who made it, as when its affections go out on the supreme beauty, as when it rests upon the Rock of ages, and is held within the circle of the everlasting arms.

Hence, the good men of old, in approachnig to God, broke forth into the language of rapture, "As the heart panteth after the water-brook, so panteth my soul after thee, O Lord. O God, thou art my God, early will I seek thee. My soul thirsteth for thee. My flesh longeth for thee in a dry and parched land, wherein no water is: that I may see thy glory as I have seen it in the sanctuary. Because thy loving kindness is better than life, my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips. Surely we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, and thou wilt give us to drink the river of thy pleasures.-Whom have we in the heavens but thee, and what is there upon the earth that we can desire beside thee? My flesh and heart shall fail, but thou art the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever."

Thirdly, there is consolation in approaching to God. Alas! in this world afflictions so abound, that consolation is often our greatest good. In how few days of this mor

tal life do we not feel the want of a comforter? Ever since the introduction of sin into the earth, human life bath been a scene of misery. Man is born to trouble, and sore is the travel which is appointed to him under the sun. We come into the world the most forlorn of all beings ; the voice of sorrow is heard from the birth; man sighs on through every path of future life, and the grave is the only place of refuge, where the weary are at rest. Sometimes, indeed, a gleam of joy intervenes, an interval of happines takes place. Fond man indulges the favourable hour. Then we promise to ourselves the scenes of paradise, perpetual sun-shine, and days without a cloud. But the brightness only shines to disappear; the clond comes again, and we awake again to our wonted anxiety and sorrow.

Not limited to our own personal woes, we are doomed to suffer for sorrows not our own. We are not unconcerned spectators of human life. We are interested in every event that befalls our fellow men. Sympathy makes us feel the distresses of others; and the best affections of the heart become the sources of woe. How many deaths do we suffer in mourning over the friends that we have lost! While we lament their unhappy or untimely fate, we cut short the thread of our own days. The chords of love are broken, one after another; string after string is severed from the heart, till all our early attachments are dissolved, till our sad eyes have wept over every friend laid in the dust, and till we become lonely and wretched as we at first began.

Under these afflictions, and from these sorrows, devotion opens a retreat; the altar of God presents a place of refuge; the ear of the Eternal is open to thy cry; the arm of the Almighty is stretched out to relieve thee. There is a sanctuary where no evil can approach, there is an asylum where no enemy can enter. In the pavilion of his presence, God will hide thee in the time of trouble; in the secret of his tabernacle, he will cover thee in the day of danger. There the prisoners rest in peace, and hear not the voice of the oppressor. There are the small and the great, and the servant is free from his master. There the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at

rest.

It is some consolation, it is some relief, to open our hearts to men, and tell our sorrows to a friend, who can

give us no relief but by mingling All the prophets What consolation, what relief will it the into strains of our hearts, and tell our sorrows to that latter days, who is ever gracious to hear, and ever mighty the most To that Friend who never fails; who is afflicted

era of

afflictions, and who keeps us as the apple of his They Art thou therefore oppressed with the calamities of nd is thy head bowed down with affliction, or thy heart bro ken with sorrow? Approach to the altar; go to God; present to him the prayer of thy heart, and he will send thee help from his holy hill.

Lastly, In approaching to God, there is preparation for heaven. The objects, among which we are conversant, have a wonderful power over the mind. External things make such an impression within, that the character is of ten formed from the situation. The soul is assimilated to surrounding objects, and proportions itself to the sphere in which it moves. When employed in little and in low things, it is contracted: when occupied in earthly matters, it is debased; but acquires enlargement and elevation, in the presence of what is grand and sublime. By daily converse with the world, and familiarity with material things, the soul is alienated from the life of God; and man setting his affections on things below, becomes of the earth, earthy. But when we engage in the exercises of devotion, we counter work the charm of material objects; we retire from the world and its temptations; and shut the door of the heart against every intruding guest that would disturb us in approaching to God. Standing upon holy ground, we put off unhallowed affections, and impure desires From the presence of the Lord every sinful thought flies away. Our attention is turned from those things that would raise guilty passions in the mind. Pure and spiritual ideas are presented to view, and the perfections of Almighty God are set before our eyes.— When these are before us, our admiration of them will increase, our love to them will be kindled, and we will endeavour to resemble them in our own life. Thus, by approaching to God, we become like God. By devotion on earth, we anticipate the work of heaven. We join ourselves before hand to the society of angels and blessed spirits above; we already enter on the delightful employment of eternity, and begin the song which is heard for ever around the throne of God.

his light and nis truth,

at your hearts correrecal those precious f to you, so as he does her occasion, he sent antain of living waters "Drink

has been opened, and the voice came to your ears, and live for ever;" did you not feel emotions, which came from no created source, and taste a joy, which confessed its origin from heaven? Who can describe the blessedness of that time, when a present Deity is felt? It is the joy of heaven upon earth; the happiness of eternity in the moments of time.

SERMON XVI*.

LUKE ii. 10.

-Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy.

THE coming of the Messiah is always foretold in Scripture as a period of joy and triumph. The patriarchs

Of the following Sermons some are incomplete; owing partly to their having been left in that state by the Author, and partly to the manuscripts being lost or illegible.

The candid reader, in forming a judgment of their merits, will keep these unfavourable circumstances in remembrance.

rejoiced when they saw his day afar off. All the prophets take fire at this great occasion, and rise into strains of rapture when they describe the glory of the latter days, and the happiness of the Messiah's reign. In the most beautiful colours they paint its arrival as a new era of happy time, and as a general jubilee to the world. They represent it as accompanied with universal peace and prosperity; as effecting a renovation of nature, the return of innocence to earth, and the descent of God to dwell with men. "In those days the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad; the desart shall rejoice and blossom like the rose. They shall blossom abundantly: and rejoice with joy and with singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it; the excellency of Carmel and of Sharon. The parched ground shall become a pool, and the dry land springs of water. In the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.-The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of 'the sun shall be sevenfold." When the heavens and the earth at first arose in beauty from the hands of the Creator, the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. In like manner, when these new heavens and this new earth appeared, all the angelic host broke forth into strains of gratulation, ascribing glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, and good-will towards fallen man.

Unhappily, the Jews who were a gross and carnal people, misinterpreted the prophecies concerning the kingdom of the Messiah, took the magnificent style of prophecy for literal description, and fondly imagined that these glad tidings of great joy announced temporal and earthly blessings. They looked for no better a country than the land of Canaan, and expected no other redemption than to be redeemed from the Roman yoke. The veil is now taken off from the prophets, and we discern the Gospel, not as meant to procure us possession of the earth, and dominion over the nations, but as intended to make us partakers of eternal life, and to give us an inheritance in the heavens, which is incorruptible, undefiled, and fadeth not away.

The Gospel, then, is a system of spiritual joy. And, in treating of it in this light, I shall, in the first place, consider it as a method of instruction, enlightening the darkness, and dispelling the ignorance of human nature: