civil, social, and religious good, which all of you shall rejoice to contemplate. I have no further arguments to urge. This is one of those subjects which, to the citizen, the philanthropist, the Christian, plead their own cause, and speak their own eulogy. Let me merely say, that if your liberality enables us to accomplish the plan we have commenced, not only the children who are now advancing to take our places as we retire from life, not only they, but generations yet unborn will rise up and call you blessed.

SERMON XII.

"We pray you, in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God."
2 Corinthians, v., 20.

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THAT was not an unmeaning inquiry of the prophet, " Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?" Were an angel suddenly to light upon this earth, a stranger to its impenitence and guilt, and degradation, he would instinctively recoil. He would find himself on a little isthmus, between time and eternity, wasted by the one and washed by the other; and yet crowded with millions of immortal souls, indifferent to the suddenness and certainty with which they were sinking into the surrounding abyss. He would see them absorbed in a world they must soon relinquish, unmindful of an existence they will never terminate, and careless of a Saviour they must receive or die; and, overpowered by the solemn and affecting prospect, he would exclaim, in the words of Inspiration, "Verily, the carnal mind is enmity against Godnot subject to the law of God-neither, indeed, can be."

But, my hearers, it needs not the purity nor the penetration of an angel to adopt this melancholy language. It is only to examine the lineaments of the natural heart by the light of the Bible, and all of us must confess that we are the enemies of God, unless and until "reconciled by the blood of His Son." For what else is the meaning of the text? On whom could the apostle enjoin reconciliation but on enemies? How could he instruct us, as instruct us he certainly does, to return to friendship and peace, if we had never before felt hostility? The truth is, he has de. ceived us and every chapter of Revelation has deceived us,-and, may I not add, our own experience deceives us, unless we have, by nature, an evil heart of unbelief, depart. ing from the living God, and unwilling that He should reign

over us.

But, my hearers, long as we have revolted from our allegiance, the unlimited offer of pardon is still published. Still does the angelic Hallelujah swell through the Heavens, "Peace on earth, and good will to men." Still is it announced from the lips of Inspiration, that God is, in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing to them their trespasses. This is the message which the apostle proclaims to-day, in the words of the text; and, as if to impart to his expression redoubled solemnity and importance, he prays us, in Christ's stead. He would have us regard the Lord Jesus himself, as applying to each of our hearts the impressive entreaty, "Be ye reconciled to God." Each of us, did I say? No, I trust there are some who have already complied with the command, and are, therefore, exempted from this renewed solicitation. But where are they?

Is it we, my brethren, who are the professed disciples of Jesus? who have taken the vows of God upon our souls, and sealed our covenant at the sacramental table? Alas! I fear some of us have given little other evidence of our attachment to Christ. We have, perhaps, had a religion of vows, and sacraments, and professions, while the things of the Kingdom have been dispatched rather as matters of convenience and security, and our light before the world has appeared the dim and flickering flame which has only made our darkness visible. It may be the unregenerate, who know, as we ought to know, that the effrontery of the pretension does not establish the genuineness of the claim,that they have often had a right to say of us, "What do they more than others?" And, my brethren, if, on impartial trial of these facts, the verdict of conscience be against us, we ought, instead of hunting through past life for the evidence of present piety-we, of all others, ought to lie down in the dust, and apply the apostle's injunction, “Be ye also reconciled to God."

I am aware, my hearers, that it is hard and humiliating to fix upon ourselves the charge of hostility to our Maker. Even were I to leave the visible Church, and go into the world, it would be quite as difficult to find those who would appropriate the accusation. Pass, if it were possible, from man to man, through the assembled ranks of the impenitent, and they would unanimously exclaim, "God forbid that we should be His enemies. Never could we be guilty of ingratitude so base towards the Preserver of our lives, and the Giver of our mercies. It is true, we have committed many sins, but it was done with no bad design, and so far from harboring hostility towards God, we have always thought of Him with reverence and love."

Now, my hearers, if all of us can so easily escape from the application of the text, what did the apostle mean in saying what he has said? He did not write this epistle for Botany Bay, or Bridewell. He did not send it to a band of robbers, assassins, or outlaws; and if he had done so, they might reply, like the rest of the world, that they had never cherished a direct hatred against God. But the apostle wrote to a Christian congregation, -to a body of men, accustomed, as we are, to assemble for Divine worship, and to yield that respect and decorum which it requires. It was to them, and, by a parity of reasoning, it is to us, that he addresses the exhortation of the text. As the herald of Jesus Christ, he beseeches us "to be reconciled to God." All things else are ready ; the ransom is paid, the proclamation is published, the blood of Calvary has extinguished the fires of justice, and God Himself is entirely reconciled to all sinners, but impenitent sinners. To them, therefore, the apostle now speaks, no matter whether to the openly profane or to the hypocritical pretender, or to the selfrighteous formalist, or to the deceived and deluded professor of religion, on him who is unregenerate, whoever he may be, this passage nails the declaration of Nathan to David, "THOU ART THE MAN!"

But, is it possible, my hearers, that to be unregenerate is to be at enmity with God? This is surely an important point to establish; for, in the first place, the Apostle takes it for granted, in the text, and, besides, till we can ascer. tain some existing hostility, we shall never listen to the proposal of reconciliation. Let us, then, decide the question, by a plain and serious examination of ourselves at the bar of conscience. None of us can be ignorant that we are instructed to love the Lord our God with all our hearts. And, let me ask, have we done this? Has He been the object of our most warm and affectionate thoughts? Rather, have we not lived days and weeks without even the ceremony of recollecting that He had preserved us? And, perhaps, if some casualty has reminded us of Him, we have felt a sensation of uneasiness until the melancholy visitation had subsided. How long have we ever lived without prayer? and when we have occasionally consented to the hardship of bending before the altar, has it not been with a cold and heartless formality, accompanied by a kind of pleasing emotion when the task was over? And is this love to God? Is this the active and animating exercise which we dignify with the name of affection in our intercourse with each other? Again, one of the most decided marks of Christian character is made to consist in attachment to the disciples of Christ. The reason is obvious ;-we cannot love the original without loving also the image. Is it not so, then, that we are disaffected with the spirituality of the divine law, and disposed to persuade ourselves that it does not