was something about them as well on a week-day as on the Sabbath, to show that their affections were fixed on a better inheritance. Now, it is not the bare fact of indulging in this amusement or the other, that I am alluding to; but when we find out which way the current of the heart is set, and when we read the next moment that he who will be the friend of the world is the enemy of God, it is time, high time, that we should examine ourselves before rushing on the awful symbols of the body and blood of Christ.

Again: What are our ideas of Heaven? That we hope for it, there is no possible doubt. The worst man upon earth-the most blasphemous and abandoned-if you were to offer him the Indies to swear on the evangelists of God, that he would never ask his Maker for salvation, would recoil from the bargain. There is no question, therefore, that all of us look with pleasure to the prospect of future happiness. But, my brethren, the hope of future happiness is one thing, and the hope of Heaven is quite another thing. We may be gratified by believing that after death we shall escape punishment and pain, but the point is, whether the heart spontaneously pants for that hour, when it shall be free from sin, and free from the burden of itself, and free from the possibility of offending a kind and merciful God. O, it is sweet for a Christian to cast forward the eye of faith to that blessed world, where he will be relieved from this load of guilt, and made perfectly holy, and refreshed with new and progressive disclosures of the Saviour's character, and the Saviour's glory! We need not ask, brethren, what ought to be our views, or what ought to be our feelings in regard to Heaven-but what are they? The mere escape from suffering is but a small considerationfirst of all, we are to inquire, whether our spontaneous breathings are after holiness-whether the rest which we anticipate beyond the grave is precious to us, chiefly be

cause it will remove our sinfulness-and whether our great. est solicitude, both for this world and the next, is that we may bear upon us the image and the purity of God. Such are some of the leading criteria by which a man is to examine himself, preparatory to taking his seat at the sacramental table. On the approaching Sabbath, I will not deny that it would give me the purest joy to see you, one and all, come forward and join in the solemnities of Zion; but sooner may my lips freeze together, than encourage you to do so while you know that the work of an experimental preparation is now, as it always has been, entirely unperformed. So, then, it seems that some of you are not prepared, and why not? Perhaps you are not good enough-you are too great a sinner. Yes, and you will disobey this command of Christ; -this, the most affecting and impressive, because you have already disobeyed so many. You will hold on to your sins, because you are so great a sinner. Perhaps you have no heart acceptably to take the communion. Yes-and you will justify the neglect of one duty by pleading the deeper and darker guilt of having neglected another. You will keep within you, a heart which deters you from the eucharist, and which, by the very same rule, will shut you out from the presence of God and of Christ. Perhaps you have once had a seat at the Saviour's table, but, by long neglect, have become too guilty, or too indifferent, to take it again. Yes-and go on a few months, or a few years more, and in the same way that your sins have banished you from the communion, will they banish you from Heaven. You are welcome-you are bound to come now, even at the eleventh hour; but remember, the twelfth hour will close the scene in midnight forever.

Men and Brethren: Call upon them as we will-plead with them as we will there is an alarming majority of this congregation, who have no idea on next Sabbath, more than they ever had, of celebrating the death of that Saviour who bled on the Cross for their sins. To them to each and every one of them, I speak. I speak to all of you, my hearers, and I hope and pray that God may give you no peace, day nor night, till you have found out some adequate excuse for neglecting your duty, or till you come forward while you may, and perform it. There are some of you, however, who will not forget the dying command of Christ, nor absent yourselves from the solemnities of his table. You, my Christian friends, we hail with joy, among the little band of communicants. To what denomination you belong is of no importance-we give to all of you, without exception, the hand of a brotherly welcome. The Lord's Supper, like that Heaven which it typifies, merges every distinction of sect in the one great and honorable name of Christian. All we ask, is, that your whole hearts be enlisted in the transaction, that they be not free from sin, but penitent for it-not perfect in holiness, but panting to be so-not good enough to come, but ready enough not to stay away-not absolutely confident of pardon, but trusting in the mercy of Christ alone to dispense it, and cherishing the humble hope, that He has done it already. May God add His blessing. Amen.

SERMON ΧΧΙ.

"Herod the Tetrarch."

Matthew, xiv., 1.

In looking over the biographical sketches of the New Testament, we cannot but mark the honest and impartial accuracy with which they are drawn. Having for their object to keep up a broad line of distinction between virtue and vice, it appears natural that the sacred writers should have regarded themselves as an interested party, and betrayed their sentiments accordingly. But such is not the fact. No matter how fair the field for eulogy-no matter how just the subject for reproach-we find them, in every instance, repressing their personal feelings, and adhering to the fidelity of simple and unvarnished narration. For an example of the remark, take the case of Herod, whose name I have read. Perhaps few men in any age have been more licentious or abandoned; few, certainly, can be cited, who have wrung so many tears of blood from the Church. Yet knowing all this, having it confirmed by profane history, the pen of Inspiration has merely detailed a statement of facts, without indulging a single epithet, without drawing a single inference. Something like a feeling of pity, it is true, appears in the account, but nothing of indignation or censure; not a remark, indeed, is dropped, from which we can gather the views of the evangelist. He leaves it to his readers to form their own conclusions, and hence it is, that we, my hearers, may profit by taking the materials which the Bible affords, and collecting from them the character of a man who figured with almost unparalleled enormity in the early periods of the Church.

The name of Herod, on the pages of the New Testament, carries along with it a most terrific association. The father, commonly called Herod the Great, was he who massacred the children at Bethlehem, and sought the life of the infant Saviour. The son it was who inhumanly murdered John the Baptist, and he is intended by our text. The nephew, Herod Agrippa, slew St. James, and afterwards imprisoned the venerable Peter with the same design, which, however, was happily prevented. Through the whole family, therefore, we discover a cruelty and savageism, which even in those days of terror mocked at a parallel. The proconsular, or rather the official name of the individual about whom we are now speaking, was Herod Antipas. At the death of his father, he came into power, and was appointed vicegerent of the Roman emperor, with the title of King of Galilee. The first we hear of him in sacred Scripture is as the seducer, and afterwards the husband, of his brother's wife. While living in this incestuous connexion, John the Baptist commenced his career, and Herod from curiosity sent for him to court. The preacher went; but he went not to soothe nor to flatter. He dared to speak the truth; and while the royal sinner was surrounded by the imposing magnificence of empire, he reminded him of his guilt, and called upon him to break off from his destructive course of licentiousness and outrage. To this was returned the laconic answer, which office and rank generally, if they have the power, give to truth. John was ordered to prison. The step is not at all to be wondered at. How many are there, possessed of exalted stations, who do not spurn away from them every restraint, which an inferior, and especially a preacher, may wish to impose? Let a class of men be elevated above the common walks of life, by no matter what,wealth, office, family; and they all at once become enshrouded with a sort of repulsive dignity, which no remonstrance can