to parents; gracious and grateful; holy and devout; affectionate; faithful in their engagements, and reconcileable in their animosities; not calumniators or detractors; temperate, gentle, rejoicing in goodness; worthy of all confidence; cautious, discreet, and humble-minded; forsaking the temptations of pleasure from a sense of duty, and exact in the observance of prescribed forms, only as a means of improvement in the power of godliness.

The revival of this pure and undefiled religion is an object which is worthy of the most strenuous and combined exertions, without which it cannot be expected or attained: and let us engage in the attempt under a full persuasion, that he "who con"verteth a sinner from the error of his

way, shall save a soul from death, and "hide a multitude of sins";" and that they "who turn many to righteousness, shall "shine as the stars for ever and ever"." If we fail in the attempt, we shall nevertheless save our own souls; if we succeed,

q James v. 20.

Daniel xii. 3.

we may save our brethren also. The time is not distant, when in a neighbouring nation the general neglect of the power of godliness was punished by a contemptuous rejection of all its forms, and by a deluge of civil anarchy and religious unbelief, which swept the nations of the earth. If in that momentous crisis we have been preserved a peculiar people, may we, in the conclusion of the storm, pause, and reflect on the casual injuries which we have received; on the convulsive shock which has shaken our faith, our principles, and our practice. May He, "without whom no"thing is strong, nothing is holy," enable us to strengthen what has been weakened, and to purify what has been corrupted! May the God of love and peace consolidate all our efforts, and instruct every man in this remaining hour of improvement and renovation, to exercise his zeal in personal repentance, and in provoking others to a holy competition for excellence in love and good works! May it be granted to us, in this day of comparative ease and security, by public and by private exertions, to re

deem the evils of "the day of wrath, re"buke, and blasphemy." It is the perilous,

it

may be the last, time in which we are permitted to labour in retrieving our national character; and may God, who hath said, that "without holiness no man shall

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see him," and that "he who doeth " righteousness is righteous," so prosper all our endeavours and designs, as to put away from us the imputation of being "lovers of "pleasures more than lovers of God," of having "the form of godliness, but deny"ing the power of it!" May he make us to act in the sight of all nations, and more especially in his judgment, as becometh a wise and faithful, a moral and religious people, as a people whose Christian practices are worthy of their Christian profession and belief!

SERMON VII.

THE DOCTRINES OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND COMPARED WITH THE SCRIPTURES.

1 THESS. V. 21.

Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.

THE good fight of faith has been fought';

and it is time for the Christian soldier to retire within his own intrenchments, and rest in peace and security. Covered with "the shield of faith, with which he is able "to quench the fiery darts of the wicked 66 one," and armed with "the sword of the

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Spirit, which is the word of God," he has penetrated the camp of the several enemies, that have come up against the city of God. Moving under banners, on which is inscribed, the integrity of human nature, and the simple humanity of Jesus Christ, the boldest of the hostile party

Y

have been seen threatening its destruction, and hurling the pernicious weapons of heresy and false philosophy. In the opposite quarters, with a motto of the irrespective sovereignty of God, and the defectibility of the human will, have been discovered the ambushes of those who would ensnare, to a perverted and misinterpreted faith, the melancholy, the timid, and the undiscerning. Here, in the brilliant armour of superstition, and under the guidance of an infallible leader, are marshalled in a compact body the slaves and champions of unwritten tradition; and there, distracted and in disorder, with no common principles of union, are scattered those whose escutcheon is marked with the right of private judgment, and unlimited inquiry in matters of religion. On every quarter of the field, both within and without the city, may be seen too many, abandoned to "the "lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and "the pride of life;" professing a zeal for the "form of godliness," and practically indifferent to its " "power."

Thus distinct are the habits of the