whence would arise this great difference of feeling? Is it because young women of the world, hate sin, more than young men of the world? Not at all. The case is quite clear: it is because the young woman would feel, that she had sinned against the world: and the young man would feel, that he had sinned only against God.

Hear, O heavens! and give ear, O earth! and witness the patience, the forbearance, and longsuffering of God! Is the sun clearer at noon-day, than the truth, which these instances bring to light, -that the children of this world have rejected the Lord from being their God; that they are all gone astray; that the general system is a league of darkness against light; that it is a combination, with the exception of a remnant, left in every age, of high and low, rich and poor, to "do all their works, for to be seen of men"-to place their own idols on the throne of the most High-and to make the world their God?

Who, then, amongst you, are engaged in this deep conspiracy against your Maker? If your hearts acquit you, if your hearts do not deceive you, if your hearts tell you, that you have " come out from among them, and are separate;" they can witness, far better than I can describe, the blessedness of the choice that you have made, and the joy which you see before you. But if your

hearts misgive you, and condemn you;-if this awful question can excite no interest in your breast, much more if you should meet it in an angry and a hostile spirit ;-why, then, the more tenderly we feel for your souls, the more solemn must the call of duty be, to tell you, that you are of the world; and, if you will continue so, must partake of all her plagues, and must meet that destruction, which is coming down, to make you curse the hour that you were born, through the ages of a lost eternity. And oh! that the terrors of the Lord, not brandished by a weak arm of flesh, to affright, but revealed in the Scriptures of truth, to save you, might reach some careless soul now present here, and bring that soul to fly from these terrors, to the salvation, and the mercy of the Gospel! Oh! then, pierce the clouds which surround you; and, with an eye of faith, behold Jesus, at the right hand of God, still offering for all your sins, the blood which he shed for you upon the Cross. Look to this ; and the sword of God's most righteous vengeance will be sheathed. Look to this; and all your sins will be laid on Him. Look to this; and you will hate the sins, which caused His sufferings and painful death. Gratitude and love will fill your souls. The Spirit of the Father and of the Son, will cleanse your hearts from all iniquity. You

will then know and feel that peace of God, which passeth all understanding. Freed from the chains of misery and iron, you will run, at liberty, the way of God's commandments. The night of restless dreams will be over; and the sober dawn of eternity open upon your souls. Passed from death to life, you will, in a measure, feel that your heaven is begun; that you have reached the borders of the Promised Land; that God is your happiness now, not less than your portion for ever. You will then feel life a real blessing; and thank God, with new emphasis, for having called you into being. Your works will not then be done, "to be seen of men." You will, indeed, be rich in good works; rich in every fruit of faith. Your daily and delightful task will be, to do good to men; but not to receive your reward from man. Your eye will be singly fixed on Him, who seeth in secret, and who will reward you openly.

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SERMON IX.

ST. MATTHEW, xxiii, 5.

"BUT ALL THEIR WORKS THEY DO, FOR TO BE SEEN OF MEN.'

I SHOULD be truly sorry, that my choosing these words, a second time, for my text, could be construed into a desire to dwell, in undue proportion, the severities of religion. It is my firm perupon suasion, the nearest and dearest conviction of my soul, that Christianity is in its inmost nature, the opposite of severity; that it is peace, and gentleness, and joy, and love. I think I can appeal to the all-seeing God, that my heart's desire and prayer to God, is that you may all taste, and bring forth, the happiest fruits of this seed of God's own planting: and that, where I endeavor, with an unsparing hand, to tear the mask from those deceptions, by which an evil world would delude us in our search for happiness, and leave us, at last, a miserable wreck, upon the shores of an undone eternity, I do this, often, with greater pain, than I can well describe; fearing lest what I mean in real anxiety for your best interests, may be thought the effects, merely, of an unkind, unsocial, and gloomy temper

K

ament. But with this short preface, I proceed to the exercise of my duty.

last

The principle, which I endeavored, in my discourse, to establish, is that there is a system fully understood, assented to, and acted on in the world, which virtually supersedes and sets aside the law of God; and, in reality, puts man's opinion in the place of God. And this, I affirm, is not the practice of a few, stigmatized, wicked characters, but the prevailing and received principle of action; and, consequently, that the words of my text apply not to some exceptions from, but to the average of society. "All their works they do, for to be seen of men."

A charge like this can be proved, only by adducing instances. And the more familiar the instances are, the better they will be understood; and the more easily their connexion with the principle laid down, will be traced. Let this, then, be my apology, if I appear to advert to topics, which some might think below the level of the pulpit.

Where the world makes a law, it is received with all that solemn reverence, and obeyed with that alacrity, which suits the commands of the Supreme God. And, on the other hand, where God propounds a law, it has just the force, which the authority of a weak and tottering government