and delivered us from the most overwhelming perils: He is in the midst of us, as individuals, whenever we suffer the influence of His holy word, as delivered to us through the medium of His faithful Church, to sanctify our homes and families but, above all, He is in the midst of us, in an awful and incomprehensible manner, so often as we are assembled together, as on this day, in his Temple. Wheresoever two or three are gathered together in His name, we are assured, by his own gracious words, He is there specially present. And when, in conformity with the Apostolic precepts, and the usage and consent of all Catholic Christianity, we sincerely join in spirit with the whole Christian World; and offer up our prayers, and praises, through his appointed Ministers, in his own consecrated house, be ye sure, that the blessings there derived, are special and enduring; that the communication with the Throne of Grace is near and intimate; and that we are immediately in His unseen presence.

And if such be the properties of a daily liturgy, what must not be expected, from the solemn commemoration of Him, and His divine sacrifice once offered; from the partaking of the Sacrament of His most blessed body and blood! What may not be realized, by the means which He hath ordained, to infuse into us the kindly in

fluences of his grace, and to refresh, with spiritual food, the wearied and famished soul! For there it is, that, joining our praises to, and singing in concert with, Angels and Archangels, and all the company of Heaven, we approach nearest to the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come; and, under the favour of His gracious protection, derive the highest comfort attainable on this side heaven. How dear to us, then, should be every Christian Church! where the Almighty vouchsafes to approach us, as really as in the Jewish Temple; yet not, as there, to terrify by the splendour of his majesty; but, by his kindly presence, to assist and pardon the manifold infirmities of our fallen nature.

But where are all the purposes of Divine Worship so exactly answered, as in the blessed Church of England? Where superstition is chased away; and yet every decent ceremony and affecting rite preserved: where fanaticism is discouraged; and yet the bright flame of godly zeal kept alive, with a cheering and consoling warmth: where every prayer is intelligible, and speaks to the meanest capacity; yet reacheth to the most exalted instincts of our nature, the highest apprehensions of the understanding, and the most generous affections of the heart:

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where every thing that is valuable and venerable in the whole range of ancient liturgies, where the prayers, and praises, and confessions, of prophets, apostles, martyrs, and fathers, are embodied; and where, finally, the pure and uncorrupted SCRIPTURES are read, honoured, and preserved, as the ground-work, and crown, and consummation of the whole.

And shall not God's blessing rest for ever on this Church? Assuredly it shall, my brethren, if we but use the undeserved advantages which we enjoy. But woe be to this nation, when it forsakes the way of its godly forefathers! Woe be to those, who will slight the manifest privileges with which God hath hitherto distinguished this people! Woe be to us, if we suffer these hearts to remain dead, and open them not to the genial warmth of the Sun of Righteousness ; if we listen not to his gracious words, so intelligibly communicated to us, at this his Mercy Seat! For then, be assured, our candlestick shall be removed from where it stands, and the blackness of darkness shall succeed, if, with multiplied warnings of ungodly nations before our eyes, and the immutable judgments of the Almighty determinately revealed to us, we proceed not, with all our heart and soul, in the race that is set before us, where our path is so plain;

if, notwithstanding all our knowledge, we persist in a wicked indifference but, may God create a right spirit within us, and avert the deadly curse!

Great, indeed, are the advantages of our national Liturgy. But for those places which are consecrated and endeared to us by its celebration, let us offer up our thanks. That it hath pleased the Almighty to spare so many of them, through so many ages, inviolate, should make us grateful to His ever-ruling Providence: yet, while I am on this topic, the events of the present hour should not pass unnoticed. It was the privilege and joy of England, that those great structures, her matchless cathedrals, raised in remote ages to the glory of our Creator, had survived the shocks both of superstition and fanatical rage, and continued, for the celebration, in most solemn and engaging form, of her daily service. But it hath pleased God to humble this pride, by the sudden destruction of her most magnificent Temple. * I trust, my brethren, there is not one here, who, as well from a regard for the honour of God, as from a love of what is ancient, beautiful, and holy, does not look on this as a national calamity. Thus, indeed, we

*York Minster: the interior of which was consumed February 2. 1829.

should feel, in analogy with the Apostle's rule of charity the whole body should sympathize, in the sufferings of one member. The Jews wept for the destruction of their Temple: and let it not be said, that it is wailing over stocks and stones, to deplore the downfal even of a material Christian Church. But I have mentioned this calamity, for our common improvement. This is one of those signal judgments which are inflicted from time to time, to show the mutability of things terrestrial. And, though the decay and extinction of our Maker's noblest fabric, the human frame, should be enough to impress this great and often-repeated truth upon our minds, yet, we are more affected by the downfal of what is fondly considered firm and unchangeable, than by the daily ravages of disease and death. This it is, which imparts such awe to the burning and crumbling mountain, the earthquake, and the tempest, when things long established are overthrown, and the landmarks of antiquity are swept away. And so, this holy fabric, which has so long lived. in history, as the witness of our religion and antient commonwealth; which generation after generation of our ancestors have resorted to, from a distance, to admire; and which we had expected that our children's children might live