which we see around us, and as our special benefactor and guide, under whose conduct, we travel through the wilderness of this life, to the Canaan above, and, to whom, it as awfully concerns us, as it ever did the Israelites, to be attentive and obedient. The praises offered up, in the Te Deum, as in actual concert with an adoring universe, for that mercy, in which the everlasting Son of the Father has employed, and is employing himself, with the subsequent expressions, of daily acknowledgment on our part, and petitions for daily aid from Him,— these, altogether, breathe alertness and alacrity: they are happily consistent with each other, and with the best feelings of the human heart; they are in harmony with the state of visible nature, at that period of the day, for which these services are appointed; and, if they are permitted to produce their full and adequate effect, they will lead us to co-operate with the great Father of the universe, in holiness, benignity, and communicative love.

If such be the character of our public devotions for the morning, may we not, naturally, expect a similar attention, to the altered circumstances of the evening? And this, my brethren, is actually the case. For, on close inspection, it will appear no fanciful idea, that holy activity

does not more visibly distinguish the one service, than an air of home-felt happiness, of heavenly benignity, and of contemplative rest, diffuses itself over the other. The two hymns of our Evening Prayer, are, very peculiarly, marked by a beatific quietness. In the first, the blessed Virgin, herself a pattern of gentleness and serenity, teaches us to praise God, for his inestimable love; with gratitude the most cordial, yet the least impassioned; with joy the most triumphant, yet the most meek and lowly. In the second, Symeon, the venerable Symeon, instructs us, in his dying song, with what feelings, we, who daily possess the blessings of that Gospel, whose infant Author he but just lived to behold, - with what feelings we should pass, from the activities of the day, to the quiet of the evening; for we, my brethren, can never be sure, that it may not be our last evening: and, therefore, the state of our mind at the close of each day, is ever liable to be our state for eternity. Blessed, then, are they, who are equally prepared to wake in this world or in the next; who can, therefore, cheerfully resign themselves to rest, with the words of Symeon on their lips, and in their heart," Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation!"

sinning immortality! But the day, of which a picture is thus drawn, is only an epitomized specimen of a holy life; it is, in fact, a whole course of piety, compressed into narrow limits, that it may be distinctly contemplated, and repeatedly brought before our view. But we are invited, earnestly invited, to extend this blessedness, through the whole scope of our earthly existence; nay, we are assured, that, if we fervently, and faithfully engage in this career of Christian virtue, our happiness will be continually heightening; still approaching, nearer and nearer, to the happiness of heaven; still more brightly anticipating that fulness of diversified employment, and yet of beatific rest, which awaits the spirits of the just, in the mansions of our Father.

And this be assured, as it is a just tribute to the religion of our Liturgy, so it is the highest commendation which language can bestow: for full occupation is the very soul of happiness; and what does all I have been saying amount to, but this, that our Morning and Evening Service open a field of inexhaustible occupation, to the noblest faculties of the mind and heart? The worst sufferings, of the most wretched beings, whom we see around us, sufferings in comparison with which, bodily pain or temporal calamity, be it ever so grievous, shrink into insig

nificance, the worst sufferings of the wretched, may be traced, through a variety of channels, to want of employment, as their unhappily prolific source. This is often bitterly felt, by those, whom the world esteems most busy and active, most enterprizing and successful. In numberless instances, while the body is engaged, and even while the intellect is strained to its utmost pitch, the highest powers of the soul, those to which all the rest should serve but as obedient ministers, are unelicited, and unoccupied; left to prey upon themselves, for want of suitable objects; and to make "the whole head sick, and the whole heart faint," by the tormenting consciousness that something is wanting' which this world, and all its concerns, are utterly incompetent to supply. The truth is, man was not made for earth alone. Formed in the image, and for the service, of his Maker, he unconsciously pants after his great Original and End. And hence, we may understand, why it is, that the loveliest scenes of this visible creation, are so often felt to be a dreary prison. For what is the value of that prospect, which a present Deity does not cheer, and gladden, and illuminate, by the light of his countenance? What provision is there, to prevent even a second paradise, from becoming a desert wilderness, if, by the absence of genuine

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religion, it be disjoined from God's gracious empire? Yes, it is indispensable to our life, and health, that we should breathe a pure, and holy element, which, like the air of the material world, may diffuse itself through every space and period of our being and such, precisely, is the devotion, of which our Liturgy affords an exemplification. This will accompany us, in leisure, or in business; in private, or in public; when we rise up, and when we lie down: far from disqualifying us for active pursuits, it will give us such vigour, such alertness, such calm, but persevering activity, as will enable us to excel even the worldling, in what he deems his own peculiar province; as will secure, the prompt and effectual performance of whatever is really conducive, to our temporal well-being. Whilst, instead of being "careful and troubled about many things," we shall be supremely solicitous for "the one thing needful.”

Let us, then, my brethren, intreat of God, as the first, and greatest of all blessings; let us exert ourselves, as if infinitely more than life itself were the cause at issue; let us strive and pray, not depending on our own strength, but on God's gracious influence, that the devotion of our Liturgy, may become the very element we breathe. The result will be inexpressibly satisfactory and glorious. In the discharge of active