again recur to mislead us,

Some of us,

probably, are returning into scenes of affliction, and may be tempted to murnur against the dispensations of heaven. Yet, my brethren, if such is the call of your Father; if it is into the scenes of sorrow that he sends you; still say with the prophet, "Here am I." Forget not so soon the contemplations in which you have been engaged. Remember that the Master before whom you have now bowed, was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. You have lately risen from the view of his sufferings *, and have seen that he refused not the cup which his Father gave him to drink. Still more, you have seen the reward of his filial obedience. When the bitterness of death was past, you saw him restored to life and immortality; and you now are as-.

*On Good Friday,

sured that," at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow." Learn from him to suffer; and the meekness of your patience will like his be rewarded, when sorrow shall be no more!

Many of us are returning into scenes of ease and prosperity. It is in these chiefly that we are likely to be misled. When the world smiles upon us, we are too ready to regard it as our " abiding city," and to conceive that we are left to our own disposal. We are then too apt to forget our duty to man, and our responsibility to God. Yet, my brethren, let not the truths, which this day* has recalled to your thoughts, be speedily dissipated. At the altar you have been told of better worlds. You have seen the Son of God rise from the grave in the form. of a man; and you have heard him call

*Easter Sunday.

you, to raise your ambition above the enjoyments of a temporary being. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God." "Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth."

Follow your master in all the paths of social duty; be willing ministers of good in the hands of your heavenly Father; ever say with the prophet, " Here am I,” wheresoever thou wilt, O God, "send me." Thine I am, from the first moment in which my eyes were opened to the light, to that hour when they shall again be closed in death; and, through this fleeting circle of time, so enable me to do thy will in all the labours of love, that may still be thine, when time shall be

I

no more!

SERMON XXV..

ON PUBLIC WORSHIP.

PSALM, c. 3.

"Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name."

It is a melancholy truth, that the occupations of life should possess the minds of men so entirely, as to leave them but little leisure for religious reflection. Although nothing can be a more certain truth, than that all the good which we either enjoy or hope for, is from God;

yet it is one which we are not apt to consider with attention, so as to awaken in our souls emotions of gratitude and piety. The institution of set times and places for worship, must, accordingly, be acknowledged to be highly beneficial, since it affords an admirable opportunity for making a retreat from our common worldly business, and of fixing our thoughts on that unseen Benefactor, from whose hand are derived all the blessings of our lives. Yet the spirit of irreligion prevails so far, that men rather avoid these opportunities, than avail themselves of them; or even if they seem to lay hold of them, it is often with such a temper of mind as to derive no benefit from their recurrence.

There are two leading views from which a regular attention to public worship may be recommended; the spiritual improvement of the individual, and the good example which is thereby set to others. In B b