vise not means of remedy, they themselves will surely take grievous harm.

So it is, brethren, in the body politic. If the head or government be careless of the general good, if it be self-willed and tyrannical, or feeble and unsupported, much danger and damage is quickly felt in every quarter. So, if the humblest class of society be aggrieved; if their morals become corrupted, their natural wants unsupplied, and if no sympathetic feeling be shewn, and no means of relief be devised, by those to whom they have a right to cry for succour, the body becomes a diseased body, and contracts a morbid habit which will surely one day terminate in its dissolution. And so it is also in the Christian Church. Every schism and division impairs the efficiency and mars the beauty of the whole; and if one member perish, the whole body, nay, even Christ himself the head, is touched with pain and sorrow.

I think, brethren, that a particular consideration of the mutual dependence of man upon man, and class upon class,

and some further illustration of the entire fallacy of the notion of man's independence, whether in temporal or spiritual concerns, may, under God's blessing, prove useful to awaken our charity, and arouse our diligence in well-doing. And it is a subject highly necessary to be well considered in the present time, when the spirit of disunion is too obviously abroad; and even good Christians are too apt to hold themselves aloof from each other, forgetful of the need of vigorous co-operation, especially in those members which are sound, for the safety and well-being of the rest.

First, it is clearly the design of providence to make us dependent, and to implant in us a feeling of dependence. Only view man as he first comes from the hands of his Maker. What a marked difference is there in his infancy, from that of the rest of God's creatures. The ostrich leaves its eggs in the sand, and when the young burst from their prisonhouse, God gives them instinct and strength to obtain subsistence. So with

others of his creatures, a few weeks, or months at farthest, make them "strong and lusty," vigorous and independent. But what a poor, weak, feeble creature is infant man! How many months and years of utter helplessness does he go through. What care of nursing, and what constant attention does he require; and then what a long process of education under tutors and governors, before the mind is strong enough for the exigences of the world, in which he is about to enter. And when the time comes for their entrance into the world, how utterly incompetent are youth of either sex to judge prudently and rightly, or even to get their living, without the counsel of their parents; how necessary is their kind succour, to assist them to launch their bark on the perilous waters of life; and how long does it require the aid of their experienced hand, to enable them to guide the helm.

Now why, brethren, is this marked difference ordained in the infancy of man, from that of the rest of God's crea

tures? Why-but because God designed to impress upon his heart the feeling of dependence, and to bind him up in those sacred bonds of natural relationship, which, if rightly cherished, will be the surest comfort in this life of trouble; and prepare him by a moral discipline for those holier ties of Christian fellowship and love, which will endure through the countless ages of eternity.

But our position will not be fully established, unless we trace his progress onward in life. Some, perhaps, will say, that when a man has obtained a fortune, or is in a good business, and is married and settled, and become the father of a family, then surely he is independent. Ah! such persons are but superficial observers. Little do they know of the springs of human happiness or misery, who argue thus. Suppose his wife to disappoint his hopes, or his children to be wilful and disobedient; might not either misfortune at once cut up all his earthly happiness by the roots? And who can trust to his riches? May not they

"take to themselves wings," and flee away? The carelessness or dishonesty of a confidential agent, a panic in commerce, or the breaking up of public order, .-may not any one of these things reduce him at once to poverty?

See how constantly dependent is the temporal prosperity of any individual, even the most apparently safe, on the conduct of others. How utterly vain is the boast of independence, even in him who, in the world's eye, may stand most secure. How does our worldly happiness depend on those without, and on those of our own household, even through the most vigorous portion of life, and so onward until old age may again reduce us to the imbecility of childhood.

Look again at the different classes, and the same mutual dependence on each other will be visible. Is the king independent of his subjects? Surely not; they may rebel against him and dethrone him. Are the subjects independent of their king? Not in the least more so. He may rule them with a rod of iron, and