Here were statesmen and senators, and | probably magnified. Let others, therethe nobles of the land, all drawn forth to fore, (whose motives we feel no disposiproclaim publicly that the BIBLE was the tion to question,) see that all their memreligion of PROTESTANTISM, and to ex- bers are free from all blemishes and errors, press their attachment to it. And I am and whether they include as co-partners, fully persuaded that one of the causes of any, who in any way, are enemies to the that remarkable movement of a religious cross of Christ, or enemies to the Triune nature, which has taken place in so many God. It is easy to triumph before the fight. of the upper ranks in society, was the Untried institutions can afford to be very operation of the British and Foreign Bible liberal in their promises; but we plead Society. Never was there such an aggre- for a society, which has borne the burden gate of talent, religious principle, and and heat of the day-that has laboured piety as was then engaged; while mil- now for more than an age, exposed to lions of prayers on its behalf were con- every kind of observation. Let others, stantly offered in private, at the family at the end of so many years, and after altar, and in public worship; and when expending so many millions, and after they met, there was the prayer of the accomplishing so much good at home heart to Him that seeketh such as worship and abroad-let them show themselves him in spirit and in truth-Him who ac- as free from every thing objectionable; cepts the principle of devotion where the and we hope there will be enough found formality may be wanting. If nothing that will bid them God speed. Till then, more express could be done at the public we might say, "Let not him that girdeth meetings, it was owing to the peculiar on his harness boast himself as he that nature of the society; and there is no putteth it off." society but is limited by some exigency, by some difficulty; it cannot do every thing-it cannot accomplish every thing. It is enough if the Supreme Being looks down and smiles, and says, "She hath done what she could."

I hope I would not speak uncharitably; I am sure I prayed this morning to be preserved from that spirit; yet I cannot but speak, when that dear and beloved object is misrepresented. I remember to have read of some one who was dumb, that when set upon by robbers, and seeing his father likely to be assassinated, he made an effort and spoke. It is not merely choice that induces us to be advocates; we are compelled to be advocates; we are not only misrepresented, but we are attacked by those who differ from us. They may fight with men, without being tempted to take captive silly women. There are some of you who cannot feel as others; some of you are young, and cannot feel as those who witnessed the commencement of the institution. We can look back and remember the inexpressible pleasure we experienced, attached as we were to the Scriptures,' when we learned that a society was to be established, solely for the purpose of the

There is no doing good without giving rise to some incidental evil: our institution therefore never considered itself perfect. And when we consider the number of its agents-the immensity and distance of its operations-what wonder, if some who had been wishing for its halting, discovered a failure or a mistake? But, when these unfortunately occurred they were always immediately rectified, and pledges given against their recurrence. No society could do more-no reflecting mind could require more. Let those who expect perfection, remember it is the easiest thing in the world to find fault, and object; that censoriousness is not always the best food for humility. According to our Saviour, a man may have a beam in his own eye, while he is en-distribution of the word of the Almighty. deavouring to pull a mote out of his brother's eye. Those who cry out for perfection will be sure to be judged by no lax rule themselves; every failure in them will be minutely kenned, and most

We cannot forego our recollection of its formation, of its spread, of its first meeting—of the attendance of all that was wise and good-of the obvious felt presence of Deity-of the hours that seemed

imitates the example of the founder of the Christian religion; for Christianity is simple in its structure, its precepts, its doctrines, and its requirements.

itself on the memory: yet there is no art | characteristic; and in this Mr. Jay wisely visible, no affectation, no desire to produce any thing like a theatrical effect. His action is, in general, elegant and forcible; sometimes it is, however, too redundant. He seems to despise studied forms and attitudes, and is more desirous to impress the heart than please the eye. As an orator, he is entitled to great praise; Brinsley Sheridan said of him, (and who so capable of forming a correct opinion?) "that he was the most perfectly natural orator he ever heard."

Mr. Jay has not been the meteor of the moment, or the comet of the season. On his first entrance into the Christian ministry, his talents attracted universal notice, and he has been able to keep his hold on public favour undiminished to the present time. He did not exhaust himself by his first efforts, nor was he anxious to court popular applause. He wisely withdrew early from the dangerous fascinations of crowded cities, and in retirement has cultivated his talents, increased his knowledge, and matured his experience in divine things. So that his preaching, while it commands attention from the young, is eminently fitted to cheer and

As a preacher, he is excelled by few; there may be, indeed, some, whose eloquence is more commanding, whose grasp of mind is more powerful, whose imaginations are more vigorous; but yet, in all the requisites that constitute a good preacher, few will be able to surpass him. His discourses are regular, without being formal; and eloquent, without being ex-support the old. travagant: his language is always correct Mr. Jay has appeared before the puband nervous; his fancy is rich, but he lic as an essayist, a writer of sermons, seldom gives way to the sallies of the and a biographer. He has chosen a subimagination; there is but little of rheto- ject for his essay, which, though of the rical flourish in his appeals; his is the greatest importance to the welfare of eloquence of the heart; the warm and society, is generally shunned by most impassioned statements of a man fully preachers-it is marriage; and surely convinced of the truths he utters, and when we consider that the sacred obligaearnestly desirous to impress others with tions of this holy estate are but little a sense of their importance. He succeeds understood, and but seldom enforced from best in the tender and pathetic, and there- the press or the pulpit, some praise is due fore his appeals are generally successful. to him who ventures to dwell upon a He knows that the judgment may be theme calculated at once to arouse the often convinced, and yet the heart remain attention and improve the mind. His untouched by sympathy; he therefore sermons are distinguished by a rich tone addresses the feelings, and, through them, of evangelical piety, a strength of reasonthe heart, as the more powerful mode of ing, depth of thought, and simplicity of enforcing an attention to truth; but he language. His short sermons for fami can ascend to the dignity of argument and lies will long be held in veneration and expostulation, and lead the judgment esteem. His biographical sketches are captive at his will. It is almost impos- what all biography ought to be, a faithsible to give a general idea of his preach-ful record of those whose lives are poring; simplicity is, however, its prevailing trayed.

VOL. I.-32

SERMON XXVII.

CHRIST'S INVITATION AND PROMISE TO THE WEARY AND HEAVY LADEN

BY THE REV. CHARLES SIMEON, A.M.

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”—Matt. xii. 28 It is thought by many that the gospel | the heavy laden we must certainly inis a mere system of doctrines, which may clude, in the first place, Those who groanea be received without benefit, and rejected under the burdens of the Mosaic law. without loss. It is no such thing. The gospel-and I wish you all to remember this, for it will give you an insight into the gospel beyond all other things that can be conceived in so short a space-the gospel is a remedy-a remedy for the miseries which sin has brought into the world. Man is a sinner, and he is utterly undone; the gospel introduces a Saviour exactly suited to his necessities, and sets that Saviour before us under every figure that can unfold his excellencies, or endear him to our souls.

The ceremonial law, as you know, required a great multitude of ritual observances, which, to those who saw not their typical use and tendency, must have appeared frivolous and arbitrary; and even to those who had some insight into their proper meaning they still were an irksome task, an intolerable burden. From this yoke, however, the Messiah was to deliver them. He was to annul the old covenant, with all its ceremonies, and to establish a new covenant in its stead. When, therefore, our Lord declared himself to be the Messiah, he invited to him all who were weary and heavy laden with the Mosaic law, and assured them that the yoke which he would impose upon them was, on the contrary, light and easy. There is, however, a further reference,

2. To those who laboured under temporal afflictions.

Under the Old Testament our blessed Saviour is shadowed forth as the brazen serpent, that healed those who were dying from their wounds—as a city of refuge, to which the man-slayer might resort with perfect safety as a sacrifice, which removed the sinner's guilt. Looking into the New Testament, you will find there our blessed Lord represents himself as bread for the hungry, drink for the thirsty, a physician for the sick, and, we need mention no more than this, as a kind and hospitable friend, who invites to him all that are weary and heavy laden. It is in that view he speaks to you, by my mouth, at this moment; and I wish you to attending in the thanksgiving which is offered

to these three things:

I. The characters invited.

II. The invitation given.

None are such strangers to the common lot of mankind as not to be subject to many trials and afflictions. In fact, such are the calamitous incidents of life, that very few persons-very few, perhaps, who are here present, and have been join

in our liturgy to God-have been able to utter it, or can utter it at this moment, from their hearts, "We thank thee, O

III. The promise with which it is en- God, for our creation!" "For our creaforced.

I. THE CHARACTERS INVITED.

tion!"-many would be glad if they had never been born; but more especially Under the description of the weary and when the hand of God presses heavy upon

us, and we feel the weight of multitudi- | nous afflictions, we are ready to hate our very existence, and to choose strangling rather than life. Scarcely a week passes, in this great metropolis, but you hear of persons so bowed down under affliction, of one kind or other, that they destroy their own lives.

Now, these subsequent views open their wounds afresh, and make them feel in what a hopeless condition they are, till they have obtained peace through the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then they groan-and who is it that must not groan ?-under the weight of indwelling sin, which drew from the Now, it is highly probable that many mouth and the heart of the holy apostle of those whom our blessed Saviour ad- that acknowledgment, "O wretched man dressed had drunk deeply of the cup of that I am! who shall deliver me?" And sorrow, and, for their encouragement, is there such a person here?-is there therefore, he promised that, whatever one groaning under the burden of sin?— were their trials, whether in mind, body, or estate, if only they would come to him, they should find a relief from them all; or, what would be of equal value, they should have support and comfort under their pressure. And, to every person who is under affliction here before me, I declare, in the name of God, that, if you come to the Lord Jesus Christ, you shall experience a rest which the whole world besides can never give. But doubt less, we must principally understand by this term,

is there one trembling at the view of God's wrath ?-is there one desirous to obtain peace to his soul? That is the very person for whose relief the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world, and that is the person whom I am addressing at this very moment, in the name of my Lord and Saviour, "Come unto me, and thou shalt find rest unto thy soul."

But, in order to enter more fully into the import of our Lord's address, we must proceed to consider,

II. THE INVITATION GIVEN " Come

3. Those who were oppressed with a sense unto me." of sin.

Though all are sinners, yet all do not feel the weight of sin, because they do not know to what tremendous evils it has brought them. They do not consider the wrath of God. They do not consider-I am almost afraid to utter the word-the damnation of hell. They do not consider, they will not consider it. When they begin to be afraid of their ungodly state, and to see what a holy God they have sinned against, and how great and terrible a God he is, then they do begin to tremble, lest his wrath shonld be poured forth against them, and consume them utterly; and then they have recourse to somewhat of repentance, somewhat of attendance to his ordinances, and by that means obtain, just for a little, an insecure peace to their souls. But, after a very little season, they find, from their backslidings, and their utter incapacities, that this does not satisfy an awakened soul. They find they need something more, and that no outward change of theirs can avail them, for their present peace, and their everlasting happiness.

Now, by the expression," Come unto me," you will immediately see that our Lord does not mean to invite the multitude nearer to himself, for they were already round about him. The meaning of his words was, as he himself explains, Believe in me; or, in other words, Come unto me, in the exercise of faith, and hope, and love.

Now, in order that I may set this before you, I would take a great liberty; I would unfold to you our Saviour's words as though they were addressed immediately by him to you. Instead of saying merely, "Come unto me," I would say, conceive of our blessed Lord as addressing you thus, whilst I merely paraphrase his words :-" Brethren, to impart rest to you all is the very end for which I came into the world; and I would that every one of you, that seeks rest in me, should come to me at this very moment, and receive it at my hands. Turn not away from me as an impostor. You see me, a poor man, not having where to lay my head; turn not away from me as an impostor, if I tell you that I am the true Messiah-the per