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sympathize in the same wants, to offer the same prayers, to acknowledge the same God, and to know each other as brethren of the same family. The Sabbath alone raises the poor man to his proper rank as an immortal being. The Sabbath teaches the rich, and the proud, that all distinctions are as nothing; for the rich, and the poor meet together, but the Lord is the Maker of them all; and sin and holiness, vice and virtue, form the only distinction between them in the sight of God. Thus is the Sabbath the one great means of advancing at the same time the temporal happiness of man, and of preserving the knowledge and worship of the only true God--and as where the Sabbath is not kept, there is no worship and no religion, but man forgets God, and the world becomes a desart: so, wherever the Sabbath is observed, there is the best security for a life of religion, and for a death of peace. Such and so many are the benefits which follow the keeping holy the Sabbath day. But these are of little moment, however useful or valuable they may be; they are of little moment when compared with that one great benefit, for which this sacred day was hallowed-the benefit of constant improvement in the divine life; the benefit of becoming weekly and daily more and more prepared for that eternal Sabbath in heaven, of which our earthly Sabbaths are but a type or emblem. The heart of man must be changed before he can be fit for heaven-and the Sabbath is appointed that the Holy Spirit of God may meet

His servants in the courts of the Lord's house, and bless His Holy Word, and change the hardened heart. And I conclude, therefore, by demanding of all who are here present, whether they have so improved their Sabbaths upon earth, that they are beginning to be prepared for the Sabbath of God in heaven. Do you love the world less than you once did? Do you fear death less than you once did? Is your hope of salvation brighter, and clearer, as you advance in years? Remember how many Sabbaths have elapsed since your career has begun. Every seven years you live, you live through one whole year of Sabbaths. So often then you have acknowledged God the Creator. Have you begun to know Him as your beloved Father, and your best Friend? So often have you confessed the Son of God to be your Redeemer. Have you begun to know Him as the Saviour who never fails, and to place your dying hopes on Him? So often you have acknowledged the power of the Holy Spirit. Have you begun to know Him as the conqueror of the sins of the heart, and the comforter of the wounded spirit, in the fears, and in the prospect of death? The Lord's arm is not

shortened that He cannot save, his ear is not heavy that He cannot hear. If you profess religion, and do not receive of its consolations, the fault is with yourself, and not in the power of God. Put away, then, the sins of the heart. Separate from you all

3 Isaiah lix. 1.

that is evil. Obey the influences of that Holy Spirit which meets you in the Sacrament, and on the Sabbath; and then, as we commemorate our Sabbaths upon earth, we shall assuredly commemorate an eternal Sabbath above. As we are united now, in our prayers and hopes as one Christian communion--so shall we be united in another state in our praises, and in our gratitude, as a part of the number which no man could number, who were received for Christ's sake into the favour of a pardoning and merciful God.

SERMON VI.

NECESSITY OF PREACHING THE GOSPEL TO AN AGE OF RELIGIOUS INDIFFERENCE.

[Preached before the Sons of the Clergy, at Durham,
September 4, 1828.]

1 CORINTHIANS ix. 16.

For though I preach the Gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me : yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the Gospel.

If any persons, in the days of St. Paul, had embraced those notions of religious indifference, which are so common with us at present, they would have been much surprised at the declaration of the Apostle, in the passage which I have now read to you : Necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the Gospel. "From whence," they might have demanded, "does this necessity arise? Why "should there be woe unto you if you preach not the

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Gospel? The public law does not require it: the public law, on the contrary, rather condemns it. "The higher classes are against you; the customs "of the country are against you; the popular voice

G

" is against you; the authority of the teachers of "the people is against you. The religion which

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you oppose was given to the Jewish nation amidst "the thunders and lightnings of Sinai; and the "God who gave it will, therefore, certainly accept

the devotions of the people who defend it; and " even if they are now wrong in maintaining it, "God is too merciful to condemn those who are "sincere in their belief, even though they are igno"rant, or regardless, of the new opinions which you "advocate. Whence should there be any necessity that you should thus disturb the public re

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pose? why should there be woe unto you, if you "do not preach this new doctrine, which

"the Gospel of Christ ?"

you call

In such plausible language might the Apostle have been addressed in his own age: and it is, in fact, the language, in every age, of those who consider all religions as of equal moment; who prefer the indolence of indifference to the labour of inquiry; who value the worldly liberality, which does good to none, above the Christian charity which would do good to all. It is the language of all who would sacrifice religion to courtesy, and truth to popularity; and who would deny their Christianity itself, if it should cost them the smiles of worldly society. Such persons-and they form a numerous class-are always ready to express their surprise at similar firmness and decision to that which characterized St. Paul; and the reply by which the Apostle would have defended his assertion

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