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bour to his own criminality! But, God of terrors! (let me once more repeat it), who can stand the thunders of thy voice, while thou pronouncest this tremendous sentence, "Depart from me ye accursed, into eternal fire!"*

O, my brethren, let me conjure you, while yet you may; avoid a judgment so terrible, such an extremity of woe. A portion of that store, with which heaven has blessed you, may render God propitious to grant you the grace of a sincere conversion, may facilitate your salvation. When powers, and riches, and honours, and all this world's goods shall be no more, when every human being shall appear stripped of all distinctions, before the tribunal of the Almighty; at that instant, had you millions, you would give them for a covering to your deformity, from the piercing eye of God: and yet, if you be unprepared for this meeting, the fault is all your own. He has thrown his heavenly wardrobe open to your use; you need but stretch out your hand, and you are clothed. Charity is the garment in which Heaven delights: "that charity which covers a multitude of sins."+ But here be not deceived; "to whom much is given, much is assuredly expected."

Let it sink deep into your minds: let your works manifest the reality of your religion. "It is not every one who cries out, Lord! Lord! that shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in Heasays our divine Redeemer. And what the will of our Lord is, I have now declared unto you. Do you commit your whole fortune to the mercy of the elements for a precarious return of perishable wealth? and will you not give now a

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tythe of what you would advance, upon the still more precarious adventure of a lottery, to secure, (for here is no chance, here all is certainty), to secure, I say, not only your own unbounded welfare, but that also of these orphans, through eternity? Give, and look to your eternal Judge for your reward: the time is near, when to give (how wished soever), will be no longer in your

power.

I am now done: let God arise, and plead his own cause. Yes, great God! whose favour alone can give stability and success to the endeavours of thy weak unworthy minister, thou wilt continue to crown with thy blessing this charity, which has so wonderfully prospered to the present hour! Vouchsafe, on this auspicious day, to hear mine, and the prayers of these orphans, for all those who have charitably united to erect for them this house of mercy. Frail, feeble, and short-lived as we are, our day will soon be over, and our humble exertions, O Father of mercies, to assist our fellow-creatures, must rest with thee! But thou, who inhabitest eternity, art the almighty Jehovah, for evermore. Cease not then thy paternal care and love: grant to this charity the perpetual regard of thine especial providence, and raise up, we beseech thee, faithful servants of thine to protect it, when those who now watch over it are receiving their rewards with thee in glory. Amen.

SERMON II.

SECOND SUNDAY IN ADVENT.

The Providence of God vindicated in suff. ring his children to be afflicted.

And when John heard in prison of the works of Christ, sending two of his disciples, he said to him, art thou he that art to come, or look we for another? Mat. ii.

THE object of the church, in holding up to our view the virtues and sufferings of the saints, is to induce her children to follow their example; to tread in their footsteps. In this day's gospel we behold St. John in prison; John, the child of prayer, the gift and darling of Heaven, the mighty subject of an angel's embassy; John, filled with the Holy Ghost in his mother's womb, filling his mother with prophesy, and all people with admiration; John, proclaimed by our Redeemer as the greatest man who ever rose among the sons of women; John, the herald, the precursor, sent to prepare the Messiah's way in the spirit and power of Elias; John, "who was to convert the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to

prepare for the Lord a perfect people;"* John, the man whom Herod not only esteemed, but also knew for certainty to be just and holy," who did many things by his advice, and heard him willingly now in chains."+ Strange emblem of human mutability! A striking instance of that divine lesson, "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the sons of men, in whom there is no salvation." But what is the crime that brought this affliction on a man se just and holy? The gospel gives the immediate cause. Because, says St. Luke, Herod the Tetrach was reproved by him for Heriodas his brother's wife: (Because he had married her, says St. Mark, his brother being yet alive). St. John, therefore, knowing that if Herod recompensed his fidelity with chains, he would not hesitate to push his cruelty much farther by depriving him of life, foreseeing his end drew near, sent two of his disciples to our Saviour, to learn from his own mouth if he were the Messiah. Not that St. John doubted whether Christ was the long expected Saviour of mankind; he who confessed that he was unworthy to untie his shoe, he who confessed that he was the Lamb of God who was to take away the sins of the world, could not for a moment entertain such a doubt: but afraid that his disciples might be intimidated by his sufferings from following Christ, to obviate this, he sends them on an errand in appearance for his own instruction, but in reality for theirs, not doubting but the sweet and majestic air of his divine person would soon dissipate their fears, and the sanctity of his doctrine arm them against afflictions.

And as these are the mercies to which every saint from Abel, to the last of the elect, must be

* Luke i.

† Mark vi.

Psalm exlvi. 3.

indebted for his crown, if we wish to obtain it, we must take notice of the conduct of St. John, who, in sending his disciples to Christ, teaches us also to have recourse to God under our afflictions. So diversified are the calamities and disappointments in life, and so fully does experience verify the observation of Job, "Man is born to trouble,"* that in every religious assembly there must be many who rank in the list of the unfortunate: and as it is the part of wisdom to provide even against possible events, it becomes the rest to prepare for the storm which may rise, when least expected, by increasing their means of defence and consolation under it.

My intention is not to point out each scene of distress as the real character of this world's happiness, but to vindicate the ways of God, to reconcile us to this state of being in which infinite wisdom has placed us, to make such an estimate. of human life as shall teach us the true worth of our enjoyments, to delineate the true features of misery, in order to fit those who have not as yet sustained the load of calamity, to bear it with fortitude whenever it be laid upon them, and to encourage those who at present feel its greatest pressure; to make the man of trouble, who has felt the sharpest pangs of adversity, even in his greatest afflictions, to rejoice, admire, and adore. Pattern of resignation, heavenly Jesus, instruct me to treat worthily this heavenly science, as I now devoutly entreat thee!

Though the wise and beneficent Author of our being has made ample provision for our happiness, diversified this scene with a thousand prospects of pleasure and delight, formed the human

* Job v.

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