realities. And above all things, indulge not the delusive hope that that soul which is suffered to remain amongst, and be polluted with the wanton vices of a wicked world, and which we call not away by deeds of piety from those its miserable haunts, can ever attain to any thing like that perfection which is the end of the Christian's ambition, or be fit to enter that place whose incorruptible inheritance corruption may not

share, or to gaze on that eternal being on whom "no one without holiness may presume to look."†

2. And lastly, if there be any who plead their own righteousness, their almsgiving, their religious observances, the integrity of their lives, and therein trust for salvation,-let them ask themselves why they have done those things. Was it really from faith, from a humble trust in the merits of Christ, from an eager desire to do the will of God, that they acted thus? Or was it the praise of men, the good opinion of the world they sought? This is a most important question which I would that all would put to themselves.Works, with right motives and intentions, are essential things; but oh! believe me they are not all. Recollect Cornelius: his prayers and almsgivings went up before God,-but they wanted something more, and that was the grace of God, * 1 Cor. xv. 50. + Heb. xii. 14.

the spiritual gifts of faith, and repentance, and sanctification from on high. Recollect that charity is not all in externals; that we may give all our goods to feed the poor, and yet possess it not. Think of this, and seek a better foundation whereon to trust than the feeble dependence on any righteousness of your own, or the help of any child of man. Seek a greater strength than the arm of flesh,-a more abiding, constant, unchanging spirit than the devices of man's heart or man's imagination can suggest. Let God be your strength and your buckler," the being on whom you will trust, "the rock also of your salvation and your God." And then will you be able (and oh! that this may be the lot of all of us!) not only in this life, but also in the endless bliss of the next, to experience the truth of the Psalmist's words, "Blessed is the man that maketh the Lord his trust," and "none that trust in him shall be desolate."†

*Psalm xl. 4.

+ Psalm xxxiv. 22.

SERMON IV.

ON CHRIST'S PERPETUAL PRESENCE WITH HIS DISCIPLES.

Matthew xxviii. part of 20th verse.

Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.

A CERTAIN sense of spiritual presence seems to be natural to the mind of man. Independently of that suggestion of deliberate reason which, in accents that can scarcely be unheard, points out to us the hand of design in the architecture of the universe, and reminds us of our dependence on some superior power; when he looks abroad on the wonders of creation, man recognizes, as it were, intuitively a certain diffusive though invisible agency that pervades and vivifies all things, and gives to every part of nature a peculiar animation and glory of its own. Poets and philoso

phers of all ages, regarding the subject merely as a matter of speculation or of taste, have loved to expatiate on this universal instinct of the mind. They have spoken with eloquence of a secret consciousness of the soul, by which it knows and feels that it is in the presence of some congenial intelligence-transfused through every part of his created universe, and communicating the radiance of his own surpassing glory to the bright theatre of the world around us. They have spoken of spirits innumerable, though unseen, encompassing us on every side, and occupying farther than thought can reach, the expanse of space. Of mysterious terrors far more appalling than the mere ordinary dread of death, which, amidst the outward convictions of nature, or the inward struggles of remorse, can terrify the soul of guilt with the thought of a supreme and omnipotent avenger. But they have not with equal correctness followed up this principle to its proper end. It was implanted, doubtless, in man as the foundation of that natural faith, which, without the aid of revelation, could acknowledge not only the existence but the omnipresence also of deity. But the evidences it affords have been often misunderstood. The heathens, in their perplexity to explain those suggestions aright, took refuge in that intricate polytheism