also describe how, when the Day-star of righteousness arose and the love of God was shed abroad in their hearts, they felt a pure and holy calm substituted for the turbulence by which they were before agitated.

The peace which Christ gives to his disciples is compared in the text with that which the world gives: "My peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you. The peace of the world is the peace which arises from mere sublunary sources; the satisfaction which men feel when their worldly schemes succeed; when their corn, and wine, and oil increase. Now such a peace is low in its origin; it is fallacious in its appearance; it is uncertain in its attainment; it depends on the caprice of others, on circumstances and events which we cannot controul; it disappoints us in the possession, and is transitory in its enjoyment. The world is like a hard master. giving with a niggardly hard, and conferring scanty and partial rewards; often withheld were most merited, and bestowed where there is least claim to them: it deceives us where we most trusted, and fails us where we most wanted it.-Not so the master whom Christians serve. Does he promise peace to his servants? He confers it liberally-he bestows it freely: he expects no return of obligation: he grants it universally to all his disciples: he disappoints none that truly seek it. His peace is a treasure invaluable to those who possess it. Enjoyment produces no satiety; length of possession does not cloy the mind: and as he gives not as the world giveth, so neither can the world deprive us of that peace which he bestows. While the faith is strong, and the heart pure, worldly troubles assail us in vain. The Christian remains unshaken amidst the storms and tempests which wreck the peace of others, and dash all their high hopes to the ground. Christian peace, and the peace of this world, differ as the characters of the different Masters who confer it. Christ has all power; is full of mercy; abounds in compassion, in goodness and love. Christ was pure and holy in all his conduct, influenced only by the most exalted views

the glory of God and the good of man. His service cannot be hard; his rewards cannot be worthless; his peace cannot be empty. It will partake of the character of Him who bestows it: Divine in its origin, pure in its nature, powerful in its effects, glorious in its possession, durable in its continuance. It will be indeed the earnest of that peace which the same Lord bestows upon the blessed inhabitants of his kingdom.

But can it then be necessary to take pains in commending to you that peace which the Son of God bestows? Is it not superfluous thus to institute a comparison between Christian peace and the peace of this world? Alas! my brethren, I know too well the fatal charm which the world exercises over us: I know but too well how it ensnares the mind, captivates the affections, blinds the understanding, and enchains the reason. Things present, and things visible, have in out present fallen state, an unreasonable and most injurious influence. Hence the salvation and the peace of Christ, the hope of glory, the happiness of heaven, have little of their due weight and effect. The business of the preacher, the employment of the Sabbath, is intended to counteract this influence of earthly things, and to give to the joys set before us their due and just preponderance. In pursuance of this design, it is my duty to warn you, my beloved friends, not to seek for a peace which you cannot obtain: that you do not, in the emphatic language of Scripture, spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which satisfieth not: that you do not hew out to yourselves cisterns, broken cisterns, which can hold no water, and forsake the living fountain of which you may drink and live for ever.

If the two pursuits were compatible with each other; if you could at the same time serve mammon, and serve God; if you could obey the world as your master, and seek the peace which it offers, whilst you neglected not the peace which Christ communicates; then these cautions would be useless. But this, I fear, is the com

mon and fatal error of mankind. They think the service of the world compatible with the service of God. They would divide their allegiance. They would combine and incorporate the two services which are absolutely inconsistent with each other.

The question is not whether, with the peace of God in the heart, we may not reasonably and moderately enjoy that portion of worldly things which God in his bounty has given to us. On that subject there is no room for reasonable doubt. We ought, with thanksgiving to the bountiful Author of our blessings, to accept and use the temporal enjoyments he has afforded us: but the question is, whether we may set our hearts on the world; whether we may labour chiefly for the meat which perisheth; whether we may devote ourselves to the service of the world. And what saith the Scripture? "Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth." Our hearts must be where our treasure is in heaven: Jesus Christ must be that Master whose commands we faithfully obey, and whom we are chiefly intent to please. Our chief desire must be to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord; our most anxious endeavours to be holy, as he is holy. All earthly distinctions and pursuits must possess but a secondary place in our hearts: for till we attain this state we shall want the due disposition of a servant of the Most High-we shall not pay him the allegiance which is his due. The world is the enemy of God, the rival of his authority, the usurper of his throne: and allegiance to an usurper and to the lawful prince cannot consist together. Our ruling principle is corrupt, till we love God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our strength; and till the love of father, mother, brethren, of all earthly relations, and even of life itself, are brought to yield to the love of Christ. And the reason of this is not because Christ is a hard or arbitrary Master, but because God can never be valued as he ought while any other being is held in greater or in equal regard.

Hence it is that inordinate worldly cares and worldly anxieties are incompatible with the peace which Christ giveth. They shew that the mind is not fully and firmly set upon "the things that are excellent;" upon the favour of God, and the attainment of Heaven.

Permit me, my brethren, to warn you, with all the earnestness of one who has felt your danger, and all the affection of one who feels tenderly for your welfare, that you seek not peace and happiness from worldly things. Consider the anxious mind, the wasting desire, the unceasing labour to obtain the things of this world, as equally foolish and sinful. Repress all such desires; hold them unlawful; be watchful against their entrance; regard them as your enemies. Behold, a far nobler object is held out to you by your God. You are heirs to higher hopes-to a glorious inheritance; render not yourselves unworthy of it by a mind too grovelling and sordid for its enjoyment. Reject not the manna of angels, to feed on husks, the food of swine. Quit not the society of the blessed, to mix in the riot of fools. Let not the word of God declare to you in vain, that "all flesh is grass, and all the goodliness of it as the flower of the field." Let not the minister of Christ in vain urge you to "love not the world, nor the things of the world;" since "if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." Let not universal experience tell you, without effect, that all below is vanity, and vexation of spirit. persuaded: the combined voice of God, of reason and of experience, deserves attention and obedience. What farther evidence would you wish! Your own conscience confirms this concurrent testimony. Be wise, then, and seek for that peace which is too rich a blessing to proceed from any but a Divine hand; too valuable to be given to any but those who will honour it aright.

Be

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estness how he must obtain the peculiar peace of a Christian, I would reply: He must labour to detach his heart, and wean his affections from the world, which is the grand rival of Christ. He must impress strongly upon his mind the vanity of the world, the folly of its cares, the emptiness of its enjoyments, and guard against indulging a desire for worldly things as his portion. I would further exhort him to pray that his eyes may be opened to see his true state. Let him implore God so to enlighten and strengthen him, that the salvation of his immortal soul may become the great object of his life; and that his affections hitherto misplaced, may be set upon those noble and substantial objects, which will endure when this world and all its concerns shall have long ceased to exist. We must not expect that such a total change of mind, such a moral revolution, will take place at once; but it ought at once to become, as Scripture and reason sufficiently demonstrate, our grand object to attain it. This must be the chief end of our endeavours-the important business of our lives.

And, further, our applications to the Son of God, the Saviour of the world, who alone can give light to the understanding, purity to the heart, soundness to the judgment, a right direction to the affections, and peace to the conscience, must be earnest and constant. Christ must become our Saviour, to whom we trust for life and happiness; our Master whom we are to serve continually. Bought by his blood, we are to surrender ourselves to him; and believing in him, we are humbly to expect salvation from his free and unmerited grace.

In this renewed state, it will become us to guard against every thing which would draw off our attention and our affections from Christ. We must cherish a godly jealousy and fear, lest through the subtility of Satan, the allurements of the world, or the corruption of nature, our hearts be drawn aside from God. Per