welfare; if I could believe this, such a reflection would make me truly happy. I should then think that I had been of some little service in my obscure walk of life, and please myself with the supposition that I had not lived in vain.

I humbly implore for this congregation the blessings of Almighty God, and I fervently wish to them every happiness here and hereafter.

195

SERMON II.

ON THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES.

JOB, xxiv. 1.

The times are not hidden from the Almighty.

As I am about to address my congregation for the last time, and to take my leave, after a ministry of some years, I wish to take a short view of the religious and moral state of the times, which it is very useful to do occasionally, as it makes it more clear to righteous and good men to which side they should incline, — what offences against morals and religion they should view with the greatest jealousy, - against what propensities and tendencies of the people they should array the whole force of their authority, their arguments, and their example. It is awful to think, too, of what the text so nobly says, that "the times are not hidden from the Almighty;" that an Omnipotent Being regards the moral order of the world; that, when a nation is industrious, and honest, and chaste, He knows it; that when venal, and mean, and sensual, He knows it also: to think that God knows this, at any time is awful,- to think that He knows it now, when all nations of the earth are falling into ruins before our eyes, darts into every mind the liveliest fear by which it can be agitated, brings before it the highest hope by which it can be filled.

In speaking of the religious state of the country, I shall first enumerate those circumstances which are favourable to the cause of religion, and then, endeavour

to insist upon those points, where it appears to me there is much room for improvement.

Those who attend to the immense power of example, will easily allow the incalculable advantage of that example in matters of religion, which we have now long received from the two most august personages in these realms; from the moral and domestic lives which they have led, and the sincere, yet rational religion by which they appear to have been actuated. They have, certainly, conferred a most important good upon the times in which they live. A fanatical or an hypocritical monarch would have filled this country with the most disgusting extravagance, or the most odious meanness; a profligate and irreligious king would have produced the most fatal effects upon public morals. To those sovereigns then who have been correct, and correct without ostentation, who have been pious, and wisely pious, we do owe a considerable share of gratitude and praise. In whatever other light this reign may appear to posterity--whether it will be marked in their estimation with glory or with shame, that must be referred to the cooler passions and more perfect information of those who succeed us: but we who live in these times, and are apt to estimate them by the domestic comforts we enjoy, cannot but know how much, in the details of common life, we are indebted to those who have turned the imitative habits of mankind to domestic virtue and rational religion.

There is another aid which the cause of religion has of late years received, and still continues to receivea strong conviction in the minds of men produced by the recent calamities of the world, of that powerful connexion which subsists between religion and present happiness. Unfortunately their minds are not open to greater truths and stronger reasons; but they can see that the safety of human society rests upon religion; they can see there is a golden chain which reaches from

heaven to earth; they are aware that the moment man ceases to worship one God, he falls into the most dreadful of all bondages, and makes a thousand gods of his own lusts. The general prevalence of this opinion has produced, if not an increase of religious feeling, a remarkable decency upon all subjects connected with religion. There never was a period in this country, in which religion was less openly attacked, or treated with more outward respect in the manners and deportment of mankind. This is no mean auxiliary to the cause of real piety, and is, perhaps, the only benefit which has resulted from the long series of political convulsions in which we have lived. May I add, that it is some pleasure to every well-wisher to the cause of religion, to reflect upon the numerous, learned, and respectable body of clergy, by which the general interests of virtue and piety are protected and upheld. Of all valuable institutions in a state, the most valuable is that which places a large body of men in the bosom of society, to teach good actions and good principles, and to recall men, at stated intervals, from the impressions of their senses, to that eternity of pleasure or of pain, which awaits them hereafter. It is a great advantage also, with our ecclesiastical establishment, that it has been cured of its ambition by time and by defeat, and learnt to be moderate; it is a great advantage that the members of which it is composed are come more out into the daylight of the world that the character of a respectable minister and an useful citizen have been judiciously blended together, and that better means are afforded to us of becoming acquainted with that nature, whose virtues we are to strengthen, and whose infirmities we are to correct. I must not omit, in enumerating the advantages of our establishment, the profound learning and the general information diffused among the English clergy; so that infidelity, before it can triumph, must be compelled to reason, and to reason well-to search,

and to search diligently. A vast power of learning and skill is always ready to defend the best interests of mankind to expose ignorance to repress temerity, and to hold down, with the grasp of reason, those unprincipled talents that would remove every landmark of life, and overwhelm us with the confusion of endless doubt. It is impossible to combine the safe moderation of an established church with the ardent zeal of a new sect, forcing itself into distinction, and securing its support by its activity. But he who looks only to an establishment for what an establishment can fairly supply, for a correct moral life in those who belong to it, for learning, for moderation, for tranquil piety, for good sense, for zeal in the support of those principles which make men wise and happy, upon which the safety of our temporal and the hope of our eternal existence depends; whoever looks to our establishment in this spirit of charitable judgment, must consider it as the main pillar on which rational religion is fixed in these realms, and must consider, therefore, its defence and support among his highest duties and most sacred

trusts.

Having stated these few main points, which appear peculiarly favourable in the present times to the interests of religion, I proceed to discuss some symptoms of a very opposite nature. I have something to observe upon two great religious evils, fanaticism and intoler

ance.

A man must be very bold who can look upon the present activity of fanaticism in this country, and express his decided conviction that no serious evil is to be apprehended from it. To me I confess it appears an object of the most serious and rational alarm. I see no characteristic of danger which it wants; it is subtle, rapid, secret, seductive, and utterly inexpugnable by reason and argument. It breaks out, not here where there is reason and education to restrain it, but it