Page images
PDF
EPUB

She calls us from the turmoils of mortal man, to consider the eternal course of the justice of God; from the afflicting consciousness of the impurity of the creature, to the ennobling contemplation of the purity of the Creator; and, still more, she calls us, amidst all the afflictions of time, to repose with perfect trust in the Paternal administration of God; amidst all our sins and infirmities, to know, that with him there is forgiveness and strength, and ever to fix the eye of faith on the glorious Captain of our Salvation, who goes before us in every trial, from every sin summons us to repentance, and points to the path of duty in every station of man, as to the infallible course of " glory, "and honour, and immortality."

Let not the world, then, my brethren, deprive you of these lofty meditations. "Commune with your own hearts upon "your bed and be still;" and if, "in thoughts

"from the visions of the night," you tremble at the spectre of your own unworthiness, and at the voice which tells you of the justice and the purity of God, there is yet a greater voice which speaks to you from the Gospel, and assures you that "God is love," and that, amidst all the infirmities of human nature, the penitent spirit" that dwelleth in love, dwelleth " in God, and God in it!"

[blocks in formation]

"And God spake all these words, saying, "I am the Lord thy God, which have

66

brought thee out of the land of Egypt, "and out of the house of bondage."

It was with these words, my brethren, as you well know, that the precepts of religion and morality were first introduced to the Jews. That singular people had lately been delivered from a state of cruel and hopeless slavery; they had seen the divine power exerted in the

* Preached in Lent.

complete discomfiture of their enemies; and now, under the guidance of their patriotic Prophet, they had advanced into the wilderness of Mount Sinai. Here, as we are informed, " it came to pass on "the third day in the morning, that "there were thunders and lightnings, and "a thick cloud upon the Mount, and the "voice of the trumpet exceeding loud: so "that all the people that was in the camp "trembled, And Moses brought forth "the people out of the camp to meet with "God, and they stood at the nether part of "the Mount. And Mount Sinai was alto

66

gether on a smoke, because the Lord "descended upon it in fire, and the smoke "thereof ascended as the smoke of a fur“nace, and the whole Mount quaked greatly. And when the voice of the

66

66

trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder " and louder, Moses spake, and God an"swered him by a voice. And God spake

"all these words, saying, I am the Lord

66

thy God, which have brought thee out "of the land of Egypt, out of the house "of bondage."

The laws which follow this solemn introduction, and which obtained so astonishing a sanction of divine authority, have, in every succeeding age, been received as the most sacred compend of human duty. The people to whom they were given were instructed, by their Prophet, "to teach them diligently unto "their children, and to talk of them "when they sat in their houses, and when they walked by the way, and when they

66

66

lay down, and when they rose up." The Divine Author of our faith renewed their sanction, and illustrated their spirit ; and we, my brethren, at this season, behold the interesting spectacle of the little children among us, assembling in the house of God, and repeating those words of au

« PreviousContinue »