keeping ourselves unspotted from the world," is employed to divide Christendom into sects and parties, and to make matters of religion a bone of contention. If religion was made to consist in the practice of righteousness, and not in speculations and opinions; in being good and doing good, and not in subscribing to any written creed, there could be none of those controversies about it, that separate man from his brother. It is to be hoped that the day will come, when the simple and beautiful religion of Jesus, will be carried more into practice, and be a restraint upon the conduct and actions of men, in the various callings of every day life. I have no faith whatever in confining the duties of religion to the observance of days and times. This is not sufficient to answer the purpose for which we profess to worship the Creator. We must carry out its principles in every day life, and prove that we are Christians, by fulfilling all life's duties. We must treat our fellow-beings as brethren -the children of a common father, created for the same great purpose, and bound to the same eternity. We should not consider that when these bodies shall return to the dust, that it is the end of our being, but we should contemplate life with those enlarged views, that embrace the future as well as the present state; and recognizing in each other the birth of an immortal mind, endeavour to cultivate and secure a unity of spirit, that shall render us happier here, and continue to be a blessing when time shall be no more.

I would ask thee, my brother or my sister, to examine these things for thyself. Go not after the cry of "I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, I am of Cephas,

or I am of Christ;" which is drawing thy attention to men and to books, rather than to the law of God written in thy heart. Read the volume of thy own. experience. What is the sin that doth easily beset thee? In what respect art thou most in danger of falling? What is thy greatest temptation? I ask thee, to watch at that point with increasing vigilance. The sin that doth easily beset thee may be removed, and watchfulness will be thy preservation in the hour of temptation and trial. The language of the beloved of God, is addressed to thee: "What I say unto one I say unto all, watch! watch and pray, and that continually, lest ye enter into temptation."

It is by watchfulness and prayer that we are able to resist and overcome one temptation after another; strength will be given us to regulate and subdue every propensity and passion, that may have controlled our better nature; thus, day by day, we may gain the victory over the world, and be prepared to enjoy the true communion of Christ: "To him that overcometh will I give to sit with me on my throne, even as I have overcome and am set down with my father on his throne."

This is the reward of our faithfulness to truth and duty; as we are obedient to all the revealings of light and knowledge, we shall feel the reward of our stewardship to be peace, when in the solemn hour that is not far distant, this language shall be addressed to us, "Set thy house in order, for thou shalt die and not live." What is death to him that has overcome the world? Such a mind need not contemplate eternity with fear or gloom; for if we can taste and handle of

the "good word of life and the powers of the world to come," death will be disarmed of its sting-the grave will have no victory, and we shall look forward to the future world, with the blessed assurance of an inheritance in that city, whose inhabitants cannot say, “I am sick.”

Let me impress upon your minds the necessity of giving "all diligence to make our calling and election sure," by fulfilling the design of our being, in accomplishing the work that has been given us to do. O, dear young people, there is nothing of so much importance to your present and future peace, and the highest interests that can concern you are involved in the labour, that you should shape your course of life, in agreement with the beautiful religion of Jesus. There is nothing that can bless you, or make life to you so much a scene of enjoyment, as to follow the example of him who said, "Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven." Turn your thoughts to God; cultivate the love of virtue, purity and truth. Avoid the evils-the snares, and the vices that are around you: for this purpose, there is strength given to you, and if you make not use of the power that is thus bestowed upon you, the day may come when the dangers to which you are exposed will overcome you, and you may have to adopt the language that one did of old: "Oh that I were as in months past, as in the day when God preserved when his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness."

me;

I believe there are those present, whose minds have been visited with powerful convictions of truth;

and if these are obedient to these heavenly visions, they will become as lights to the world, and as instruments in the Divine hand, in calling others to behold the beauty of the truth as it is in Jesus. I would say to these, leave the things that are behind; " go on unto perfection;" keep the eye single to the light of truth, and He who has called you by his power will not only be to you as the light of the morning, but he will be your meridian and your evening sun. It is not my mission to turn your attention to men, or to the opinions and speculations of men: "For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness and tempest, and to the sound of the trumpet, and the voice of words! But ye are called unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect.'

It is my concern to invite all, and especially my young friends, to a just and serious contemplation of the duties of life. Our happiness depends upon the fulfilment of these duties. Let us keep in view that pure and heavenly state, represented under the figure of the "holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." The more we contemplate this state, and seek to make it ours, the more we shall be led to see and admire the wisdom, love, mercy and goodness of our father in heaven; and as we rightly con

sider the relation in which we stand to him as the author of our being, and our dependence upon his guidance to lead us safely amidst all the temptations and trials incident to our present course of probation, the reflection and acknowledgement of the poet will be ours:

"Thou art the source and centre of all minds,
Their only point of rest, eternal Word!
From thee departing, they are lost, and rove
At random, without honour, hope, or peace."

SERMON IX.

DELIVERED AT FRIENDS' MEETING, DARBY, NINTH MONTH 22D, 1850.

Ir appears from the testimony left upon record, that the great example and teacher we profess to follow, in the course of his ministry, called the attention of the people to the observance of a higher and purer morality than was recognized by the religion of that day. He proclaimed the truth of God, in opposition to the prejudices and traditions in which they were educated, and called them away from the inferior morality of the law to the benign and heavenly influences of the gospel. This, I think, is evident, if we believe his precepts. "Ye have been told," he says, "by them of old time, thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy." This was the rule by