can be more absolutely necessary, more in character with our professions, more wise and prudent, more honourable and consistent, or indeed more truly philosophical, than this;-that entertaining such high hopes, and being consciously on the eve of such stupendous revolutions, such illustrious and momentous changes, -for they are "ready ready to be revealed in the last time," ready now to burst upon us in a moment, we should maintain our title to them unimpaired and unobscured to the last; should ever seek a perfect meetness for them; and should watch, with unremitting diligence, and with anxious hope, for the actual commencement of them.

Let the sinner also be instructed and awakened by the views we have advanced on this great subject. Let him consider how nearly, how vastly those blessed changes concern him; with what unparalleled imprudence and madness he is bartering this immense, this immortal happiness, for sensual and sordid pleasures ;-pleasures which in their consequences are as ruinous, as in their nature they are mean, and beastly, and disgraceful. An interminable prospect of glory and felicity is here presented to him, and purchased for him, and he sells the whole birth-right for a mess of pottage; and this too, with the certainty, that, as soon as the pottage is disposed of, he must be doomed to suffer the very opposite of all this happiness in the hopeless pains of damnation.

Let him likewise reflect upon the palpable inconsistency of living chiefly for the body, while he takes the most direct and certain means of preventing its glorious renovation, in that world of felicity to which he is invited; and of perpetuating its corruption, and odiousness, and misery. Or, if he be a man of intellectual taste and fancy, let him know, that he is no less at variance with himself, in doating on the beauties, real and ideal, of this transient world,-whether in the magnificent displays of visible nature, in the walks of art and of polished life, or in the magical creations of poetry and romance,—if, in the meantime, he dashes from the grasp of his infatuated mind all that conceivable and all that unimaginable loveliness and glory of which we have been speaking. Let him also remember, that if our doctrine of the intermediate state be true, he may, in a very few days, or even hours, mingle with a world of spirits; or if it be not true, he must-because unconsciousness cannot be calculated-pass instantly from his dying chamber to

the judgment-seat of Christ, and hear at once the sounding of the trumpet, and listen to the sentence that consigns him to an unchangeable eternity. Above all, let him remember, the decree is passed: "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord." And let him-if yet happily he will considerhave immediate recourse to the atoning blood for pardon, and for grace to make him "pure in heart," that he may "see God."

THE REV. ADAM CLARKE, LL.D. F. A.S. &c.

"To be a true Christian is not a work of opinion, but of greatness of mind.”

ST. IGNATIUS,

ADVERTISEMENT.

THE fear of falling much beneath the weighty subject of the following Discourse would have prevented its appearance, but for the wish to discharge some portion of the debt of gratitude which the writer owes to the memory of the venerable minister whose character he has attempted to describe, and the unanimous request of his brethren of both circuits, who were of opinion, that Liverpool ought not to be without its local tribute of respect to the deceased, whose labours in that town had been at all times received with much acceptance, and frequently attended with eminent success.

With all its defects,--and of these none can be more sensible than himself,-the author presumes to inscribe it to the surviving family and friends of that extraordinary man, as a well-meant endeavour at once to do some honour to his name, and to render the subject subservient to the instruction of the reader. He may just add, that personal indisposition was the principal reason why the publication has been so long delayed.

SERMON VII.

He shall be great in the sight of the Lord.-LUKE i. 15.

A THING is said to be true when it answers to some rule or standard with which it is compared. Thus, a portrait is true if the likeness be exact; or in other words, it is only by the original that we can judge of the resemblance. A circle is true if it answer to the definition,-that all its parts are equally distant from the centre; and our text is a true translation if it faithfully represent the meaning of St. Luke. We may add, that, in deliberately forming a judgment of the opinions, or dispositions, or actions, of any man, the mind is naturally disposed to look round for some intelligible and decisive law or example, by which it may come to a speedy and a satisfactory conclusion.

It is also obvious, that, in every case, the rule itself should be a proper one. It should be accurate: A false rule would be worse than nothing, would only deceive us, adding error to our ignorance. How, for instance, should one crooked line detect the exact degree of obliquity in another? It must also be suited to the nature of the subject; as, for example, it would be no less unjust than absurd to judge of the life and actions of a peasant by the rules of public duty peculiar to a prince. And if we have to judge of any man by several rules, applicable to the several characters and relations in which he stands, we ought to give our principal attention to that rule which is superior to the rest, which includes all the others, and which ought to maintain the supreme dominion over them. This transcendent, this unquestionable rule is the will of God revealed in the Scriptures.

Before we speak of greatness, let us illustrate what we have said, by inquiring how the rule ascertains true morality. A man "without Christ, and without God in the world," may