every temper, every action, into fubjection to the laws and conformity with the example of your Lord; to love God above all things, and man, in the next place, for the fake of God; and to manifeft the ftedfaftnefs and fervency of your love to God and man by uniform and unequivocal deeds, by living to the glory of your hea venly King and the good of your fellowcreatures: then may you humbly confide that you are at prefent one of the people of God; then may you regad yourself as entitled by the mercy of Chrift to apply to your own comfort the promises of the Gospel. Remember, however, the ground on which you ftand. Remember that, if

your obedience begins to flag; if a worldly fpirit gains strength in your bofom; exactly in the fame proportion your title to comfort is undermined. The righteoufnefs of the righteous fhall not deliver him in the day of his tranfgreffion. When the righteous turneth from his righteousness and committeth iniquity; he shall even die thereby. Remember that when St. Paul befeeches God to comfort the hearts of the Thessalonians, that petition is connected with a fecond prayer indifpenfable to the fuccefs of the former; that He would eftablish them

in every good word and work, Blessed are they faith our Saviour, by the mouth of St. John, almost as it were clofing the volume of Scripture with the momentous warning; bleffed are they that do his com mandments, that they may have a right to the tree of life (q). Brethren! remain through faith in our Lord Jefus Chrift ftedfast in evangelical obedience. So fhall the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believ ing, that ye may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost (r).

(3) Rev. xxii. 14.

(r) Rom, xv. 13:

SERMON XVII.

On religious Despondence.

PSALM XXXviii. 6,

I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long.

I See men as trees walking; faid the blind perfon, when at the word of Christ he first opened his eyes. The eyes of the mind, no less than those of the body, are unable to sustain, without being dazzled and bewildered, a fudden tranfition from darkness to light. The objects which float before them, new, dimly viewed, imperfectly comprehended, are divefted of their proper shapes, their native colours, their genuine dimenfions, their wonted accompaniments, their obvious use and application; and not unfrequently prefent themfelves as gigantic phantoms, arrayed in imaginary terrors. It is only by collecting

the powers which the Moft High has vouchfafed, by exercifing them with difcretion, by gradually rendering them familiar with unaccustomed fcenes, by reforting to fuitable means for strengthening their debility and rectifying their errors, that the recently awakened organ learns to judge, to difcriminate, to underftand; to form a juft eftimate of the various fubjects which it contemplates; to apply them to the ends which they are severally calculated to anfwer; to invite affiftance and to derive confolation from every quarter whence by the appointment of Heaven the bleffings may be obtained; to diftinguish between real and fancied dangers; and while it feduloufly guards against perils actually fu pervening, to difmifs groundless alarm.

When perfons who have lived not unto Chrift who died for them, but unto themfelves; whether immerfed in the groffness of open vice, abforbed in the cares of the world, funk in fluggifh indifference, or refting on punctilioufnefs of moral decorum; when fuch perfons by the effectual application of the word of God, by ficknefs, by adverfity, by the lofs of a dear friend or relative, or by fome equally fea-· fonable operation of the vifiting hand of Omnipotence,

Omnipotence, are roufed from their fpiritual lethargy: when they perceive that their life has been a fhadow, a dream, a childish play, a tiffue of duties neglected and wilful tranfgreffions: when they furvey the holiness and the justice of God whom they have defpifed, and see themfelves fufpended by the thread of mortality over the abyfs of eternal condemnation it is not unufual for their terror and dejection to fettle into the bitterness of defpondence. The curfes of the broken law, the thunders of inevitable vengeance, found inceffantly in their ears. Before their eyes the books are opened: and the long catalogue of their fins written in the books overwhelms them with agonifing difmay. G Groaning under the anguish experienced by the afflicted Pfalmift, but deftitute of the gleam of comfort which, in the humble confcioufnefs of penitence, he ventured to cherish; they are troubled, they are bowed down greatly, they go mourning all the day long. The arrows of the Lord fick faft in them; and His hand preffeth them fore. There is no foundness in their flesh becaufe of His anger; neither is there any reft in their bones because of their fin. For their iniquities are gone over their bead;

as