And, now, the place on earth the most like to this and the nearest allied to heaven, is the house of God on the Christian sabbath, filled with sincere and humble worshipers. Go through all the earth, and look upon all the scenes which she may any where present; visit the cottage and the palace, the secret chambers and the family altars; and though you shall find many places in our fallen world which God still loves, and where angels delighted rejoice to linger; yet no where shall you come so near heaven in its glory, as when you enter the sacred courts of the Lord, and mingle your prayers and praises with his children, while he bows his ear to hearken. No where else does heaven bend down so low, nor earth spring up so high to meet it. No other place upon his footstool does God so well love, as the assemblies of his saints in worship, "The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob."

INFERENCES.

1.-All the arrangements for public worship should be amply and cheerfully provided.

A House for God is to be built, and maintained perpetually in good repair. This should be in a favorable location, of sufficient dimensions to accommodate the congregation, the architecture chaste and in good proportion, the finishing neat and pleasant, and all its accommodations for heating, lighting, seating, &c., comfortable and agreeable. The whole charge of keeping the house in readiness for public worship, on all regular and special occasions, should be entrusted to some competent and faithful person, who is to be held responsible that all is maintained in decent, and convenient order. The stated ministration of the word and ordinances is to be secured, and which can never so effectually and profitably be done as in the regular and permanent settlement of the gospel Ministry. And there each responsible head of the household is bound to make such regulations in his business, and such arrangements in his domestic economy, that all the members of the family may attend as regularly, conveniently, and profitably as is practicable.

This will require a considerable sacrifice of labor, and time, and money, to be repeated year by year. But it is all righteously demanded. It is due to patriotism, to benevolence, to piety. By no possible means, without this, can so much good be done to the land, the church, and the world. Where shall you bestow labor and expense so readily as in that very place, and for that very object, which God loves most of all on earth? For what other possible end, shall you spare your time and money, by withdrawing it from this? This is sacredly due from every community; and what is

selfishly withholden from this service which God most of all approves, and applied to any other end whatsovever, will be found to be robbery of God, and wages earned only to be "put in a bag with holes."

2.-A regular attendance upon public worship is demanded.

The building of a house for God and the provision of all its conveniencies and accommodations, and the settlement of a Pastor, are not themselves an end, but only a necessary means to the securing of a higher end. The ultimate end is such a pure and public service rendered to God, that he shall be more pleased with it than all else on earth. Where, then the arrangements are made, they must be used. Where the house of God is open, and his message is to be delivered, you must be there, and enter, and "hear what God the Lord will speak."

Very trifling obstacles often hinder from coming to the house of God, and very weak excuses are often most wickedly made to shield the delinquent from the censure of others, or the upbraidings of his own conscience. Let this great truth be ever before the eyes, the ordinance of public worship is God's most valued institution. What if you can read the Bible, and pray, and meditate on divine things in your own dwelling? What if you assume to do this from Sabbath to Sabbath, and refrain your foot from going to the house of God? Let this thought dash all the presumptuous comfort you are attempting to gain. God is not so well pleased; he does not love me nor my worship here so much as if I were this moment in his public courts with his people. You are neglecting an ordinance of heaven of the very highest moment. So far as your example and influence go, you are breaking down one of the strongest barriers against vice and crime which God has anywhere erected in our fallen world. You are also weakening some of his most powerful instrumentalities for the everlasting salvation of the soul. When you, therefore, at any time feel the rising inclination to absent yourself from your place in the Sanctuary, for a reason which the truth does not sanction, let this conviction come up with all its force, that "the Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob:" and let this thought quicken your step to the place where God hath chosen to place his name. Every Sabbath morning should find yourself and your family in your place, with the honest declaration in your heart, "now then are we all here present before God, to hear what is appointed thee of God," How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord God of Hosts." "I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of the Lord than to dwell in the tents of wickedness." "A day in thy courts is better than a thousand."

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3rdly. Yield to the influence and instructions here imparted.

It is not place alone, but the right heart in the right place, which is acceptable to God. The Sanctuary is the right place for all

people on the Sabbath day, but the heart of penitence and faith, love and obedience is demanded. Here is the source of a thousand strong, tender, and solemn influences. "The faith once delivered to the saints" is here defended, expounded, and enforced. Here your prayers go up together before God for those great blessings, temporal and eternal, which you all need. Here you commemorate Jesus' dying love, and give your renewed vows and pledges to be wholly the Lord's. Here you bring your children whom God hath given you, and dedicate them to Jehovah in the ordinance of his own appointment. Here, too, you bring the cold remains of your departed friends, and in all the freshness and fullness of your grief you look to God awhile in solemn prayer, that your afflictions may be sanctified to your everlasting salvation, and that you may be comforted by the grace and the Spirit of the Lord, and then carry away the dear form to its silent resting place until the resurrection. Here is your chosen place to meet with God, and worship him unitedly on earth, and transact with him your business for eternity. Let then this place, the centre of so many sympathies, the source of so many solemn and sacred influences, be dear and precious to your hearts. Let no thoughts and plans, no feelings and affections intrude themselves here, which shall be a profanation of the place. and a prevention of God's highest approbation and favour. Yield to all these kindly influences; obey all these divine instructions. It is this spirit alone which can secure the high favor and love of God towards your Zion. Prepare here for the duties and temptations of the week, the trials and disappointments of life, the certain coming of the hour of death. Prepare here to meet God in judgment, and to live forever with God in heaven. So prize and improve the blessings of the Sabbath and the institution of public worship, that this house may be to you truly, "the house of God and the gate of heaven;" and that God may also, here, pour out his spirit, and revive his work, and renew and sanctify the hearts of the entire community around you. "Arise, O Lord, into thy rest, thou, and the ark of thy strength." "Let thy Priests be clothed with righteousness, and let thy saints shout for joy." "Bless abundantly her provisions, and satisfy her poor with bread." In this house of God on earth, let both parents and children become prepared for a higher worship, in that "house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." AMEN.

SERMON CCCCXVIII.

BY REV. DAVID B. COE.

PASTOR OF THE ALLEN ST. PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, N. I.

WAR AS A MEANS OF SETTLING NATIONAL DISPUTES. “Stall the sword devour firever -2 SAMUEL 11: 25.

Of none of the great evils which act our race, do we form such inadequate conceptions, as of the evil of war. This is owing, in part, to our happy inexperience of its borrors. For more than thirty years the clarion of war has not been heard on our shores. Europe too, during most of this period, has been slumbering on her arms. Few generations since time began, have had so little knowledge and experience of war as the generation now living. been exhibited to us only in the dazzling dress of poetry, fiction, It has and history; where its horrors are carefully concealed beneath its gaudy trappings, and its crimes christened by names of virtue. We see its plumes, and epaulettes, and harlequin finery; we hear of the magnificence of the apparatus, the bravery of the troops, the glory of the victor; but the character of the contest in the sight of heaven is not considered; the story of the miseries and wrongs which follow in its train is untold.

We are wont to look upon war, moreover, as a game at which rulers have, er officio, a right to play whenever they please. Accordingly, when rumors reach us from Washington that our government proposes to engage in a war with England or Mexico, we receive the intelligence much a- it related to the tariff, or a national bank; whereas it ought to call forth a note of remonstrance, which should remind our rulers whose servants they are, and whose interests they stake in this fearful game.

It is a matter in which every individual has a deep interest, and ought to have a voice. It is his right as a citizen. and his duty as a constituent of the government of this nation, to bring his influence to bear upon this great question; for in the measure of his influence he is responsible for a right issue. Nor is the right or responsibility of any individual diminished, but rather increased, by his being a Christian or a Christian Minister. If, on a subject so intimately connected with the interests of Christ's kingdom, his ambassadors are silent or timid, they betray the cause they are set to defend. This is not a political question merely, and the discussion of it, in its moral and religious bearings, can not identify the preacher with any political party. All parties deprecate war, and if that man walks upon the soil of this Christian land who covets a contest with England, "him (and him only) have I offended."

But while there is but one sentiment in the community respecting the desirableness of such a contest, there may be a diversity of opinion respecting the necessity and morality of this mode of settling controversies. Without wishing to exaggerate the probabilities of war, or to excite groundless alarm, I have thought it might be profitable to contemplate war as an evil, and as a tribunal for the settlement of national disputes. This subject has a special appropriateness to the day which commemorates the birth of the father of our republic; and is not inappropriate, surely, to the day which commemorates the resurrection of the Prince of Peace.

I. There are some features of war, an examination of which will help us to form a correct estimate of the contest which now threatens this nation.

1. ITS EXPENSIVENESS. The expense of being prepared for war is the greatest of all national burdens. And this expense, it should be considered, is not in the natnre of an investment in works of internal improvement, or an appropriation for individual relief— it is an absolute waste. This nation has been wiser than most others in this respect, and the consequence is, we are entirely undefended against foreign aggression. The complaint is made at almost every session of Congress, that we are indifferent to national defence. I grant that our means of defence are such as to render war with England madness. For we have but 77 vessels of war of all classes, while England has 455. Our regular army consists of about 10,000 men, while England has an army of 300,000.* But what has it cost us to maintain our puny war establishment in time of peace? For several years past the current expenses of our government have been about $26,000,000 annually; of this sum about $21,000,000 have been appropriated to military and naval purposes, i. e. 80 cents in every dollar of our expenses are for warlike preparations; and yet we are not prepared for war. Within fifty years we have spent more than $100,000,000 in time of peace for warlike preparations. If we add to this the expense of supporting our militia system, which is estimated at $1,335,000,000, we shall have $1,735,000,000 spent in national defence, which is seven times the amount spent for all other purposes; and yet we are unprepared for war. Let those who are taxed for this outlay consider, that the annual expense of one such vessel of war as the North Carolina, is equal to the annual expense of any six of our colleges; and that the average annual cost of each gun in the navy would more than support twenty missionaries; and then imagine what it would cost to be adequately prepared for a war with Engiand.

But actual war is still more expensive. I will say nothing of the incalculable sums expended in European wars, nor of the debts

*The statistics contained in this paragraph are taken from an Oration on the True Grandeur of Nations, by Charles Sumner, Esq., and the Statistical Almanac for 1816.