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religion. And if delinquency is discoverable among such as these, what is to be expected from the worldly-minded million, the multitudes, of whom it may be said, that "God is not in all their thoughts?"

Impressed as I am with the solemnity and awful importance of the subject, allow me to suggest certain directions, which, if observed and acted upon, may be found beneficial. Allot more time to the special concerns of the soul. Bestow your affections in justifiable measures; giving to no object more, in this respect than its due. Let not the concerns of life temporal take such firm hold of your hearts and minds, as to unfit you for the superior concerns of life eternal. Suffer not the pressure of affliction to disturb your serenity, or deprive you of self-possession.

FIRST.-Allot more time to the special concerns of the soul. "Our present frame and condition, I confess, is such, that the greater part of our time is unavoidably taken up in attendance on the body and the things relating to it; which is more especially the case of those in narrow circumstances: but then, none, and much less such as have a greater command of their time, should from their rising up to their lying down, be incessantly employed in the drudgery of the world" or in the chase of pleasure. "This is to be cumbered with much serving in a much worse sense than Martha was.” And we need not be so cumbered. I take leave to repeat it; we need not be so cumbered. None-I will make no exceptions-not one of us need be so entirely devoted to the world as to have no precious minutes left for the duties and the pleasures of religion.

SECOND. Bestow your affections in justifiable measures; giving to no one object more, in this respect, than its due. There is a beautiful order and subordination designed to prevail among the objects of man's affections; an order and subordination which sin has disturbed, and which religion alone can restore and maintain. Human loves and friendships are allowed and encouraged, but we are not permitted

to cherish them in an equal degree with love to God and our Redeemer. The best affections of our hearts are to be placed on objects most worthy of them. And what are these objects? Certainly, God and his service: Christ and his religion: heaven and its undying glories. And shall the devotion which is properly and consistently bestowed here, be wrested hence and lavished on the worthless baubles of a day? Perish the thought!

THIRD. Let not the concerns of life temporal take such firm hold of your hearts and minds, as to unfit you for the superiour concerns of life eternal. It is when comparatively disengaged from earthly fetters, that we can serve our Creator to most advantage, most pleasure, and most acceptance. The world, like our evil genius, follows us even into the divine presence, pollutes our offerings with its touch, and mingles its unhallowed fire with the flames of sacrifice. Hence it is that God is so frequently adored by the lips of those whose hearts, in the mean while, are far from him. Let Christians be reminded that one of their chief aims should be the conquest of the world. It should not be their serious or familiar friend, but their gay and passing acquaintance, whose occasional society may be pleasing, but whose constant and intimate converse is the thief of time, the murderer of virtue.

FOURTHLY AND LASTLY.-Suffer not the pressure of affliction, whether it be on memory, anticipation, or present feeling, to disturb your serenity, or deprive you of self-possession. Self-possession-self-collection-serenity-evenness of mind--a calm and unruffled temper, proof against the shafts of adversity-these constitute the ornament of man. The ornament of man did I say? This, perhaps, may be thought faint applause. I will say then that they exhibit an instance of the sublime in morals. To the sublimity of Christian morals they are undoubtedly essential. And it is a splendid attestation to the dignity of our high calling in Christ Jesus that to this sublimity of morals, this proud em

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inence of virtue, the obscurest follower of the Lamb is incited daily and hourly to aspire. It is a commandment delivered to us all, and binding upon us all, that we "take no thought for the morrow, saying, what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed?"-that we "endure hardness as good soldiers of Christ”*—that we "possess our souls in patience"--and that "in suffering according to the will of God, we commit ourselves unto him, as unto a faithful Creator."‡

Be assured, brethren, that unless you are cast into this mould; unless you cultivate this even temper; unless you acquire this mental habit of placidity, and rise superiour ta the vicissitudes incident to the present state; it is in vain that you expect to make any satisfactory attainments in the "one thing needful." The tumult of the passions--the disquietude of the soul--the painful retrospect upon the past→→ the gloomy foreboding of the future--all this is at war with religion. That peace of God which passeth understanding, must keep the heart and mind, or the knowledge and the love of him must remain unattainable by man.

Hear, now, brethren, the conclusion of the whole matter. "Follow after godliness--for godliness with contentment is great gain. Godliness is profitable unto all things--having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come." "One thing is needful"-choose, therefore, "that good part which shall not be taken away from you."

Which, may the Lord enable us all to do, and to his name shall be the praise.-AMEN.

2 Tim. ii. 3.

† Luke, xxxi. 19.

$1 Peter, iv. 19.

SERMON VI.

FAMILY RELIGION.

ACTS, X. 12.

There was a certain man in Cesarea, called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, a devout man, and one that feared God, with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway.”

THE excellent and justly celebrated author of the Family Expositor, remarking upon these words, has the following expressions: "Most amiable and exemplary is the character of Cornelius, who, though exposed to all the temptations of a military life, maintained not only his virtue but his piety too. He feared God, and he wrought righteousness; and daily presented before God prayers and alms, which added a beauty and acceptance to each other: and he was also an example of domestic, as well as of personal religion, as if he had been trained up under the discipline of that heroick general and prince, who so publickly and so resolutely declared before an assembled nation, even on the supposition of their general apostacy," "as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

To recommend and enforce that domestic or family religion which deservedly attaches such veneration to the name of this Roman officer, and which is so deplorably neglected by multitudes among the professors of christianity, is the design of the following discourse. May the good spirit open our hearts that we may receive the truth in the love of it!

* See Doddridge, vol. iii. † Joshua, xxiv. 15.

When I speak of family religion, none can be at a loss for my meaning. By family religion is understood, religious instructions given to a family, and acts of devotion performed by them jointly, or in their name and presence by their head, or by some other person whom he may for wise reasons employ, or whom circumstances may point out as most fit, to be his substitute.

Family worship is, if I mistake not, a duty dictated by what is termed the religion of nature. It is the voice of reason that the Creator is entitled to all the homage his creatures can give him; that it not only behoves us, but is our interest to fear and adore him; that to entreat his blessing is the most probable means of obtaining it; and to praise him for his benefits is no more than the natural return of an upright, an ingenuous, and grateful heart. The same arguments that lead to the performance of acts of religion, generally establish the propriety of social and domestick devotion. Society, in all its forms, but especially domestick society, is of divine institution. "It is God who setteth the solitary in families."* He who is the father of our spirits and the former of our bodies, and hath united both parts of our being so closely; hath appointed other relations nearly as intimate; the relations of husband and wife, parent and child. Of a grade inferiour to these, and as the result of posteriour coincidences, he hath ordained the important connection of master and servant. A society formed by some or all of these relations, constitutes a family, or household; and I would ask, is it not reasonable that all the individuals composing such a social body, should join in the service and adoration of that Almighty and most merciful Being who hath created them with social affections, whose benevolence hath capacitated them for the tender charities of life, and whose providence hath conjoined them with the soft but strong ties of blood, and kindred, and common interest? The same reason that induces an individual to

* Psalm, lxviii. 6.

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