Here for the present I must pause. Permit me, however, just a word or two before I close. None of you are ignorant of the portentous movements, foreign and domestic, which are now on foot: and no one can be thought indifferent to the issue of those movements as they MAY at least affect ourselves. It is, therefore, with entire confidence in your sympathy with their intention, that I offer Two REMARKS, applying what has now been said in illustration of the prophet's sentiment, ON THE ONE HAND, to the present condition, and ON THE OTHER to the future prospects, of our own, thus far most prosperous and happy land.

IN THE FIRST PLACE, brethren, as a nation we have hitherto most mercifully been delivered from those perilous convulsions, with which almost the entire Continent within the last few weeks has been so painfully chastised. While in almost every other European country, at this very hour, there is weeping, wailing, and desolate disconsolation over husbands, brothers, fathers, sons, and even mothers, slaughtered in the open streets, amidst the violence of sanguinary conflict;-here, in happy, peaceful England, neither din of arms, nor crash of even transient collision has been heard; and we have been assembled in this house of prayer, scarcely conscious, it may be, of the least occasion for immediate alarm, and, in many cases, totally in ignorance even of the slightest ground of fear. I solemnly invite you in the presence of this striking contrast, which a gracious Providence has caused between our own and other countries-but a few short weeks ago, as peaceful as ourselves-to enquire how it has been brought to pass? All honour to the equity of our laws, the wisdom of our senators, and the consummate patriotic prudence of the noble house, whose fairest daughter sways at present the imperial sceptre of these happy realms-all will join me in the prayer, long may her valuable life be spared, and never may

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it be her bitterness to see her subjects thirsting for each other's blood!-all honour, I repeat it, in the highest sense, to the 'powers that be;'-the one reply to the enquiry now in hand, is, notwithstanding, only to be found in the suggestion of the prophet,-ENGLAND has, and long has had,-and that in a degree in which no other nation, certainly in modern times, has ever yet been privileged to share the gift,- AN HOLY SEED.' That 'holy seed' is here almost universally diffused. Its sanctifying leaven almost everywhere predominates throughout the land. In the present generation it is penetrating, permeating, and assimilating nearly every rank, and every class, and every age throughout the whole community. In the prince's palace and in the beggar's hovel-at the bar, upon the bench, and in the senate,-almost everywhere the holy seed' of England is acknowledged to be present, and its influence for good is felt. And I need not say that is is far from being idle. For at least some years, it has been, on the whole, intensely active, and remarkably distinguished for the zeal and magnitude of its evangelizing enterprize. It has its sabbath and its day schools, and nearly an entire ge neration has in greater or in less degree been trained beneath the auspice of their influence. It has its houses built for God in our crowded cities, and our scattered hamlets, on the mountain sides, and on the spreading plains, of nearly the entire island: wherever they are seen

"The honours of our native place,

And bulwarks of our land."

It has its press, which has been multiplying bibles by the thousand, and tracts by the million-tracts and bibles that have long since found admission, and secured readers in almost every class of habitation through the length and breadth of our country. It has its ministers and its missionaries, and its well-instructed and well-ordered families and households,

scattered up and down the empire, everywhere intense in their influence for good. The accumulation of its power to consolidate and sanctify, already is immense. Wherever the enquirer turns the eye of his attention, England's 'holy seed' is thus with rapid strides achieving absolute predominance throughout the whole community. Without a distant fear of contradiction, therefore, I most thankfully and joyously affirm that our present happy and peaceable condition, as compared with that of other nations, is, if not exclusively, at least, mainly to be ascribed to the beneficent, enlightened, and ennobling influence of our devout and pious men. Thus far, as formerly in Judah, so also here in Britain, 'THE HOLY SEED' has proved 'THE SUBSTANCE' of the land.

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SECONDLY. I am emboldened by my estimate of the present, to challenge for her holy seed,' the custody of England's substance' for the future. It were presumptuous indeed to think that the storm is already overpast. The consequences of such fearful violence and unparalleled convulsion as are now abroad, will not subside for years to come. Nor dare we think that even England will ENTIRELY escape. Blood may not flow in our streets indeed, nor ruthless conflict ring in our ears:-God, in his mercy grant, in answer to his people's many and most earnest prayers, that these sanguine hopes, not groundlessly conceived, may be fulfilled! Yet there are other forms and other modes of passionate convulsion, quite as dangerous to the common weal, if not much more so, than even these. In any case, it cannot be denied, that a portentous crisis has arrived. THE EPOCH EVEN OF THE WORLD IS CHANGED! elements are summoned into being everywhere,— forces hitherto abeyant are on every hand aroused. The many have begun to feel their weight-not only on the continent,-abroad, but also here-at home. The knell of tyranny is rung, and there is booming

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in the distance, sullenly, the knell of superstition too. Humanity throughout the world is struggling to throw off its swaddling-clothes, nay, it is already girding up its loins for a determined conflict with oppression, wrong, and slavery, in all their forms. Dynasties that erewhile challenged immortality, are crumbling into dust. Dominations but a little while ago almost omnipotent are everywhere becoming deadly faint. As yet it is, at most, but the beginning of the end.' What may intervene between the present and the issue, He alone foresees, by whose mysterious Provi dence the whole is regulated and controlled. Alike in the transition and the issue, be the one, or be the other what it may, England certainly is destined to enact a prominent, yes, a leading part. The portents are almost appalling!- the signs' are teeming with solicitude! Still, my brethren, for ourselves I have but little fear. My hope still rests upon "THE HOLY SEED; "-our praying, earnest, men of God! Oh! be that substance' but preserved,-let that substance' but appreciate the weight of its responsibility, and understand the solemn mission now assigned it to discharge, let it only cultivate the godliness, the zeal, and the intelligence which its high calling' now especially demands, and, though it may be, that other nations fall,-fall, and be extinguished,-be extinguished and forgotten,-England, we have every confidence on the contrary, will yet put on new strength, refresh herself with more than youthful vigour, and beneath the auspices of heaven's benediction, sally forth the chosen leadress of the world, to spread those signal blessings, which she has so long, and so remarkably enjoyed herself, all over the entire habitable earth; and thus more fully, more triumphantly, and a upon wider scale than ever, exercise upon the destinies of man an influence, which shall, under God, much more than any other hitherto put forth by any people that have ever lived, advance the long-predicted con

summation, under which "THE KINGDOMS OF THIS WORLD, SHALL HAVE ALL BECOME THE KINGDOMS OF

OUR LORD AND OF HIS CHRIST." That "holy seed," which has been Britain's 'substance' hitherto, shall prove her substance' still!

Having premised a few general remarks, on the one hand, upon the more practical uses of Prophetic Scripture, and on the other, upon the the times in which Isaiah exercised his office, I this morning intimated my intention, IN THE FIRST PLACE, Somewhat fully to explain the prophet's meaning, and to illustrate the sentiment which he avers; and IN THE SECOND, to infer some practical hints of special application to the present times. The first of these particulars was afterwards disposed of, and in conclusion, two remarks were offered, applying the sentiments which had been advanced, on the one hand to the comparative peacefulness that England hitherto has been privileged to enjoy; and on the other, to her prospects for the future, notwithstanding what is taking place elsewhere. From these digressive applications of the former part of our subject, it is now my duty to return, resume the thread of my discourse, and offer,

II. A FEW PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS SPECIALLY

ADAPTED ΤΟ THE ASPECT OF THE PRESENT MOST PORTENTOUS TIMES.

In doing so, I may perhaps, appear to be encroaching upon what with me, at least within these walls, has always hitherto been considered as forbidden ground. Still, I have every confidence that you will read my vindication in the purpose which I have in view,—a purpose which, believe me, nothing but a solemn sense of duty ever would have tempted me to form.