things to dissuade you from coming to Church, I make not these remarks to deter you from coming here, God forbid, it is your duty to come, and I could wish to see this place filled every Sunday; but my object in saying what I have said, is to guard you against resting in the bare hearing of God's word; in the mere outward form of Godliness; it is to caution you against an empty profession of Christianity, against the supposition that you have done your duty because you have brought your bodies to the temple of the Lord, while your minds are unaffected with the wholesome doctrines of Salvation. You are aware that those who know their master's will, and do it not, will be beaten with many stripes, and that to whom much is given, much will be required; hearing must be in order to doing, knowledge must be followed by practice; faith without works is dead; and O that you would consider the all-seeing eye of God. What a happy influence would it have upon your conduct; how careful would you be to avoid every act of disobedience; instead of trusting to an arm of flesh, you would rely upon the living God! Instead of looking so much to mortal man, your expectations would be raised to things above. And now, brethren, what shall I say more, but exhort you to examine yourselves; since the discerner of hearts knows

you altogether. O then acquaint yourselves with Him this day, and be at peace that good may come unto you. Christ is the way, the truth, and the life: go to Him and find rest to your soul.

Now to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost; be ascribed all honour and glory, now and for evermore. Amen.

SERMON II.

GALATIANS, CHAP. 4, VERSE 11.

I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.

ST. PAUL was the most zealous and indefatigable of all the Apostles, though doubtless they all laboured diligently in promoting the cause of Christianity, in evangelizing the world; yet the author of this Epistle exceeded the rest of his fellow Apostles. In labours, says he, more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. In discoursing from the words of the text, I shall, 1st, consider the labours of the Apostle with respect to these Galatians; 2dly, notice the doubt he entertained with regard to the issue of his ministry among them; and then make some improvement.

St. Paul laboured then, earnestly, for the good of these Galatians; he was not half-hearted in the business, but he was zealous in enforcing upon them the truths of the Gospel, the doctrines of Christianity: he endeavoured to impress their minds with the sublime precepts of our

holy religion, and to make them sensible of the responsibility they were under to Almighty God for the privileges they enjoyed, and the opportunities afforded them of making their calling and election sure. He did not content himself with merely stating to them their duty in a dry formal manner, but he was deeply affected with the truths he delivered to them; what he said came from the heart; he felt the force of what he uttered; he knew, by experience, that Christianity was not a cunningly devised fable, not an idle tale, not a mere romance, but a blessed reality, a subject of the greatest importance, involving the most serious consequences, and therefore, in delivering this message from God to man, he did it with solemnity, with animation, and becoming affection; as one who was aware of the charge committed to his trust, of the souls resigned to his care. Again, he laboured in dependance on divine aid; he knew that what he said would be productive of no real good to his hearers, unless accompanied with the divine blessing; he was sensible that what he had to offer to his people would afford them no profit, without his message was attended with power from on high: hence he observes in another of his Epistles, Paul may plant, and Apollos water, but God must give the increase. He did not arrogate any superiority over the rest of the Apostles, he did not assume any marks of

pre-eminence over the disciples of the Lord and Saviour; on the contrary, he esteemed himself less than the least of all the Apostles, and who was not worthy to be called an Apostle, because, says he, I persecuted the Church of God. Again, he laboured from the purest motives, in the most disinterested way; he sought not theirs, but them: he wanted not to enrich himself, he was not an hireling who regarded not the flock, provided he might obtain the fleece; he wished to do them good, to benefit their souls; his object was to enlighten their minds, to inform their judgments, to enrich their understandings-not with earthly things, not with temporal matters-but with the things of God, with the affairs of salvation, with the concerns of eternity. Nothing affected the Apostle's mind so much as inconsistencies in the conduct of professors of the Gospel; nothing grieved his spirit equal to those who walked disorderly; nothing touched him so closely as to hear of the relapses of his spiritual converts. Now, every faithful minister partakes more or less of the Apostle's spirit; he is actuated by the same motives, and influenced by the same mind. We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, We labour for your good, we hold forth to you the word of life; we have no new doctrine to enforce, no new principles to inculcate, no new system to introduce; we set before you the