hour, when the criminal ascends the scaffold which he is never to leave alive;-in such hours, who is there that does not lift his anxious eyes to heaven, and pray for assistance, to enable him to perform his last duty, and to endure with resignation whatever the hand of God may lay upon him.— If, in such hours, devotion is becoming, my young friends, is it not also becoming in every hour of life? If, in the hours of extreme distress, the God of mercy listens to the supplications "of those that he hath "made," will he not also listen to the calmer, but more continual supplications of those who, in every hour, desire to do his will? And is there any preparation by which the mind of man can be so well fitted to enter upon the duties, either of adversity or prosperity, as this perpetual remembrance of the presence in which it acts, and this holy prostration of all its powers before the throne of Him who gave them?

And this, therefore, I also pray for you, my young brethren, that, by these and eve

ry other means, "Ye may approve the

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things that are excellent!-that the love "of whatsoever things are pure in thought, "lovely in conduct, or of good report," among the virtuous and pious of mankind, may now glow in your youthful hearts, and finally abound in your future conduct!

and that thus, under the grace and guidance of approving Heaven, you may gradually advance to the highest excellence of your nature, that "of being filled with the "fruits of righteousness," not unto your glory alone, but unto the glory of God," and the good of human kind!

SERMON XII.

ON THE DANGERS OF MORAL SENTIMENT, WHEN NOT ACCOMPANIED WITH ACTIVE VIRTUE.

ROMANS Vii. 15.

"What I would, that I do not."

UPON a former occasion, it was my wish to illustrate to the young around me, the importance of cherishing in their minds a "love of things that are excellent,” or an early taste for all that is honourable or becoming in that station of life to which they are to belong. I represented to them, that there was a Love of Excellence deeply imprinted upon human nature;—that there was no condition or occupation of life which did not afford the means of indulging it;— and that if we once suffered it to pass from our hearts, there was a danger of its being succeeded by the love of what was criminal or base. In suggesting to them the means by which this important taste might be cultivated, I particularly mentioned the following: A deep and grateful remembrance of the dignity and expectations of their being; the selection of some actual model

of excellence for their secret imitation ;and, above all, the use of habitual supplication to the throne of God, for his assistance amid the trials or the temptations of the great journey on which they are entering.

-Every virtue, however (it is both our wisdom and our duty to remember,) has a tendency to errour,-a disposition to run into excess, and to mark the character with some features either of folly or of guilt. The highest attainable perfection of our nature consists not in the dominion of any one affection or principle, however virtuous, but in the due balance of all our affections;-in the proper mixture of intellectual and of moral attainments; and in the cultivation, not only of the contemplative, but still more of the active principles 'of our constitution. It is here again we shall have reason to see the profound wisdom of that advice of religion which calls upon us to "keep our hearts with all diligence;" of restraining the dominion even of the most virtuous affections; of directing them solely to the ends for which they were given, and which if they fail to reach, they must leave us "unprofitable servants". in the family of God.

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The love of Excellence, amiable and honourable as it is in itself, and well as it promises of the young who feel it, let it yet

ever be remembered, is only a means to an End. It is not so much a virtue in itself, as it is a source of virtue; it is the spring only, and not the harvest, in the husbandry of the human mind. It is important, therefore, to us to consider, What is the purpose for which it is designed in our nature? and what are the consequences which may be expected to follow, when we either neglect or oppose the high design of the Almighty?

This love, then, of "things that are "excellent," this deep sense of what is becoming or honourable in our nature, is obviously intended as a principle of Conduct, as a source not only of enjoyment, but of activity, as a constant spur, not only to make us think, but to make us act with dignity. When it assumes this form, accordingly, in our minds,-when the seed ripens into the fruits of virtue,-when it leads us not only to admire, but to "prac"tise what is excellent," it has then all the effects which the wisdom of God intended it to have upon ourselves, and upon the world around us. It raises us above all that is low or base in humanity; it animates us continually to press on to higher attainments in wisdom and goodness; and, while it gives to our own minds a perpetual spring of improvement, it renders us" fel"low workers" with heaven itself, in the welfare and improvement of the world.