to the gross prejudices of the ancient Jews, but they were the offices destined to him by his Father. They were the simple but awful duties to which," from "the beginning of the world," He was called; and from them has now arisen, "that name in which all the nations of "the earth are to be blessed, and before "which everything that is in Heaven " and earth is commanded to bow."

It is fit, my brethren, that all of us, whether high or low, should bend before this high example. It is fit, that, raising ourselves above the folly and the vanity of life, we should ever pray, that “the "same mind may be in us which was in "Christ Jesus." It is, lastly, fit, whenever "the morning sun summons us to "kneel upon the earth," that we should remember whose is that " Will," the doing of which" now constitutes the glory and the happiness of " Heaven."

SERMON XIII.

ON THE MORAL DANGERS OF THE SO

CIETY OF GREAT CITIES.

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GENESIS, xiii. 11.

"And they separated themselves the one from the other; and Abraham dwelt "in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt "in the cities of the Plain."

THESE are words which carry us back to the infancy of the world,-to the first separation of professions, and to the earliest institutions of social life. They are more important to us, however, my brethren, as they contain a moral lesson of no mean importance; as they re

mind us of the influence of Situation upon the character and conduct of men, and exemplify to us, in the history of the patriarchs of old, the different effects of the scenes of nature and the scenes of society upon the dispositions of the human mind. "Abraham dwelt in "the land of Canaan;" amid the simplicity of nature, and the innocence of rural life; and with him the mighty "cove"nant" was made," in which all the na"tions of the earth were finally to be "blessed." His kinsman " dwelt in the ci"ties of the plain," amid the refinements of art, and the luxury of society; and lived to witness that awful desolation with which Heaven visited the sins and the corruptions of the first congregation of men.

There is an instruction in these words, my brethren, which seems not unfitted to the circumstances in which we are now

met. The inhabitants of this city are now assembling from the different corners of the land;-the annual season of education, of business, and of pleasure, is now commencing; and .there is none of us who does not know, that there is at the same time commencing, a season of delusion, of trial, and of danger. If it be in the midst of cities that the most splendid exertions of talents or of virtue are made, it is there also that the most humiliating examples of vice and of depravity are seen. In the opening of such a season, it is wise in us all, therefore, to pause, that we may form the resolutions which become us as men and as Christians; and as all that hear me are equally interested in the subject, I trust it will not be considered as foreign to the duty of this place, if I solicit your attention, for a few moments, to the consideration of the dangers which sur

round those "who dwell in the cities of "the plain," and of the means by which they may hope to avoid, or to overcome them.

1. The first danger which awaits those who dwell in cities," is that of losing insensibly the sentiments of Piety. In all ages, the scenes of nature have been the seat of devotion. It is there," where

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day unto day uttereth speech, and night "unto night teacheth knowledge concern

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ing God." The solitude which leads to meditation;-the spectacle of earth around, and Heaven above us;-the silent, but incessant movements of that mighty system, which speak the incessant providence of the Mind that guides it, and far more, the combination of all these movements, to bless this lower world, and "to make it fruitful ;"—these are circumstances which everywhere have prostrated the human mind before the " throne "of Him who sitteth above the Heavens,