left you were acquired? And while so many of your young fellow-citizens are at this moment braving all the hazards of war, and all the dangers of the ocean, in the service of their country, would you not blush to think, that you were remaining ingloriously at home, in pursuit of nothing higher than selfish indulgence, and poisoning the morals of that land which they are bleeding to defend?

You are distinguished, my brethren, in a higher view, by the greatest blessings which a beneficent Providence can bestow; by education,-by religious knowledge, by power which enables you to be the patrons of the virtuous, and wealth which empowers you to be the instructors of the ignorant and the poor. "Of those " to whom so much is given," is it not just "that much also will be required?" and when you think of the glories which are promised to those "who lead others in the

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ways of righteousness," can you forget the miseries which, in the same righteous system, must await those who lead others in the ways of wickedness? Does not every noble and every generous principle of your nature awaken, when you think of the high commission of usefulness with which Providence has invested you ? Is there one folly, or one indulgence which can be dear to you, when you think that it may mislead the young around you into guilt and woe; and would you not tremble, even to imagine, that the example of your vices has led others to the prison and the scaffold, and buried many families of your fellow countrymen in hopeless grief and indelible dishonour.

Such are the reflections, my brethren, which seem to me best fitted for our consideration upon this melancholy day. Let us all, whether young or old,

lay them to our own hearts. Let us return to our homes in silence and meditation; with the feelings of men whose country and whose religion have received a stain, but with the feelings also of men who make it their wish and their duty to remove it. Let us assemble our children and our families around us; and go over again the instructive story; and conjure them to write its awful moral upon their hearts; and pray that the eyes of our country may never again witness so dread a spectacle, nor pour such bitter

tears.

From these dark prospects of the world, let us, lastly, lift our eyes in thankfulness to HEAVEN, for that dispensation of mercy, which reaches even to the prison and the cell; and which is able to create a "new heart and a right spirit," even beneath the fetters of sin. Let us bless that holy Spirit which moves upon the troub

led waters of the human soul, for that repentance with which he so powerfully had touched the hearts of those youthful sufferers, and for that humble resignation with which he enabled them to bear all the wretchedness to which they were doomed. And let us hope, that that divine and compassionate Voice, which we all pray may one day plead for us, hath now also pled for them!

SERMON XV.

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF THE EDUCA

TION OF THE POOR.

*

LUKE, X. 21.

"In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and "said, I thank thee, O Father! Lord

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of heaven and earth, that thou hast "hid these things from the wise and pru"dent, and hast revealed them unto "babes; even so, Father, for so it seem"ed good in thy sight.”

WHEN these words were spoken, our Saviour's ministry had for some time begun.

• Preached December 26, 1813, when a general collection was made in all the churches of Edinburgh, for the institution of public schools, upon the principles of the British Society for Education.