consideration, that " as the tree falls so shall it lie," and for the fate of them who die in the confirmed and unrepented habit of these offences, every principle of reason and religion shall tremble. Neither, My Brethren, be deceived by supposing a course of criminal sensuality can be expiated by the practice of a few of the good works of the law. It is true for instance, that "charity hideth a multitude of sins," but it is not quite so true, that all is charity which passes in the world by the denomination of that virtue. If mere gifts, divested of holiness in the motive, are acceptable to God, how comes it, that "to the offering of Cain, God had not respect?" How comes it, that St. Paul asserts," though he give all that he hath, and have not charity, it shall profit him nothing?" Can you for an instant admit so glaring an absurdity as the belief, that the infidel who wrecks the peace of mind of his inferiors by the promulgation of his doubts, can make them compensation by his alms; that the drunkard, the seducer, or the adulterer can be charitable to those by his purse, whom he has ruined by the contagion of his example? Alas! My Friends, let dependant adulation or the false standard of worldly honour, decorate these characters as they may, the Christian, and the Christian's God, will regard them as they really are; the whiteness of the sepulchre without, its rottenness and its death within. Neither let the

number of those who lend their sanction to habits of pleasure, frivolous as impure, inveigle you into conduct, which the Gospel explicitly condemns. Whatever be the custom of the thoughtless crowd, whatever be the prevailing fashion of the evil days in which we are cast, let us remember that individual responsibility will not be abrogated by the multitude of offenders, nor punishment be mitigated by the community of crime. It is not a long list of names, noble in the acceptance of the world, which in the eyes of God will palliate the guilt they sanctioned by their practice; it is not the rank or station of the sinner, that will extenuate the quality of the sin, but the influence which these command will contribute to its malevolence. Let us abhor vice then, whenever we encounter it, whether in the mean and miserable, or in the high and happy; whether clad in the loathsome weeds of her natural depravation, or adorned by the artificial habiliments of erring genius. Let us not fondly imagine that we can veil impurity of thought in purity of language, or disguise the contaminations of the heart, by the professions of the tongue. Let us reflect that though our ingenuity may deride the inspection of the world, and even go far to deceive ourselves, there is no escaping from the perspicacity of God. Let us never forget, that, though the prospect of Him in judgment is fraught with hope to the sincerely,

righteous, it is a most appalling consideration to the hypocrite; and finally, if oppressed by the weight of conscious guilt, and awake to the enormity of unbelief, we seek to throw our burthen on the Saviour of the world, let us call to mind in time, the solemn caution of his apostle, "let him that nameth the name of Christ, depart from all iniquity."

SERMON XII.

ON PATIENCE IN AFFLICTION.

JOB XLII. 12.

So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his

beginning.

AMONG the various annals of the Old Testament, there are some histories which fix upon the human mind with an avidity, and adhere to it with a pertinacity, which it would be difficult, even if it were eligible, to resist. Some of these are calculated to strike the soul with admiration by the splendour of their imagery and by the sublimity of their doctrines; some to animate the spirit by their examples of patriotism, honour, and fortitude; and some to melt the heart with all the tenderness of love and pity, which their pathetic narratives so frequently contain. But in all, the considerative reader will observe this striking and excellent characteristic, which distinguishes the Bible from every profane history; that the crimes of the wicked receive their adequate punishment, or we are made acquainted

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righteous, it is a most appalling consideration to the hypocrite; and finally, if oppressed by the weight of conscious guilt, and awake to the enormity of unbelief, we seek to throw our burthen on the Saviour of the world, let us call to mind in time, the solemn caution of his apostle, "let him that nameth the name of Christ, depart from all iniquity."