ministers and people are to meet each other before the tribunal of Christ, as having special business together, then we may conclude that this will be the case with particular families, such as husbands and wives, parents and children; you can say much about each other upon that occasion, having for so long a time composed one family on earth.

You, who are this day called to mourn, must give an account how you have improved his public and more private admonitions; and especially this providence. The present occasion, however solemn, will appear more so at the great day. Consider, that although he is gone to return no more, yet God, the source of consolation, ever lives. His promises are always new to the widow and fatherless. That God who gave has. taken him away. But still he lives in another state, and is more useful to the universe than he could be in this world. God's people always die in the best time, manner, and place. You have only time to take up the body and bury it, set your houses in order, and follow him. Manifest your love to the deceased by preparing to meet him, and make his heart glad in the day of the Lord Jesus. Contemplate the rectitude of divine government, and a future world, and be still.

Let the children remember, that to have a pious faithful parent taken away is an unspeakable loss. Your father has done much for your bodies, but we trust more for your souls; never, never forget his prayers and admonitions. Can you, dare you meet him at the bar of Christ in impenitence? Should this be the case, instead of those endearing and parental caresses that you have received from him in this life, he will join with the Judge of all in saying, Depart! He will declare what he has done for you, and condemn you. Let your mother experience that tender regard and kind assistance, during her short continuance with you, as becomes dutiful, obedient children. Make her heart glad by a holy life, and let your father live daily before her eyes in your pious examples.

Let me say a word to the church and congregation

in this place. Dear friends, I am not a stranger to those mournful sensations that the present melancholy providence tends to inspire. I trust I am a hearty mourner with you, and am a sharer in your loss.

By the foregoing observations you have reason to conclude that you have lost a faithful minister.

You can't forget those solemn and affectionate warnings that he has given you from the desk, nor those pious examples he has set before you. He has preached his last sermon. Your next meeting must be before the tribunal of Christ, where those sermons you have heard him deliver in this life will come to view, and the improvement you have made of them. Will you, my brethren, be his crown of rejoicing in that day? If you were his hope and joy in this life, you doubtless are still. It is with satisfaction we trust that he this moment looks forward to that day, when he expects to see this the dear people once committed to his charge; and doubtless he hopes to meet some of you as crowns of rejoicing. Oh! do not disappoint the hope and expectations of your reverend pastor. Manifest your love to him by imitating his holy examples, and by having those heavenly instructions that he so often inculcated always in remembrance; and by preparing to give him joy in the day of the Lord Jesus. Examine what improvement you have made of the gospel ministry while you had it; and whether too great inattention has not had influence in its being removed. Have you ever experienced the power and efficacy of the gospel upon your own souls? Have you by the Holy Spirit been formed into the moral likeness of the blessed God, and into the image of his son Jesus? Or have you been contented with the mere form of godliness? Have you not, through sloth and unbelief, neglected attending on the preaching of the gospel during the residence of your pastor among you? Oh! what account will such gospel despisers have to give another day! Consider, I entreat you, how dreadful it will be to have these things brought into view when you come to meet your minister, who was once, and

perhaps is now, an eyewitness of your conduct, and will testify against you to your everlasting condemna

tion!

Your minister, though dead, now speaketh. He preaches a most solemn lecture to us all this day on mortality.

You will, as it were, hear his voice when you look on the place of public worship, where he and you so often attended-when you look on his grave, which is here among you-and when you look to the second coming of Christ. Think often of that day. Let the Sabbath, and worship of God, be still dear unto you; and remember him who has spoken unto you the word of God, whose faith follow.

EXTRACTS FROM A SERMON:

ENTITLED,

Divine Decrees, an encouragement to the use of means, delivered at Granville, N. Y., June 25th, A. D. 1805, before the Evangelical Society, instituted for the purpose of aiding pious and needy young men in acquiring education for the work of the gospel ministry.

The whole of this discourse is able, and characterizes the author as possessing a strong mind and a pious heart:—if it be not equal in some things to his on universal salvation, of which it is very justly remarked, "That sermon is one of the finest pieces of satire to be found in all the annals of pulpit eloquence," it is not inferior to it in sound doctrine and fervent piety."

The discourse is founded on the 23d verse of the 11th chapter of Hebrews: "By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment." His object is to show, that although pious people believe and confide in the unalterable purpose and providence of God to bring about events, yet they will diligently use such means as God requires, and that tend to their accomplishment. To confirm his assertion that the pious do believe and confide in God's absolute government, or in his purpose and providence, he justly remarks:

:

* This sentence, with the remarks preceding the extracts, were kindly furnished by the Rev. Dr. Broadhead, of New-York.

"We find that it has always been the practice of the people of God to acknowledge him; therefore it is that they attend to the external duties of religion, such as the public worship of God, prayer, and praise, by which they express their belief and love of a superintending Providence. This was the object of the faith of those mentioned in my text. They had a firm belief in Divine purposes concerning Moses, so as to exclude all fear of the king's commandment. The righteous view and hold communion with God in his works, and repair to his absolute government in times of distress as their only hiding-place, Psal. xxvii. It was God's immutable promises and designs that supported Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, and all God's people in all ages of the world. God has appointed the Lord Jesus Christ to be king on his holy hill of Zion, and has laid the government on his shoulders; the pious are his obedient subjects, and it is their duty to submit to him. They are to have the mind of Christ, as they would not forfeit their interest in him, Rom. viii., 9. Rejoicing in the absolute dominion and agency of God was an important trait in his character, Luke x., 21: In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes; even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight.'

In discussing that part of the subject which relates to the use of means by the people of God, as connected with those events which are brought about by the unchangeable purpose and providence of God, he says:

"This idea is remarkably illustrated in the conduct of the parents of Moses, alluded to in the text; they hid him three months. Their care was excited by the full trust they had in God that he designed him for some important work. Their faith was so great as to ex clude all doubt but what God would take care of the child, and fulfil his own purpose, in spite of all the de