SERMON L.

TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY AFTER

PENTECOST.

ON HEARING THE WORD OF GOD.

Take unto you—the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.-Ephes. vi. 17.

Of all the duties of a Christian life, there is not any one, which, especially in these times, and in this country, is more readily attended to, at least as to appearance, than the duty of hearing the divine word. Oftentimes the edifices, erected for public worship and instruction do not suffice to contain the multitudes which crowd to them, that they may listen to the words of the evangelical law. The hour in which we offer up the tremendous mysteries, does not attract so many to surround the altar: and although we witness the decay of Christian piety, with respect to all its other exercises, in this particular we see no abatement.

But, my brethren, the righteous man is distinguished in the eyes of the Divine Being, not by the exterior body of his actions, but by the

spirit, which animates and gives birth to them. The same actions are frequently performed by the good and the bad: but the disposition of the heart makes the discernment. All run: but all do not gain the prize: because all are not inspirited and invigorated by the same hopes and the same holy intention. Hence the preaching of the gospel is useless to many who seem attentive to it and the most powerful means which religion employs for the conversion of sinners, becomes the most feeble of all its resources.

It is of the highest consequence to put a stop to this very common and deplorable abuse: and, as I frequently deliver to you the oracles of heavenly wisdom, that my ministry may in future prove more efficacious, than it seems to have hitherto been, I mean this day to point out to you the motives which ought to bring you to hear the word of God, and the dispositions with which you should come to this holy place, to be favoured with his gracious manifestations of his attributes, his communications of his adorable will, and his important, salutary and consoling instructions.

1. Now, your first disposition should be a sincere and earnest desire, that the word of the Lord may be profitable to your souls. With this view, you should humbly address your

selves to the Father of mercies, beseeching him to grant you that docility, which listens to his voice to give to his word that unction, those powerful and blessed influences, which sway the sinful hearts of his creatures: to surmount -in you that insensibility, which has so often hitherto been callous to his truths: and to give permanency to those tender feelings, which the preaching of the gospel has repeatedly excited in you, but which a moment after passed away transient and unproductive. You should be seech him, likewise, that he will give to his ministers that wisdom, that plenitude of his divine Spirit, those lively perceptions, that dignity, that eloquence, that zeal, that holy vehemence, which never speaks in vain: that he will make us indifferent to your censures or applauses, and wholly intent on rendering you essential service: that the desire of your salvation may supply in us those talents, which nature has refused: and that we may do honour to the ministry, by not making it our principal aim to give you pleasure, but to inform your minds, and to give a proper direction to the affections of your hearts.

But is it from these motives, and with this preparation, that men come to hear the truths that have been dictated by eternal wisdom? Alas! some come to satisfy a vain curiosity;

some to get rid of a leisure hour; some because to attend at' sermons is a customary thing; some to please persons on whom they depend, or with whom they are connected; some to display their personal endowments, and to exhibit their finery; some, perhaps, for motives-but I will not degrade the dignity of this sacred place, by letting the expression of them here pass over my lips. The eternal God, who reads the secrets of every heart, sees how many come from a desire of salvation, prepared by faith, and warmed by piety:-sees whether in the greater part the hearing of his word be an act of religion, or a criminal profanation of holy things.

Christians, if the Israelites, when on the eve of approaching to the foot of mount Sinai to hear the words of the law, which the angel descended to promulgate to them, were obliged by the divine command to wash their garments, to abstain from carnal pleasures, and purify themselves from every species of defilement, that so they might prepare themselves for the momentous concern, and carry with them nothing unworthy the sanctity of the ordinances which they were about to receive; how much more is it requisite, that you, when you come to receive a much more holy law, should take every precaution to excite your faith and piety,

to rectify your intention, and enkindle in your hearts an earnest desire to conform your actions to the doctrines which are here to be delivered? What, my brethren, shall the precepts of Christ Jesus, shall the words of eternal life, be heard with more indifference, than the injunctions of a law, which was merely figurative? Whence this languor, this coldness? Because the will of the Most High is not declared to you in thunder and lightning? But are we not sent by the living God? Do not we speak to you in the name and with the authority of Jesus Christ? Yes we are ambassadors from the Lord of

hosts. You cannot say to us: " Wheuce come you to preach and to teach? From whom do you derive your mission?" as might be said to many who, in latter times, have intruded themselves unto the functions of the sacred ministry. You well know, that our orders and our commission come to us from bishops, who in regular succession have come down from the apostles, and who can defy the world to point out the origin of their establishment in any period posterior to the first age of the Christian church. We are they, to whom Christ said: Go ye-and teach all nations :--and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world. (Matt. xxviii. 19.) If an earthly prince were. to depute any of his