insomuch that each revolving year has seen you bring to the tribunal of penance a heart bound by the same criminal chains, and exhaling the same corruption.

Oh! Christian penitents, the good resolutions which you have made at the late solemnity were the effects of heavenly inspiration, and the angels have recorded them in the book of life: do not then think them trifles, things to be played with. Alas! the breaking through them is pregnant with fatal mischiefs. By that you resist the power of your conscience, and become feeble reeds, which every gale finds pliant. By that you contristate the Holy Ghost. By breaking your pious resolutions, you cause the graces of heaven to be withdrawn from you. The Lord will be disgusted at your fickleness, and will suffer the light of faith to be nearly extinguished in your mind.

Ah! perhaps you have hitherto lived in a habit of inconstancy; one day conceiving good desires, the next stifling them; beginning new enterprises, then laying them aside; projecting amendment, and ever remaining the same; sinning, repenting, and sinning again; incapable of bearing the pains of iniquity, and equally impatient of the restraints imposed by virtue; always weary of your present situation, and promising yourselves repose and comfort in some

other. Thus as your days pass rapidly by, your conscience becomes gradually callous; eternity approaches; and the decisive moment comes, and surprises you in the midst of these lamentable alternatives. Oh! let this be the day that fixes your uncertainties! or you may find yourselves at the term of life, before you have taken a decided part in it; your glass may be run, and you may be summoned into eternity, before you have determined to whose service you shall devote yourselves, whether you shall give yourselves up to God or to his enemies; yes: and then the sentiments of regret and repentance, which you will express at your death, will be despised by your Creator, as being no more than the last inconstancy of your lives.

To obviate so deplorable an evil, determine from this moment to let no human respects; no smiles, nor frowns of the world; no cares nor solicitudes of life; no allurements of sensuality or vanity, again so far prevail upon you, as to draw you off from the plan of conduct which you have laid down for yourselves. I hope you have formed a fixed plan of conduct; or at least will form one now without delay. Fortify your hearts on that side where you know they have been most weak. Point your resolutions as so many defensive arms against that quarter

from which the enemy has been most successful in his assaults against you. These resolutions will be the guards of your innocence, and your support in a virtuous life, till you grow up to the measure of the age of the fulness of Christ,

To your constant vigilance join daily and fervent prayer. Of yourselves you are much too weak to do any good. Oh! then in the hour of danger, which in fact is every hour, stretch out your hands to your Saviour, as a little infant does to its mother, to be supported and protected. The child totters, and at every step which it takes is in danger of falling. Therefore its resource is to weep, to cry out, and to extend its arm, to her, that she may carry it, or lead it on; and the parent runs with exquisite delight, to take it into her arms, clasp it to her bosom, and caress it with every fond endearment. You are but yet infants in the ways of God; therefore what yourselves are incapable of doing, beg of him to do for you. Raise your voice, your eyes, and, above all, your hearts, to this best and most tender of parents. He, seeing that you are humbly conscious of your own weakness, will make haste to help you; will carry you in his bosom; will secure you against every peril, and impart to you his inexpressible consolations in this life, and the plenitude of bliss in the regions of eternity.

SERMON XXIV.

SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EASTER.

ON HUMAN RESPECTS.

Christ-suffered for us, leaving you an example, that you should follow his steps.-1 Pet. ii. 21.

JESUS, having exhibited in his own person a perfect model of that constancy in virtue, which is not to be shaken by mockeries, derision, insults, reproaches, and all the sufferings, which can be devised and inflicted by the malignity of wicked and abandoned men, will have us his disciples to be ever distinguished by the same character. We must not hope for his favour, if we have not sufficient strength of mind to persevere in our attachment to him and our obedience to his injunctions, notwithstanding the temporal inconveniences, difficulties, losses and afflictions, to which such obedience may expose us. His friends and servants must be decided, generous, resolute and fervent; must pride themselves on calling him their Master

and Guide, and must find their chief happiness in the observance of his commandments. He excludes, consequently, from his kingdom those weak and dastardly spirits, who are ashamed of their duty to him, who, by their conduct, deny him before men, who, though exposed to no persecution for his sake, are so affected by the dread even of the censure and ridicule, which the world sometimes casts on virtue and piety, as to close in with the iniquity of the times, and sacrifice their consciences to the approbation and applause of deluded and corrupted men.

Of all the obstacles in the way of our salvation, there is none more common, nor more dangerous, than this which is brought on by human respects. It is, therefore, highly necessary to secure your minds and hearts against its corrupting influence, by pointing out both the criminality and absurdity of being swayed by it. If we can but destroy this one enemy, we establish the dominion of every virtue. The instruction is of great importance to each age, sex and condition; for, in whatever department of life we may have been placed by divine Providence, we move in a particular circle of connexions with relations, friends, acquaintances, benefactors and superiors, whose opinions we regard with deference, and in conformity to whose ideas of things, we are too often tempted