moller than the applause tể men. Amid the sufferings of contempo and in osture as supported by the testimony of its own erostence, and by the prospect of that day when it shall be restored to its boats and crested with the glories of an im

But though these residents may seem in part to alleviate the darkness of the picture, and to ecscle cur feelings amid the multiplied displays of human vice, yet truth and justice force us to proclaim the affecting depravity of man The more we extend cur acquaintance with human life, the more we see of villany in all its varieties. Here one feasting on the spoils of injustice and oppression-there another plotting his wiles of seduction; here one under the mask of friendship broods over dark and deceitful intentions—there another disguises the vices of his character in the parade and solemnity of religious observances; here parents living on the infamy of their children-there children afflicting the old age of their parents by their ingratitude. Who can enumerate the endless varieties of human guilt? Now envy sickens at the prospect of another's bliss-now calumny delights to spread its insidious poison-now licentiousness grovels in the low haunts of pollution-now cruelty rejoices in the crash of families. Yes, we have often heard the instructors of religion reproached for their sloth and indifference; but let critics remember that the scanty produce of the harvest may be imputed to the unmanageable nature of the soil as well as to the indolence of the husbandman; let them remember that the great obstacles to the advancement of religion exist among themselves; in the perverseness of their own character; in the restraints which their prejudices impose upon the efforts of pure and enlightened teachers; in their determined opposition to the practical and improving part of Christianity; in the baneful influence of that spurious and perverted orthodoxy which silences the remonstrances of conscience, and gives impunity to guilt. The business of a Christian minister is to hold up vice to infamy, and to denounce the thunders of heaven on the presumptuous. He should tremble to prostitute the honours of his Master's name by employing it to

charm the wicked into security, and to save them from the troublesome restrictions of duty. He should scorn to lower the dignity of the pulpit by converting it into a vehicle of licentious instruction; and for whom ?-to please the vilest and the meanest of mankind. He should impress upon their feelings that all the parade of external ordinances will not save the presumptuously wicked from the horrors of their impending punishment. No; let them strive to get to heaven as they may by their punctualities and their externals-let them sit at the table of the Lord-let them drink of that wine which is the symbol of a Redeemer's blood-all their sighs and tears and heavenly aspirations will avail them nothing while they retain the deceitful malignity of their characters. No; the supernatural charms they ascribe to the sacramental cup will no more avail than the spells of conjurors or the delusions of witchcraft. They may eat and drink and retire from the ordinance of the Supper with the deceitful assurance of the Almighty's favour; but tremble, O hypocrites, you have drunk the poison of the soul; you have tasted the seeds of disease and death and everlasting destruction, &c.

However much the Church of Scotland may have suffered from the contempt and censure of its adversaries, there is one part of its constitution which will ever be admired by those who entertain a sincere and enlightened attachment to religion -that which ensures the independent provision of its ministers. When a teacher of religion derives his support from the spontaneous liberality of that congregation over which he presides, the chief care of his heart is often to please and not to instruct them to flatter the vices of the rich, because he has much to expect from their bounty-to flatter the vices of the poor, because they compensate by their numbers for the smallness of their individual contributions. What can be expected from the efforts of an instructor fettered as he is by such shameful and humiliating restraints? It is in vain to look to him as the dignified and intrepid champion of pure Christianity; it is vain to hope that through his manly and disinterested efforts we shall behold the downfal of those corruptions which were

grafted on the religion of Jesus in the dark ages of superstition. His instructions will not dispel prejudices but confirm them; will not correct the prevailing vices of sentiment but perpetuate the reign of ignorance and error, &c.

On terminating the short career of my labours as your religious instructor, it is natural to inquire what has been accomplished. We refer the answer to your own hearts. It will be declared in your future conduct and conversation. Much must have been imperfectly understood, much has been forgotten, much may have excited a momentary impression of goodness, but an impression which has now been effaced amid the bustle and temptations of the world. Some we hope may have produced the fruits of righteousness and life everlasting. Have virtuous resolutions been confirmed? Has guilt been appalled in its career? Has the despair of the penitent been revived to confidence and joy? Has the gloom of affliction been brightened by the consoling prospects of immortality? Have the instructions. you have heard been useful in protecting the young and inexperienced from the dangers of an ensnaring example, and from the artifices of an intriguing villany? Have they been useful in alarming the careless indifference of parents to the moral and religious education of their offspring, and in teaching children to respect the authority of age? Have they been useful in humbling the pride of oppression, in exposing to contempt the infamy of falsehood, in detecting the baseness of calumny, or in impressing the terrors of vengeance on the determined. impenitence of guilt? Have they been useful in alarming the impious security of the wicked, in teaching them that all creeds and all ordinances are unable to shelter them from judgment, and that their only refuge is a sincere and effectual repentance? Have they been useful in inspiring gratitude to Him who for our sakes lived a life of suffering and died a death of ignominy, whose morality has improved and adorned the face of society, and whose doctrines have ennobled the existence of man by unfolding to him the prospects of his immortal destiny? These are triumphs more ennobling to the teacher of virtue than all the splendour of opulence, or than all the authority of power.

They will support his footsteps amid the storms of this dreary and tempestuous world: they will cheer the gloomy desolation of age, and be a sweet remembrance in the hour of death.

Let our last words be those of tenderness and affection. Let our parting admonition be reserved as the legacy of friendship. You are in a world of care and suffering-now labouring under the embarrassments of poverty, now afflicted with the disgrace and ingratitude of children, now pining in the infirmity of disease, and now oppressed by the insolence of power. Hold fast to religion. It will console you amid the ills and perplexities of life; it will be unto you as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land; it will bless you in the evening of your days, and conduct you to the glories of an eternal world.

AUGUST, 28, 1802.

SERMON V.

[I AM indebted for the following sermon to David Gillespie, Esq. of Mountquhannie. His father was one of the principal heritors in the parish of Kilmany, and many memorials survive at once of his early appreciation of the character and talents of his minister, and of Dr. Chalmers' grateful sense at the time and affectionate remembrances ever afterwards of the kind attentions of his heritor. It could not have been possible for any one to have listened to this sermon without emotion. There were chords in the heart of its humblest hearer which it must have caused thrillingly to vibrate. But Mr. Gillespie was one of the very few hearers of it who could estimate its literary merits. Struck with these, he solicited a copy of it -the only one now remaining, the original not having been preserved. It fixes its own date: reference occurs in it to the Thanksgiving Day which, in the summer of the preceding year, was appointed to be observed in acknowledgment of the general peace secured by the treaty of Amiens. That treaty was signed in March 1802. The war broke out again in May 1803, and Thursday, the 20th day of the October following, was, by public appointment, observed throughout Scotland as a Fast-day, not only on account of the renewal of hostilities between this country and France, but mainly because of that threat of invasion which Buonaparte hung over England, and by which the heart of the whole island was convulsed. It must have been upon this occasion-only a few months, therefore, after Dr. Chalmers' settlement at Kilmany-that this sermon was preached.]

PSALM XXVII. 3.

"Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident."

Ir is not my object to enter into any political discussion. The situation of the country is I believe forced upon us by the