but by the careless profusion of hours and minutes. The most amiable tempers and dispositions are soured and become irritable by slight and frivolous, but ever recurring, subjects of vexation. Reputations are lost by the repetition of petty indiscretions, unaccompanied with enormous crimes. Virtue is undermined, if slowly, yet effectually, by the silent growth of habit.

Without suffering ourselves therefore to be distracted by the infinitude of lesser cares, to the neglect of such as are confessedly greater, we should keep our minds awakened to the scene before us, and endeavour to establish such a tranquil flow of right affections as shall at all times spontaneously and without effort seize the best instruction, and make the wisest use of the ever-varying incidents, which we meet with, in our passage through the world. It is this habitual attention to the voice of reason and of duty, this ruling desire of acting rightly, and of improving all events, which must give a beautiful consistency to the

varieties of life; which must impart dignity and importance to what is low, and convert what is apparently noxious into the means of happiness.

Wherever our great Master was-whether standing in the temple or entering the syna→ gogue, or dining at the table of a Pharisee, or walking by the sea shore, or travelling by land or by water, in calm or in tempest, accompanied by his disciples and friends, or surrounded by a promiscuous crowd; we be hold him always intent upon the greatest ob jects, not unmindful of the lowest-and, while his soul was filled with the grandeur of God's universal government, yet stooping to point out to his followers, the falling sparrow and the smiling herbage of the field. "The Kingdom of heaven (said he) is like a grain of mustard seed, one of the least of all seeds"but which in eastern countries grows to a surprising size, shooting forth thick branches "for the birds of the air to lodge in."-All Nature is full of the same instructive emblems-the

most stupendous of her works spring, by continued advance and accumulation, from sources incalculably diminutive-even where individuals are weakest, yet in the concurrence of numbers, we recognise the instruments and the hand of Omnipotence itself.Whole islands in the Southern Ocean, are said to be built by insects.-Who can tell what Man, collective Man, may effect-or conceive what he himself shall hereafter become? What may we not expect from the Almighty!. the Omniscient! the Eternal! with infinite space, duration, activity, wisdom and benevolence! "It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power -it is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory;" it does not yet appear what he who sows the seed of virtue shall hereafter reap-As the oak springs from the acorn, the forest from the oak, and no one ever saw it grow; so from feebleness and immaturity, almost as gradually and imperceptibly, springs up the wise and good man.-We can rarely trace his virtues to their original source; we can scarcely observe the silence of their progress;

but, like "the little cloud, no bigger than a man's hand," they become in their progress, wonderfully enlarged; and move in a wider orb, showering blessings around them, enriching and adorning society, diffusing far and wide the attraction of their example, conferring happiness not only on the present, but on future generations; and, in short, extending the influence of this brief and passing existence from earth to heaven, from time to eternity.

SERMON IV.

THE DESIRE AND THE IMPROVEMENT OF LIFE.

JOSHUA X. 12. Sun, stand thou still

THUS spake Joshua in the presence of the conquering armies of Israel:-" Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon:" "And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies." Such is the triumphant description of this memorable day, as it is recorded in the book of Jasher; which signifies the book of illustrious men, and which seems to have been a collection of traditionary poems; for we find it quoted no where but upon the present occasion, and in the second