able to abolish idolatry in a single village, the promulgation of the Gospel overthrew it in a great part (and that the most enlightened) of the world. If our belief in the unity and perfections of God together with His moral government and exclusive right to the wor ship of mankind, be founded in truth, they can not reasonably be denied to be truths of the first importance, and infinitely to outweigh the greatest discoveries in science; because they turn the hopes, fears, and interests of man into a totally different channel from that in which they must otherwise flow. Wherever these principles are first admitted, there a new dominion is erected, and a new system of laws established.

But since all events are under Divine direction, is it reasonable to suppose that the great Parent, after suffering His creatures to continue for ages ignorant of His true character, should at length, in the course of His Providence, fix upon falsehood, and that alone, as the effectual method of making Himself known; and that, what the virtuous exercise of reason in the best and wisest men was never permitted to accomplish, He should confer on fraud and delusion the honor of effecting? It ill comports with the majesty of truth, or the character of God, to believe that He has built the noblest superstructure on the weakest foundation; or reduced mankind to the miserable alternative either of remaining destitute of the knowledge of Himself, or of deriving it from the polluted source of impious impostures. We therefore feel ourselves justified, on this occasion, in adopting the triumphant boast of the great Apostle: "Where is the wise, where is the scribe, where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that be lieve."

MR. JAY was born at Tisbury-a lovely and picturesque village-of poor but religious parents. His father was a stone-mason, and young Jay continued to labor with him at the same business until shortly after his conversion. This occurred previous to the year 1784, when, at the age of fourteen, he was introduced to Rev. Cornelius Winter, who afforded him the use of his library, and, persuaded of his talents and piety, encouraged him to enter the Christian ministry. It was under Mr. Winter that he pursued his preliminary studies. His first sermon was preached shortly after sixteen, at Abbington, from 1 Peter, i. 2, 3: "If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious." Before he was of age, he had preached near a thousand sermons; and so great was the enthusiasm excited by his efforts, that in some instances the places of worship overflowed, and the lingering multitude in the yard would not disperse till the young speaker had bidden them farewell from the window.

By a series of remarkable providences he was led to settle at Bath, where he spent more than sixty years in the pastorate of the same church. He died December 27, 1853, having preached his last sermon, three months previous, from the words of Job (ch. xl. 4), "Behold, I am vile."

Few preachers have had a wider notoriety than William Jay. His native powers must have been very extraordinary, and his application extremely close, or he could not have drawn to his preaching, as he did,. the expressed admiration of such individuals as Wilberforce, and Hall, and Foster, and Chalmers, and Hannah More; and been invited to preach five times the annual sermon before the London Missionary Society. It is said that he was the only dissenting minister ever invited to preach before royalty. Dr. James Hamilton speaks of hearing him "with wonder and delight;" and Brinsley Sheridan said that Jay was the most perfectly natural orator he had ever heard.

Jay's sermons, some of which have been widely circulated, are uniformly marked by a devotional spirit, clearness and simplicity of style, beautiful conceptions expressed in good, plain Saxon words, strong,

sound common sense, happy illustrations, great terseness-especially in his practical directions, which often have the force and wisdom of proverbs and a perfect ingraining of Scripture phraseology, making them oftentimes a very "garden of sweets." The eloquence of Jay consists, not in the lofty and fervid utterances of Hall or Chalmers, but in the gentle and noiseless flow of fresh, original, appropriate, practical thoughts; reminding one of Beckford's description of Jay's mind--" a clear, transparent spring, flowing so freely as to impress us with the idea of its being inexhaustible." The sermon which follows was preached at Argyle Chapel, Bath, Oct. 22, 1809.

THE GOSPEL JUBILEE.

"It shall be a jubilee unto you."-LEV., xxv. 10.

"He that winneth souls is wise." This wisdom is from above and is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. No person ever possessed more of this excellency than Paul. His prudence appears in the selection and variation of the means he employed to accomplish his end. He considered the circumstances, the tempers, the prejudices of his hearers. He addressed every principle, and every passion of human nature. He reasoned; he declaimed. He reproved; he admonished; he warned; he encouraged. He compassed sea and land to furnish himself with illustrations and assistance. He borrowed from the institutions of Judaism. He borrowed from the institutions of Heathenism. He borrowed from the manners of the age. He borrowed from the festive games. Not a wrestling or a race passed by unnoticed or unimproved. Any occurrence, however accidental or transitory, he seized, to guide the attention which it awakened, to some wise and important purpose.

"And as a bird each fond endearment tries,

To tempt its new-fledged offspring to the skies;
He tried each art, reproved each dull delay,
Allured to brighter worlds, and led the way."

Hear his own language "Though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all that I may gain the more. And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; to them that are without law, as with

out law (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ), that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some."

My brethren, your preacher does not intend a comparison: but he wishes to feel the stimulus of an example so excellent. He does not challenge praise; but hopes for approbation, in a particular instance. If Paul be worthy of imitation, I am more than justified in the choice of my subject this evening. As our venerable and virtuous sovereign enters the fiftieth year of his reign on Wednesday next, an observance is intended, called-Jubilee; and I am going to lead back your minds to the origin of the name. My design is, not to indulge in applauding or censuring the measure, but to enable you to improve it, especially in aid of religious reflection.

Let me explain the nature of the Jubilee-make some remarks on the design of it—and examine what there is in the Gospel to correspond with it. Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things.

I. It is hardly necessary to take up any of your time, by inquiring after the etymology of the word Jubilee; in Hebrew, Jobel. It' signifies, according to some rabbins, a ram's horn, with which the festival was proclaimed. But how, asks the learned Calmet, could a ram's horn, which is crooked, and not hollow, be used as a trumpet? It was therefore, probably, says he, a trumpet in the form of a rain's horn. Others derive Jobel from Jubal, who was the inventor of musical instruments; and suppose that the year was named after him, because it was a year of rejoicing, of which music is commonly an emblem: or because it was ushered in with the sound of music through the whole land. Hottinger is of opinion that Jobel does not signify the instrument, but the noise it made; and that the . word is invented to imitate the sound. Patrick espousés this sentiment; and justifies it by a reference to the passover, which was called Pesach, from the angel's passing over the Israelites, when he slew the Egyptians. There is another conjecture, says Jennings, much more probable, and which supposes that it comes from the verb Hobil, to bring or call back; because then every thing was restored. Accordingly, the Septuagint renders it remission; and Josephus says it signifies liberty.

The learned are not more agreed concerning the period in which the Jubilee was celebrated. Whether it was observed every fortyninth or fiftieth year, is a question on each side of which the advo cates seem equally numerous and eminent. I shall not trouble you

with their respective arguments; but only remark that the authors of the Universal History have endeavored to reconcile these two opinions by observing that as the Jubilee began in the first month of the civil year, which was the seventh month of the ecclesiastical, it might be said to be either the forty-ninth or the fiftieth, according as the one or the other of these computations is followed.

For a general account of this ordinance, I refer you to the charge which God gave to Moses at the institution. "And thou shalt number seven Sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven Sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound, on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof; it shall be a Jubi lee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. A Jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you; ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed. For it is the Jubilee; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field. In the year of this Jubilee ye shall return every man unto his possession." Let us arrange and explain the contents of this statement.

The Jubilee was a season of relaxation, repose, and pleasure. The first nine days were spent in festivity. The people indulged in every kind of lawful mirth. They wore crowns on their heads, and decorated their garments with flowers. During the remainder of the season no servile work was done. There was no plowing or sowing. The earth spontaneously yielded her increase, and of the produce all were allowed to partake. The proprietor of a field or a vineyard had no more claim to the grapes or corn than his poor neighbor. They had all things common.

The Jubilee announced release from bondage. All slaves were free, with their wives and children. They who had renounced the privilege given to them by the sabbatical year, of recovering their liberty, and whose ears have been bored in token of perpetual servi tude, were emancipated from their masters. Even all foreign slaves enjoyed the same privilege of exemption, and could not be detained another moment in vassalage.

The Jubilee proclaimed the remission of debts, whether small or great, lately contracted or of long standing. It arrested the arm of the merciless creditor, who was taking his fellow by the throat, say