prophecies concerning the Messiah which had gone before. Though they did not at present fully comprehend the meaning of all his instructions, yet they so far understood him, as to be convinced that he taught a religion worthy of God, adapted to the condition of apostate men, and opening to them the most encouraging and glorious prospects of futurity.

The reasonableness and excellence of his doctrines in themselves, and the manifold proofs of his divine mission exhibited before their eyes, rendered them confident that his were the words of eternal life, bringing immortality to light, and pointing out to a lost and bewildered world, a way of recovery and restoration to true and endless felicity.

My hearers, the Gospel of Christ, comprising all these things, has been transmitted to us, under as many circumstances of credibility, as perhaps the nature of the thing will admit, or as we could reasonably expect. By our knowledge of it, we become acquainted with "the words of eternal life." By believing and obeying it, by living as this grace of God, bringing salvation, teaches, we shall approve ourselves to be of the number of the sincere followers and disciples of Jesus, and with them become entitled to his promised blessings. How rich, how great, how ineffably glorious are his promises! Through him we shall receive the atonement, the propitiation for our sins. Through

him we shall receive a righteousness justifying us before God, and securing our acceptance with him. Through him we shall be cleansed from all sinful pollutions, and be transformed into a moral resemblance to God. This good work begun in us here, will be carried on to perfection hereafter. Though while we continue in the present world, we shall still be liable to tribulation, yet he assures us that in him we shall have peace, a peace which passeth understanding. He will give us to eat of the hidden manna; he will feed us with the bread of life, during our pilgrimage through this wilderness. On our departure hence, while passing the dark valley and the shadow of death, his rod and staff shall comfort us; while flesh and heart are failing us, he will be the strength of our hearts and the portion of our souls. At the final judgment, before the assembled universe, he will acknowledge our relation to him, and welcome us into his Father's house, into those mansions which he has prepared for our reception-mansions above the reach of all evil, forever exempt from the temptations and trials of this vale of tears, where we shall behold his unclouded glories, and, with an innumerable company of angels and all the nations of the redeemed, participate in rivers of pleasure and fulness of joy, world without end. This is that "eternal life" exhibited in the doctrines, in the words of Christ.

My hearers, will ye, notwithstanding, turn from him? "Will ye also go away?" What can this world, or the god of this world, offer you, though he should cause to glitter in imagination before you, all its glory and riches, sufficient to induce you to give up a system so excellent, to relinquish expectations so great, to part with prospects so glorious? Will not your hearts reply to every temptation, to every suggestion of this kind-" Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life."

No, blessed Jesus, we will not leave thee. Though the doctrine of the cross be to some a stumblingblock, and to others foolishness, yet to us it is the power of God and the wisdom of God. Blessed Jesus, thou art the Captain of our salvation, and by thy grace we will follow thee till we overcome, and sit down with thee on thy throne, even as thou also hast overcome and sat down with thy Father on his throne..

SERMON XXIII.*

THANKSGIVING SERMON.

GENESIS i. 31.

And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.

IN these words we have the review which the Almighty Creator took of his new made world, the reflection of the Eternal Mind upon the copies of its own wisdom and the products of its own power. The several component parts of this great work as they were successively produced, were each pronounced good; but upon the finishing of the whole, the superlative style is adopted. It is pronounced very good, or perfect, without any blemish or defect which might bring into suspicion either the wisdom or the goodness of its Creator. To his omniscient eye it appeared, not only supremely beautiful, but

* This sermon was delivered on Thanksgiving day, December 5, 1822— the last time that the Author ever appeared in the pulpit. He was attacked the following night by the illness which in six days terminated his life.

perfectly conformable to the plan concerted in his eternal counsels, and completely adapted to answer his purpose in its formation.

As we ourselves were not present, and mingled not in the circle of the sons of God who shouted for joy at the laying of its foundations,—it is only through faith in the writings of Moses that we understand how the world was made." Looking through this glass, we see the formation of its several elements; the light shining forth from the midst of primeval darkness; the firmament expanded; the stagnant abyss of chaotic waters collected into seas, lakes, and rivers; the dry land appearing; the mountains rising; the plains extending; the vallies sinking; and the surface of all, clothed with the endless variety of vegetation. We also see the heavens garnished, and all their radiant luminaries lighted up,-the earth, the air, and the waters replenished with those numerous species of animals, which, according to the adaptation of their different natures, inhabit each their respective elements.

When creation is thus far advanced, when the house is thus built and furnished, amply stored with whatever can be of use to such a tenant; man, the only rational organ of the world, the head and representative of the other creatures, to whose dominion they are subjected, and who alone is responsible to the great Creator for his tribute of