is his walk, and lowly his pretensions, I would not forget. Though his name be never borne aloft on the pinions of same; though no son of song deigns in elegiac strains to celebrate his memory, he also is a "light of the world," and dear therefore to the bosom of every enlightened well-wisher to the mental dignity of man.

These things considered, can it be doubted for a moment, whether the withholding public sanction and pa tronage from the class of men I am advocating, would be a fatal blow to intellectual improvement ? On this subject there can be but one sentiment, and I am confident that my prayer will be re-echoed by all who hear me"Distant, ever distant be that day !"

II. The next object of attention is, the aspect of our subject on Morality ; or that course of conduct, both internal and external, which is to be pursued by man as a free and accountable being, and the pursuit of which is essential to his true happiness. Here I trust my advocacy will be an easier, and consequently a shorter task.

That we are naturally under a law ; that there is, in other words, a distinction between virtue and vice, right and wrong, is one of those truths which force themselves on the conviction of every mind to which they are present

ed. But what is this law? How is this distinction to be accurately ascertained? These are questions of serious difficulty. It is not denied that originally God made abundant provision for the well-being of his moral creatures, by writing the whole code of duty legibly on their consciences, and implanting at the same time a disposition to obey. But it is no less evident that both these provisions have long since ceased.

With respect to the first; though I would not venture to assert that man, if left to himself, could discover nothing of the nature or foundation of obligation; yet I think it must be on all sides confessed, that his knowledge in this case would be deplorably limited and defective. The doctrine of "Innate Ideas,” and a “ Moral Sense,” discriminating between virtue and vice, by the same kind of instinct that enables a well-organized system of tongue and palate to discern sweet from bitter, is sufficiently exploded. An idea has indeed succeeded it, and become exceedingly fashionable, that by industry in exercising his powers on the works of Creation and Providence, any and every human being can arrive at all necessary moral results. But when they consider the multiplicity of secular employments and cares, rendering the bestowment of this requisite industry, in all cases difficult, and in most absolutely impossible, its most sanguine votaries must acknowledge, that little is to be expected from this mode of discovery. In confirmation of this remark, I appeal to the Pagan world in any stage of its civilization. It had lost its understanding, Brethren! Even its philosophers we find disputing and dividing on the most simple and strongly marked points of ethical science: and indeed so "blinded were their foolish hearts," that many of them, on principle and from conscience too, were abject slaves to the most base and beastly lusts. If this was the state of things among the wise and revered, what must have been the condition of the mass? Alas! we have a statement sufficiently gloomy by a writer* of unquestionable authority.

But waving this, and granting for a moment that every individual of the human race could, and not only so, but actually would, discover by unassisted reason the whole system of moral obligation, of what value is the concession, so long as this remains a truth, that he has lost a disposition to obey? If the heart be depraved, what profits an enlightened understanding; and that there is in the breasts of all men an enmity to virtue and a natural proneness to be lawless, is a position which needs not my aid, after its confirmation by the experience of nearly six thonsand years.

Let not these observations be deemed out of place. My object is to show, that the institution of a clerical order is one of the most admirable expedients to settle and enforce the great principles of morality; and if, by what has been suggested, it is proved that the state of mankind pressingly needs such expedients, one important step has been taken in the investigation.

But how does it operate? What is the precise manner of its influence in checking the evils that have been specified? I regret, Brethren, that the narrow limits prescribed to pulpit exhibitions prevent me from attempting more, than to suggest the outlines of an answer. In the first place, it belongs to the ministers of religion, and them only, to present to the understanding a full and connected system of duty and laws, not like the Pandects of the statesman and philosopher, in turn deficient and redundant, liable to evasion, and oft injurious to the subject ; but in all its parts adapted to the nature, and calculated to cherish the best interests of man. Such, Brethren, is the system of morality revealed in the "Gospel," infidels themselves being judges. What eye so blinded as not to see upon it the broad impress of the Divinity! What tongue such "a world of iniquity" as to deny that its precepts are "true and righteous altogether, more to be desired than gold, yea than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honey-comb!" The carnal mind may rise against its requisitions, and shake off the yoke of its authority, but even the carnal mind is forced to make the mortifying confession, that it is “holy, just, and good." This was the true secondary cause of the progress of the Gospel in the apostolic age; for so strikingly did the purity of its morality contrast with the foul and despicable maxims of Pagan wisdom, that the most hardened heart could not deny its charms-could not but acknowledge it was more than reasonable-it was divine.

In the next place, it is the province of the Gospel Minister to present along with a pure and lovely morality, the only satisfactory grounds on which it is obligatory upon the conscience; I mean "the authority of the Great God of heaven and earth." After all the boasted discoveries of reason and philosophy, we may rest assured, my hearers, that the only firm tie of human