estimates life, when he values the produce of the earth more than the word of life. The artizan, whose necessities induce him to prosecute his trade, falsely estimates life, when the little time and money he has to spare are spent in rioting and drunkenness. The merchant, who delights in the exchange of commodities, falsely estimates life, when he values his goods more than truth; and for the sake of accumulating wealth deceives! The warrior, who bears himself above the level of his race, because he is privileged to wield the instrument of death, falsely estimates life, when he buckles on his sword to take the lives of men who never injured him, because he is paid for the deed, and praised above his brethren that live in peace.

They who bear the sacred character of ambassa dors of heaven falsely estimate life, when they value the emolument arising from their situation more than the duties they have undertaken to perform; when, for the sake of what is called a genteel living, they enter that sacred office with a lie in their mouth! As in all ages those who officiate at the altar are held the most sacred, their responsibility for the discharge of their duties must be great. When a clergyman neglects the instructing of the ignorant, the visiting of the poor, the comforting of the sick and afflicted, how shall he be able to stand at the day of judgment, when the talents which the Lord hath given him to improve

have been buried in indolence, or vitiated by a commerce with the world? If he who had received but one talent was cast to the tormentors because he concealed it in the earth, surely he who has received many, and has been placed in a situation where the field of improvement is great, must receive condemnation of an aggravated nature.

They in easy and affluent circumstances falsely estimate life, when they suppose they have no duties to perform to society, no privations to undergo, and no preparation to make for a future state : the more they are removed from want the greater exertions are required of them to perform all the charities of life. In no situation in life are mankind privileged to give themselves up to enjoyment; the present life is not for rest, but for labour, and there can be no progress in the Christian life without personal exertion. To live the life of a Christian is daily to practise all the precepts of Christianity. The men of the world falsely estimate life, when they prefer the blandishments of sense to the joys of the soul. If we renounce not the world, it is impossible we can be saved, for the world's maxims are opposite to the gospel precepts, and they who are only hearers of the word, and not doers thereof, are not the disciples of Jesus. If compliance with the world were pardonable in any, the Martyrs had not died; for it was their bold adherence to the truths of the gospel that brought

them to the stake, and had they refused to sacrifice their lives they would have been unworthy of Jesus. In futurity there is no middle place, every individual on earth must either be a citizen of heaven, or a companion of the damned. On earth there is no middle walk; they who follow Jesus must boldly confess him before men, or he will be ashamed of them before his Father and the holy angels; and they who will conform to the world professing Christianity, must abide the awful sentence," I never knew you, depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels."

The world's maxims vary in every age. At the commencement of the Christian era, idol worship was the most fashionable devotion, and the Christians were required to conform to it. In the middle ages, the worship of the beast and his image was triumphant, and non-conformity to it was exposing the individual to every species of torture, to loss of goods, to deprivation of all the charities of life, and to death! In the days of Queen Elizabeth, conformity to the church of England was the rule of the day; to disobey was transportation for life, mutilation of the human countenance, imprisonment, and death. The days of persecution are now passed away, the fetters of ignorance are bursting apace, the contraction of bigotry is giving way to the power of light, and the dawning of a new era

is shaded around. The hollow murmur that precedes an earthquake is felt over the political earth,— the powers of the nations tremble for their safety, darkness and hereditary power have hitherto supported them; the darkness is dispelling, and their ancient fabrics, whose cement is blood, are shaking to their base. They, in the zenith of their power, gave their strength to the pope, and in the day of their adversity he is unable to save. The times are gone by when power can be supported by ignorance, and the spirit of freedom suppressed by blood.

The fearful and unbelieving falsely estimate life, when they prefer the world's praise to boldly confessing the name of Jesus; they please themselves with the idea, that though they conform to the world, their appearance at the place of worship, and observing the ceremonies of religion, will be approved of by Him who hid not his face from shame and spitting, and who gave his back to the smiters, and his cheek to those who plucked off the hair.They go to church, because the world reproach them, not for the appearance of religion, but for the performance of its precepts. Why should professing Christians desire so much to imitate the men of the world, when they know they endanger their salvation? and the men of the world value not those who only go half, and not all with them. It shews their infidelity that they believe not in the true

greatness and certain fulfilment of the promises and threatenings of the gospel, and they throw a false lustre around the character of the men of the world.

The diligent in business falsely estimate life, when they prefer their worldly labours to being fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. They please themselves with such sophistical reasoning, as that their time is so much taken up that really they cannot find an opportunity for family prayer, visiting the sick, and instructing the ignorant. They attend church regularly, and what more is required of them. The precepts of the gospel are not addressed to an individual, but to all mankind, and we are required to sacrifice our all when it comes in competition with Christ, and him crucified. If the poor labourer finds time to worship with his family, to study the Scriptures, to visit and pray with his sick neighbours, and to relieve their wants as much as in him lies, let none in the higher spheres of life complain of the want of time. Let that avocation that would drag with resistless force an immortal soul to hell, be for ever forsaken; it is not necessary for the comfort of the human race, if it bury in eternal destruction a son of Adam. They that will so follow after the world must perish with the world.

The avaricious falsely estimate life, when they prefer their gold to obeying the commands of