you employ me sufficiently during the week, allow me to give the Sabbath to God. Pursue me not to his temple; and let not the flights of incommoding birds disturb my sacrifice.

It is requisite at the close of worship, that each should be recollected, that he should meditate on what he has heard, and that the company with whom he associates should assist him to practise, not to eradicate the truths from his mind.

It is requisite that the heads of houses should call their children, and their servants together, and ask them, What have you heard? What have you understood? What faults have you reformed? What steps have you taken? What good resolutions have you formed?

It is requisite wholly to dismiss all those secular cares and servile employments which have occupied us during the week; not that holiness consists in mere abstinence, and in the observance of that painful minutiæ; but in a more noble and exalted principle. It is, no doubt, the obtrusion of a galling yoke, that we who are made in the image of God, and have an immortal soul, should be compelled, during the whole of this low and groveling life, to follow some trade, some profession, or some labour by no means assortable with the dignity of man. So is our calamity. But it is requisite, at least, it is highly requisite that one day in the week we should remember our origin, and turn our minds to things which are worthy of their excellence. It is requisite, that one day in the week we should rise superior to sensible objects; that we should think of God, of heaven, and

of eternity; that we should repose, if I may so speak, from the violence which must be done to ourselves to be detained on earth for six whole days. O blessed God, when shall the times of refreshing come, in which thou wilt supersede labour, and make thy children fully free? Acts iii. 21. When shall we enter the rest that remaineth for thy people? Heb. iv. 9. in which we shall be wholly absorbed in the contemplation of thy beauty, we shall resemble thee in holiness and happiness, because we shall see thee as thou art, and thou thyself shalt be all in all? Amen.

There were present at that season, one that told him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering, said unto them, suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, nay; but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. On those eighteen upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

I HAVE cut off the nations, I have made their towers desolate, I have sapped the foundation of their cities; I said, surely thou shalt receive instruction, so that thy dwelling shall not be cut off. Zeph. iii. 6, 7. This instructive caution God once published by the ministry of Zephaniah. And did it regard that age alone, or was it a prophecy for future times? Undoubtedly, my brethren, it regarded the Jews in the prophet's time. They saw every where around them extirminated nations, fortresses in ruins, villages deserted,

and cities sapped to the foundation. The judgments of God had fallen, not only on the idolatrous nations, but the ten tribes had been overwhelmed. The Jews, instead of receiving instruction, followed the crimes of those whom God had cut off, and involved themselves in the same calamities.

And if these words were adapted to that age, how strikingly, alas! are they applicable to our own! What do we see around us? Nations exterminated, villages deserted, and cities sapped to the foundation. The visitations of God are abroad in Europe; we are surrounded with them; and are they not intended, I appeal to your conscience, for our instruction? But let us not anticipate the close of this discourse. We propose to show you in what light we ought to view the judgments which God inflicts on the human kind. You have heard the words of our text. We shall stop but a moment to mark the occasion, and direct the whole of our care to enforce their principal design. After having said a word respecting the Galileans, whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices; and respecting the dreadful fall of this tower which crushed eighteen persons under its ruins, we shall endeavour to examine,

I. The misguided views with which mankind regard the judgments God openly inflicts upon their neighbours.

II. The real light in which those judgments ought to be considered. The first of these ideas we shall illustrate on the occasion of the tragic accidents mentioned in the text, which was reported to Jesus Christ. The second, we shall illustrate on occasion