general assertion. They deserve, and they demand, close investigation. They call upon you to examine, and to judge for yourselves. In the limited observations, therefore, which I am about to make, it is my chief purpose to call' your attention to the subject, that you may be induced to search, like the noble Bereans, "whe

ther these things be so." And, it is the sober conviction of my judgment, that your labour will be amply repaid; that, if you examine with a right spirit, you will find in our common prayer, a depth and fulness, exceeded only in the sacred volume: that you will discover in it, the most luminous order, accompanied with ease and freedom; the profoundest meaning, clothed in the most unlaboured simplicity of expression, and addressed, at once, to the imagination, and the heart.

It shall be my humble effort, then, to clear the avenues to the sanctuary. May you be led, by the good Spirit of God, to explore its inmost recesses; to acquaint yourselves with its just proportions; to derive light and heat, from the pure fire of its altar; so that, like the Psalmist, you may supremely desire "to dwell in the house of the Lord, all the days of your life; to behold the fair beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple."

It is certain, that we enter, each morning, on a new period, not only of existence, but of danger and of duty in which, we have temptations to resist, trials to encounter, difficulties to surmount, and a variety of social, civil, and religious obligations, to discharge. With what happy fitness, then, is it ordered, that our morning service should be a special preparation for active holiness; for safety, during our intercourse with a dangerous world; for such calm, collected self-possession, even in the busiest scenes of life, that we may "attend upon the Lord," as the apostle expresses it," without distraction." To establish this fact by extended investigation, would far exceed my limits: let us, then, narrow the field, by briefly adverting to the last morning, Collect.

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The introduction is full of encouragement: the God whom we address, is our Lord,' and, therefore, we belong to him; he is our heavenly Father,' and, therefore, tenderly loves us; he is Almighty,' and, therefore, can abundantly protect us; He is everlasting,' and, therefore, may be entrusted with the hidden issues of eternity. By By the remembrance of his most recent mercies, we are emboldened to seek for present support, and confirmation; assured, that the same mighty power,' which has safely

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brought us to the morning light,' is able to defend us, 'in all noon-day perils ;'-that, if we truly "commit our way unto the Lord," He will keep us, each day, from carelessly falling into sin,' or presumptuously running into danger,' of it; and, finally, that, if we maintain in our hearts the spirit of this prayer, all our doings will then be ordered by God's governance, to do always that is righteous in his sight;' in conformity to the scriptural assurance, that "the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord; and He delighteth in his way."

This Collect is, doubtless, full of comfort: but it holds out no comfort to cold and careless worshippers; it requires, that we should reflect, each morning, how much we have to encounter, and how much to fulfil, in the approaching day; it calls us to vigilance, self-possession, self-command, and self-denial; it should excite in us, a tender sensibility of conscience, ready to take alarm at the first approach of evil; an habitual aptitude to pray, that He, who alone can sustain and strengthen us, would preserve us "blameless and harmless; the sons of God, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation;" it should remind us, that, as we have great dangers to avoid, so we have great duties to fulfil; that we are bound, in our studies and conversation, in

our professions and pursuits, in our intercourse with the world, and in the secret retirement of our hearts, as members of society, and as members of the Church, to live supremely to our God. Always remembering, that our sufficiency is of Him alone; and, that, without his 'most gracious and ready help,' the best-concerted schemes, and the most laborious exertions, must terminate in fruitless and melancholy disappointment.

The dangers and duties, briefly epitomized in this Collect, are fully expanded, in the service which immediately follows; our truly spiritual Litany; in its substance, probably, the most ancient, and, certainly, in its range, the most comprehensive branch, of our public worship.

The method is at once perspicuous and unlaboured; after solemnly invoking each person of the blessed Trinity, we deprecate sin itself; its causes, and consequences; its several kinds and degrees, inward and outward, spiritual and carnal; we deprecate the judgments which it provokes, and the dangers which it causes, both to the stability of our government, and the purity of our worship; and, above all, we deprecate that hardness of heart, and that contempt of God's word and commandment, which, alone, can seal us up in final impenitence, and ever

lasting ruin. This branch of our Litany then concludes, with a most energetic, and affecting enumeration, of all the means which our merciful Redeemer employed for our deliverance; his -humiliation, his trials, and his sufferings; his 'precious death and burial;' his glorious resurrection and ascension,' and the coming of the Holy Ghost;' events, which are still pregnant with the most healing and enlivening influences; which, if they are, seriously, and affectionately, brought home to our hearts, and resorted to as a source of practical strength,-will not fail to afford us strength and consolation, even in the most alarming conjunctures: in all time of our tribulation, in all time of our wealth, in the hour of death, and in the day of judgment.'

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And, here, suffer me to observe, that sin is first deprecated, and most fully enlarged upon, as its own central punishment; as far more grievous and intolerable, than lightning and tempest,' than plague, pestilence and famine,' than battle, and murder, and sudden death; calamities, which, however terrible in themselves, derive their chief sting, and torment, from a guilty conscience. It also deserves serious consideration, that, in enumerating the most critical periods of our being, the time of our wealth' is represented as more alarming than the time