The

ages, constituted the whole of the western church, and who still form so large a body in Christendom, have never fallen into the grossest and worst of all heresies, the decrying of good works; but they have in every period inculcated alms. Hence have proceeded the many excellent institutions among them for the cure of the sick, for the relief of the poor, and for hospitality to strangers. Reformation, which divided the church, created no difference of sentiment on this subject; but the various religious denominations appear to vie with each other and with the Romish church, who shall most excel in acts of beneficence. The British nation, who stand at the head of the Protestant powers, are also the first in showing compassion to the indigent. Without insisting on their establishments for the support of the poor, which constitute. a part of their standing laws, voluntary benefactions have provided for the relief or removal of every imaginable species of disease and wretched

ness.

Among them also first appeared the charitable and humane societies, which are too many to be numbered. These associations are all the genuine offspring of the Christian religion; and they demonstrate the excellent nature, and the practicability of the duties of the gospel.

The descendants of a Christian nation, the inhabitants of this country, inherit a portion of their good spirit. But through the peculiar goodness of

God to us, there are not such frequent opportunities of bestowing alms as in the eastern hemisphere. A subsistence can more easily be obtained; and the indigent of consequence bear a smaller proportion to the whole number of people. In large towns, however, such as this in which we live, there will always be a great number of poor; and here we find the soul of charity warm, vigorous, and expanded. Without presuming to draw comparisons between this city and the other cities of the United States, it must in justice to the inhabitants of this metropolis be allowed, that their extensive charities. do honour to them as men and Christians. I have frequently witnessed with admiration and delight their generous benefactions, and the salutary effects which have resulted from them.

In thus praising the good deeds of my fellow citizens, my design is, to bestow on merit the reward which is its due; and to excite, my brethren, the emulation of you who hear me; provoking you, as the Apostle expresses it, to love and good works. An opportunity is this day afforded you of indulging the benevolent feelings of your hearts, and of lessening the sum of human misery. The helpless, the infirm, and the old, the orphan, and the widow, all of them your fellow Christians, and several of them amiable and deserving objects, solicit your aid. Your alms will clothe them, will put bread into their mouths, will kindle the cheerful fire on

their hearths, and will provide them a shelter against

the rigours of winter. Let me beseech you therefore, to bestow your bounty with your accustomed liberality; and be assured that it will be committed to faithful hands, which will impart it with discretion to the proper objects. By these donations, you will do honour to the Saviour, whose disciples you are; you will celebrate his nativity in the most worthy manner; your alms will rise up as a memorial before God; they will deliver you from death, and never suffer you to descend into a place of darkness.

Christmas.

SERMON VI.

THE YEAR AND ITS DIVISIONS.

GEN. i. 14.

AND GOD SAID, LET THERE BE LIGHTS IN THE FIRMAMENT OF HEAVEN, TO DIVIDE THE DAY FROM THE NIGHT; AND LET THEM BE FOR SIGNS, AND FOR SEASONS, AND FOR DAYS, AND YEARS.

THE beginning of a new year suggests to the mind many reflections. Among others it calls the attention to that arrangement of the earth and the heavenly bodies, which causes the seasons, the year itself, and the several parts into which it is divided. A consideration of this subject will lead us to a justification of the ways of God.

The heavenly bodies, beside affording light and heat to the earth, fertility to the ground, health to the atmosphere, and rendering the world a convenient and pleasant habitation to men and other animals, serve also to produce the seasons, and several of the divisions, which are made in the year. By the diurnal revolution of the earth on its axis is effected the natural distinction of day and night, and of evening, midnight, morning, and noon; but

the divisions of the day into hours, minutes, and seconds, is the work of man, the convenience of which he soon learned, and the utility of which has been confirmed by long experience. The distinction of weeks is in like manner not pointed out by any motion of the luminaries of heaven, but results from the appointment, not of man, but of God, who, according to the Mosaick history, enacted it by a positive law, when he disposed the earth in the order, in which it now appears. The distinction of months was, as the name implies, suggested by the revolution of the moon in its orbit; whilst that of the year is nothing else than a complete revolution of the earth, when, after a certain period it returns to the point of its orbit, from which it began its course. The seasons are produced by the inclination of the axis of the earth to the plane of its orbit; and their unequal length, that is, that summer is somewhat longer than winter, proceeds from this cause, that the orbit of the earth is not a circle, but an ellipsis, in consequence of which it moves with greater rapidity during the cold, than during the hot season of the year.

A man, who looks at nature with an attentive eye, will observe in it many correspondences. Some of these correspondences are of necessity; and others appear to be the effect of positive institution. Of the former are all geometrical relations, and the