ing and drunkenness, chambering and wantonness, lying and stealing, and every other vice, which interrupts the peace of society, they will carefully avoid. They will honour the king, and respect the magistracy. They will be good members of the community to which they belong, and will so conduct themselves in private life, as to prevent their behaviour from incurring the censure of those about them. They will boast too of the excellency of those regulations, by which they profess to be governed, and challenge the world, as they justly may, to produce any system of laws so well calculated for the good of society, as those Commandments, which are given under the Christian dispensation. Thus, then, in all these things will Christ have many admirers, who, when they consider what he has done for the world, will be ready to say with the Scribe of whom I have been speaking, "Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest." But, let us consider our Lord's answer to the same Scribe" Jesus saith unto him, the foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head." The sense of this passage may be given in the following words.

"Dost thou, O Scribe, form thy judgment concerning me by the miracles, which thou

hast seen, and by the applause which has followed them, and dost thou suppose that this state of things will always continue, so that upon me, and upon my followers, only praise and commendation will be bestowed? If so, thou art greatly mistaken. The breath of popular applause, which is now in my favour, shall soon pass away, and I shall be, as it was foretold concerning me, despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.'* While the birds of the air, and the beasts of the earth, find secure habitations to shelter them from storm and tempest, it will not be so with me. I shall be exposed to poverty, and to scorn; and the time will presently come, when those, who now appear to be my best friends, shall forsake me, and I shall seem deserted by all the world. Consider then, O Scribe, ere thou determinest to follow me whithersoever I go, whether thou canst keep close to me in adversity, as well as in prosperity, and whether thou wilt be ready to suffer, as well as to reign, with me.”

In applying this part of our subject to the case of my hearers, I would observe,

1. That there are many admirers of Christ, who, though they are ready to follow him in all the ceremonies of religion, because such an

* Isa. liii. 3.

adherence is honourable in the sight of men, are, nevertheless, afraid to live up to the spirit of what they profess, lest their zeal should be called enthusiasm, and lest, by acting constantly under the influences of the Divine Spirit, they should differ so much from the manners of the world, that the world should exclude them from their company. It is well known, that two cannot walk together, unless they are agreed, so that he, whose heart is not changed, whatever his outward profession may be, can never be a fit companion for him, who is born again of the Spirit, and whose soul thirsteth after God, as the hart after the waterbrooks. Every person ought seriously to consider, that with him, " to whom all desires. "are known, and from whom no secrets are "hid," no hypocritical service can be acceptable, that with him the mere bended knee, the flattering lip, and the demure countenance are of no avail, and that, whatever estimation a man may gain by these things in the eyes of his fellow mortals, yet, if he be not a worshipper of God in spirit and in truth, he will not be numbered with the righteous in that day, when the secrets of all hearts shall be revealed. These matters, I say, should be seriously con sidered by all, and therefore, Brethren, I beseech you to examine yourselves, and see,

whether in following Christ in the profession of his religion you are come into the actual possession of it. The ceremony of Baptism, as you learn in your Catechism, is "an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace." The sign has passed upon you; are you then partakers of the grace? In other words. Are you dead to sin, and alive unto righteousness, and resolutely determined so to live the remainder of your days? Think, how, by confirmation, if you have indeed submitted thereto, you have ratified the vows, which your god-fathers and god-mothers have made for you, and how, by repeated declarations every Sabbath Day, and particularly at every

Sacramental Service at which you have been present, you have dedicated yourselves in the most solemn manner to God.

Would you

I know clearly and accurately the obligations which are laid upon you? Read the several Services of the Church, as they are written in the Book of Common Prayer, and you will be convinced, that more than half of those persons, who regard the form of religion, are inattentive to its power, and follow their Saviour very carelessly, if, indeed, they may be said to follow him at all.

2. The admirers of Christ, I have said, will speak good of his name, by setting forth

those doctrines, which he has taught. But, will they live according to those doctrines? They know, that the Father receives sinners through the merits of his Son, and sanctifies them by his Holy Spirit. But, do they indeed come unto God by Christ, and do they walk in all the ways of his commandments? If they do, they will find, that the same reproach which was cast upon the first Disciples will fall upon them, and they will, as their Master was before them, be treated with scorn and desision. As then Christians are to expect such treatment in the world, are you, Brethren, prepared to follow Christ in his humiliation, as well as in his exaltation? Can you submit to the coolness of some, the contempt of others, and, it may be, to evil treatment, and to personal injury? We know how some are alarmed even by a mere name, insomuch that if a man, by becoming a little more serious than his neighbours, should happen to be called a Methodist, many a friend, so far as worldly friendship goes, will turn his back upon him, and, without ever enquiring whether his doctrine and practice are agreeable to the word of God, will not hesitate to declare that he is little better than a madman, or enthusiast. Now, as the love of praise is deeply implanted in the human breast, it requires no small de