ble to the children of your divine Parent, and to the disciples of your beneficent Lord. You devote this day to commemorate the birth of the prince of peace. You have cut down branches from the trees to decorate his temple; you have sung hosannas to his name; but there is no merit nor value in these actions, if your hearts are filled with pride, selfishness, and impiety. With the alteration of a single word, I may address you in the language of the Prophet Isaiah: Will you call this a feast, and an acceptable day to the Lord? Is not this the feast which I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you brake every yoke? Is it not to deal your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor that are cast out to your house? when you see the naked, that you cover him, and that you hide not yourselves from your own flesh?

This day is with many, not so much a day of devotion, as the commencement of a season of festivity, which is to be extended through the rigors of winter. You have already laid the plan of the entertainments, which you purpose to give each other in your houses; and you anticipate much delight, and perhaps a little praise, from the delicacy of taste, which you will display in the choice of your viands, from the splendor of your decorations, from the grace and ease, with which you will receive your guests, and from "the brilliancy of your conversations. I would not be thought too rigid a censor. These pleasures are harmless, when they are not repeated too frequently, when they do not prevent you from discharging the important duties of life, in fine, when they are not abused. It cannot be supposed, that the Being, who has enriched the earth with so many minerals and

precious gems, and scattered over its surface so many fragrant and gorgeous flowers, has forbidden you to cultivate a taste for the elegant and ornamental. There is a satisfaction in looking at the face which is brightened with smiles; and in conversation there is a charm, which dilates, and sometimes improves, the heart. But allowing these things to be innocent, there is a still better way, by which you will infallibly make yourselves happy, and which will soften all the horrors of the inclement season: While you are contriving these entertainments, form a plan of making the winter pass as a period of cheerfulness and content to those, with whom, without your care, it will be a season of gloom and distress. Let the sorrowful sighing of the prisoners, who are confined, some, it is true, for their crimes, but some also, for their misfortunes, come into your ears. Let the poor, who are sick, receive from you medicine, and their families, food. Bring the children, who are cast out, to a house, where they will find shelter and protection. Warm the withered limbs of the aged widow, who, without your aid, will be stiffened with the increasing cold. If you faithfully execute this plan, your hearts, when spring returns, will be as serene as that mild season; and you will always look back with satisfaction on a winter, which has been passed in such charitable works. But from the execution of your other plan, it is not certain, that you will derive all that delight, which you anticipate. The mere pleasures of sense make little impression. None but a gross epicure remembers, or wishes to remember, long, the taste of any dish; for as it is associated with no image of the fancy or understanding, it leaves scarcely any traces in the brain. But the mortifications, which you will suffer, as they exist in the mind, will not

soon be forgotten. Notwithstanding all the pains which you take, the result will seldom correspond with the preparations that are made: several articles, deemed essential, will be forgotten; and many things will be out of place. At the houses of others you will not always receive the attention, which you think your due: some person will be preferred before you, though his claims are not superior to your own. Conversation too will

often be dull; and the day or the evening will pass off languidly. You will utter several frigid jests, of which, when you recollect them on the succeeding day, you will be heartily ashamed: and if the conversation with a select band, in a corner of the apartment, assumes what may be thought a more dignified style; if you undertake to settle the interesting concerns of the nation, you will be frequently contradicted, and sometimes conquered in an argument. On the whole, though you may meet with the pleasure, which you are seeking for; yet it is not impossible that the winter may be imbittered with repeated mortifications. But if you devote your. selves to the service of the wretched, you will be exposed to none of this chagrin. With the expense of one sumptuous feast, you may afford substantial aid to a great number of poor families; and in the meantime you will have more leisure to attend to your domestic affairs, more leisure to cultivate the minds of your children, more leisure to improve your own understandings. I do not suggest these things with the expectation of inducing you to give up the first of your plans; but I would hope to prevail on you not entirely to neglect the other. If you think it wise and salutary, begin to execute it this day; begin with bestowing your bounty on your indigent brethren of this church, who now ask of

you your alms. While your hearts exult at the birth of the prince of peace, let their souls also be filled with joy. Then will the blessing of those, who are ready to perish, come upon you; and you will contribute in part to the promotion of the great design for which the Saviour was born; which was to manifest the glory of God, to bind up the broken-hearted, to comfort those who mourn, and to produce peace on earth, and good will to

men.

Christmas.

SERMON VII.

THE END OF THE YEAR.

1 PETER IV. 7.

THE END OF ALL THINGS IS AT HAND BE YE THEREFORE SOBER, AND WATCH UNTO PRAYER.

men.

THAT We are accustomed to regard this season as the end of the year, is not owing to any divine command, or to any particular position of the heavenly bodies: it is entirely a human ordinance, to which it is proper to conform for no other reason, than because it is used by other But notwithstanding one day is as fit to end the year as another, yet as the point is settled by universal consent, we are inclined to consider this termination as completing one of the divisions of life; and certain. reflections are apt to enter the minds of the thoughtful. In these reflections, which are of a serious, and somewhat of a melancholy cast, it is best to indulge; because it is always of use to be serious, and not unprofitable sometimes to be melancholy. When we have attained the middle of life, and many of us, my brethren, have reached beyond it, we have seen the termination of so many sublunary pleasures, we have lost so many things which render life valuable, that a contemplation of the end forces itself on our minds. I naturally therefore at this time turn my attention to the subject. My purpose