served. The next prayer is said to have been introduced into the Litany above a thousand years ago, on some distresses under which the Christians then laboured; but as all Christians labour under distresses or dangers of some kind or other, temporal or spiritual, it has a very significant meaning, and may properly be used at all times. The people at the close of this prayer, instead of the usual' Amen,' beg of Christ to arise, and deliver them for his name's sake, that is, for the sake of their bearing his name, the name of Christians. The minister next sets forth, that we have heard or read, or have had handed down by our forefathers, the noble works that God did for those who were his people, that is, for the Jews first, and afterwards for Christians; and the congregation then beseech him to rise, and deliver them for his honour, not on account of their deserts, but of his own perfections; that from the experience of his loving kindness all may learn to serve and adore him. We now repeat the doxology, or, in other words, give praise and glory to the ever blessed Trinity, in the same form as we have done frequently before in other parts of the service, particularly after the Psalms; and after several short ejaculations, expressing our entreaties to God for protection and mercy, we conclude with a more continued form of prayer to the same purpose: We humbly beseech thee, O Father, mercifully to look upon our infirmities, and for the glory of thy name turn from us all those evils

that we most righteously have deserved;'-the word 'righteously' here means-justly, that we most justly have deserved; what remains of this prayer is sufficiently clear. The conclusion of the Litany being the same as the conclusion of the morning service, it is not necessary that I should repeat what I have already said on it.

And thus I have brought my discourses on our church service to a period; in which I have endeavoured to avoid the two opposite extremes of too great or too little particularity, either of hazarding to weary you by dwelling too minutely on the subject, or omitting to explain things which really require it. Would to God that I may have succeeded in any degree in rendering it more intelligible to you! Would to God that I may have succeeded in rendering it more delightful in your eyes!

Let me prevail on you to shew your delight in it, by a more constant attendance at its celebration. It is with no small concern that I am compelled to say, that I have too much reason to admonish you on this head. Surely once a week, for one short hour, to meet with your brethren to to offer your prayers and thanksgivings to your Creator, Preserver, and Redeemer, is no hard service! Can we possibly do less for that beneficent Being, who hath done so much for us! Whatever causes of dissatisfaction you may have with the manner of the service being performed, you cannot complain that it is not performed con

stantly and at the appointed hours. Would to God you would give your minister a decisive proof that you are not dissatisfied with it on other accounts, by meeting him constantly as the Sabbath returns! He can have but little reason, till he sees you do this, to congratulate himself on the success of his labours. But it is not enough that you attend regularly at divine service; you must be attentive and devout, whilst you are there, and if your thoughts will sometimes wander to earthly subjects (as they too often will) you must anxiously and speedily recall them. You will do well to be minutely exact in repeating all which the congregation is ordered to repeat, and in joining, in your hearts, in each of the prayers as they are read by the minister, and saying Amen' aloud at the conclusion. You will likewise do well in observing the directions of your prayer-books, when you are to stand or kneel, and in complying exactly with them, as it shews decency of behaviour, and Christian submission to the orders of your superiors. To conclude, come as frequently to church, and behave, when you are here, with that reverence and devotion, which, when the tremendous hour of death approaches, and much more at the awful day of judgment, you will most sincerely and ardently wish that you had done!

Now to God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, be ascribed all might, majesty, and dominion, now and for ever. Amen.

SERMON XXXIII.

CHRIST OUR SAVIOUR AND KING.

ST. JOHN III. 16.

God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

WHEN the Almighty first created man, he endued him with a capacity of knowing his duty, and with a strong inclination to practise it: in defiance, however, of this knowledge, and in contradiction to this inclination, Adam fell from his obedience, and, by his transgression, brought not only on himself, but also on his posterity, misery and death. Wickedness, which was thus introduced into the world, increased so dreadfully within the space of seventeen hundred years, that God was provoked to overwhelm the earth with a flood of waters, and to destroy all flesh. One family only, which had remained unpolluted amidst the general contagion of vice, was preserved, and from that was the world afterwards peopled. We find, however, as the descendants of Noah multiplied

and spread themselves upon the earth, that, notwithstanding this dreadful example of God's vengeance on the wicked (the remembrance of which could not possibly have been soon done away) they, within a short time, began to degenerate, they forgot entirely the true God, and immersed themselves in all manner of iniquity. With the Jews, indeed, by particular revelations from Heaven, and the immediate superintendance of the Almighty, the true knowledge of him was retained; but even they frequently turned aside to idolatry, and were, in their moral conduct, desperately abandoned; while all the other nations of the earth paid their devotions to stocks and stones, or to men wicked and frail as themselves, and were so far from conforming themselves to the obligations of virtue, that they were deplorably ignorant in what it consisted.

This was the state of things, when it pleased God" to send his only-begotten Son into the world, to the end that all that believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Considering the great and manifold provocations which God had received, it might have been expected that he would have sent his Son upon a far different errand, to take vengeance on such a rebellious race, to punish and to extirpate; but, no! Jesus Christ was sent to instruct and to save, to inform us of our duty, and to redeem our immortal souls; in other words, to be our Saviour and our King. It is under these two characters