boast of false religion and of the power of Antichrist, under whatever disguise presented to mankind, to withdraw men as much as possible from the cares and duties of a worldly and industrious life; to teach them to place their ideas of perfection and their hopes of salvation in a total retirement from mankind, or in an inactive and unprofitable round of ceremonies and superstitions, commanding to abstain from labour, which is the common condition of our kind; from marriage, whereby we contribute to the common stock of happiness and of productive labour, the enjoyments and toils of our children; from meats, which God Himself hath given to be received with thankfulness; from conversation, whereby the bonds of charity are kept alive, and the common fund of religious and useful knowledge extended and preserved. But the religion of Christ, as taught by Christ Himself, and the apostles who were inspired by Him, not only does not command, but expressly discourages all heedless singularity or solitude. If He calls us into the desert for a time to hear the words of life, He calls us only that we may return to the world better qualified to perform our parts in it; the more industrious in our lawful business, in proportion as we are the more fervent in spirit; and so much the better sons, the better parents, the better husbands, brethren, subjects, fellow-citizens, or friends, by how much we are the better Christians. It is in this manner that the connexion so often spoken of between faith and works is made abundantly cer

tain and manifest; because in the Christian religion there is no single article of faith which does not immediately lead us to a necessity of some answerable practice. We believe in God, but this faith is not to be shown forth by us, as by many of the pretended wise men among the Indians, by sitting still, day after day, in the silent and fixed contemplation of that glorious Being, whose essence and attributes surpass the utmost reach of our minds. Our faith in God is an active faith, which leads us to pray to Him, and strive to please Him. Our faith in Christ is to be shown forth by loving Him, and, for His sake, loving each other; our faith in the atonement, which He has made for sin, is to be proved by our honouring His name not only with our lips but with our lives; our faith in a judgement to come is to be proved by being such men in all godly soberness as we desire the Lord of all things to find us at His return. We have promised, indeed, in our baptism, to renounce the sins and vanities of the world, but to renounce a due and temperate use of the world itself is neither desirable nor possible. Our business is to pass through its temptations and engagements like air through water, whose bubbles, though buried in the mass, still rise rapidly upwards, and keep themselves distinct from the surrounding element, till they find that Heaven to which they are tending. But to leave the world is not ours till death has set us free, and to each regenerate Christian, Christ seems to say in His Gospel, as He said of old to the restored

lunatic of Gadara, "Canst thou hope that thy new religion is to set thee free from thine ancient duties? Tarry not here under an idle pretext of serving me more entirely, but return to thine own city and thine own house, and by a diligent discharge of thy duties there, show forth how great things God hath done for thee 1."

In a certain sense, then, the words which St. Mark applies to that mighty multitude whom Christ, after miraculously supporting their feeble natures, "sent away" to their respective cities, will apply to the situation of us all, when dismissed from the house of God, to put in practice the lessons which we have there learnt, in the bosom of our families, and amid the larger or smaller circles of our kindred, our friends, our neighbourhood. Each of us may consider himself as having repaired to this holy place to learn the will of the Most High, and to obtain His saving help towards its performance, and each of us, when he retires from the temple, is returning, it may be hoped, with an increased knowledge of his duty, and an increased power of performing it, to those familiar scenes where the course of his duty lies, and wherein his behaviour must determine whether he has truly profited or not, by his visit to God's house.

Let me entreat you, then, my brethren, to suppose yourselves for a moment in the situation of those persons who had been instructed by the

1 St. Luke viii. 39.

preaching of Christ, and miraculously fed by His bounty, and whom, having thus imprinted on their minds the sense of their own duty and His own divinity, He "sent away" to their respective habitations. With what feelings, think you, would you, under such circumstances, have left the presence of the Son of God? Would the marvellous things which you had heard and seen, the proofs of power, the lessons of holiness, have been dismissed from your minds as a mere aweful spectacle to please the eye, a most sweet sound of the harp or the organ which, though pleasant for a time, left no instruction behind it? Would you have allowed your former sinful habits immediately to renew their sway, and have deferred all serious thoughts, all holy words, all actions of faith or prayer, till the time of solemn worship should again come round, and you should again meet Christ in the wilderness? Or would not your consciences have rather told you, that now the time was come to show forth the progress which you had made in His lessons; that as you hoped for His future preaching, it became you to prove that you had profited by that help which you had already received, and that it would have been better never to have consulted the Heavenly Physician, than, having affected outwardly to do so, to act contrary to all the directions which He gave.

My Christian friends, you have this day attended the worship of Christ, and have heard His Gospel read, and, so far as His ministers have been able,

sincerely and faithfully expounded to you. You have heard the solemn commandment of the Most High, and joined in prayer for strength to keep His laws. And I am persuaded that such as have asked faithfully and humbly for that merciful support and guidance, have obtained as really, though not so perceivably, the help and nourishment and comfort of God's grace, as the multitude, of whom you have heard this day, had their bodily wants assisted. All this has been done for you by Christ Himself, who, according to His promise, has been no less truly present in the midst of us, than if we had beheld Him seated on His rocky throne, dispensing, as to this multitude in the wilderness, the precious manna of the Gospel. We shall shortly, as His ministers, and in His name, pronounce His blessing on you, and "send you away." But is this all? does your duty end here? Oh no! We send you away that you may ponder in your hearts the truths which you have heard, and improve, by daily prayer and watchfulness, the grace which you have received. We send you away that you may show forth in your lives those principles which we have endeavoured to impress on your memory; we send you away as it were soldiers from their review, to prepare yourselves for actual service, and for a vigorous and victorious battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil. We send you away, but in the hope that you may return again, after a week spent in the upright and persevering discharge of your different duties of parents, masters, children,