any one is unable to fancy himself serving God as a soldier, or as a sailor, to him those callings are sinful; it is at the forfeit of his salvation that he enters them. But let him consider whether this be the fault of these callings, in themselves, or his own; and if he sees no reason to doubt that the callings are good and lawful, that they involve great duties, and a very great field for individual improvement, then let him look upon them, on whichever of them he makes his choice, as his appointed line of serving God: let him think how greatly he may glorify him in both, by doing and by suffering; that if it be painful to be called upon to contribute, in some instances, unavoidably to human suffering, yet, that in the very midst of such scenes, there are often the most delightful opportunities of lessening it; of exercising, in the very highest degree, the virtues of self-denial, of patient fortitude, of heroic daring in the cause of charity. Surely the annals of war, amidst all their horrors, present to us some pictures of such heroic goodness, as it is scarcely possible, in ordinary life, to attain to; and without noticing any others, who has ever read the well-known story of the loss of the Kent, and the preservation of her crew, without feeling, that never was Christ more glorified than by the fruits of his grace shown amidst such a trial; that never were the faith and charity of martyrs or missionaries shown forth more beautifully than in the Christian soldiers and sailors so nobly united amid the horrors of that scene in the service of their heavenly Master.

But if these professions be entered upon in the spirit with which, it is to be feared, some do enter on them; if they are looked to as a shelter for idleness and carelessness, as a field where an unchristian life and temper may pass with a less portion of worldly blame than elsewhere; as an opportunity for indulging a mere animal love of enterprise, or a selfish and sinful desire for worldly honour; then, indeed, evil is the beginning, more evil will be the progress, and most infinitely evil will be the end of such a choice so made. If strength and courage are not to be sanctified to God's service, then, amidst the scenes where they are called into exercise, the danger is great indeed, of their being devoted to another master. I speak not of such atrocious cruelties as the laws and habits of our times condemn; though even these have been perpetrated in our days, and may be again; but I speak of the jealous pride of honour, the licentiousness in sensual pleasures, the general carelessness and searing of heart and conscience which are displayed in unprincipled soldiers and sailors. Then the familiarity with danger and death is no longer heroism, but brutishness: it is but one more check to evil taken away from us. Then as passion or prejudice may lead, how fearful is the amount of guilt often incurred, and of suffering to others unscrupulously occasioned! Most true is it that here, as in other things, great opportunities of grace, and great temptations to sin, lie close beside each other; and in proportion to the high crown of glory to be won in these callings by Christ's true servants, is the portion of deep guilt and condemnation reserved for those who enter upon them without one single feeling of offering up in them their daily

sacrifice.

If then there be any here who are thinking of becoming soldiers or sailors, let me conjure them to examine well their own hearts, and to remember whose pledged soldiers they are already. If true to that service, and judging soberly of their own particular faculties, they think that Christ's call, as signified by the nature of his gifts to them, invites them to serve him in an active life, where the bolder and harder virtues will be most exercised, let them not fear to obey the call; but rather let them bear earnestly in mind that he is calling them, and let them never cease to follow him. But if it be idleness, impatience of restraint or work here, a foolish vanity, or a sinful carelessness, that prompts them; if they dread the yoke of Christ, and think that as soldiers or sailors they will be less required to take it upon them, then let them be assured that God's curse is on their heart's desire so cherished; that their thought is not of faith, but of unbelief and wickedness; that they are devoting themselves without a struggle to the service of sin and of death. It is vain for them, and is no more than self-deceit, to ask advice of their friends in such a matter: their friends cannot see into their hearts, nor judge from what motives their desire of any particular profession may arise. But you can judge for yourselves; and you are to judge at your own peril. Be assured, that whatever your outward dress may be, you received alike in your baptism the marks of the Lord Jesus; and these no after difference of worldly calling may efface or alter. Christ's soldiers you are and must be, whether, as far as concerns your ministry amongst your brethren, you are

called upon to minister at home or abroad, in peace or in war, in the battle field or in the house of God. In all these different callings, he, in his goodness, allows us to glorify him, and to benefit our brethren; in all we may offer to him, our gold, our frankincense, and our myrrh; whatever accomplishments of body or mind, whatever faculties, whatever affections, he has given us most abundantly. And in all, and surely not least in that which seems freest from temptation, we may withhold our sacrifice: in all we may live, as too often we do live, not to him, but to ourselves; and then living to ourselves, we shall die unto ourselves also, and shall arise to be again with ourselves and for ourselves; that is, lost to God and to his light and life, in that state where there is neither the will nor the power to offer any sacrifice, but that eternal one, salted with fire, the sacrifice of the sinner to God's justice.