a potter's vessel, Rom. i. 4. Psal. ii. 9. Dost thou enter into these reflections? Dost thou approach the table of Jesus Christ with determinations to live a new life? I believe so. But the grand fault of our communions, and solemn festivals, doth not lie in the precise time of our communions and solemnities. The representation of Jesus Christ in the Lord's supper; certain reflections, that move conscience; an extraordinary attention to the noblest objects in religion; the solemnities that belong to our public festivals; inspire us with a kind of devotion: but how often does this devotion vanish with the objects that produced it? These august symbols should follow thee into thy warfare in the world. A voice should sound in thine ears amidst the tumult of the world; amidst the dissipating scenes that besiege thy mind; amidst the pleasures that fascinate thine eyes; amidst the grandeur and glory which thou causest to blaze around thee, and with which thou thyself, although, alas! always mortal, always a worm of the earth, always dust, and ashes, art the first to be dazzled; a voice should sound in thine ears, Remember thy vows, Remember thine oaths, Remember thy joys.

My brethren, if you be not to-morrow, and till the next Lord's-supper-day, what you are to-day, we recall all the congratulations, all the benedictions, and all the declarations of joy, which we have addressed to you. Instead of congratulating you on your happiness in being permitted to approach God in your devotions, we will deplore your wickedness in adding perfidy and perjury to all your other

crimes. Instead of benedictions and vows, we will cry, "Anathema, Maranatha; if any man love not "the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema,' 1 Cor. xvi. 22. If any man who hath kissed the Saviour betray him, let him be Anathema. If any man defile the mysteries of our holy religion, let him be Anathema. If any man "tread under foot "the Son of God, and count the blood of the cove"nant an unholy thing, let him be Anathema," Heb. X. 29. Instead of inviting thee to celebrate the praise of the Author of our being, we forbid thee the practice, for it is comely only for the upright, Psal. xxxiii. 1. "God, by our ministry, saith to "thee, Thou wicked man! What hast thou to do "to take my covenant in thy mouth?" Psal. l. 16. Why doth that mouth now bless my name, and then blaspheme it: now praise me, thy Creator, and then defame my creatures: now publish my gospel, and then profane it?

If, on the contrary, you live agreeably to the engagements into which you have entered to-day; what a day, what a day, my brethren, is this day! A day, in which you have performed the great work for which God formed you, and which is all that deserves the attention of an immortal soul. A day in which many impurities, many calumnies, many passionate actions, many perjuries, and many oaths, have been buried in everlasting silence. It is a day in which you have been washed in the blood of the Lamb; in which you have entered into fellowship with God; in which you have heard these triumphant shouts in the church, Grace, grace unto it,

Zech. iv. 7. A day in which you have been "rais"ed up together, and made to sit together in heav"enly places in Christ Jesus," Eph. ii. 6. A day, the pleasing remembrance of which will follow you to your death-bed, and will enable your pastors to open the gates of heaven to you, to commit your souls into the hands of the Redeemer, who ransomed it, and to say to you, Remember, on such a day your sins were effaced; remember, on such a day Jesus Christ disarmed death; remember, on such a day the gate of heaven was opened to you.

O day! which the Lord hath made, let me for ever rejoice in thy light! O day of designs, resolutions, and promises, may I never forget thee! O day of consolation and grace, may a rich effusion of the peace of God on this auditory preserve thy memorial through a thousand generations!

Receive this peace, my dear brethren. I spread over you hands washed in the innocent blood of my Redeemer; and as our risen Lord Jesus Christ, when he appeared to his disciples, said to them, Peace, peace be unto you; so we, by his command, while we celebrate the memorable history of his resurrection, say to you, "Peace, peace be unto you. As many as walk according to this rule, peace be on “them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God," John xx. 19, 21. Gal. vi. 16. To him be honour and glory for ever. Amen.

SERMON IX.

The Effusion of the Holy Spirit.

ACTS ii. 37.

Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter, and to the rest of the apostles, Men and Brethren, What shall we do?

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'SON of Man, I send thee to the children of Is"rael, to a rebellious nation. They will not hear"ken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: "yet thou shalt speak unto them, and tell them, "Thus saith the Lord God; whether they will hear, "or whether they will forbear; and they shall know "that there hath been a prophet among them," Ezek. ii. 3, 5. and iii. 7, 11. Thus God formerly forearmed Ezekiel against the greatest discouragement that he was to meet with in his mission, I mean the unsuccessfulness of his ministry. For, my brethren, they are not only your ministers, who are disappointed in the exercise of the ministry: Isaiahs, Jeremiahs, Ezekiels, are often as unsuccessful as we. In such melancholy cases, we must endeavour to surmount the obstacles which the obduracy of sinners opposeth against the dispensations of grace. We must shed tears of compassion over an ungrateful Jerusalem; and if, after we have used every possi