has lost the charm of novelty, our antient, and venerable church, too great, too wise, and too aged, for these popular arts, shall stand the test of time, and gradually gather into her bosom, those who can be wise as well as good; who have an ardent zeal for God, but a zeal according to knowledge. SERMON XVIII. MARK X. VERSE XXV. It is easier for a Camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. WITHOUT entering into the disputes to which this passage has given birth, or agitating the question of the propriety of the translation, I shall construe it in a figurative sense, and suppose it to mean, that it is difficult for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God; that the temptations, consequent upon great possessions, create a very serious obstacle to the attainment of the principles, and of the rewards of the gospel. To examine what those obstacles are, and to point out in what manner they may be guarded against, will, I hope, not prove an unprofitable subject for this day's discourse; if, in the progress of such discourse, I point out any pernicious effects of wealth upon the moral, and religious character, I cannot, of course, mean to insinuate that such influence is never counteracted, and such danger never repelled.I am speaking, not of fact, but of tendency, -not of those effects which always are produced, but of those which, in nature, and probability may be produced. It is difficult for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God:-The first cause to be alleged for this difficulty is, that he wants that important test of his own conduct, which is to be gained from the conduct of his fellow-creatures towards him; he may be going far from the kingdom of God, on the fect of pride, and over the spoils of injustice, without learning, from the averted looks, and the alienated hearts of men, that his ways are the ways of death. Wealth is apt to inspire a kind |