and asks forgiveness through one common Mediator when, in the presence of God, worldly distinctions disappear, and men stand humbled beneath their fellows, or superior to them, only as they are good or bad in the sight of God-when, in the Communion of Saints, the prince is joined in fellowship with the beggar,— nay! may learn to value his relation to a poor but earnest Christian, higher than any earthly privilege-when, in the ministration of heavenly gifts and graces, high and low, rich and poor, powerful and powerless, are confounded together, each has an immortal soul, and to save souls is the great work, it matters not the souls of whom-when these marks of earth, and symbols of earthly difference, are set aside, it must be a worldly heart indeed, that is callous to holy incentives, and deaf to devout appealsthat will still obtrude Mammon upon the worship of God (as if he could serve two masters) that will still be puffed up with pride, or irritable with passion, or

unrelenting in hard heart-that will still be covetous of what belongs to other men, or miserly, and uncharitable in what belongs to himself, while he stands. in the presence of the Most High, to plead, in common with those whom he despises, or injures, or will not pity, for the mercies of a life to come, and the bliss of everlasting salvation.

The Gospel is not indeed a rigorous observance of fasts and ceremonies; not the pompous deckings of a sacrifice; not the knee-service and forms of heartless worship. But it is a sincere devotion of the soul to God: it is relieving the distressed, succouring the helpless, comforting the afflicted, doing good to all, and raising their hopes to a better country, where the righteous may look for the bliss, which this world cannot afford its most successful votaries. And it is to cherish such a temper, and to sustain in the discharge of such duties, that God has given a day of rest and ordinances to be observed. It is not enough inwardly

to believe and love him. We must confess him with the lips, or the heart will soon be silent also: we must teach him to others, or we shall soon forget him ourselves. The Sabbath was ordained of the Almighty for the good of his creatures; to preserve the truth among them; to keep the soul elevated above the things of sense; to rekindle the expiring embers of a too cold affection. It is by the recurrence of sacred duties on every seventh day, to keep alive a knowledge, and keep fresh a remembrance of the Supreme. It is the memorial continually presented of the creation, which was completed on the seventh day. It is the oblation in continual gratitude for the Redemption, for Christ rose from the dead on this day. It is to prevent Christians from doing what the Israelites did, and all the world had done before them,forsaking the true God to set up devils, or inventions of their own imagination in his place. The Almighty knows how prone men are to fall from what is true,

and has fenced his servants about with ordinances, not to debar them from any enjoyment, but to secure to them the blessings they possess. He knows into what debasement and wretchedness they fall, who lose their remembrance of him; and has set apart a day of rest, to be also a day of prayer and holy meditation, and public service of religion, and open avowal of faith; duties of commemoration and mutual edification; from which no rank is exempt, for the influence of the great can best keep alive the knowledge of God; and no meanness of condition can exclude, for all must appear before the judgment-seat of Christ.

Mercy, indeed, is better than sacrifice. When an act of charity, to heal a sinking frame, or save a soul to Christ, breaks in upon the sacred rest of the Lord's Day, if the work is such as cannot be postponed, it may be done without offence. It will not defeat, but rather coincide with, and promote the end and object of the Commandment. If one of you, my brethren,

has a neighbour confined by disease, helpless and unfriended; you do well to tend the bed of sickness, to prepare the remedies prescribed, to visit the mourner, and soothe the sorrow of the afflicted on the Lord's Day, whom you cannot tend, visit, and soothe on any other day. You do well to make a journey on the Sabbath to the couch of him who is on the confines of another world, that you may, in holy communion with his spirit and the saints in heaven, draw him nearer to God, before whom he will soon appearthat he may be reconciled to his offended Lord, and his pardon sealed, before he go hence and be no more seen. It is possible this may cost you some toil. It is also possible that the work cannot safely be postponed. If so, it is a work acceptable to God, though it breaks the letter of the command. It is lawful to heal on the Sabbath Day.1

But, though necessary business may be

1 Matt. xii.; Luke, xiv. 3.