Some of my hearers also may, perhaps, remember peculiar mercies of God in great emergencies; in the day of battle, when death was making havoc all around; in the hour of peril on voyages or journeys; in the seasons of fearful temptation, when they might, but for "the mercies of God," have been hurried without preparation into eternity. Thus the penitent goes on reviewing the history of his life, till he breaks out with one of our Christian poets,' and says,

When all Thy mercies, O my God,
My rising soul surveys,

Transported with the view, I'm lost
In wonder, love and praise.

Any returns we can make shrink into insignificance before such gigantic blessings. Any sacrifices, however painful, are beneath such benefits. The demand of Christianity is a most reasonable service.

3. But these considerations from the properties ascribed to the Christian sacrifice, and from the motives by which it is urged, will be further confirmed, if it should appear that in the details of the Christian religion, there is every scope given for the exercise of our intellectual and rational faculties ; that wherever the reason of a finite, feeble, fallen creature can act aright, it is allowed and encouraged so to act.

To judge indeed of the nature or mode of existence of the eternal self-existent God, would require infinite powers; and therefore here reason is silent. So as to all the peculiar discoveries of revelation, which can only be received as facts, upon the authority of the almighty Author of the religion. They are placed transcendently above its perceptions and powers, and lie immeasurably beyond the range of

1 Addison.

its contracted and ephemeral observation. Reason has no premises, no elements to work upon, no propositions to compare, nothing to deduce. It is sufficient to say here, that nothing is contained in Scripture in contradiction to the glimmering rays of Reason; that all is in harmony with the lights she furnishes; and that as to the ends for which these mysteries are revealed, they are completely and obviously adapted to our rational powers, and to our state and wants in this world.

But how wide is the field still which stretches on all hands for the due exercise of our reason.

The whole mass of the evidences of Christianity is addressed to the understanding of man. The authenticity, credibility, inspiration and divine authority of the Scripture rest on far stronger reasons than men are governed by every day of their lives, in all their most important concerns.

The just interpretation of the record is the province also of Reason, which explains human language by human rules; compares all the parts of Scripture together; gathers the import of difficult passages from the more obvious meaning of parallel ones; and explains the various forms of speechmetaphors, parables, types, analogies, by fixed logical rules, employed every day on the one hand, in the decisions of law, the preparation of legislative acts, and the testimony of history; and on the other, in the interpretation of hyperbolical and poetical imagery.

The details of Christian duty are, again, left much to the judgment of man. The Bible is a book of principles; it lays down main truths chiefly. It is a spirit of laws, not a mere code. It includes all needful matters in the compass of a small volume. All the ten thousand points of application are left to the study and care of the pious mind. How reasonable is all this!

Then God places man in the midst of a system of means, in which each one is dependent on the aid of others; where grace is to be obtained; where man's reason and conscience may be perpetually set at work in the most legitimate manner.

The revelation of the Bible, also, is a religion that acts by knowledge, motives, the exercise of foresight, the records of memory, the dictates of experience; not by brute force, not by mere authority, not by terror; but by the rational powers of man.

The first influences of grace, again, fall like light on the understanding, so that the reason being unfettered, we may exercise it in a right and beneficial manner-an unerring mark of a reasonable religion.

There are no petty personal ends encouraged; no enthusiasm; no party-spirit; no malice; no prejudices against adversaries; no persecution; no priestcraft; no external services separated from the worship of the Almighty with the understanding; that is, all is calm, instructive, straight-forward, reasonable.

The ritual of Christianity, once more, is as light as possible, agreeably to the last and universal religion. The holy Sabbath-itself a commanding proof of the reasonableness and benevolence of Christianity; the blessed Scriptures; the public worship of God; an order of men from the days of the apostles separated for the spiritual consolation of their fellow creatures; two sacraments, and two only, as seals and pledges and memorials of the two main branches of the religion, sanctification and justification, holiness and pardon; these constitute its ritual.

And here I should be wanting in my duty if I did not observe that our Anglican protestant reformed Church presents us with a service" which we may truly term a reasonable" one; having cut off those

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impositions and traditions of men which during the dark ages had imposed an unreasonable burden on the conscience, and yet having preserved the usages of pure primitive antiquity, she just holds the middle course between a religion without any aids of creeds and liturgies, or any adequate subordination and authority in her ministry; and that in which superstitions and will-worship endanger the salvation of souls, and generate a perpetual decline into irrational and merely bodily exercise.

Then Christianity will have "mercy and not sacrifice," where the two are at any time incompatible. She dispenses with her rites, when infir mity, sickness, absence, deaths of ministers, unavoidable impediments occur. She allows works of necessity and mercy on her sabbath. Her service is reasonable.

Her most painful injunctions are also dictated by the soundest wisdom as well as compassion. She demands of us the sacrifice of body and soul to God. But wherefore? Because we have fallen from our original righteousness; because we are propense to forbidden objects; because we are guilty, enslaved, blind, erring creatures. What would never be thought of by a person in health, and never be urged upon him, may be, and is perfectly reasonable for one sinking with disease. To a shipwrecked mariner that becomes most reasonable, which would be contrary to common reason, were he sailing with a favoring wind. A prisoner condemned to die by the laws of his country, may, and ought in reason to sue for pardon and submit to whatever conditions his prince imposes. Thus all the self-denial of Christianity, its penitence, its difficulties, its afflictions, its separation from the sins of the world, its humility, its vigilance, its holy fear, are most reasonable under the circumstances in which man is placed, and with the eternity which is before him.

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Finally, Christianity goes on perpetually enlarging the field of knowledge to man, perpetually opening new scenes to his contemplation and wonder, constantly strengthening the conviction of the reasonableness of her service through life; and then unfolding the golden gate of light in the heavenly world, when he shall no longer see through a glass darkly," but "know even as also he is known."

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Let me, then, in conclusion, enforce the affectionate language of the apostle, and beseech all who are before me, to "present their bodies a living, holy, and acceptable sacrifice unto God, which is indeed their reasonable service."

Especially, let the young be attracted by this invitation. Never do young persons act so wisely, so reasonably, so becoming their intellectual and moral nature, as when they devote themselves unto God. Conscience, if you will allow it to speak, testifies to the importance of religion. Nothing so irrational as an ungodly life. Nothing so irrational as to provide for the present momentary scene of existence, and forget the future and permanent one. Nothing so irrational as to care for the body, and disregard the mind. Nothing so irrational as to live an animal, sensual, degrading life, whilst possessing an immortal soul, a revelation of mercy, and a call to spiritual religion.

Pause, then, in the career of your ingratitude to God, and of your carelessness as to your best interests. Turn now to Him who bids you to devote yourself to his service. Listen not to the objections of infidelity, follow not the example of a misjudging world; but consider the reason of things. Act as you would under similar circumstances in external matters. Take the cautions given you; compare things together; consider the end of this fleeting scene; act