the burden of poverty or oppression, of suffering or despondence. Such have the Gospel preached to them; to all such are its gracious promises extended. They are exhorted to bear their afflictions with patience, looking unto Jesus, who, in all his sufferings, complained not, "but submitted himself to Him that judgeth righteously." The healing balm of Christian consolation is poured into their wounds; their sorrows are soothed by the blessed assurance that their "light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for them a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" while their hopes are raised, alike above the cares, and the fleeting joys of this mortal life, and they are directed to seek by faith "a better country, even an heavenly," where sin and sorrow shall be no more, and where "all tears shall be for ever wiped from their eyes."

In conclusion, then, let me earnestly call upon you all, my brethren, seriously to meditate upon the great and important duty of "hallowing the Sabbath Day." Remember, that if the Sabbath be dishonoured and profaned, all the fences of religion will be broken down, and infidelity and immorality will rush in like a flood, and deluge the land to its utter destruction. If then, you have any regard to the eternal welfare of your children-if you would wish them to be blessed

in the favour of God,—if you would desire, that in the strength of divine grace, they should become meet for the inheritance of immortal bliss,-teach them the highest reverence for the Sabbath; and let them not only learn from your precepts, but see by your example also, that you yourselves really feel the importance of that duty, which you would otherwise, too probably, labour in vain to inculcate. Again,-if you have any regard to the honour of God-any just fear of the awful day of judgment, when you must give an account to Him of all the deeds done in the body, I beseech you, honour the Sabbath, and observe it as a day set apart for God's glory, and the eternal benefit of your souls. This, my friends, I need scarcely remind you, is an imperative duty, incumbent on all, in every relation and rank of society. But more especially would I exhort you that are masters of families, to set an example to your children and your respective households, of regular and uniform obedience to this express command of God. Shew them that you spend not the Lord's Day in sloth or in worldly concerns, or in any unprofitable and trifling pursuits, but as a day in which you seek to "give the Lord the honour due unto his name;" to "worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." Let no vain and frivolous excuses, nothing indeed but absolute necessity, prevent your regularly attending the public service of

your Maker in his church, and commemorating the death and sufferings of your blessed Saviour, at his holy table. Remember, an awful responsibility rests upon you, for the souls of your children and domestics; let them not then be able, justly to charge you with having set them a bad example,—with having employed them unnecessarily in temporal affairs on the Lord's Day,—with having prevented their worshipping God their Creator, their Sanctifier, their Redeemer. Nor is this enough: you are required to go farther: you must press upon them the importance of this duty; and according to your ability, carefully instruct them in it; and if they still neglect it, remonstrate with, and reprove them in a word, you must labour to impress them with a conviction that there can be no hope of the blessing of the Almighty, without the conscientious observance of the Sabbath. You must also be ready to make sacrifices for this purpose,—to renounce a part of your gains, should it be necessary, rather than violate your conscience, and transgress the commandment of God, by breaking the Sabbath. This is a test whether you prefer spiritual blessings to temporal advantages;—whether you value your souls more than your bodies, and would please God rather than man. But, while I would urge these duties in a more especial manner, upon you, who, as heads of families, are required to train up your chil

dren and your households, under such discipline and instruction, as may most effectually lead them both to the knowledge and the practice of the religion of Christ; let me beseech you, brethren, one and all, to take heed that the sense of your responsibility be ever joined to a deep consciousness of your own weakness,—your utter inability without God's assisting and preventing grace, either to advance yourselves, or to lead others a single step in the way of holiness. And O! may this humbling conviction, while it produces a salutary distrust of yourselves, and an utter renunciation of all vain and presumptuous self-dependence, serve to increase your trust and confidence in God; and excite you to seek the more diligently, by constant and earnest prayer, the aid of that "Spirit" which, you may be assured, will be given to you abundantly, the might of that "strength" which will be manifested and "made perfect in your weakness."

Thus, “strong in the Lord," and thus united to Christ by the in-dwelling of his Spirit you shall "go on from strength to strength," in the well founded hope that his blessing may rest upon you, and that "the work of the Lord may prosper in your hand.”

In the true spirit of Christian humility then, let us all, in every relation of life, reverence and observe the sacred injunction of the text: and let us devoutly and earnestly pray, that by the

sanctifying influence of God's Holy Spirit, "of whose only gift it cometh, that His faithful people do unto him true and laudable service," -we may all have a heart to know, and to love, and faithfully to serve the Lord our God:-that we may honour his Holy Name, and "hallow his Sabbaths" upon earth; and at length, in his own good time, be prepared for the enjoyment of a glorious, an eternal Sabbath, in his blessed kingdom of Heaven, through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, our only Lord and Saviour! Amen.