receive the promised blessing, even an eternal inheritance."

Thus, while the old covenant was sealed with the blood of bulls and of goats," which cannot make the worshipper perfect, as pertaining to the conscience-the new covenant is sealed with the blood of the Son of God; the Lamb slain (in the Divine decrees) from the foundation of the world, "whose blood cleanseth from all sin."

And, once more, the promises which the old covenant held out, were mostly of a carnal or temporal nature. It had respect, principally, to this: present world; and afforded, comparatively, but a very obscure light respecting the prospects of believers in the world to come. But the promises which the new covenant holds out to believers, are spiritual and eternal. They have respect, not merely to this life, but also to that which is to come. They excite in our hearts the blessed hope, that "when our earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. And every one that hath this hope, purifieth himself, even as Christ is pure.'

Seeing, then, my Beloved Brethren, that such is the essential difference between the two cove nants; that which is called the " old covenant” of the law, and that which is called the "new covenant" of grace, or the Gospel-let us now seriously

ask ourselves, to which do we belong? Are we under the law, or under grace? In other words, Are we looking for acceptance with God, on account of our own imperfect obedience to His commandments, or acknowledging our transgressions, and discarding all dependance whatsoever upon our own works or merits-do we trust entirely to the blessed Saviour's perfect obedience unto death, for our redemption, or purchased deliverance, from the curse of our past transgressions, as well as for our free and final salvation? This, my Brethren, is a most important question, for many, it is to be feared, who have been baptized into the Christian religion, and who profess to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour, do yet cling to the old covenant of works, and depend, either in whole or in part, upon their own imperfect obedience for salvation. Thus, "being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God."

Let us, therefore, my Dear Brethren, beware, lest this be our case. If we belong to the covenant of the law, let us bear in mind the awful conditions it demands from us;-perfect obedience-perfect righteousness—" Whosoever offendeth in one point is guilty of all." If we belong to the covenant of grace, our "faith in the blessed Jesus is counted unto us for righteousness." And He hath for ever

P

"delivered us from the curse of the law, being made

a curse for us;" but let us keep in mind, that we are "not without law to God, but under the law to Christ. And let us shew the works of the law written upon our hearts, by studying to serve Him in newness of spirit, not in oldness of the letter." Amen.

Now to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, &c.

SERMON XVI.

PRAISING GOD—THE DUTY OF ALL MEN, BUT THE EXCLUSIVE PRIVILEGE OF TRUE CHRISTIANS.

PSALM CXLVII. 1.

Praise ye the Lord, for it is a good thing to sing praises unto our God, for it is pleasant, and praise is comely.

In all our concerns, whether religious or secular, the intrinsic excellence of our actions is proportional to the excellence of the motive which prompts them, and of the object which they promote. And as the glory of the Creator is, beyond comparison, the noblest of all objects, the action which has this for its motive and end, must consequently be the most excellent that it is possible to conceive.

Now the act of praising God is one which, when it proceeds from a spiritual mind, has His glory alone both for its motive and end. It follows, therefore, that praise and thanksgiving must be the most excellent acts of worship we are capable

of rendering Him, though perhaps the most neglected both in our public discourses and private religious exercises. Let us then, in humble dependance upon Divine assistance, proceed to consider the subject of praise and thanksgiving; regarding it, first, in the light of a duty, and, secondly, of a privilege.

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First, my Beloved Brethren, let us consider the employment of rendering praise and thanksgiving to Almighty God in the light of a duty. And that it is the paramount duty of every rational creature, is manifest from the words of David, in various passages of the book of Psalms, particularly that from which our text is taken. But in this, as in too many other instances, experience forcibly suggests the observation, that our duty and our practice are, for the most part, in direct opposition. The heart of fallen man is, we find, naturally cold and backward in offering up the spiritual sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to its Creator. For God, we are informed, is "a Spirit," and requires to be worshipped, not with the formal hypocritical service of our lips, but "in spirit and in truth." The homage which He justly expects from His rational creatures, consists not in those momentary feelings, and expressions of gratitude which the experience of some undeserved mercy or remarkable providence occasionally calls forth, even from the most unthinking and ungodly. Nay, so far from