nefs? Thou wouldst leave thy great predispositions uncultivated, thy vaft capacities and powers unevolved? Wouldft fettle in the state of moral childhood, not ftrive after more mature, more manly wisdom and force, only fhew blossoms and not bear fruit, only act and live for the present moment and not for futurity? No, do thou also strive after progreffively higher perfection. Complete thyfelf. Be, become, do all that thou art ever able to be, to become, to do. Strive to become always more intelligent, always more wife, always better, always more ferviceable and ufeful. Be continually mounting higher from the ground, above all that is visible and earthly. Be ever approaching nearer in mind and in heart to the primeval fount of light, of life, of force, of happiness, and from its plenitude draw grace for grace. Be preparing with ever increafing diligence and care for that great transformation which foon or late awaits thee; be ever gradually loofening the ties which ftill attach thee to the ground, and make it thy grand concern that thou mayst expect a plentiful harvest in the future world from thy present sowing.

Well for us, my dear friends, if we thus obferve and follow the dictates of nature, in the voice of the fpring! Well for us, if we learn from it order, industry, harmless, holy joy, univerfal charity and usefulness, willing obedience and unwearied pursuit of our proper object! Well for us, if we thus everywhere substantiate the prefence of our creator

and

and father, hear him fpeaking to us through all his works, in all the viciffitudes of his creation, in every new fcene on this grand ftage of wisdom and benignity, fubmit with alacrity to be taught and directed by him, and like dutiful children run our courfe as guided by his hand! This, yes, this is the road that leads to real wifdom, to the fummit of perfection and happiness !

SERMON XV.

Contemplations on the Starry Sky.

GOD, fenfible as we are of the immenfe distance

that is between thee, the Eternal and Infinite, and us, inhabitants of this nether world; yet we are no lefs fenfible, and we rejoice in the fentiment, that we originate from thee, are formed in thy fimilitude and stand in correfpondence with thee. Though we be duft, yet are we not fo entirely! Thy spirit lives and operates in us and by us. Quickened by thy energy, we can raise ourselves to thee, know thee, and triumph in thee! We can perceive thee, the Invisible, in thy works, admire their beauty and grandeur, defcry in them the vestiges of thy fovereign perfection, and in the adoration of thee taste spiritual, celeftial joy! God, what is man, that thou art mindful of him! What is the fon of man, that thou haft elevated him to this dignity, made him capable of fuch privileges and felicities! Ah let us now be fenfible of their value to its full extent!

Lift up now our minds and our hearts entirely to thee! Give us to behold a ray of thy glory? Let it dart light into our intellect, and fill our hearts with a pure and holy joy. Strengthen thy fervant, that he may speak of thee and thy works not without inward fentiment of thy greatness and majefty. Kindle in his breaft the flame of devotion, and let the fervour of it be communicated to us all. We pray thee for these mercies in the name of Jefus Christ, our faviour, who has taught us thus to address thee: Our father, &c.

PSALM viii. 3, 4.

When I confider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the flars which thou haft ordained; what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the fon of man that thou vifiteft him?

EV

VERYTHING in nature is inftructive, my pious hearers, the lifeless as well as the living, the small as well as the great, the part as well as the whole. All proclaims to us the greatness of God: all reminds us of our deftination and of our duties. All is the voice of our father in heaven, who leads us, his children, as it were by the hand, fhews us his works, awakening us thereby to reflection and guiding us to wisdom and happiness. Every stone, every plant, every beaft, every man is a herald of his wisdom, his power and benignity; a waymark to

him who has created all and upholds and governs all, and in whom we are and live and act. Yes, all that environs us, is instruction, admonition, warning, encouragement, comfort to him who has eyes to fee and ears to hear, and a heart to conceive.

Meanwhile there is perhaps nothing of all that we can behold, that more elevates the mind, and all at once fhall I fay overwhelms or pervades it, with more and grander thoughts and emotions, than the view of the starry sky. He that remains unmoved and infenfible at this fight, who does not then apprehend the voice of the creator and father of nature, does not there difcern the footsteps of confummate power and wifdom, and is not abforbed in the admiration of them, is still standing on the lowermost step of humanity, not far above the beafts of the field. What impreffions did this fight make on the pfalmift, from whom we have borrowed the words of our text, how flender foever the knowledge which he had might be, in comparifon with ours concerning these miracles of the deity! When I confider thy heavens, fays he, and the moon and the ftars which thou haft ordained, I am forced to exclaim; what is man, that thou art mindful of him, and the fon of man that thou vifiteft him?

And can thefe fentiments be ftrangers to you, my dear hearers? Have ye never in the folemn ftillnefs of the night, when the heavens displayed their magnificence before you, been touched with the grandeur, the majefty of the view, never mentally

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fallen