SERMON XV.

ON THE GENERAL FAST, FEBRUARY 9, 1809.

ST. MATTHEw xvi. 3.

"Can ye not discern the signs of the times?"

In these words, our Saviour replied to the national prejudices, and to the national arrogance of the Jewish people. It was with them (even under their peculiar dispensation) as it is with mankind in general. They valued themselves as being the favourite people of Heaven: they conceived that no errours or vices of their own could ever forfeit the covenant made with their fathers: and they forgot, amid the pursuits of temporary power, all the promises which their peculiar records gave of a spiritual kingdom, and of a moral dominion.

The occasion on which these memorable words were spoken, was the following:

"The Pharisees also, with the Sadducees, came, "and tempting, desired him that he would shew "them a sign from Heaven. He answered, and

"said unto them, when it is evening ye say, it will "be fair weather, for the sky is red; and, in the "morning, it will be foul weather to-day, for the "sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites! ye ❝can discern the face of the sky, but can ye not "discern the signs of the times ?"

In these words, there are two things remarkable

1. The first is the assertion that there are signs of the times that, as in the natural world, there are signs established by the beneficence of Heaven, from the observation of which the business of life may be carried on; so in the moral world, in the conduct of individuals and of nations, there are also signs, established by the same beneficence, from which the thoughtful mind may foretel the consequences that must follow, and from the observation of which it may regulate its future conduct. It is upon this foresight, upon this interpretation of the signs that individuals or nations exhibit, that the wise and the virtuous of every age can act; by which they are enabled to profit by the experience of others by which they are taught what to avoid, and what to pursue; and by which they are perpetually reminded, that there is in nature a greater administration than that of men, to which they ought to be subject, and that their loftiest wisdom consists in obeying the signs which that administration displays.

2. The words of the text seem to convey another meaning, a meaning of reproach,-of reproach to the people of that, and of every succeeding generation, for their inattention to the indications of Heaven. It was not that the Pharisees and the Sadducees of that unhappy age were incapable of discerning the signs which the times afforded them; it was that they would not discern them. They were the parties of that devoted country; they were rivals in power, in influence, in consequence; and while Heaven threatened, and prophecy foretold, and Rome in consequence was in arms, they closed their eyes to all the signs of Heaven and of earth; and, under the hypocrisy of religion, were ardent only for the low and momentary ends of vulgar ambition.

Whenever, my brethren, a nation is assembled before the Throne of God;-whenever, in the midst of publick danger or calamity, the command of a sovereign unites the voices of his people in supplication for the assistance of Heaven, I know not that there is any subject of meditation more fit for so solemn an occasion, than that which is suggested by the words of the text.

It is not in obeying the ritual of a prescribed devotion,-it is not in merely following the multitude into the house of God, and joining in words which the heart neither weighs nor feels,-that the solemn duty of days like the present can be performed. It is in raising our thoughts to the ad

ministration of the universe ;-in contemplating the laws which the Almighty has given to the social world ;-in marking, amid the calamities of nations, the operations of His justice, and His wisdom; and, by thus observing the signs of His will, in learning the path of our duty. From the distractions and the miseries of the world, religion calls us into the Temple of God; and the voice of our Saviour there meets us to say, that, amid all the desolations around us, there are signs of the care and the providence of Heaven, and that they are exhibited for our instruction.

If ever there was a period when the signs of the times were solemn and portentous to mankind in general, and to the inhabitants of this country in particular, it is doubtless the present. We are spectators of the greatest and most awful events upon which the eye of man has ever gazed. We have been witnessing for years the progress of that mighty stream of conquest and of desolation, which has been spreading over the fairest portions of the civilized world. Year after year, we have seen it rolling forward its sanguinary tide, unchecked, and unexhausted; and burying in its progressive wave, the riches of nature, the landmarks of nations, and all the most venerable institutions of human policy. In the last season we have seen it pause indeed-but pause only for a moment; and, while our hearts were throbbing with the hope that a barrier was at last opposed to

its fury, we have been doomed to see it return with accumulated force; and soon (I fear) in spite of all the profusion of British generosity,—in spite of all the energy of British valour,-in spite of the sacrifice of the noblest blood which British heroism can shed, to see it overwhelm that country, which we have in vain endeavoured to protect, in the stream of general desolation. Amid the wreck of the nations of Europe, this country stands now insulated and alone. But we see the torrent gathering around us ;—and it is fit that, on such solemnities as this, we should raise our eyes to Heaven, and implore the direction and the assistance of Him who alone can say, "hitherto shalt thou come, "and no farther;" and who yet may make us the instruments of his power, "in stilling the noise of "the waves, and the madness of the people."

→It were to be ignorant or inattentive to the signs which the times present to us, to say that they were the consequences of military prowess, and military numbers alone. The world, in its history, has seen many conquerors, but it has seen them, too, checked in their career, and driven back into the regions which nursed them. There is hardly a nation upon earth, which has not (at least in the annals of its earlier story) its tale to tell, of national prowess and independence ;-which has not to number the hosts that were brought in array against it; and which does not point, with exultation, to that illustrious page of its history, which