stream of time, as the monuments of human infamy; and ask yourselves what also was their character? what was the imperious motive which could thus dissolve all the obligations of conscience, and all the foundations of honourable fame? you will find that it rests in simple vanity; in the wish to be distinguished by the freedom, when they could not be distinguished by the truth of their opinions; and in the dark desperation of sacrificing every thing for which the virtuous live, for the sake of a base and momentary fame. They too are gone, and the grave has sheltered them from the scorn and indignation of man. But their works remain, to diffuse poison through every future race, to entail the vice and guilt by which their authors can no longer profit, upon every succeeding generation; and to mark to mankind, to what a length and continuity of guilt the liberty of thought can go, when it ceases to be the servant of God, and becomes the slave of its own malicious vanity.

From this prospect of the past, turn your eyes, my young friends, to the prospect of the future. There is a voice at that altar, and there is a voice in the altar of your own hearts, which speaks to you of immortality. Listen then, I beseech you, to its prophetick declarations; and while you follow in dread pursuit the spirits of those who have gone before you, ask yourselves in what mansions these different characters ought now to

dwell? When you follow the path of the first, of those who have devoted here all the powers of understanding to the discovery or the support of those truths by which God is glorified, and man made wiser and better,-your imagination assumes the confidence of faith, and you see them now the companions of the just whose spirits are made perfect, the associates of the wise and good of every age,—the friends of the angels and the archangels who bear the errands of mercy amid unnumbered worlds, and surrounding the throne of Him, whom, through the veil of mortality, they dared to seek, and whom now "they see, not "darkly, but as He is."

If you follow the path of the second, of those who have prostituted the noblest gifts of nature to the purposes of their own selfishness; and who, in raising themselves to the distinction of an hour, have trampled upon all the most sacred and genuine truths of their being,-where is it, my brethren, to which the conscience of your imagination leads, and who are the fit companions of such spirits? Your eye, perhaps, recoils from the prospect; yet, remember, my friends, that the fundamental principle of nature is jus tice, that "what a man soweth, he must alsó "reap ;"" that of those to whom much is given, "much must be required;" and that learning and genius, while they carry with them the highest honours of which man is capable, carry with

them, at the same time, the deepest responsibility which his nature can either contract or pay.

On that magnificent career, my young friends, you are now entering. Science is opening to you all her stores of honour and of usefulness, and the prayers of parents and of friends are following you, when you are unconscious of them. -Pause then, I beseech you, in the calm morning of your day, and form to yourselves the high resolutions by which it may be afterwards distinguished. Look back with the eye of memory to the past, and see on what foundations all the lasting honours of men are founded ;-look forward with the eye of faith to the future; and, while you see the different issues of moral being, ask yourselves to which of these classes of existence you wish to belong. But first, and most of all, let the dawn of your being be sanctified by the devotion which becomes those who are called to be the servants of God; let the first fruits of your understanding be offered to the service of Him whose inspiration gave it; and while you look forward to the final issues of your existence, let it never cease to be your prayer, that you may think and act like all the wise and good that have gone before you, that so your "latter end may be "like theirs."

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 wisdomconsists in obeying the signs which that adminis tration displays.