sistent heathen is in a far more hopeful state than a careless, wicked Christian. "For he that knew his Master's will, and did it not, shall be beaten with many stripes." And as many as have sinned without law, shall also perish without law and as many as have sinned in the law, shall be judged by the law, in the day when God shall judge "the secrets of men by Jesus Christ," Rom. ii. 12, 16.-If we read with attention the 50th Psalm, we shall soon be convinced of the great importance of remembering and fulfilling our engagements with God. In that instructive. passage of sacred Scripture, the Lord is represented as coming to judge his people: the solemnities of the great day are described. " Our "God shall come, and shall not keep silence: 'a ❝ fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very "tempestuous round about him. He shall call "to the heavens from above, and to the earth,

that he may judge his people." Then the Almighty summons all his professing people to appear before him. Gather my saints to"gether unto me, those that have made a cove"nant with me by sacrifice." He afterwards addresses himself to them, and reproves them

thus; «Hear, my people, and I will speak; «O Israel, and I will testify against thee, &c." to ver. 14. Offer unto God thanksgiving, and PAY THY Vows unto the Most High.

Are we not plainly taught here, that a mere profession of his Name, though accompanied by a diligent performance of external duties, will avail us nothing? That God requires a spiri tual and williug obedience to his commands; and that he will never accept our outward services, except we sincerely endeavour to fulfil our vows, by devoting ourselves to his service? The psalm concludes with this awful address; "Consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear

you in pieces, and there be none to deliver you. "Whoso, offereth me praise, honoureth me; and to him that ordereth his conversation aright, will I shew the salvation of God."

It is evident then, that by neglecting to fulfil our religious engagements, we provoke God to anger, and endanger our immortal souls. O that men would consider this, and that all professing Christians throughout the land would seriously reflect on the ruin which must ensue, if they refuse to put away from them the evil of their doings, and turn to God! Shall not God

be avenged against us, if we thus forget the Evows which are upon us, and will not hear him that speaketh unto us from heaven? If we

that day, you?”

practise those works of the devil which we have promised to renounce, and greedily pursue the pomps and vanities of this world, in defiance of all our engagements, will he not say to us in "Depart from me, I never knew If, relying on our Christian name and profession, we are not influenced by the Gospel truths, to a voluntary and entire surrender of ourselves to God, in the paths of holy obedience, will he not shut the door of heaven against us, as to the foolish virgins in the parable ? When will all descriptions of people awake to a sense of their duty? When shall we know, that no form of doctrine, however pure; no outward profession, however strict, will in themselves deliver us from wrath? and that except we truly repent and forsake our sins, we shall perish? The happiest day which England could see, would be that in which all the members of her Church should with one heart consider their ways, and break off their sins by repentance; when they should enter into the meaning of her Articles and Liturgy; perform

the vows which they have promised, and frame their lives agreeably to that spirit of wisdom and understanding, of knowledge, true godliness, and holy fear, for which they are taught to pray at their Confirmation. In the 19th chapter of Isaiah, v. 21. where the prophet predicts the calling of Egypt to the knowledge of God, and the profession of true religion; after declaring that the Lord should be known to Egypt, and that the Egyptians should know the Lord in that day, and should do sacrifice and oblation; it is added, yea, they shall vow a vow unto the Lord, and perform it. This was to be the completion of the happy work, that having voluntarily devoted themselves to the Lord, they should conscientiously fulfil the duties to which they had bound themselves. And another sacred writer, carried forward in the spirit of prophecy, to that glorious period when the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, and seek the Lord their God; describes the blessed reformation which should be effected, in these lively words, "They shall ask the way to Zion with their "faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us

join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall NOT BE FORGOTTEN." Jer, 50, 5.

When shall this day arrive in our favoured land? Certainly we cannot more effectually hasten it, than by seriously considering the obligations which are upon us as members of the established Church, and professors of the Christian Religion

Let all our sons and daughters

know, that they are bound to believe and do as their godfathers and godmothers have promised for them at their Baptism. Let their attention be called to the nature of the covenant then made; let the great duty of public and family instruction be revived; let the important truths and precepts of our holy religion be explained, enforced, and applied, as far as possible, to the hearts and consciences of men: let not only the serious nature and intent of Confirmation be explained at the time of performing it, but let the minds of young persons be steadily tutored to a knowledge of divine truth, and gradually imbued with the love of true religion and virtue: then shall the current of iniquity and profaneness be checked, and the dreadful ignorance, now so prevalent among the lower classes, shall be dis

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