THE SENTIMENTS SUITABLE TO A COMMUNION SABBATH. LEVITICUS XXVI. 34.-"Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth deso- late, and ye be in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her ZION REMEMBERED BY THE RIVERS OF BABYLON. PSALM CXXXVII. 1-6.-"By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down; yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth: if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy." (1810.)....... 106 JOHN IV. 10.-"Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and THE DUTY REQUIRED AND THE STRENGTH IMPARTED. PHILIPPIANS IV. 3.-"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." 162 JOHN XIV. 21.-"He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love bim, THE RIGHT FEAR AND THE RIGHT FAITH. LUKE 1. 74. That he would grant unto us, that we, being delivered out of the hand of 2 CORINTHIANS VI. 17, 18.-"Wherefore, come out from among them, and be ye sepa- rate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord ISAIAH VII. 3-5.-" Fury is not in me: who would set the briars and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together. Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace PSALM XLVIII. 8.-" As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish it for ever." (1839.).. SERMON I. [THE manuscript of the following sermon bears the date of January 18 1798, two months before Dr. Chalmers' eighteenth birthday, and a year and a half before he was licensed by the Presbytery as a preacher of the gospel. It must have been written as a Divinity Hall class exercise during the last session of his regular attendance at the University of St. Andrews. Its concluding paragraphs lay bare to us those fatal misapprehensions of the great doctrine of justification by faith only, which were cherished by him during the first ten years of his ministry-against which he was afterwards all the better fitted to guard others because of his having been so long misled by them himself.] MICAH VI. 8. "He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" THIS passage, if taken in connection with the context, would naturally direct our thoughts to the evils of hypocrisy and superstition. It would lead us to infer that the mind alone is the seat of virtue; that in our estimation of religion we are not to have respect to the works of the hand, but only to the moral disposition of the heart. Instead, however, of adverting more particularly to the occasion of the text, I propose to consider it independently, and of itself; and shall first endeavor to illustrate the particular duties enjoined in the text, and shall then consider it in its connection with the religion of Jesus. The Lord requireth of thee to do justly-to love mercy. The promotion of happiness is the great end of all social duty. Wherefore is it that justice approves itself to our feelings of virtue? Because without its observance the peace, the happiness, the very existence of society would be endangered. Mercy, also, is the object of moral approbation; because by the relief of indigence, by the consolation of misery, it advances and promotes the happiness of men. Both are equally incumbent, because both conduce to the same end. In the eye of civil polity doing justly may be all that is in duty required, but in the eye of eternal reason and virtue loving mercy is no less indispensable. It is the end which these virtues have a tendency to promote that confers upon them their moral obligation. This end is one and invariable; the means which lead to its attainment are diversified with the circumstances of the case. Justice and mercy include in them all the various manners of acting by which we can contribute to the happiness of mankind. Hence they resolve themselves into that great duty which consists in devoting our time and our labor to the welfare of others. Benevolence or universal charity is the source from which the observance of these duties proceeds. It is this principle of love which guides through the path of duty, and is the fountain of all our social virtues. It equally calls upon us to satisfy the demands of justice and to visit the abodes of wretchedness; to discharge with fidelity the trust reposed in us, and to exercise all our tender affections. Let us cultivate this spirit of benevolence and love, and we fulfill the duties recommended in the text; for all the commandments are briefly comprehended in this saying-Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Let us now proceed to the last duty which the text recommends-Thou shalt walk humbly with thy God. Walking humbly with God more immediately involves in it an entire acquiescence in His authority-an unbounded resignation to His will. It is opposed to that arrogance of mind which would lead us to cavil and repine at the dispensations of His providence. But it also includes in it the whole of piety; to it may be referred all those affections of mind which should result from the relations we stand in to our Creator. It is with God that we are required to walk humbly; and if so, we must be open to every sentiment which the contemplation of His perfections is calculated to inspire-to the awe of His power, to confidence in His wisdom, and to the love of His goodness. The man of |