what our Saviour tells us in the twenty-fifth chapter of St. Matthew, that is to say, that the discrimination of character in the judgment is taken altogether from works of mercy and charity. They that abound in such works are "faithful and true." They know that they have nothing but what they have received, and so, when "the rich and the poor meet together," they give God the glory, "distributing to the necessities of the saints '," having learned of Christ the Lord that "it is more blessed to give than to receive 2."

Finally, Christian brethren, whenever we meet together let us meet together for good. Rich and poor, let us severally meet together to do our duty. That is the way to live happily and to die happily. "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ "." Ye that are poor,-ye 66 servants,-be

obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh,, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ: not with eye service, as men pleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord and not to men: knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free:"-ye that are rich,-"ye masters,-do the same things unto them; forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven: neither is there respect of persons with him."

1 Rom. xii. 13.

3 Gal. vi. 2.

2 Acts xx. 35.

4

Ephes. vi. 4-9.

SERMON VII.

MAN BORN TO LABOUR.

"Now when the sacred light began to dawn

In Eden on the humid flow'rs, that breath'd
Their morning incense, when all things that breathe,
From th' earth's great altar send up silent praise
To the Creator, and his nostrils fill
With grateful smell, forth came the human pair,
And join❜d their vocal worship to the quire
Of creatures wanting voice; that done, partake
The season, prime for sweetest scents and airs:
Then commune how that day they best may ply
Their growing work."

Paradise Lost, ix. 192.

"Man's vacation is the term for the beasts of the forest; they move most whilst he lies quiet in his bed."-Fuller's Meditations on all Kind of Prayers.

"The homeliest service that we do in an honest calling, though it be but to plow, or digge, if done in obedience, and conscience of God's commandments, is crowned with an ample reward."-Bp. Hall.

"It is palpable that there is no calling of any sort, from the sceptre to the spade, the management whereof with any good success, any credit, any satisfaction, doth not demand much work of the head, or of the hand, or of both.” -Isaac Barrow.

Deus propitius esto mihi peccatori!

PSALM Civ. 23.

"Man goeth forth to his work, and to his labour, until the
evening."

ANYTHING more beautiful than the hymn of praise from which the text is taken cannot well be conceived. But when we consider that it is a Divine Scripture, dictated by the Holy Spirit of God, with the seal of the Almighty set upon it, we turn from the mere pleasure which we receive from the words themselves, to the doctrine and to the instruction in righteousness which they convey.

The Psalm, as a whole, declares the glory of God from the wisdom, the beauty, the variety of his works; shewing forth, at the same time, that his goodness, like his power, and majesty, and honour, is infinite. It is not, however, to the Psalm, as a whole, to which I would now more particularly call your attention, but to the ordinance of labour as set forth in the text, and to be collected from other parts of Holy Writ.

VOL. I.

L