may

and that we should think what is the power of that religion, over which the ແ grave hath no victory," and to which "death hath no sting." Happy, indeed, beyond the usual lot of mortality, was that long and venerable life, of which, alas! we have witnessed the close: and, to him, “whom He had made good " in his sight, the Almighty dispensed, even here, no common measure 56 of "knowledge, and wisdom, and joy. Happy, in being called into existence in the most splendid age of his country, in being the friend and contemporary of all those who have enlightened or adorned it, and in sharing with them in the applause and admiration of mankind:-Happy in an old age, in which ❝his eyes waxed not dim, nor his "

na

"tural strength decayed," and in a death,

which, after no long suffering, removed him from the service of the "sanctuary be"low," to that of the sanctuary above :

but happier far than all, in having devoted the great powers with which he was entrusted, to the sole ends of religion and virtue; in being the minister of salvation to ages yet unborn; and in having established a name, before which all the future generations of man will rise up and call it blessed!

It is with this illustrious example before us, that we enter upon a new age; upon that age, my brethren, in which we are all to live, and all to die.-May He who liveth for ever and ever, be our Protector and Friend! May He dwell in all our hearts, and strengthen all our resolutions, and listen to all our prayers. And whatever be the scenes that lie before us, may we so advance, under His guidance, upon the road of mortal life, that in the "last day,

"when the Saviour of the world shall

66

come again in his glorious majesty to

judge both the quick and the dead, we 66 may all rise to the life immortal, through "Him who reigneth with the Father, and "the Holy Spirit, now, henceforth, and "for ever!"

SERMON II.

ON SPRING.

JOB, xlii. 5.

"I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth Thee."

THESE are the words with which Job concludes the interesting account of his sufferings and his doubts. After a spe

culative and fruitless conversation with his friends, to discover the cause of those afflictions with which the providence of God had visited him, he is represented as at last raising his eyes from himself and

his own concerns, towards the government of Nature: And the Almighty is brought forward as speaking to him from amid the whirlwind of his power, and pointing out to him, amid his despondence, some of the most striking instances in which his greatness and wisdom are manifested in the world that surrounds him. Then Job answered, in the sublime and memorable words of the text, "I have heard of Thee "by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth Thee. "

The words, my brethren, are still applicable to us. Even now, the greatest and most important part of our religious knowledge, our knowledge of the nature and attributes of" Him that made us, " is acquired solely " by the hearing of the ear. The early instruction of the parent; the occasional hours of reading and meditaand the public exhortations of the pulpit,-constitute all that the generality

tion;