which, after no long suffering, removed him from the service ofthe" 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

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day, when the Saviour of the world shall

come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead, we

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 speculative 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 meditation; and the public exhortations of the pulpit,-constitute all that the generality

of men know upon the most momentous subject of human information. There are few who have been taught in infancy to raise their minds to the contemplation of His works; who love to kindle their adoration at the altar of nature, or to lose themselves in astonishment amid the immensity of the universe; and who thus

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seeing Him with their eyes," learn to associate the truths of religion with all the most valued emotions of their hearts. It is the natural consequence of these partial views of the Deity, to narrow our conceptions of his being; to chill the native sensibility of our minds to devotion; and to render religion rather the gloomy companion of the church and the closet, than the animating friend of our ordinary hours.

Reflections of this kind, my brethren, seem very naturally to arise to us from the season we experience, and the scenes