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ticularly, because this is a day when the mind is occupied in forming its plans and determinations. Halt not on the turning point between two opinions, lest, ere you are resolved, you stumble on the precipice, and are lost for ever. The door of mercy is before you; Knock, and it shall be opened: seek the Lord, and he will be found of you;" ask the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and it shall be given. Stop, now, in your worldly career. As an ambassador for Christ, I beseech you; stop at once, and give yourself wholly, soul, body, and spirit, to be the Lord's.

If you will hear the voice of your pastor, and your friend, take this as the motto of this year-“ Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof." (Rom. xiii. 14.)

SERMON XIV.

PREACHED JANUARY 2, 1831.

LUKE, Xvii. 17.

And Jesus answering, said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?

It is with sincere joy and thankfulness, my dear friends, that I observe, that not one has been removed by death from the congregation I addressed this day twelvemonth, save those whom great age and infirmity rendered the king of terrors, so far as this world is concerned, a welcome deliverer. Great have been our mercies, both public and private, both as a congregation and as individuals, during the year that is gone. While anarchy and disturbance have raged around us, our little town has been the abode of tranquillity; while the torch of the incen

diary has sent fear and devastation through the smiling villages of England, we have laid us down in peace, and have taken rest, because "the Lord caused us to dwell in safety." While unwonted poverty has, in that envied country, raised brother against brother, and armed the heart with enmity, and the hand with steel, blessed be God, the same distress here but opened the heart of benevolence, and stretched forth the liberal hand of relief. My friends, particularly my female friends, look back on your terror, your anxiety, when party spirit for a few days disturbed our streets, and by your past alarm measure your present cause of gratitude. And if the demon of family discord has been far from our domestic circles; if brethren have dwelt together in unity, and the revolving year has bound more closely the ties of friendship and natural affection, let us remember that it is the Lord" who causeth men to be of one mind in a house." If family dissention has been removed; if any of those whom I address, have been reconciled, and have held out the right hand of fellowship to those who once were enemies, shall they not bless the God of peace, who alone teaches man to forgive as he would be forgiven? As a congre

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gation let us not disregard our privileges, because they are common to our brethren. Let us compare our situation with that of the early Christians, assembling at midnight among the tombs, and death the penalty of their detection;—with the Waldenses of later periods, trembling while they raised the hymn of praise, beneath the threat of fire and sword; and then may we appreciate the blessing of our Sabbath meetings under this roof, when God and man seemed joined for our protection.

Let us compare our churches with the Heathen temples, at this very hour, perhaps, red with the blood of human victims, resounding with the cry of self-inflicted torture, while the deluded worshippers offer their "first-born for their transgression, the fruit of their body for the sin of their soul:" and then may we appreciate the privilege of hearing, from Sabbath to Sabbath, of him "who bare our sins in his own body on the treewho suffered, the just for the unjust, to bring us unto God;" whose blood dyes no earthly temple with its hue, but "blotteth out, as a thick cloud, our transgressions," and cleanseth us from all sin.

And as individuals, my friends, can we look back on the year we have spent,

"His mercies were

and refuse to say; new every morning? surely goodness and mercy have followed us all the days of our life.' He has preserved you in health, or has raised you from the bed of suffering. He has preserved you from trouble, and turned aside many a threatened evil. How many fears and anxieties with which the year begun, dispersed almost unobserved? how often, even in your temporal concerns, have you found that

"The clouds ye so much dread

Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings round your head?"

Just contemplate, as from a distance, the blessings of your own lot; regard it as angels do, who view it unobscured; without envy, passion, impatience, pride.

You are a sinner; and yet on you, for twelve months longer, has the Lord caused his rain to descend, and his sun to shine. Though you have often disregarded the cry of distress, yet the Lord has rejoiced your ear with the voice of friendship. Though you have neglected to behold the Majesty of the Lord, yet he has delighted your eye with the beauties of creation.-You are a sinner, and