duties) as justice, charity, fidelity, loyalty, &c. Towards ourselves, as chastity, sobriety, temperance, preservation of life, care of health, &c.'The above division of our duties comprehends many rules of conduct, which require elucidation. There is a primitive, original, independent rule, which binds of itself, by its own direct and proper authority; and there are other various, secondary rules emanating from it, and reflecting its sacred majesty; and I need scarcely observe, that no command can be obligatory, that is contrary to the divine will-the fundamental basis of all power; and I must repeat that neither can any doctrinal views be correct, which have a tendency to relax or to undermine the laws of our divine Legislator.

It is not my design, as I have already intimated, to traverse the wide circle of Ethics, but only to advert to some prevailing errors and defects, and to demonstrate the necessity of literary acquirements for a sound exposition of scripture. I shall therefore proceed, in further confirmation of my object, to select from the above arrangement of our duties a few important instances, upon which I shall dilate, for the purpose of marking, with greater particularity, the bad effects resulting from crude and ill-digested statements. Upon no slight ground does that eminent Prelate, Bishop Taylor, sug

gest the following advice.

• Do not spend

your sermons in general and indefinite things, as in exhortations to the people to get Christ, to be united to Christ, and things of the like unlimited signification; but tell them in every duty, what are the measures, what are the circumstances, what the instances, and what is the particular, minute meaning of every general advice. For generals, not explicated, do but fill the people's heads with empty notions, and their mouths with perpetual, unintelligible talk; but their hearts remain empty, and themselves are not edified.' As a comment upon the justice of this advice, I might refer my reader (as one case only among many others) to the language of those who speak of the fulness of Christ, and of supplies from it, as involving no figure;-as if his renewing and sanctifying grace were conveyed to them according to the plain import of the words. Hence they apply immediately to the person of Christ, expecting says Sherlock, to receive vital influences from Him by such a natural conveyance, as water flows out of a fountain: but we must consider and meditate, and affect our minds with all the motives and arguments of our religion, -and derive strength and power from the consideration of Christ's death, resurrection, ascension, and intercession, &c. to mortify our lusts,

6

6

and to transform us into a divine nature: we must read, and pray, and watch, and fast, and communicate at the Lord's table, and by these means put ourselves under the guidance of the divine Spirit, who will never fail to do his part, when we are so diligent in doing ours: but a bare trust and reliance in the person of Christ will not entitle us to his divine aids, no more than a presumptuous dependence on the Providence of God will secure a slothful man from want and beggary. Christ is the fountain of all spiritual life, but we must not look on this as a personal grace in Christ, which must be immediately derived from his person; but as an act of goodness and power in the administration of his spiritual kingdom, which is therefore dispensed in such regular ways, that every one that pleases may certainly know how to obtain it, and that no man must expect to obtain it any other way.'

This statement is intended by the learned author, to deliver the expressions from metaphor, and to prevent such a confusion between the Person and doctrines of Christ, as tends to merge the latter in the former, and to establish a new rule of faith. Leaving it without any comment, to the calm consideration of my reader,-I cannot but express my regret, that so many well-meaning and pious persons, by

not attending to a just interpretation of the figurative language of scripture, should require to be continually reminded of the Bishop's admonition. How often do they use terms, the import of which they do not explain or even understand, and thus inconsiderately contribute to the increase of enthusiasm and infidelity?

As the commandment relative to the Sabbath has a place in the first table of the decalogue, I shall institute an inquiry into its original appointment, as well as into the nature and extent of the obligations it imposes upon the conscience. It is a presumption of charity that they, who periodically attend the public worship of God, are influenced by religious principles; but as many frequent these sacred assemblies from a sense only of decorum,-or a desire of setting a good example to their dependants, and from other such laudable, but secondary, motives,—and even wish not to be considered, as being actuated by higher views; I shall endeavour to set this important duty upon its own proper ground, the express authority of the Almighty; for we shall never, unless we recognize the Sabbath as a divine institution, observe it with due reverence, or derive from it, owing to the want of such reverence, those spiritual advantages, for which it was ordained.

This subject acquires an augmented weight and interest from the obscurity in which it has been enveloped by a spirit of refined and subtle disputation. A late eminent writer has contended, that the observance of a Sabbath in the Christian Church is a matter of mere consent and custom, to which we are no more obliged by any divine precept, than to any other ceremony of the Mosaic law. Whatever thus tends to undermine the authority of the Sabbatical institution, and to annul or even to circumscribe the sacred service it virtually prescribes, cannot but be deprecated as highly injurious to the spiritual and temporal interests of mankind. -If men were not, at stated periods, to abstract themselves from their worldly employments and amusements for the solemn purpose of offering up their united prayers and praises to their God and Saviour,-of hearing his gospel preached by his appointed ministers, and of partaking at his altar of the sacramental emblems of his atoning sacrifice ;-Were the Sabbath to be once expunged out of our Calendar, and all the outward forms and symbols of Christianity to be set aside;-In short, were no portion of that short life (so much of which is spent in the helplessness of infancy and childhood,-in the infirmities and decrepitudes of age, or in necessary, temporal engage