SERMON V.

The Sanctification of the Sabbath.

ISAIAH Ivi. 4-For thus saith the Lord unte the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths. SERMON VI.

The advantages of Family Religion, with the guilt and danger of neglecting it. JEREMIAH X. 25-Pour out thy fury upon the-families that call not on thy name.

SERMON VII.

Joshua's resolution considered, and recom

mended.

JOSHUA Xxiv. 15-But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

SERMON VIII.

The Duty of Parents to their Children. PROV. xxii. 6.-Train up a child in the way

he should go.

SERMON IX.

The duty of one member of a family to

another.

HEB. iii. 13.-Exhort one another daily.

X.

The importance of attending the Ordinances of the Sanctuary.-AN ADDRESS.

SERMON XI.

The manner of improving the Ordinances of the Sanctuary.

LUKE Viii. 18.-Take heed-how ye hear.

SERMON XII.

The advantages of being habitually in the fear of Jehovah.

PROV. xxiii. 17.-Be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long.

SERMON XIII.

The happy issue of a life occupied in the service of God, and communion with him-THE CONCLUSION.

2 PETER i. 10, 11.-For if ye do these things ус shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

SERMON I

2 CORINTHIANS XIII. 5.

Examine yourselves whether you be in the faith; prove your own selves.

IT is my design to deliver, as the Lord may afford opportunity, a series of discourses on the duties of the closet, and family, and sanctuary. These I cannot introduce with a subject more appropriate than that of self examination. The beauty and stability of a superstructure intimately depend on the solidity of its foundation: The verdure and fruitfulness of a branch necessarily depend on the health and vigor of the tree, more especially of the root from which it grows: Thus if we expect to remain "stedfast, and unmoveable" in our christian profession; if we expect to attend the ordinances, or discharge the duties of religion to the acceptance of God, or our own spiritual profit, we must see that the principle by which we are actuated be: pure. "Without faith it is impossible to please God;" without this grace we can neither serve him acceptably here, nor be admitted to the enjoyment of his kingdom hereafter. Self-examination; an impartial trial of our spiritual condition, is a duty frequently enforced in the oracles of God,and is unspeakably important whether we consult our safety

or comfort. It is enjoined "that every inan prove," examine by unerring test, "his own work; that he give all diligence to make his calling and election sure:" This same duty is urged with peculiar earnestness in the verse which is chosen for our present consideration. "Examine yourselves whether you be in the faith; prove your own selves;" make a fair experiment of your religious pretensions, as the real weight of metals is ascertained by the scales, or their genuine quality proved by the fire. It adds no inconsiderable force to this injunction to reflect on the time when the apostle addressed it to the Corinthian. church. He had labored in person among them nearly two years, and seen his labors crowned with abundant and glorious success; he had in a former epistle illustrated at large their duty and privileges; he had explained to them the nature of that union. to the Son of God which secures peace in this world, and salvation in the next; he had addressed them by the honorable appellation of saints, saints by outward, visible profession, yet in this last epistle, and in the very conclusion of it he presses them to an examination of their character. This circumstance may admonish us to entertain a holy jealousy of ourselves; to try occasionally the foundation of our hopes, as the man who travels to a distant country will of ten enquire whether he has taken the road which leads to it; or the mariner in sailing