fore, might have been returned, it was, they reckoned, sure to displease many; but, cunning as they doubtless were, they knew not him with whom they had to compete. "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." How perfectly, how dexterously were they foiled! and yet with what dignity, with what simplicity! not one of the consequences ensued which they were fully confident would ensue; they gazed upon that divine person with anxious and malignant hope; they scrutinized every line of his countenance; they trusted they should have beheld him embarrassed and confused; they saw him calmly turning round upon his inquirer, and, fixing on the shrinking casuist those eyes, in which the appalling majesty of heaven shone out with all its brightness, enforce a duty all present must have united in acknowledging,

the devotion of every affection, the work of every energy, the exercise of every talent in the service of their cominon friend, their Father, and their God. "This" and in the humanity of his na ture, may not an emotion of triumph have flashed across his mind at witnessing the justly merited disappointment and vexation of his enemies-" this is the first and great commandment, and the second"-you did not require this from me; but I will tell you more even than you care to hear:-" and the second is like unto it thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself; on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." These are the principles from which your whole legal system. emanates, and to these the intent and purpose of every one of your inspired writers must be referred, the love of God, and the love of your neighbour. We must not consider this language as intended merely for

those to whom it was actually addressed; it was designed for all ages as a standing maxim for the church, from the moment of its birth to the instant of its dissolution.

Now short-lived as we are, my friends, if we have any desire to compass, even less durable than ourselves, with what ardour do we pursue it, how do all our thoughts run upon this subject, how patiently can we bear up against crosses, and perplexities, and annoyances; should any obstacle lie before our path, if our own agency be of no avail to remove it out of the way, we can wait even years till something superior to ourselves remove it out of the way for us; and when we have laboured, perhaps, into the very evening of life; suppose our end attained, what is it? I would speak now to the great, what is it? A seat, perhaps, in the councils of your sovereign, where, what with one thing and another,

you will be harassed and tormented from morning to night, and never have a single moment you can call your own; and after all, a turn in the affairs of the nation may, before a few months are over your head, throw you a little farther back than you were when you first started.—Or a title of honour it may be, by which you will ensure the ridicule of one half the world, and the envy and jealousy of the other.-Or-I would speak now to those in a less elevated sphereyou have worked hard, very hard; you have left nothing undone it was in your power to do; you have gained your end-well, what have you got? a situation of emolument possibly, where the chances are you will not live to receive the first quarter's salary: or, you have amassed a fortune, which, being deposited in some insecure investment by tomorrow's sun, like the child's bubble, may have burst and gone.-Or, I would

speak now to all, to enter on the often trodden, but ever interesting field of domestic privacy: there may have been some tie you have been anxious to form, some hope, which, precious as it may be, seen in the deceptive mirror of imagination, will always appear surpassing what it is; you have formed that tie, you are master of that hope, a tie so fragile, such are the dispensations of providence, that it is snapt in twain almost as soon as it has began to be; a hope where disappointment follows hard on fruition; or the tie remains, the hope is yours, what then? There are cares to embitter, there are fears to harass, there are anxieties to perplex, there is a world of troubles you never dreamt of before, to impede and incumber you every step you move; and yet you would be statesmen, you would be noble, you would be high in office, you would be rich, you would be lovers, you would be husbands,