thoughts and emotions? Why to such a painful struggle against the current of popular opinion, and of fashionable example? I might answer these inquiries, by showing that the difficulties attendant on a life of piety and virtue, are most formidable at its outset; that Christianity is so far from requiring an eternal abjuration of all the quiescent pleasurable sensations, that it only calls on us to restrain our passions, within those limits, beyond which they cannot be indulged, but at the sacrifice of our happiness, and that she then suffers nature to take its course. But it is not my intention at present, to dwell upon this topic. I prefer meeting the objection on different ground.

I acknowledge then, that the gate of heaven is "a strait gate." But then, so is the way to knowledge, so is the road to wealth, so is the path to glory. Is there any thing great, or good, on the wide earth, which may be purchased at no higher expense than that of a wish, or a sigh? But more than this, we find in point of fact, that men will submit; and submit cheerfully too, to hardship and toil, and to deny themselves much of domestic and social enjoyment, in pursuit of fortune, or of fame. The soldier for example, will renounce the comfort of his fireside, and endure the fatigues, and brave the dangers of the most vigorous and formidable campaign. The husbandman rises with the sun, toils and perspires at every pore, and literally earns his bread in the sweat of his brow. The student withdraws himself from the pleasures of convivial life, to devote himself, with the most indefatigable assiduity, to the acquisition of knowledge. To what then does the objection amount? Why simply to this, that the attainment of eternal life, is subject to the very same conditions as those on which necessarily must depend the possession of any considerable earthly advantage. But there is this difference between the two cases, and a very wide one it is. It is thus stated by St. Paul in his epistle to Timothy, speaking of the labours and sacrifices of the racers in the Olympic games, he says. "They do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible." The Christian, and the man of the world, must both make sacrifices for the realization of their respective objects; but then while

the one, is in quest of those riches which "take to themselves wings and flee away," and which at best shall perish in the flames of the conflagration; the other will secure us the end of his exertion, a treasure in the heavens, which moth cannot corrupt, and thieves cannot steal. While the one is in pursuit of pleasures, which at length pall upon the sense, and "lose the power to please," the other, shall "pluck amaranthine joys from bowers of bliss;" while the one is toiling and intriguing for the perishable wreath of earthly distinction, the other shall have his name engraven upon the immortal columns of the heavenly temple.

What mighty inducements then have we not, to strive to "enter in at the strait gate ?" These are no less than the glorious prospect of an endless life, a life in felicitating, and embellishing, and dignifying which, the God of Heaven will lavish all the wealth of his high attributes. Oh! in the view of these considerations, how ought we, my Christian brothers and sisters, to give "all diligence to make our calling and our election sure:" how ought we to fear, lest "a promise being left us, of entering into his rest, any of us should seem to come short of it."

And, for those of you, my dear hearers, who there is reason to fear, are yet treading "the broad way that leadeth to destruction;" bowing before the cross with contrition, and confiding in the promises of forgiving mercy, through HIM whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood "immediately begin the momentous work of your salvation. Remember that the longer you delay it the greater will be the improbability of its final accomplishment. Religion operates on moral agents, according to the laws of their mental constitution. Now it is a law of our nature, that when our modes of thinking and of acting become habitual, it is exceedingly difficult to change them for opposite habitudes. And hence, when the habit of evil has become established, it is next to an impossibility to form a holy character. "Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots." I say then "strive to enter in at strait gate." And it will never be so easy as it is to day, and as

the sun of to-morrow, may shine upon your sepulchre, the delay of a moment may prove fatal. "If thy hand, or thy foot of fend thee, cut it off and cast it from thee, for it is better for thee, that one of thy members should perish, than that thy whole body should be cast into hell." If this be a painful duty, yet in applying thyself to it in good earnest, thou shalt experience the fulfilment of those animating promises, “my grace is sufficient for thee, as thy day is, so shall thy strength be," and God will make his strength perfect in his servant's weakness. Therefore STRIVE TO ENTER IN AT THE STRAIT GATE." Amen.

Delivered before the Prayer-Book and Homily Society of the Diocess of Maryland, 29th of May, 1834.

BY J. P. K. HENSHAW, D. D.

RECTOR OF ST. PETER'S CHURCH, BALTIMORE.

Psalm cii. 13, 14.—“ Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time is come. For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof."

THIS Psalm was probably composed by one of the Prophets, during the captivity of Israel in Babylon. We consider it not merely as an effusion of the personal sorrows and anxieties of its author, but as giving utterance to the feelings and desires of the true servants of Jehovah during that long and cheerless season of adversity and affliction. Jerusalem, their holy city, was then trampled under foot by hostile armies; and the beautiful temple where their fathers worshipped, was demolished by the ruthless hand of the victor, and reduced to a ruinous mass of stones and rubbish. The pious exiles, driven from their homes. and their altars-deprived of their personal liberty, and of those religious privileges which were dearer to them than life itself, gave vent to the desponding feelings of their sorrow-stricken hearts. By the rivers of Babylon they sat down and wept. Their harps, which had so often been used in celebrating the praises of Jehovah, were now hung upon the willows;-and as the winds passed over them, gave forth mournful sounds in unison with the melancholy feelings of the captives. Their lordly oppressors, cruelly sporting with their sorrows, required them to chant the songs of Zion. But how could they make melody in their heaviVOL. IV.-21

ness? or sing the Lord's song in a strange land? They could sigh at the recollection of their former comforts and privileges: -they could weep freely in repentance for their sins: but never could they rejoice again till they should see the spires of their holy city raised from the dust; till their feet were once more permitted to stand in the midst of Jerusalem;-and their sublime strains of praise to echo through the vaulted arches of Zion.

The sorrows of God's people during that captivity, are most vividly described in the Psalm before us. Their heart was smilten and withered like grass, so that they forgot to eat their bread: their enemies reproached them all the day: they ate ashes like bread and mingled their drink with weeping:-and more intolerable than all the outward sufferings inflicted by their oppressors, was their inward agony of mind, arising from the consciousness that all their afflictions were deserved as just displays of God's indignation and wrath against the sins and infidelities of his chosen people.

It is scarcely possible to conceive of a deeper state of degradation and suffering, than that which the pencil of inspiration has pictured in this psalm. A cloud of dark and awful aspect, was at that time spread over Israel, and there was nothing to diminish the perfect gloominess of the prospect but the bow of promise distinctly painted upon the cloud. They knew that God loved Zion, and stood pledged to favour her with prosperity. And when their outward trials had reached their utmost pitch, and they were duly humbled in repentance for their sins, they believed that the time for God's purposed display of mercy was near at hand;—and cheered by the prospect of returning blessings, they with one heart and voice exclaimed, as in the language of the Text-Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time is come. For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof. It is proposed in the following discourse,

First, to illustrate the general truth plainly declared in the text, that God has set times for favouring his church, and that they generally follow periods of the greatest darkness and depression.