us, without any check, to accumulate worldly possessions, for the highway to abundance is the highway to atheism. The clouds that brood over us, and on which we think we see written, hard times, have blessings within them: for we may see there the hand and the face of the Lord God; we may there behold his throne, and bow before it. The race in which gold is run for as the prize, is a race away from God; and those who run that race, throw aside their hindrances; they cast away their Sabbath, their family altars, their closets, and their integrity; and you will, all along the course, find the fragments of the Ebenezer altars, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped me," and here and there lies the wreck of faith and a good conscience. The race after riches, which this country was running till out of breath, in 1836, and about that time, was a race towards infidelity; the world was not only in it, but the Church was running; and, as I said before, God loved this country too well to give us up to our hearts' lust. Hence, He came down upon our track; He reversed the engines;. He took off the chariot wheels; headed the boats towards shore, and turned the cities which sprung up in a night in the wilderness, back again in a night, into a solitary place; and He set the tooth of the moth to eat up our silk and purple, and the owls tenanted our half-finished palaces, and "Ichabod" was written on the walls; and over and above all was a writing for the sons of men to read, written, as it were, by a quill, plucked from the head of Nebuchadnezzar, when his hair grew as eagle's feathers, "The most high God liveth and ruleth, all whose ways are truth and judgment, and those that walk in pride, He is able to abase." For, previously to the abasement of the king of Babylon, he was prospered, had become rich, and withal forgotten God. For, as he walked in the palace of his kingdom, he said, "Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power, for the honor of my majesty.” While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from Heaven, saying, “O, king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken, The kingdom is departed from thee: and they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field; they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the Most High ruleth in

and

the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will."

Thus was he cured of his atheism by a singular humiliation. And well it is for us, and for this nation, if we can be brought to feel that the Most High ruleth, short of being transformed into beasts, and consigned to eat grass, and to be wet with the dew of Heaven. Learn from the experience of the past, from the teachings of God and of Jesus Christ, learn not to be rich, as you would dread to be without God in the world; as you would avoid the everlasting doom of an idolater.

5. The rich man was a SENSUAL MAN. He provided for his bodily gratification. There is nothing of a spiritual or an intellectual character in his history. Eating, drinking, and merriment, these are the three-they constitute his Trinity. For these he planned, executed, and laid up his fruits and his goods. It would seem that he hesitated thus to sensualize himself, and he varnished and whitewashes the sepulchre, by talking to his soul. "Soul," said he, "soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry,' as if his soul could eat the grain in his barns, and drink the wine in his cellar. Sensual as he was, he was ashamed to think that he was making all this provision for his body, and placing the fountain of his happiness in his belly. But so it was, and so it is.

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Sensuality is the pearl of great price, the one thing needful, the summum bonum in the estimation of many. They may flatter themselves that they are not brutish by getting up an address to their souls; and they may say, "Soul, I have built thee a new house; soul, I have bought thee a new garment; soul, I have filled for thee the decanter; soul, I have procured for thee a mistress. Soul, thou hast much goods, eat, drink, and be merry." Sensual men may talk thus; they may thus paint the sepulchre and sweeten the dead bones and uncleanness within, but it is a vain process, they shall perish in their deceivings, and their souls so indebted to them for all this provision, shall by-and-by assert their rights, and avenge their wrongs. The soul brutalized; the soul drunk; the soul a glutton; the soul a debauchee; the soul ruined; the soul damned! The soul which was made for immortality and holiness; the soul dis

satisfied with all that is earthly; the soul which should rise and commune with God, and sing with angels, to be cheated and mocked with a discourse about barns, and eating and drinking and carousing! My hearers, do you live a spiritual or do you live a sensual life? You need not be rich, in order to take thought only for the body. The rich and the poor, the high and the low, may debase their immortal natures to a condition of shame and disgrace; and in that shame and degradation are all found who fix their desires, and terminate their hopes on the pleasures of sense, who labor in vain to satisfy their immortal spirits with created good. There is in reserve for such folly and sin, an awful retribution. It maketh haste; for, in the sixth place,

6. The rich man was a DYING MAN-a serious attribute of his nature which he seemed to forget, as if his riches were a shield against the shaft of death. His ground was productive, and he decided to enjoy the fruits of it for a long time66 many years." But his new barns were not built; he had only time to plan them. His fruits and goods were not bestowed; he had only time to consider where he should put them. He had not eaten and drunken and made merry; he had only time to decide that he would do so. He said: "Soul, a long time is before thee." God said: "This night thou shalt die." Thou wilt not pull down thy barns, but God will take down thine earthly tabernacle. Thou wilt not build greater storehouses; but the house of the grave will be made for thee to-morrow. Thou wilt not eat, drink, and be merry on that which is prepared for thy table, but the worms shall banquet and revel on thy body. That soul which thou didst sensualize is about to be required by the Father of Spirits. Whose those things will be which thou hast provided, thou canst not tell; but be sure of this, they are no longer thine. Thy days are numbered; thy purposes are extinct; the grave waits for thee; death is at thy door; this night thou shalt die.

7. He was a FOOLISH MAN. He lived as a fool, and died as he lived. This is not an uncharitable opinion of ours. It is the character given him from Heaven. It is the decision of the throne. GOD said unto him, "Thou fool." A covetous fool; an anxious fool; a selfish fool; an atheistic fool; a sensual fool; a dying fool-ruined, because he laid

He

up treasure for himself, and was not rich toward God. has gone. We leave him, my friends, and turn to you, and ask, are there any in this assembly like him? any possessing his character, and hastening to his destiny? Are you laying up treasure for yourself, while yet you are not rich toward God? Thou art the man! Thy ground may be fruitful, but thy heart is ungrateful. Thy house may be built, but the family altar is not erected; or, if erected, the acceptable sacrifice is not offered. You may have a reception-room for mortals, but no closet nor audience-chamber where you meet the immortal Creator. "Not rich toward God!" Toiling till weary, for love of money; never resting in the love of God. Affluent in sorrow, for temporal losses; not rich in repentance toward God. Anxious for earthly possessions, but not at all anxious to lay up treasure in Heaven. Rich in the fruits of the flesh, but poor and destitute in the fruits of the Spirit. Worldly and irreligious. Dying, but unprepared for death. You have seen the rich man of whom Christ spake. If so, you have seen yourself. You have seen his end. See there your own. "So is he," of this assembly, "who layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." A fool in life; a fool in death; a fool lost and ruined to all eternity.

THE GOSPEL THE HOPE OF OUR SALVATION.

AN Address from the Queen of England; a Message from the President of the United States; the Firman of the Sultan; the Ukase of the Czar; the Edict of the Emperor, and the Bull of the Pope; these are from time to time promulgated; the world runneth swiftly; ten thousand ears are open to hear; ten thousand eyes to read; ten thousand hands lifted to strike. We receive public documents with the imposing authoritative-" Be it enacted by the General Assembly"-"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in Congress assembled ;" and we have lately received a proclamation, by his Excellency, Hamilton Fish, Governor of the State of New-York, calling upon us to observe this twelfth day of December, Anno Domini one thousand eight hundred and fifty, as a day of public thanksgiving and praise to God for the favors which He has bestowed upon us during the year. We honor the summons; in obedience to it we are all here. But it is not expected that he, who addresses you, will find his theme in any mortal edict, decree or message, but in a proclamation from the upper throne, from "the high and lofty One, who inhabiteth eternity;" and it is in the following words:

"Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom; neither let the mighty man glory in his might; let not