a frail perishable body, yet he doth not mean to involve it in the dissolution of this frame. Without supposing immortality, that, which constitutes the dignity of man, makes his misery. These desires of immortal duration, this faculty of thinking and reflecting, of expanding and perpetuating the mind; this superiority of soul, that seems to elevate mankind above beasts, actually place the beast above the man, and fill him with these bitter reflections full of mortification and pain. Ye crawling reptiles ! ye beasts of the field! destitute of intelligence and reason! if my soul be not immortal, I envy your condition. Content with your own organs, pleased with ranging the fields, and browsing the herbage, your desires need no restraint; for all your wishes are fully satisfied. While I, abounding on the one hand with insatiable desires, and on the other confined amidst vain and unsatisfactory objects, I am on this account unhappy!

We repeat these philosophical reasonings, my brethren, only for the sake of convincing you, that we are in possession of immense advantages over sceptics in this dispute. On the principles of an unbeliever, you see, were his notion of revelation well-grounded; were the sacred book, in which so many characters of truth shine, an human production; were a reasonable man obliged to admit no other propositions than those, which have been allowed at the tribunal of right reason; yea, we say more, were our souls material, we ought, on the suppositions before mentioned, to admit the immortality of the soul as most conformable to our best notions of the will of our Creator.

But, when we are thus convinced of our immortality, need we any new arguments to demonstrate the proposition included in the text, What shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Most subjects

may be made to appear with greater or less dignity, according to the greater or smaller degree of importance, in which the preacher places it. Pompous expressions, bold figures, lively images, ornaments of eloquence, may often supply a want of dignity in the subject discussed, or a want of pro-, per dispositions in auditors, who attend the discussion of it. But, in my opinion, every attempt to give importance to a motive taken from eternity, is more likely to enfeeble the doctrine than to invigorate it. Motives of this kind are self-sufficient. Descriptions the most simple, and the most natural, that can be made, are always, I think, the most pathetic, and the most terrifying; nor can I find an expression, on this article, more eloquent and more emphatical than this of St. Paul, The things which are seen, are temporal : but the things, which are not seen, are eternal, 2 Cor. iii. 18. Were the possession of the whole world the price you ask in exchange for your souls; were the whole world free from those characters of vanity, which open such a boundless field to our reflections; would there not always be this disproportion between a perishing world, and a soul aspiring at felicity, that the world would end, and the soul would never die?

Death puts an end to the most specious titles, to the most dazzling grandeur, and to the most delicious life; and the thought of this period of human glory reminds me of the memorable action of a prince, who although he was a heathen, was wiser than many christians; I mean the great Saladin. After he had subdued Egypt, passed the Euphrates, and conquered cities without number; after he had retaken Jerusalem, and performed exploits more than human, in those wars, which superstition had stirred up for the recovery of the holy land; he finished his life in the performance of an action, that

ought to be transmitted to the most distant posterity. A moment before he uttered his last sigh, he called the herald, who had carried his banner before him in all his battles, he commanded him to fasten to the top of a lance, the shroud, in which the dying prince was soon to be buried. Go, said he, carry this lance, unfurl this banner, and, while you lift up this standard, proclaim: This, this is all, that remains to Saladin the great, the conqueror and the King of the empire, of all his glory. Christians! I perform to-day the office of this herald. I fasten to the top of a spear sensual and intellectual pleasures, worldly riches, and human honors. All these I reduce to the piece of crape, in which you will shortly be buried. This standard of death I lift up in your sight, and I cry, This, this is all that will remain to you of the possessions, for which you exchanged your souls. Are such possessions too great to be given in exchange for such a soul? Can the idea of their perishing nature prevail over the idea of the immortality of the soul? And do you not feel the truth of the text, What shall a man, a rational man, a man, who is capable of comparing eternity with time, What shall such a man give in exchange for his soul?

Finally, we make a reflection of another kind to convince you of the dignity of your souls, and to persuade you, that nothing can be too valuable to be given in exchange for them. This is taken from the astonishing works, that God hath performed in their favor. We will confine ourselves to one article, to the inestimable price, that God hath given for the redemption of them. Hear these words of the holy scriptures. Ye are bought with a price. Ye were redeemed from your vain conversation, not with corruptible things, as silver and gold:

but with the precious blood of Christ, 1 Cor. vi. 20. I Pet. i. 18.

Some of you, perhaps, may say, as the limits of a sermon will not allow us to speak of more than one of the wondrous works of God in favor of immortal souls, we ought, at least, to choose that, which is most likely to affect an audience, and not to dwell on a subject, which, having been so often repeated, will make only slight impressions on their minds. Perhaps, were we to inform you, that, in order to save your souls, God had subverted formerly all the laws of nature, or, to use the language of a prophet, that he had shaken the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land, Hag. ii, 6. Perhaps, were we to tell you, that, in order to save your souls, God deferred the end of the world, and put off the last vicissitudes, that are to put a period to the duration of this universe, that, according to St. Peter, the Lord is long-suffering to us-ward, 2 Pet. iii. 9. Perhaps, were we to affirm, that in order to save our souls, he will come one day on the clouds of heaven, sitting on a throne, surrounded with glorious angels, accompanied with myriads of shouting voices, to deliver them with the greater pomp, and to save them with more splendor: Perhaps, by relating all these mighty works done for our souls, we might excite in you ideas of their dignity more lively than that, which we have chosen, and to which we intend to confine our attention. But, surmount, if you can, your customary indolence, and form an adequate idea of the dignity of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, in order the better to judge of the dignity of those souls, of which his blood was the price.

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Go, learn it in heaven. Behold the Deity. Approach his throne. Observe the thousand thousands ministering unto him, ten thousand times ten

thousand standing before him, Dan. vii. 10. See his eyes sparkling with fire, and his majesty and glory filling his sanctuary, and, by the dignity of the victim sacrificed, judge of the value of the sacrifice.

Go, study it in all the œconomies, that preceded this sacrifice. Observe, the types, which prefigured it; the shadows, that traced it out; the ceremonies which depicted it; and, by the pomp of the preparations, judge of the dignity of the substance prepared.

Go, learn it on mount Calvary. Behold the wrath, that fell on the head of Jesus Christ. Behold his blood pouring out upon the earth, and him, your Saviour, drinking the bitter cup of divine displeasure. See his hands and his feet nailed to the cross, and his whole body one great wound; observe the unbridled populace foaming with rage around the cross, and glutting their savage souls with his barbarous sufferings; and, by the horror of the causes, that contributed to his death, judge of the death itself.

Go to the infidel, and let him teach you the dig-nity of the sacrifice of Christ. Remember, on this account he attacks christianity, and he hath some shew of reason for doing so; for if this religion may be attacked on any side, with the least hope of success, it is on this. The truths of the christian religion are incontestible: but if there be any one article of the gospel, which requires an entire docility of mind, an absolute submission of heart, a perfect deference to God, who speaks, it is the article of the sacrifice of the cross. Weigh the objections, and by the greatness of the difficulties judge of the dignity of the mystery.

Recollect, christian! God thought fit to require the blood of his Son for the redemption of our souls.