XI. SERM. a price, purchased with a ransom. Christ laid down his life for you, and you are his. Now you cannot be at a loss to know what obligations this lays upon you. Every time you would act contrary to his word and will, you, without any right, presume to follow only the devices and desires of your own hearts. Your own hearts then alone they may be called, for Christ cannot acknowledge them to be any longer devoted to him. Nevertheless, as to the right of thinking them your own, it can only be founded on a foul act of disloyalty and ingratitude; if you will not be of Christ, Christ will not dwell with you; it is but fit you should be delivered over then to your own hearts' lusts; but let me beseech of you to learn of St. Peter the consequences of such foul apostacy: If," says he, "after ye have escaped the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus 66 66 Christ, ye are again entangled therein, "and overcome; the latter end will be "worse with you than the beginning; for "it had been better for you not to have "known "known the way of righteousness, than after SERM. ye have known it, to turn from the holy XI. "commandment delivered unto you.” 66 To conclude; what I have said above is expressly the language of holy Scripture. Through the incarnation of Jesus Christ, and his precious death and burial, and his atonement for our sins made on the cross, we are become the children of God by adoption, as we were originally by creation. Surely you cannot be ignorant of this: "What!" says St. Paul, to the Christians of old, and it may well and with equal animation be asked of the professed Christians of this day, "know ye "not that your body is the temple of the Holy "Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of 66 66 God, and ye are not your own? for ye are bought with a price. Therefore, glorify "God in your body, and in your spirit, which "are God's *!" A FUNERAL SERMON *. ECCLES XXII. 11. Weep for the dead, for he hath lost the light ; and weep for the fool, for he wanteth understanding: make little weeping for the dead, for he is at rest; but the life of the fool is worse than death. HERE are two directions, the one li- SERM. miting the other. Weep for the dead:" XII. this is natural, and exceedingly consonant to our most common feelings."Make little weeping for the dead," this is a direction depending upon circumstances, and requiring some consideration to reconcile us to it. However, the wise author of the book in which these two directions occur has not left us to seek for a reason for his precepts; in both cases he has expressed the * Preached at the request and in the presence of the surviving widower and family. reason. SERM. reason. XII. 66 Weep for the dead," Why?— for," saith he, "he bath lost the light." "Make little weeping for the dead," and why? "for he is at rest." The text contains more than this, which we shall consider hereafter; at present, let us confine ourselves to the two injunctions already mentioned: first, that we "weep for the "dead;" and, secondly, that we "make "but little weeping for the dead." And first, to" weep for the dead" is very natural indeed, for we are of course left behind to bewail their loss. Whatever is become of them, of this we are certain, that henceforward we shall know no comfort from their society, nor reap any advantage from their aid and assistance. They are gone, and have left this troublesome world; and, alas! have left us to struggle through the difficulties of it, unfriended and alone. Much, perhaps, may we have to look back upon, of affection and endearment, which softened all the sorrows, and smoothed all the troubles of life; much of care and kindness, flowing from friendship and long acquaintance, |