now interpose between them, and the flood of worldliness by which they are surrounded; is it not greatly to be feared, nay, must it not be the infallible result, that if the external recognition of religion should be done away, that the whole subject, which, with all its present aids and applicances, has so feeble a hold on the minds and hearts of men, would be wholly superseded and forgotten? I rest then the subject here. For if Christianity be a blessing, if it be worth preserving, then the public exercises of this religion are entitled to our devout and earnest regard, since without them, religion itself would, in its visible existence, and practical power, cease from among men, and with it, all those sanctions and aids which it now lends to human duty and to human happiness.

If the foregoing remarks be just, then the obligation to observe the public exercises of our religion is enforced by no less an authority than the gospel of Jesus Christ; they are a most salutary and gracious provision, as affording a season of rest from labor; they are necessary as interposing pauses amidst the engrossing pursuits of life; they have a direct tendency to promote the good order and decorum of the community at large; they have a beneficent effect in advancing good will, and kindly feeling, and true benevolence among men; they greatly aid, by an indirect influence, Christian faith; and, by their direct ministrations, are absolutely necessary to the very existence of religion among the community at large.

The moral or application of the discourse I leave to you. It is plain, and need not be stated. It is imperative and needs not to be enforced. It is untimely

at no period. It is inapplicable in no place. As mere creatures of a day, as beings who live for this world alone, and whose rule of life is a tolerably enlightened selfishness, we cannot, wisely, disregard it; and as Christians, it has an imperative claim upon our reverent and enlightened observance.

SERMON III.

BY REV. EZRA. S. GANNETT, BOSTON.

THE CLAIMS OF RELIGION ON THE FEMALE SEX.

1 PETER III. 5.-HOLY WOMEN, WHO TRUSTED IN GOD.

No condition of existence can place a human being where the demands of religion are not imperative. He is the creature of God, let him be born where he may. He is supported by the divine Providence, whatever be his station. He is subject to a law of duty, whether it be revealed through conscience or through Christ. He is an heir of immortality, though he may be indifferent to the momentous fact. All are bound to know and love. and serve God, by arguments stronger than fancy can collect in favor of any other motive, aim or pursuit. Still to each class in the community may be addressed exhortations, the pertinency of which shall be drawn from their peculiar situation. We implore the aged not to defile their hoary hairs, and we entreat the young not to sully their innocence. The rich are reminded of their ability, and the poor of their necessity. The prosperous are taught that their success, and the unfortunate that

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their trouble should lead them to God. We beseech the happy to sanctify their joy, and we point the afflicted to the consolations that are neither few nor small. Christianity may be said, like its early Apostle, to become all things to men. In every variety of condition it finds some topic which it may urge with special force, converting on the one hand the necessities, and on the other the advantages, of each into the channels of blessings. may be found with the husbandman in the broad fields, with the mechanic in his confined workshop, with the merchant in his busy traffic, with the scholar in his lonely studies, with man who lives in the world, and with woman whose world is her home; persuading, guiding, cheering, reproving each according to the wants of each, presenting its everlasting truths in forms of changeable beauty, and proving itself the universal benefactor by becoming the private friend.

It is not however upon the wonderful capacity of religion to adapt itself to every class and province of society that I would now fix your thoughts, but would use this fact as a justification, if one be necessary, of an attempt to exhibit the topics peculiar to the female sex by which religion is commended to their notice.

Holy women, who trusted in God, says the Apostle. It is a brief but faithful description of the character which every woman should aspire to possess. To nothing less than this should she limit her ambition, to nothing inconsistent with it ought she to give her heart. If she do not make this her aim, she violates her duty as a human being, as an accountable and immortal creature. Leaving however such general grounds of address, I pass at once to those which belong exclusively to the female sex.

1. Religion finds a support in the intellectual and moral constitution of woman. Without touching the question of the relative superiority of the sexes, we cannot doubt that their powers are various. The sensibilities and affections are the strength of woman's nature. Feeling is the favorite element of her soul. She has an instinctive sympathy with the tender, the generous and the pure. We expect from her examples of goodness. Vice appears more unnatural in her than in the other sex; it certainly is more odious. Vulgarity seems coarser, immorality more inexcusable, impiety more shocking. A wicked woman expresses the climax of depravity. By the law of her nature moreover woman is determined towards reliance and confidence, rather than towards an independence of foreign support. She is willing to rest on another's arm, she seeks protection, she covets affection. We describe hers as the gentler and the feebler sex; and these are not the epithets of poetry so much as of fact and nature.

In all these qualities-in her quick sensibility, her strong affection, her lively feeling, her generous propensities, her pure sympathies, her disposition to rely on external power and reciprocal love, religion finds arguments on which to build a claim to woman's respect and attachment. It offers to her affections a Being infinitely worthy of love, to her weakness an almighty Protector, to her confidence an unchangeable Friend. It promises to satisfy her generous and pure aspirations; it delights, if I may so speak, to conduct just such a nature as hers towards perfection. If it admired feats of physical strength or high achievements of intellect, if its