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the Sunday mornings, alternately, to that parish and to our own.

During forty-six years, he was Lecturer of the neighbouring parish of Islington; and in the combined offices of Curate and Rector, he was fifty years the minister of this parish; nay, be it remembered, that from the day of his appointment to the Rectory, i. e. for thirty-two years, he was also the resident minister.

The labours of our deceased Rector, in any career of more general and extensive usefulness, can, therefore, alone be duly estimated by our bearing in mind what was the weight of his constant and uninterrupted official duty.

Never did he make use of preferment in the Church as the means of accumulating worldly emolument; in that respect his character was literally irreproachable; and to show, moreover, the sense of Christian humility, gratitude, and contentment, with which he received those earthly blessings which Providence, in his kindness, had bestowed upon him, let us quote his own words, from a letter to a friend. "Few men," says he, comparatively speaking, arrive at my age; and if the abundance of good things which I have experienced in this life be exchanged for the very lowest seat in another and a better world, I shall have reason to adore and bless Him through whose merits I shall have attained it."

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Of his character, as a Christian, we may in general, justly pronounce, that it was marked by a firmness, yet simplicity of faith -a steadfastness, yet humility of hope-a charity which embraced all mankind, but especially of the household of faith, which was unsparing of his means, and unostentatious as unsparing. A friendship once formed with him was, upon his part, sure to be permanent. Those who, from their intimacy, have maintained to the last their intercourse with him, have remarked that there never was the least diminution in the warmth of his feelings towards any of those objects that had ever been dear to him. He was a loyal subject of his King; a consistent, a faithful, a zealous minister of the Apostolical Church, into which he had been baptized and ordained; and if, in this character, he might have appeared to some to maintain a too unyielding independence of principle, it was founded upon his own conscientious convictions; that neither from the State, nor from the voice

of the people, did a minister of Christ receive hi scommission, but from the Lord alone in heaven. Call to mind those words which (in this very sanctuary he uttered) upon occasion of his becoming rector of this parish. "My manner of life! would to God it were more pure, more holy, more worthy of your imitation; whereinsoever it is wrong, may God pardon, and His grace correct it; and if in any particulars it be right, may you all be led to follow me, as I follow Christ."

From the labours of the Church militant, at length he has gone to the glory of the Church triumphant. Old and full of years, he is gathered unto his fathers.Pp. 16-24.

An Abridgment of Universal History, adapted to the use of Families and Schools, with appropriate Questions at the end of each Section. By the Rev. H. J. KNAPP, M.A. Sixth Edition, with considerable additions. London: Longman and Co. 1829. 12mo. pp. 238. Price 5s.

THE practical utility of this little epitome of Universal History, sacred and profane, has been very generally felt and acknowledged by parents and teachers of all classes. Indeed its popularity is sufficiently evinced by its having rapidly run through five editions. We should have thought it unnecessary to do more than add our testimony to that of several of our contemporaries in favour of the judgment with which its facts are selected, and the ability displayed in condensing them, and in uniting brevity with perspicuity, but for the circumstance of considerable additions having been now introduced, especially with respect to the earlier periods of history. Mr. Knapp has unquestionably produced in this small volume a work of more real usefulness than many of much higher pretensions, and one which may be taken up with advantage even by the more advanced student as a refresher to the memory, or for the purpose of reference.

SERMON

FOR THE NEW YEAR.

LUKE xiii. 6, 7, 8, 9.

A certain man had a fig-tree planted in his vineyard: and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree, and find none: cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground? And he answering, said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it and dung it: and if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then, after that thou shalt cut it down.

THIS parable was spoken by our blessed Lord, to warn the Jews of the desolation and destruction of their nation which would follow their rejection of his word and office. And, by the power of faith, it speaks to us also, who, in the written word of Christ, have, like the Jews, been called unto the knowledge of salvation. It expresses, under an intelligible and striking form, the two great attributes of God, his mercy and his justice; and unfolds to us the nature of his dealings with the sons of men, his patience and long suffering, his care and aid, the kind provisions of his grace and goodness; at the same time explaining our condition here and our prospects hereafter.

The owner of the vineyard is the Lord Jehovah ;-the dresser of it Jesus Christ, the Saviour and Redeemer of mankind;—the tilling of the soil, the efficacy and the help of the Holy Spirit in the work of righteousness; and the fig-tree is the representative of every one who has been admitted into the bosom of the Christian Church. The passage is, therefore, addressed to every one amongst you individually; and I humbly trust in God that you will so consider it, whilst I endeavour to explain the solemn and important truths which it reveals.

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The similitude of a vineyard is a common one in Sacred Scripture ; and were I to quote all the passages in which mankind are likened to the trees or plants that adorn the face of the natural world, I should weary you with repetitions of that which must be familiar to every And there is not only a moral beauty, but a strong religious benefit in the comparisons which, in the pages of the Bible, continually exist between man and the trees of the field. That "we all do fade as a leaf" is equally true in fact, as well as beautiful in fancy; and he that thinks upon the saying with a heart intent to "muse on understanding," may find in it much food for after meditation and improvement. "Wisdom crieth in the streets," says Solomon: and the man who looks around him on the wonders of creation with a chastened and a believing spirit, may find more than a subject for poetical comparisons in the growth and the decay of the vegetable world. Christ himself does not disdain to employ the powerful aid which this consideration frequently supplied him with, in his ministry and word: and beyond the more immediate application to the individual subject in discussion, he that considers these remarks will turn involuntarily to the beginning and the consummation of all things, as recorded in the

book of God, under the comparison of the tree that bore the fruits of sin-the knowledge of good and evil; and that more noble plant which is to grow upon the banks of the river, and in the streets of the New Jerusalem," the tree of life," the leaves of which are "for the healing of the nations." (Rev. xxii. 2.)

To bring this subject to your more particular attention, I shall now proceed to consider the similitude alluded to with respect to the growth of men in spiritual concerns.

Whoever regards the face of the natural world, will behold trees, and plants, and herbs innumerable; each, however, possessing its distinctive property of usefulness to man. Some are for shade, and some for food, and some for medicine, whilst there are others which are shunned from their noxious and destroying qualities. So is it in the moral world. Men are as "trees which the Lord hath planted;" some refreshing the weary traveller in life's thorny wilderness with the comforts and the aid of friendly nourishment; others bringing into the world the seeds of misery and the fruits of sin. The natural world is also, in its more collective character, an emblem of the moral one. In some places,-in the burning desert, and on the barren mountain,-there is neither pleasant plant nor lordly cedar; whilst in others, where the kindness of the great Husbandman hath nourished them with the early dew and the latter rain, "there grow all manner of trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed." (Ezek. xlvii. 12.) When God, then, in his own wise counsels, has vouchsafed to call a people from the errors of the heathen to the knowledge of salvation, and has gathered to himself a Church out of the midst of the nations, there, may it be said, that he has planted a vineyard, into which he sends his labourers, that he may eat the fruit thereof in due season. In this respect, we, who are assembled here to-day to hear and to profit by the word of God, are represented in the parable, which I have read to you as a text, as the vineyard which the proprietor came to visit. But let us recollect, that there was a fig-tree planted in this vineyard, on which he sought for fruit, and "found none." As the general application of the vineyard properly applies to the Church of God, and to every congregation as a branch of it; so, by the barren figtree, more or less may every man understand his own particular and individual situation in the midst of it.

I would say then to every one, and would wish to impress it forcibly upon his mind with the earnestness and the force which such a consideration must demand; you are the fig-tree in the vineyard of the Church, which is expected to bear in due season the fruits of that religious cultivation which you have received. Be cautious, and be fearful, and take earnest heed, lest, when the lord of the vineyard cometh to seek fruit, he find none. As the time of your visitation is unknown to you, since the Lord cometh as a thief in the night, do not be content with a lifeless state of being, but improve the nourishment which is afforded you, in order to bring forth the fruits of faith and repentance. The Lord of the vineyard may not longer grant you the indulgence which, as the fig-tree received, you have also received, in vain. He may come in an hour when you look not for him, and

say, as he said unto the dressers of the vineyard, in speaking of your soul," Cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?"

The states and the conditions of mankind are various; but to every individual is an opportunity afforded of bringing forth the fruits of righteousness, and of every one will be demanded an account of his exertions, and his progress in the path of duty, and according also to his deeds will be the final doom of each. To every one, at one period or another, will the Lord of the vineyard come, seeking fruit; and woe unto that man, whom he shall find barren in the fruits of a holy life. To such, "Cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?" is the awful and decisive sentence of the Judge of all men.

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To many of you the great Master has already come, in the especial visitations of his love and mercy ;-and to all amongst you he is daily present in the ministration of his word and offices. Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree," is a truth as applicable to us of the present time, as it was to the subject of the parable before us. How many are there among us, who have experienced all the wonders of God's mercy and love, in a way too striking to be obliterated from memory! How many years of patience have been passed in a vain hope of their amendment! How many years of kindness have been spent in apathy and sin! The barren Christian can have no excuse ;-baptized in the name, and nurtured in the knowledge of a Saviour; taught early to regard the object of his pilgrimage on earth, and led by God's own word to seek a heavenly country; blessed with every opportunity of grace, and guided in all times of danger and distress; where shall he seek excuses for the palliation of his sins, if, under all the warnings, and the positive commands and promises of God, he still remains a barren fig-tree in the vineyard which the Lord hath planted? The Holy Spirit has been ready, with the genial efficacies of his power, to till the stony soil, and to improve the first faint signs of spiritual vegetation. And, even when it seemed, that barrenness of principle and faith had taken such possession of the heart, as to preclude the hopes of fruit, by the quiet and converting power of heavenly counsel, the decaying members have received fresh life, and a new vigour has succeeded to the torpid uselessness of a dying piety.

By his word, God hath declared the wisdom of eternity, and hath nade known to Jew and Gentile the unsearchable riches of his will, and hath proclaimed, that "in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him." He has sent his Son into the world to be the way, the truth, and the life-to guide mankind, and to attest his power and goodness, to prepare a place in heaven for all that follow him, and to make atonement, by the expiation of our sins upon the cross, for the offences and the crimes which we have ignorantly committed. And this same Almighty Saviour has provided for the wants and weaknesses of his people, by sending down the Comforter, who shall remain unto the end, inspiring, and consoling, and refreshing with all spiritual nourishment, the heart of the believer. And, that the knowledge of these mighty deeds may never fail, he has ordained, and has appointed for communion and fellowship, an universal Church, the ordinances and the services of which are full of

instruction and assistance in the work of man's salvation: and he has set apart a peculiar order of men, in every age and nation, whose business and profession it is to teach and to proclaim, from day to day, and from year to year, in public and in private, these wondrous acts of his unmerited and full affection to a race of miserable and sinful men. And in accordance with his will, he has provided other means of mercy, which too often are despised and unimproved. He knows how frail the human heart must be; how liable to error and forgetfulness is the soul of man. In his goodness, therefore, he sends down amongst us sorrows and afflictions, to recall us from the vain delusions of a temporal world, to the imperishable certainty of an eternal blessedness in heaven. It is thus that the stony soil and barren wilderness of human nature is prepared and tilled. Man, however, is a mystery of perverseness. Although it is by these, to us unwelcome, means of exercising penitence, proving faith, and inspiring hope, that the believer is brought onwards through this vale of tears to the mountain of the Lord; how often are we tempted to exchange these blessings which, if properly received, will always prove most pure and satisfying for the temptations and the lures which the great enemy so thickly spreads upon the flowery path of sin and death.

When, in the word of God, judgment is denounced against the sins of man, and the history of a fallen world is opened to our view, how apt are we to consider, that, in such events, we can have no possible concern; how frequently do men turn away from the word of the Almighty, as a subject unpleasant to their thoughts, and quite unnecessary for their meditation! And when, in obedience to the high commission which they have received, the ministers whom Christ has sent into the world "to preach unto the people, and to testify, that it is he which was ordained of God to be the judge of quick and dead," stand up, to plead, and to explain, and to enforce God's will-how often are their words refused and ridiculed, and all their counsel and advice despised and forgotten! Nay, when the hand of the Lord has been heavy on an individual for his good; when he has been snatched from his career of sin, and laid upon a bed of sickness and reflection; when the power of God has been revealed, and his mercy manifested; how often has the sufferer yielded to the temptation of Job "to curse his God and die," rather than follow the example of the pious Hezekiah, by supplication and by weeping, turning his face unto the Lord, considering his ways, and by repentance and a renewed faith making his peace with God. How often, when delivered, like Israel, from the sea, has he forgotten the arm of his deliverer, and sighed in secret after all the vanities and vices of that life, from which he had been timely saved, turning "like the dog unto his vomit again, and like the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire!" And when, by an infliction of another nature, by the loss of property or friends, the warning of the Lord is made known, how sadly are we tempted to repine and murmur not considering that "the love of money is the root of all evil," and that "the righteous is taken away from the evil to come; (Isa. lvii. 1.) that though "riches make themselves wings and flee away," yet in heaven there is "treasure, which neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal;" and that though

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