opportunities wasted or misused: Wo unto thee, Chorazin! wo unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. Might not the preacher of righteousness take up the burthen, and say to this country, Wo unto thee, thou nation highly favoured of the Lord! for if the law of holiness, with all the sanctions and motives which it receives from the Gospel, had been preached to the world before the flood, as it has been preached to thee, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. Whereas thou profitest not by these advantages, nor turnest unto me with thy whole heart. But remember, that at the judgment-day there will be a comparison of opportunities, and means, and motives, as well as of good and evil deeds; and it shall be more tolerable for those who sinned and perished without the perfect law of holiness, than for thee. Would this sentence be too severe? Look at the face of society in this Christian country; examine it throughout, from the great features of its national character, to the minuter and more personal details of private

life. Is it, properly speaking, of a religious complexion? Is religion visibly made an object of primary importance? Does its government display a paramount anxiety to promote the cause of Gospel truth and holiness? Do its nobility contend for the honour of a conspicuous rank in their Redeemer's kingdom? Are its merchants as fervent in spirit to serve the Lord, as they certainly are not slothful in business? Are the people at large walking with God, in singleness of heart and sanctity of life, all, in their several departments, exemplifying the power of the Gospel? And are the ministers of that Gospel uniformly faithful to their trust, as they that must give account? Are they burning and shining lights in the world, guides and patterns to the flock of Christ, and devoted, soul and body, to the work of Evangelists? Are all, from the highest to the lowest, manifestly living under the expectation of a judgment-day, anxious above all things to flee from the wrath to come, but rejoicing in the unspeakable riches of redeeming love, and displaying, in all the vicissitudes of life, the energy and efficacy of grace? Yet, surely, this may reasonably be expected of us, by Him who has given us so much; and if he finds it not, our sentence is written in his Gospel; It

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life. Is it, properly speaking, of a religious complexion? Is religion visibly made an object of primary importance? Does its government display a paramount anxiety to promote the cause of Gospel truth and holiness? Do its nobility contend for the honour of a conspicuous rank in their Redeemer's kingdom? Are its merchants as fervent in spirit to serve the Lord, as they certainly are not slothful in business? Are the people at large walking with God, in singleness of heart and sanctity of life, all, in their several departments, exemplifying the power of the Gospel? And are the ministers of that Gospel uniformly faithful to their trust, as they that must give account? Are they burning and shining lights in the world, guides and patterns to the flock of Christ, and devoted, soul and body, to the work of Evangelists? Are all, from the highest to the lowest, manifestly living under the expectation of a judgment-day, anxious above all things to flee from the wrath to come, but rejoicing in the unspeakable riches of redeeming love, and displaying, in all the vicissitudes of life, the energy and efficacy of grace? Yet, surely, this may reasonably be expected of us, by Him who has given us so much; and if he finds it not, our sentence is written in his Gospel; It

shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment than for thee.

If, upon an impartial examination of the present state of society, we find its more prominent features to be the very reverse of what I have described, it becomes our duty, in the next place, to inquire, how far each of us, in our individual capacity, has contributed to make them so. Let every Christian consider, in how great a degree the religious character of the society and country in which he lives, is dependent on his own. In how great a degree no man can determine; for as no man can tell to what extent one profane or profligate sinner may poison the moral atmosphere in which he lives, nor define the limits of infection; so neither can any man trace, through all its consequences and remote effects, the blessed influence of one bright example of evangelical purity and love. But had we no hope of improving, and rendering more Christian, the tone and habits of society, by our own single example, still we must persevere, as though every thing depended upon it. The case of the ancient world was hopeless, long before Noah went into the ark; yet he persisted in practising and preaching holiness to a careless and hard-hearted race of sinners, till