whose authority it was conferred, of the end and the purpose for which it was bestowed, and of the account they must one day give unto Him, whose stewards they are. I believe that a remembrance of what the church commits to them, and of what she expects from them, would give an earnestness and reality to their ministrations, which would support and encourage them, under many difficulties, and it is on those, and not on mere secular advantages, (which the world gave, and the world can take away,) that they can alone rely under all circumstances.

I will not, at present, trespass further on your patience, but hope, on some future, though not distant occasion, to resume the consideration of this all-important subject, the carrying out, in their daily walk, both by clergy and laity, what I have now only imperfectly suggested, "the adorning of the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things." For we, the clergy, shall not "save ourselves and them that hear us," unless "we take heed to ourselves and to the doctrine, and continue in them," "for in doing this, (says the Apostle,) thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee." The salvation of his own soul, is to every man the first and most important object; but the circle of duty enlarges with our connexions. A family brings upon us a multiplied responsibility; but oh! the awful account that ministers of large congregations will have to render for those who perish through their neglect ! Still the laity should be disposed and desirous and ready to profit by our ministrations. And they should be ready, too, to work together with us, in all plans which are designed to advance the honour and glory of Almighty God, and the well-being of mankind here and hereafter.

I confidently hope that in the solemn and important work which, as your Pastor, I have now undertaken, I may calculate on your kind indulgence, your heartfelt sympathy, your willing, active, untiring co-operation, and your daily, fervent prayers. There will be work enough for us all, in the moral and religious improvement of our less favoured brethren, and in works of charity. Let us take it quietly, hopefully, and prayerfully, and in humble dependence on the Spirit of grace; let all be done in the Spirit of love and peace. For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace and concord.

SERMON IX.

PROVERBS XVI. 31.

"THE HOARY HEAD IS A CROWN OF GLORY, IF IT BE FOUND IN THE WAY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS."

SINCE We met here on Sunday last, an event has occurred in this parish which has plunged several families into the deepest sorrow; "a hoary head, and one that was found in the way of righteousness," has been withdrawn from our fond and reverential gaze,-I allude to the demise of that venerable lady* who had, for more than half a century, been a member of this parish, and whose remains were consigned to the silent tomb on Friday last. Few have descended to the grave more universally regretted than our deceased friend. In all her relations of life, as a wife, a mother, a grandmother, an aunt, a neighbour, or a friend, she was most exemplary; she was zealous in the discharge of every public and private duty, a pattern of all that is good, deeply attached to the Church, of which she was a consistent member; of unaffected piety; and of genuine kindness of heart. She has left behind her

* MRS. WORDSWORTH, of Rydal Mount, who died January 17th.

a name which will long be held in affectionate veneration by all classes of the community. It was most delightful

and edifying to witness her calm, placid, and cheerful submission to the will of her Heavenly Father under that most trying privation,-the loss of sight. She was evidently in a

could say, "all the days

waiting attitude. Like holy Job, she of my appointed time will I wait, until my change come." For my own part, I have lost a kind and valued friend,—one whom I had known many years, and who had been, for more than thirty years, a constant and consistent member of my late dear little flock. Of her character and life I hope to say more in the body of this discourse. But, before I begin, I would remind you that this pious lady had survived, by nearly nine years, her venerable husband, whose name is associated with the scenes of well nigh every locality of this district, and whose literary works are read and admired not only in this country, but in different and distant portions of the globe.

There is not perhaps on earth a nobler spectacle than that which is presented by virtuous old age; and if there was always an increase of piety corresponding with that of years, then would seniority both merit and obtain that reverential deference which is given to it as well by the Pagan moralist as the Christian teacher. But man walketh in a vain shadow, in truly a slippery path, and is in perpetual danger of falling; the way of righteousness is beset with difficulties, and Christ himself has assured us, that "strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and that few there be who find it." Thus it happens that the hoary head is not always a crown of glory. Too often are sins more numerous than the grey hairs; and virtues thinly scattered as the black ones.

When this is the case; when the iniquity of the soul grows in strength, as the decrepitude of the body increases, then does the wrinkled brow become a deformity, and the hoary head a stigma of disgrace. But to our late respected friend these words may with truth and sincerity be applied. "The hoary head" was, indeed, "a crown of glory," as it was ever "found in the way of righteousness." The task, no doubt, assigned to man is not easily performed, and small is the number of those who, like her, grow wiser and better as they advance in years. It is not every one who can refrain from turning to the right hand or the left; it is not every one who can recollect, that nothing is to be added to or taken from the Word of God; it is not to be remodelled and accommodated to our own taste or plans; it is unchangeable as its Divine Author. And happy that it is so, for one of the defects of all human institutions is their mutability, and the difference existing between them, even in places and times, not far remote from each other. But the law of God is one and the same, and when man transgresses, it is not from uncertainty and doubt. The candidate for immortality has, in fact, no reasonable ground for murmuring at the difficulties of the course prescribed to him. It becomes not the Christian pilgrim to repine at the tediousness of his journey, or to shrink from the asperities which retard and imbitter his progress in the path of duty; which, in scriptural language, is walking with God, in a narrow line of Divine appointment, commencing in goodness, sanctioned by wisdom, and ending in honour, glory, and immortality.

Could we imagine that a Being of infinite wisdom and benevolence had, in an arbitrary and tyrannical manner, appointed a race to be run, a warfare to be accomplished, which