will have to render of the employment of his talents, after they are gone: and where can he be so effectually reminded of these circumstances in his situation, as in those books, which contain the will and the law of God? Where else can he be so authoritatively instructed in the duties of humility, charity and devotion? Where can he behold such edifying examples of the exaltation of humble piety, or the downfal of sinful pride, and the instability of all human affairs? To be impressed with these sentiments, it is not enough to hear a lesson occasionally read in public. We must be in the practice of habitually studying our Bibles in private, and meditating on every fact, precept and doctrine, which bears upon our peculiar infirmities and temptations; and acquire a habit of attending to the divine instructions, reproofs and promises, with faith, as addressed to ourselves. The intercourse of our Lord with different classes of people, was so variegated and familiar, that there are few situations in which we can be placed, that may not remind us of something similar in the life or conversation of Christ. When this coincidence occurs to our minds, either in active life, or while we read the Gospels, we should ask ourselves, how would Jesus have behaved, or what would have been his sentiments in such a case: how did he actually conduct himself when similarly circumstanced; and have we acted in such occurrences, conformably to his

example. It is thus, that the word of God becomes a check on the passions of mankind; and by a silent but continual operation, produces an effect infinitely more powerful than any single impulse, however violent and impressive. Every gentle persuasion, and every awful warning, is continually working upon millions of minds, and insensibly moulding the world to a conformity with the Divine will. "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you; for inasmuch as ye have shown mercy to one of the least of these my brethren, ye have shown it unto me."* These gracious words have been food to the hungry, clothes to the naked, a shelter to the stranger, and a shield to the oppressed; medicine to the sick, and relief to the prisoner, in every land, and in every succeeding age. They are still the charter of the poor and feeble; a law to the affluent and powerful; and the source, which supplies the demands of public and private charity, throughout the world.

Now, if this duty be binding on the most elevated ranks in society, and so beneficial to the virtuous, pious and enlightened, it must be still more profitable to those, who are destitute of other means of instruction, and other guards against sin.

* Matt. xxv. 34.

Let us, then, inquire what advantages accrue to the poor, from the habitual perusal of the sacred volume.

I believe, I may venture to assert, that, in point of intellectual, moral and religious acquirements, there is a greater difference between a man in the lower rank of life, who has never read his Bible, and another, who has studied it habitually and piously, than between this last, and the most learned man in the nation. The mind of the first is a perfect vacuum, as to spiritual qualities and endowments; or, if not a vacuum, it is a chaos. Except some vague, instinctive principle, or rather feeling, of moral obligation, and some hearsay notion of God, he is a stranger to morals and piety. As to the conduct of Providence, and the history of mankind, he has not a notion of them, beyond the period of his own existence; and, if he be so completely enveloped in darkness concerning this life, he must be totally destitute of any conception of a life to come.

The humblest rustic, on the other hand, though he be a herdsman, or a shepherd, on the side of a remote mountain, who is in the habit of assiduously and seriously perusing his Bible, is possessed of treasures of knowledge and wisdom, which can be undervalued only by those, who are ignorant of them, or those, to whom they are so familiar, that they forget, or overlook the sources, from which they have been derived.

He knows all that is known by the wisest man upon earth, of the Divine Nature. The existence, attributes and providence of God, are his daily study; and his works are displayed before his eyes. The scenes of nature are, indeed, displayed before the visual organs of all men; but they are exhibited to his mental eye. He knows, that they had a beginning, and is equally assured, that they will come to an end; and he is also certain, that they are the works of One, who has neither beginning of days, nor end of years. He is taught the benevolent uses, for which they are designed; and how they demonstrate the wisdom, power and goodness of their Creator: and what more does the wisest philosopher know than this? Make out an account of all his surplus knowledge, and what does it amount to? The rustic is as well informed, on the creation and final dissolution of the world, as the most learned speculatist, after all our systems of cosmogony. He is conversant with all the authentic information, that any man possesses, of the conduct of Providence in the government of nations; and his Bible, from the beginning to the end, impresses him with an indelible conviction, that every event of life is subject to the control of the Divine Being. He has seen the whole chain of the dispensations, which God has vouchsafed to man. As he has learned his own origin, so he can look forward to his end and destination, with as much substantial know

ledge, and more confirmed assurance, than the man of letters; and, with respect to a future state, he has all the intelligence, that the ablest divine can pretend to. He has continually in his hands a complete system of morals, adapted to every situation, and enforced on his mind by divine authority. He has, in his heart and on his lips, the sweetest consolation, and the firmest support in temptation, danger and calamity; and he can look upon death with a degree of satisfaction, to which the bravest hero or the sturdiest stoic is a stranger.

This whole view of creation, providence and grace, this comprehensive system of morality and practical religion, piety to God, social duty to his brethren of mankind, and prudential maxims for the government of his passions, and the wise and liberal conduct of his personal concerns, are laid before him in the simplest, most elegant, and most impressive form; dispersed through the historical books of the Old Testament, accumulated in the poetical, didactic and prophetical. Scriptures, and delivered in the most alluring and captivating style in the Gospels. In fine, he has all the virtues reduced to practice and held up as objects of love and admiration, and every frailty, vice and crime exposed to reprobation, in the minute and interesting histories of the most distinguished men of different ages; and the most edifying instruction brought home to

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