SERMON XXXIV. ACTS, xxvii. 34. Wherefore I pray you to take some meat: for this is for your health for there shall not an hair fall from the head of any of you. WHEN We assemble in this place to pray to God, and to be reminded of our duties towards him and towards each other, it is very certain that in one sense we ought to leave all worldly thoughts entirely behind us. Not only should all evil feelings be laid aside, all passions of pride, of anger, of lust, of covetousness,-all such things as at no time, and under no circumstances, ought to harbour in a Christian's bosom; but other feelings not wrong in themselves, and in their own season good and useful, would be out of place and mischievous here. I mean, for instance, the worldly rewards or consequences of good conduct :-the wealth, a Preached on receiving the account of the first appearance of the spasmodic cholera at Sunderland. I the honours, or the general good opinion, which often follow on the diligent discharge of our several duties, on industry, on a proper exertion of our talents, and on general uprightness and benevolence. These feelings would be mischievous here, because they would stand in the way of something better. We come here to learn to think of God, of his rewards, of the honour that comes from Him, of the judgment which He will pass upon all our thoughts, and words, and deeds. say, that we come here to learn to think of these things; for this is a lesson in which, I fear, we are none of us as yet perfect enough. It may be, that, to a perfect Christian, life in all its relations would be so thoroughly imbued, if I may so speak, with the Spirit of God, that thoughts of earthly blessings would never be separated from the thought of their Author; that the angels of God had been so long ascending and descending between heaven and earth, that the two were become as one; and the man's life on earth was in fact a life virtually passed in heaven. If there be any such, to them the word "worldliness," in its bad sense, has altogether lost its meaning: all their thoughts and all their feelings glorify God equally. But to us common men, this truly divine liberty of the Spirit is no rule for us; our thoughts of earth are still earthly; our love of earthly things must be checked, nay, excluded sometimes altogether, lest it should stifle entirely in our hearts the love of God. In this sense, then, worldly thoughts should be left behind us, when we assemble in the house of prayer. Worldly pleasures, however pure,-even the purest of all, those of the esteem and affection of the good and the wise, should be shut out of our hearts, if possible, now. But worldly thoughts, in another sense, we must not shut out; for if we do, we meet here almost in vain. I mean, that our particular worldly duties must be closely present to us: we must remember who we are, and what we have to do; what are the temptations which are most likely to threaten us, what the duties which we find it hardest to practise. We must do this, or we cannot apply what we hear to our souls' profit; nay, we shall make our prayers very often a mere empty sound. Without this, our devotion is in the utmost danger of becoming fantastic and foolish: for neither moral truth nor intellectual is to be gained without a knowledge of particulars. And, therefore, to shun all thought of our own actual condition in common life, and of the state of the world around, is not wise nor is it enough to recollect our general circumstances as men and as Christians, without also dwelling on our particular state, as living in such a time and in such a country, in such a station of life, and with such and such public and private duties calling upon us to fulfil them. In this sense, then, your thoughts here may, and ought to be, worldly, and our preaching also should be worldly: that is, we should both think, not indeed upon what we have to enjoy here, but on what we have to do here. And if unwonted public circumstances render our duties also peculiar, if we live at a time when especial trials are threatening, then it is unwise to neglect these appointed opportunities of arming ourselves with the armour of God, of considering what our enemy is, that so we may understand with what weapon he may be best resisted. I need not tell you that this is a marked time; a time such as neither we, nor our fathers for many generations before us, have experienced. And to those who know what the past has been, it is no doubt awful to think of the change that we are now about to encounter; a change, awful indeed for the present, and very trying; but out of which the Christian, whether he judges from reason and experience only, or looks further to the light of God's word, has abundant reason to hope that the cause of Christ will signally triumph. In considering, then, what part of the Scripture might furnish us with the lessons most needed in this season, I was particularly struck with what is - recorded of St. Paul's behaviour in the dangers of storm and shipwreck. This behaviour is such a perfect union of piety and manliness, it is at once so strengthening, so composing, and so cheering, that I could not forbear laying it before you on this present occasion, for your benefit, I trust, and for my own. None of us, perhaps, have witnessed,-but all, surely, can fancy,-that nothing can be more dreadful, more trying to the firmness and to the spirits of those who are unused to it, than a dangerous storm at sea. We can understand, too, that, in St. Paul's time, owing to the greater ignorance of navigation, the danger would be even greater than at present. But, amidst all this, the language of the Apostle is perfectly firm and encouraging. And the secret of his confidence was, no doubt, his habitual trust in God; his being able to say, and not to say only, but to feel, that he was God's, and served God. But what is important to us to notice is, that there is nothing like enthusiasm, in the bad sense, in his conduct; nothing at all like exciting the feelings of his companions, and so giving them a momentary strength, to be succeeded immediately afterwards by a more helpless weakness. His language is sensible and manly; his counsels are the very best that a brave and wise man could give under the circumstances, retaining his own presence of mind, and thus en |