SERMON XXIV*.

ON RELIGIOUS RITES,

ISAIAH, vi. 7.

"And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged."

THESE, my brethren, are the concluding words of a very sublime passage, in which the prophet Isaiah describes a remarkable vision which had been presented to him, and the feelings which it had given rise to in his mind. "In the year (says he)

* Preached after the Communion,

that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims; each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar; and he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged."

I have chosen the words, from the natural reference which they bear to the late solemn occasion of our assembling in this place. We, too, like the prophet, were in the temple of the Lord, and we beheld him in spirit sitting upon his lofty throne. We, too, were admitted into the presence of celestial beings, and we heard the blessed in heaven, and the good upon earth, crying one unto another, and saying, "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory" In that hour, my brethren, which of us did not feel the self-abasement of the prophet, and say in his heart? "Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts." Yet the altar before which we were assembled was the altar of mercy and redemption; and the bread of life which "touched our

lips" conveyed to our consciences a stronger assurance than even the live coal, or the voice of the seraph," that our iniquity is taken away, and our sin purged."

The subject into which I am led by these reflections, is the consideration of two prevailing sentiments, which the meditations, and the more solemn ceremonies of religion, naturally inspire; sentiments which are productive, in particular, of the best consequences, when we rise from the altar of our Saviour. The first sentiment which the contemplation of religious objects inspires, is a deep sense of their dignity, and of our littleness. Whether we look abroad through nature, and trace the Deity in the magnitude of his works; in the sun which flames above our heads; in the splendour of the starry heayens; or in the rolling billows of the deep; or, when retiring from the contemplation of nature, we look into the depths of the

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Divine Providence; the laws by which a moral creation is upheld; the traces of the Divine hand in the course of human affairs; and especially the stupendous scheme of revelation; on such occasions, we are struck with an overpowering sense of the excelling glory of the Lord, and are lost in equal astonishment at our own littleness and imperfection. It is then, that, with the prophet, we behold the train of the magnificence of God filling the temple of earth and of heaven; and that, with the psalmist, we cry aloud, "What is man, that thou art mindful of him; and the son of man, that thou visitest him ?" It is then, too, that we feel struck with a sense of our offences, of our imperfect and wandering exertions in the service of this mighty and all-bounteous God; and that we feel the full force of the sentiment of Isaiah, "Woe is me! for I am undone; be cause I am à man of unclean lips."