i W%F jpi JHy ■.IfcA **

DISCOURSE VII. 125 not, perhaps, be difficult to mew, that it is placed there as the original fource of all the enormities which follow : for it is not to be fuppofed, that men will violate the principles of religion, the dictates of confcience, the laws of order and virtue, without fome mo- tive of a felfifh kind, fome proipecl, however delufive, of intereft or pleafure. In the words of our text, St. Paul fore- warns his favourite difciple of a remarkable Recline of piety and virtue, which was un- happily to take place, even in the times of the Gofpel, which are here denoted by the laft daysy a phrafe frequently ufed in this fenfe by the facred writers. It is generally fuppofed, that the Apoftle has in view the great alteration that was made in the face of the Chriftian Church, between the reigns of Nero and Trajan ; during which period, it is well known, that many profeflbrs of the Gofpel difhonoured the facred name they bore, by an odious apoftafy, both from the purity of the Chriftian faith, and the fancYity of Chriftian morals. It were ardently to be wifhed that this re- proach could only be call upon the times of Nero 126 DISCOURSE VII. Nero and Trajan ! But where mall we find a period in which the workings of an irre- gular felf-love have not rendered the times, more or lefs, perilous, nay, pernicious both to the repofe of individuals, and to the public tranquillity ? And yet how little are we on our guard againft the love of ourfelves ? How little are we fenfible of the degree of guilt with which it may become chargeable, and of the enormities to which it may imper- ceptibly lead ? Regarding felf-love in general as an innocent, and even a necefTary principle, how rarely do we diftinguifh between its law- ful indulgence and its irregular impulfions — between its ufes and its abufes ! And how little are we aware, that from this principle, ill- underftood, and blindly followed, all our dif- orders and all our tranfgreflions derive their origin. It is but too palpable, that the workings of an irregular felf-love are more or lefs to be found in every individual. If its enormities are manifeft in egregious tranfgrefTors, its influence will fometimes delude even good minds, in a certain degree, and imperceptibly mingling itfelf with fentiments and actions which DISCOURSE VII. 127 which are efTentially good, it will corrupt, more or lefs, the purity of our principles and motives, and wound the integrity of the moral and religious character in a variety of ways. This confideration mould lead us to lend a proper attention to a fubjecl in which we are all intimately concerned, and in the difcuffion of which we fhall fucceffively con- fider, I. The nature of a regular felf-love, and the principles to which it muft be fubordinate, in order to render its indulgence lawful: — II. The abufes by which the love of our- felves degenerates into that criminal affection, which the Apoftle condemns, as the fymptom of perilous times : — And, III. In what refpe&s this vicious felf-love renders the times, in which it pre- vails, truly perilous. I. That there is a principle of felf-love planted in the human breait, with which we are born, and which follows us habitually through the various fcenes of enjoyment, fuffering, and conduct:, in w r hich we are en- gaged, is no more to be denied than this felf-evident truth, that the defire of happinefs is 128 DISCOURSE VII. is natural to man. The love of ourfelves, confidered in general as an inftinctive defire of happinefs, is neither virtuous nor vicious ; but it may become'the one or the other, ac- cording to the views and principles by which it is directed. As it has for its object our prefervation and fubfiftence, it is neceffary ; — as it leads us to defire a certain portion of the external comforts and enjoyments of life, it is Innocent ;-*— as it excites us to maintain a good reputation, and animates to many efforts and actions which are advantageous to fociety, it is commendable, and becomes almoft virtuous ; — as it embraces that kind of happinefs which religion exhibits, thofe fublime promifes held forth in the Gofpel to animate our perfever- ance in the paths of virtue, it is the trueft wifdom : thus Mofes looked to the rccompence of reward *, and St. Paul prejfed forward to the mark for the prize of the high calling t. In a word, the general principle of felf-love, or the defire of happinefs, is a natural prin- ciple ; and, when it is well directed in the choice of its particular objects, moderate in * Heb. xl. 26. f Phil, Hi. 14. its DISCOURSE VII. 129 itspurfuits, and kept in a proper fubordination to other principles of equal authority and fu- perior dignity, which diftinguifh us as rational beings, ChrifUans, and citizens, it contributes both to our own happinefs and that of our fellow creatures. It muft, however, be obferved th3<- felf 'love, m the common acceptation of that- word, (and it is in this fenfe that we here c^nfider it,) is almoft always ufed to exprefs thofe defires and propenfities, which hnve for their objects our prefervation and fuitenance, the enjoyment of elevation, rank, and opulence, and the attainment of what may be called the perfonal advantages and external comforts of life. Now, even in this point of view, the principle of felf- love is both lawful and necef- fary. The great and bountiful Being, by whom we have been placed in this tranfitory ftate, permits us to employ a confiderable degree of attention and care in providing for our fubfiftence, and even in rendering life agreeable, by a proper enjoyment of the good things which his providence either directly bellows, or has placed within the reach of human induftry. He openeth his hand liber ally % K that 130 DISCOURSE VII. that his creatures may be filled with good*. He allows the purfuit of riches, honours, and even of thofe pleafures which may be derived, in fuch a rich variety and abundance, from a wife and temperate ufe of the gifts of his bounty, in the different conditions and rela- tions of human life. But, at the fame time, all thefe natural workings of felf-love mull be kept within their proper bounds : — what bounds ? the bounds prefcribed to them by our characters as religious and fociable beings. The Father of fpirits has made man for nobler ends than thofe which come within the fphere even of an innocent and lawful felf-love ; and you mull acknowledge, that a perfon, of whom we can fay no more, than that he fub- fifts, and enjoys rich abundance of all thofe things that can pleafe his fancy, and gratify his external fenfes, exhibits to us a very mean and ignoble character, even though talents and genius embellimed, more or lefs, his felfifh career, and he were free from the re- proach of enormous depravation and iniquity. To this depravation and iniquity, however, * Pfalm civ. 28. an DISCOURSE VII. I3r an irregular and unreftrained love of ourfelves naturally leads as we fhall {hew in the proper place. There are, then, three great lines in the character and relations of mau, which are defigned to regulate and to keep in fubordina- tion the workings of felf-love ; and thefe are, the love of God, or true religion — the love of our neighbour, or true benevolence — and the love of the country or community to which we belong, i. e. true and genuine patriotifm. In thefe three great relations, and the fenti- ments and duties which are connected with them, the true dignity, happinefs, and glory of human nature properly confift ; and if men were attentive to thefe relations, and to the folemn demands they have upon our fenti- ments and actions, then felf-love (which is perpetually crying out, Who will Jhew us any good?) would be directed in its purfuits to the true fources of felicity. Then the irregular and unhappy exceffes of a blind felf-love would be reftrained by enlightened views of true happinefs and perfection, and the love of ourfelves would be blended with the love of God, the love of order and virtue, the love of K 2 our i 3 2 DISCOURSE VII. our country, and the love of mankind. And then would ceafe thofe fatal abufes of a na- tural, innocent, and inextinguifhable principle, which defeat the intention of that principle, and render it, according to the doctrine of the Apoftle, the characteriftic of perilous and un- happy times. We therefore proceed, in the lid head, to confider the abufes, by which the natural principle of felf-love becomes irregular and criminal. — We have already obferved that this affection, confidered in a general point of view, is in itfelf neither vir- tuous nor vicious ; but that it may become the one or the other, in a very high degree, ac- cording to the views and objects by which it is directed in the purfuit of happinefs. Under the conduct of reafon and religion it is an in- centive to virtue and moral improvement, whofe ways are ways of pleafa?itnefs, and all whofe paths are peace * ; but under the blind impulfe of irregular paflions and a deluded fancy, it leads to all the exceffes of corruption and vice. In effect, how pernicious and irrational are the workings of felf-love, when * Prov. iii. 17. it DISCOURSE VII. 133 it is not dire&ed and influenced by the prin- ciples of religion and virtue ? What a variety of appearances and modifications does it aflume to delude and corrupt the mind ? Its various forms are long become a fubject of general complaint, and many, even of thofe who are chargeable with it themfelves, are zealous and warm in cenfuring it in others. — Confider, for a moment, fome of the princi- pal forms which felf-love afiumes, when it becomes irregular, and then you will eafily perceive, with what truth the ti??ies t in which it prevails, may be called perilous. 1. An innocent propenfity to provide that portion of the good things of life, which is requifite for our fubfiftence, or a decent fup- port in our refpective ftations, may become irregular and criminal by growing excejjive. It then degenerates into an avaricious defire of joining honfe to houfe and laying jield to. field* \ and creates a multitude of imaginary wants, which the moft anxious efforts of in- $uftry, and means often unfair and indelicate, * Ifaiah, v. 8. k 3 are 134 DISCOURSE VII. • are employed to fatisfy. It beftows upon the acquisition of opulence a degree of merit which is difproportioned to its real import- ance, confidered feparately from its beneficent ufesi and it is incompatible with a due and proper attention to acquifitions of a more momentous and excellent nature. With this firft form of an irregular felf-love, this anxious love of gain, the moft ignoble of all the paflions, many are chargeable ; and even fome who make no fmall pretentions to reli- gion and virtue : and there is fcarcely any other paffion whcfe indulgence is encouraged by io many fpecious pretexts, and whole de- formity fo many illufions are employed to conceal from thcfe whom it degrades. The obligations of prudence, piety, nay, even of beneficence, (applauded but unpractifed,) are often alleged to varnifh the turpitude of the covetous man. Hence many profelTed Chrift- ians imagine, that they have laid up their treafures in Heaven, and their hearts alfo ; when a more candid and intimate view of what palTes within them would make it ap- pear, that they have made gold their hope y and fay, DISCOURSE VII. 135 fay, with a predominant affection to fine gold) thou art my conjidence*. If we accuf- tomed ourfelves to examine, with imparti- ality, our inward feelings, and to compare our defires of worldly abundance with thofe which have for their object the culture of our minds, and the improvement of thofe reli- gious and virtuous habits, that conftitute the fupreme felicity of rational and immortal beings, what would be the refult of fuch an examination ? Many would, alas ! find, by a mortifying experience, that a groveling felf- love had gained an unhappy afcendant in their hearts ; and even good Chriftians, on fuch an exmination, would be frequently alarmed at the undue mare which the exter- nal goods of a tranfitory world have ufurped in their affections. 2. But the defire of gain is only one of thofe forms, under which an irregular felf-love de- ludes and degrades the mind. We obferved, in our former head, that the pleafures of fenfe, and the external comforts and enjoy- ments of life, which foften the feverity of * Job, xxxi. 24. k 4 ferious 136 DISCOURSE VII. ferious purfuits, and are feafonable recreations in the intervals of duty, were innocent ob- jects of a law r ul felf-Iove. But here, again, bow does the blind impulfe of an irregular felf-love corrupt the fources of enjoyment? This is the cafe, when the love of pleafure degenerates into a low fenfuality, or an effe- minate luxury ; — when, in the fearch after- tranquillity and reft, men fink into an in- glorious indolence and eafe ; — when tem- porary amufement degenerates into habitual dixTipat'on and idlenefs, fo that all improve- ment in knowledge and virtue is negle&ed, and all the higher faculties of the mind are debilitated and degraded by thefe ignoble pur- fuits. In fuch cafes felf-love becomes crimi- nal and irregular in a high degree. It extin- guifhes a zeal for active virtue and, public ufefulnefs, and :t perverts that natural defire of happinefs, to which reafon and religion offer fuch a fublime gratification, to objects of a frivolous nature, to pleafure? that have neither foltdity nor dignity, and which leave behind them dejection and languor. 3. It was obferved, above, that an honeft ambition, a defire of honours and elevation, was DISCOURSE VII. 137 was among the objects of a lawful felf-love : and this ambition, under the influence and direction of reafon and religion, is not ouly innocent, but may be highly and extenlively ufeful. But when it is leparated from thefe guides, and abandoned to the impulie of band and tumultuous paflions, how immoderate does it become ? How unjuft and irregular in all its workings and purfuits ? It fees no- thing too high for its pretenfions. It mea- fure its claims by prefumption inftead of merit. It engenders hatred, envy, perfidy, and vengeance ; and difdains no means that can accomplifh its purpofes. After confidering a corrupt felf-love in its erroneous purfuits of happinefs, let us con- fider it in another point of view, in which its influence and workings are perhaps (till more univerfal, and not lefs pernicious and fatal; I mean, in the delufion it produces in the minds of many with refpect to their real cha- racters and the ftate of their minds. While they are keenly attentive and fevere in judg- ing of others, it renders them negligent in examining themfelves. It makes them take for 13S DISCOURSE VIL for granted the goodnefs of their characters, without any careful or impartial inquiry into the true ftate of their hearts, the nature of their prevailing paffions, the fecret motives of their actions, and the real ends and pur- pofes they pnrfue in the conduct of life. What inftances of delufion do we meet with here ? A varnifh of innocence is given to vice, and even palpable defects are converted into virtues. Avarice becomes prudent ceco- nomy, fenfuality a liberal enjoyment of the comforts of life, prodigality a generous bene- ficence, indolence and idlenefs a harmlefs relaxation. And even where virtues are really poffefTed, the delufions of felf-love lead men to exaggerate their merit, to augment their number, and to imprint a character of fupe- riority and perfection on all their good quali- ties, talents, and advantages. It would be endlefs to follow the dangerous principle q£ .Jkl/tfknefs through ail the delu- fions to which it gives rife. We mail confine our obfervations on its deplorable effects to what the Apoftle fays of fuch a fpirit, when it gains ground and becomes prevalent; and, as DISCOURSE VII. 139 as we propofed in our third bead, mew in what fenfe it may be confidered as the mark of perilous times. III. The original word, which is rendered in our verfion by the word perilous, has two fignifications, which are nearly related, and are both applicable to thofe unhappy limes in which men are lovers of themfelvcs. It figni- fies difficult times, and dangerous times ; and you will ealily perceive in what fenfe the times, in which an irregular felf-love gene«» rally prevails, are both difficult and dan- gerous. 1. Such times are difficult. They are em- barrafling to righteous and good men in all the ranks and ftations of human life. They, whofe zeal for the advancement of religion and the public good is warm and active, find in fuch times peculiar difficulties. They are difcouraged from forming many ufeful and falutary plans, by the oppolitions which they have to encounter in the avarice of fome, and the envy or ambition of others. They muft ftruggle, in every generous and ufeful meafure they propofe, againft feljijhnefs> in a great va- riety i4-o DISCOURSE VII, riety of forms ; and, in a multitude of cafes, in which the public good is palpably and elTen- tially concerned, it requires more than human power to defeat the perfidious ftratagems or the open efforts of that corrupt and pernicious principle. Such times are alfo, in the more contracted fphere of private life, difficult and embar- raffing to every individual. Where is the man of piety, wifdom, and integrity, who has not much to fuffer from the felfifh hu- mours and prejudices of his neighbours ; nay, even of his friends, if lovers of themfelves can deferve that title ? Does not his inflexible vir- tue often pafs for obftinacy, in their eftima- tion ; his piety for enthufiafm, his counfels for infults, his reafons for prejudices, when they happen to oppofe the irregular workings of an arrogant and prefumptuous felf-love ? Is it not in the times when this vicious prin- ciple prevails, that the Chriftian is obliged to take up the crofs of his fuffering Mafter, and to follow the laws of his Gofpel and the dic- tates of his own confcience, through much oppofuicn and various difficulties? But DISCOURSE VII. 141 But if this irregular felf-love renders the y times difficult, it renders them alfo dangerous^ highly fo to our heft and mod important interefts, fpiritual and temporal, private and public. The felfifh fpirit, as it has been already defcribed, is dangerons to the fpirit and in- terefts of religion ; — it is evidently adapted to retard its progrefs, nay even to extinguifti its facred flame in the heart of man. Ye cannot ferve God and Mammon, This is the decifion of our BlefTed Lord, and it is confirmed by daily obfervation. How can a heart, con- tracted by avarice, or inflamed with ambition, or polluted by fenfuality, or wholly occupied with worldly enjoyments and cares, raife its degraded faculties and affections to the con- templation of the greateft and beft of Beings, tafte the ferene and rational delights of com- munion with him, and elevate its views to the tranfporting profpe£t of a happy immor- tality ? How can a foul, deluded by felf* confidence and prefumption, perceive its tranfgreflions and failings, be fenfible of its remaining corruption, and come, with the •candid humility of the publican, to the Foun- 4 tain i 4 2 DISCOURSE VII. tain of mercy, to obtain that peace that pafT- eth underftanding ? How can a narrow and a felfifh fpirit permit the progrefs of active virtue and religious obedience, of the things that are true ', pure, honejl, and pralfc- worthy ', in the human heart ? And this ignoble fpirit muft be, of confe- quence, pernicious to the interefts of religion and its advancement in the world, And, accordingly, we fee how the interefts of reli- gion are promoted in thefe perilous times. There is no period of the world, in which God has not faithful fervants and labourers in his vineyard ; but againft what an enormous mafs of corruption are they not obliged to labour ? They find in their way, the tenets of infidelity and fc'epticifm, fondly adopted by vicious paffions, or by the pride of pre- tended fcience, both of which they nourifh and flatter : but this is not all — for, even among the profeflbrs of Chriftianity, they have to encounter an inordinate love of the world, and the felriih purfuit of its pleafures and advantages, which produce the mod un- happy effects on true religious zeal. Hence that cold indifference about religion, that in- attention DISCOURSE VII. 143 attention to its awful and eternal importance, that want of zeal for its propagation and in- terefts, which gain ground from day to day, and are as unaccountable as they are afflict- ing. Unaccountable and afflicting they muft indeed be, to thofe who know the falutary influence of true religion on human happi- nefs, in all the ranks, orders, and circum- ftances even of a prefent world. It would feem fcarcely pofnble, that thofe who are acquainted with the nature, and who believe the truths and promifes of this divine reli- gion, fhould be coldly affected tow T ards it; but the greateft contradictions become poffible, when felfifh and fenfual paffions have gained an alcendant in the mind. 2. From the dangerous tendency of a pre- vailing felfifhnefs to extinguish the vital fpirit of religion, we mull be perfuaded of its dan- gerous, nay, its fatal influence on the happi- nefs and profperity of a country. It is evi- dent, that the fpirit of true religion, which nourifhes in the foul the love of mankind, as well as the love of God, and renders men attentive to all their relations, private and public, and to the duties they require, muft be i 4 4 DISCOURSE VII. be the natural fource and the beft fupport of public felicity. This is that righteoufnefs •which exalteth a nation , renders its rulers wife and refpectable, and its inhabitants obe- dient, united, and happy. It is evident, on the contrary, that a felfifh fpirit extinguifhes a generous zeal for the public good, and con- fines the whole attention of men to the nar- row circle of their private intereft, and the low fphere of their fenfual pleafures and en- joyments. — But this is not all: for this felfifh fpirit, which is avaritious, contentious, afTurn- ing, and ambitious, produces, as its natural fruits, that: difunion, that oppofition of in- terests, thofe jealouiies and factions, thofe fecret frauds, and that low venality, that fap the foundations of public order and national felicity. Let thefe confi derations, therefore, engage us to watch over our own hearts; for, in confequence of the principle which we have been now defcribing, they may become deceit- ful, deceived, and even defperately wicked*. Let us look with a cautious eye of reflexion * Jerem. xvii. 9. to DISCOURSE VII. 145 to the motions and fu^geftions of that prin- ciple, which, in its regular application, is fo effential to our happinefs, but under the guidance of corruption and paflions, is fo fatal to our true and eternal intere(ts. Let us direct this principle by the dictates of reafon, enlighten it by the word of unerring truth, iubmit it to the purifying influence of Divine Grace, and blend its effufions with the love of God and cf mankind, with the love of order and virtue. Thus, and thus only, can felf-love anfwer its true deftination, and attain its nobleft object, which is the improvement of our nature in what confiitutes its real per- fection and felicity. By blending itfelf with that charity, which fetketh not its own, it will obtain its own, in the mod effectual manner : by facrificing its will to the will of God, it will gain, beyond expreiTion, inftead of lofing ; by renouncing the advantages of the world, it will often obtain the mod precious treafure ; and by abftaining, on the proper cccalions, from its pleauires, it will both augment and ennoble the fources of its enjoy- ment. Thus purified in its principle, and directed in its exercife, felf-love will become l one 146 DISCOURSE VII. one with the love of God and the love of mankind; — and when faith fhall be loft in fight and hope in enjoyment, it will remain in a delightful alliance with charity, which never fails ; — with that charity which is the end of the commandment, the common bond of union and fource of felicity to all rational and moral beings, under the immortal empire of Him y whofe ejfence is Love* [ HI ] DISCOURSE VIII. On the Love of God, as it difpels or modifies the Fears of the Christian. t John, iv. i3» THERE IS NO FEAR IN LOVE : BUT PERFECT LOVE CASTETII OUT FEAR ; BECAUSE FEAR HATH TORMENT: HE THAT FEARETH IS NOT MADE PERFECT IN LOVE. •t-a ear is the moft difquieting and painful •*■ of all the paffions : and of all the different kinds of fear, none is fo unfuppcrtable, when it is carried to a high degree, as that which has for its objects the juuice df God, and the awful moment when death places man before a future tribunal. Hence it is, that we find L 2 in i 4 S DISCOURSE VIII. in the records of all ages and nations, anxious efforts perpetually employed to get rid of this fear, and to render tjie Judge of the world propitious. Hence the gloomy, and, fometimes, cruel inventions of fuperilition. Hence thofe exclamations, proceeding from the terrors of conference ; Wherewith fjall I come before the Lord, and pre [cut my f elf before the mofl high God? Shall I come before him with burnt- offerings ? Shall I give him my frfl- born for my tranfgrefjions, the fruit of my body for the fin of my foul? — Such, in a Itate of tormenting perplexity, were the fruitlefs ex- clamations of ignorance and fuperftition ; and {infill man was Hill held in the bondage of terror. Among the precepts of Pagan wif- dom we find, fometimes, fplendid views of the excellence of virtue, but no fure founda- tion of tranquillity and hope for the alarmed confeience, when its laws had been tranf- greffed. The Sage of the Stoics, (an ideal fort of being,) who was fuppofed to be above the infirmities of humanity, was, indeed, proudly conlidered as the favourite of Heaven ; but dark and defperate was the profpect of thofe who had not attained to the pretended per- 7 fection DISCOURSE VIII. 149 fection of this fublime but vifionary model. Thus we fee the infufliciency of unaflifted philofophy for the confolation of weak and finful man, expofed to the remorfe and terrors of conference; and, above all, the ne- ceflity of a divine Revelation, in which God, reconciling ike ivorld to himfelf by a pofitive difpenfation of reanflion and mercy, mould difpel the fears of penitent offenders. This difpenfation was, in effect, manifefted, in all the attracting forms of Divine love and benig- nity, to a finful world by the Son of God. Peace on earth and good-will to men were announced, at his birth, confirmed by his miniftry, and ratified by his crofs. And it is upon this foundation that every true Chriftian may adopt the language of the Apoftle in our text, and fay, with humble, and alfo with joyful confidence, There is no fear in love ; perfect love cajleth out fear. In the farther illuitration of this paffage, we (hall, in ihef/f place, examine what ttrat love is, to which fuch an eminent privilege is here affigned. Secondly, We mail confider the nature and extent of this privilege, and l 3 mew i 5 o DPS COURSE VIII. jfhew how, and in what refpedts, love is adapted to caft out fear. I. If we attend to the tenour of the Apoftle's reafoning in this chapter, we (hall be naturally led to underftand here, by the word love, our love to the Supreme Being, which is mod affec^r, •} dcfcribed through the whole of this Epiftle, both in the mo- tives which excite and nourifh it, and the fruits which effentially proceed from it. This is evident- from the verie which immediately follows our text, where the Apoflle fays, V\ r e love him, bccaiifc hefrfl loved us. It is farther obfervable, that it is not merely love but perfect love, which the Apoflie re- prefents as cafiing out fear. But let not the fmcere and humble mind be difcouraged, when it fees perfection laid down as the cha- racter of that love to which fuch a precious and happy influence is attributed in our text. Perfection, flri&ly fpeaking, is not attainable in the exercife of any virtue in a prefent flate, and therefore it is love in a high degree of improvement, vigour, and perfeverance, that the Apoflle has in view in the words before USo DISCOURSE VIII. 151 US. If, in order to remove our fears, and to render us acceptable in the eye of God, am abfolute perfection in love were required, who could hope for the favour of Him, in whofe fight (as the Pfalmift fublimely ex- prerTes it) the heavens are not pure ', and ivho charges, even, his angels with imperfection and folly? It is, accordingly, remarkable, that the term perfcclion is of the fame import with fincerity in innumerable paffages of the facred writings ; and it is this fincerity which is the vital principle of religion, and the great bond of communion between imperfect man and his merciful Creator. It is alfo the effen- tial character of fincerity to make fuch a progreffive improvement in every virtue, as tends really towards perfection, and will be crowned with it at the proper feafon. It fup- pofes that, according to our refpective means and capacities, we are zealous in cultivating, through grace, thofe fentiments of veneration and love, which aie due to the greateft and bed of Beings, that fervent gratitude which his paternal goodnefs and mercy are io adapted to excite, that humble and joyful L 4 conn- if 2 DISCOURSE VIII. confidence in his precious promifes, which animates love, and . produces, as its proper fruits, resignation to his will, and a ch earful obedience to his holy and righteous laws. — ■ This is that love of God which is called perfect by the Apoflde ; becaufe, when it is exerclfed with that fincerity which implies affiduous culture and improvement, it acquires all that ftrength and perfection of which it is fufceptible in this ftate of infancy and trial. Now, it is the privilege cf perfect love, thus denned, to cafi out fear ; and the precife nature and extent of its happy influence in this refpect, we come now to conlider, in the fecond and principle head of this Difcourfe. II. 'There is no fear in love, faith St. John ; — perfecJ love cafleth out fear. At firft fight, this affirmation feems to contradict feveral paiTages of Scripture, in which fear is repre- sented as a religious affection, as the beginning of 'w'fdom ; as a falutary principle of piety and obedience ; and in which, confequently, that man is pronounced blejfed, who fear eth always. But this feeming contradiction will entirely vanifn, when we confider with atten- tion, DISCOURSE VIII. 153 don, what kind of fear that is, which love cafidh out ; and how far the influence of love extends in this refpecl. 1. The fear of God is often ufed in the Sacred Writings to exprefs the lentiments of profound refpect and awe, which are due to the Supreme Being, confidered as the righteous Lord and Governor of the uni- verfe ; and it is not furely this pious affeclicn, which the love of Him, who is the greatejl y as well as the bcfl of Beings, is adapted to extinguifh, or even to diminim, in the mind of man. Chriilians, indeed, are railed, by redemption and grace, to the happy title and privileges of the children of God ; but do they ceafe, on that account, to be the moral fubjecls of his awful empire? While they love him as a Father, are they under no obligation to revere him as a fudge ? This can never be the cafe with true Chriftians. Love and awe are congenial fentiments, when grandeur and goodnefs, authority and mercy are united in their object. : and while, in the contemplation of the Divine goodnefs, the Chriftian calls out, with an effufion of love, be joyful in the Lord, all ye lands, he will fay, 154 DISCOURSE VIII. fa y, at the fame time, in his views of the fanclity and majefty of God, Who would not fear thee, King of Nations ? Certainly, my brethren, a profound veneration for that Great Being, whofe nature is fan&ity and order, and of whofe throne righteoufnefs is the eternal foundation, is the bads Of all true religion. It is only after having revered him as the Judge of the world, that we can love him truly as the merciful Father and Saviour of men. It is the folemn majefty of the tribunal of juftice, that adds a peculiar Juftre to the mild glory of the throne of grace, and blends, in fuch a manner, pious awe with reviving gratitude and hope, as to make the good man both tremble and rejoice In the prefence of his God. — Hence the Sacred "Writers underhand, by the fear of God, piety in general, or, in other words, that reverential fear of the heft of Beings, which is a powerful, and even an ingenuous incentive, to univerfal obedience. It cannot, therefore, be this kind of fear, which love cafleth out, 2. But there is another kind of fear, the confederation of which will lead us to the pre- cife DISCOURSE VIII. 155 clfe meaning of the Apoftle in our text ; and this is the painful dread of the juftice of God, and of the puniihment it referves for the un- righteous in an awful futurity. This fear, when excited only hy the anguifh and defpair of a wounded confcience, which dreads the puniihment without revering the judge, is certainly incompatible with the love of God, which is characlerifed by St. John in the verfe preceding our text, as inspiring boldnefs in the day of judgment ; by which is meant, that it encourages the Chriftian to behold the future tribunal of his Saviour with an humble and ingenuous confidence, arifing from the pro- mifes which are made to faith working by love and fincere obedience. The fentiment oppo- fite to this ingenuous and filial confidence is a fervile fear, in its various characters of anxious diffidence, terror, and defpair, arifing from views of the juftice of God, which are not foftcned by a fenfe of his goodnefs or hope in his mercy. This, then, is the kind of fear from which fincere and predominant love preferves or delivers the true Chriftian. But is it then true, you may aik, that this prevalent love does, or ought to, deliver even the 156 DISCOURSE VIII. the good man, befet as he is with infirmities, and not always fecured againft actual tranf- greffions, from all fear of the Divine juftice, from tf// painful apprehenfions of a judgment to come ? — In anfwer to this queftion, we ■fliall proceed to confider, how far the love of God may be faid to modify this fear, and thus we ihall be able to form an accurate idea of the extent of its efficacy in this refpecl. And here we may cbferve that in the fear of Divine juftice there are different degrees^ and all thefe degrees are not inconfiftent with fin- cere love, nor are they entirely excluded by it, as you may conclude from what has been already hinted on this fubjecl. To frail, finful man (and where is the man that finneth not ?) the profpec"l of a judgment to come, and the confederation of the grear and important in- terefts which may be forfeited in an eternal world, are proper to excite ferious apprehen- fion, and, whether from infirmity or humility, to temper hope with a certain mixture of pious anxiety. Even the good man, when he compares his manifold omiflions and failings with the fandlity of the divine laws and the grandeur of his future deftination, will fome- times DISCOURSE VIII. 157 times have his dark and painful moments ; nor will even the humble confeioufnefs of his general perfeverance in a virtuous courfe al- ways bring immediate relief. He judges him- • felf with more fe-verity than he will be judged by His God, and, though really in a ftate of acceptance with his Heavenly Father, he will fay with the Pialmilt, Enter not into judgment zvitb thy fcrvant, Lord ; for in thy fghtfloall . no man living be jujlijitd. But all thefe anxie- ties are of a giaefpus kind : they are entirely conliftent with the fincere and ardent love of! God, if not connected with it ; and it is one-. of the edential characters of the true Chriftian, that he works out his own fiivati^n with fear and iremblitig. It is here that we may fay, B /cfed is the man that feareth always ! that is,*, who is pioufly anxious about his great interests in a future and eternal world, and who knows, from the equity of God's moral government, that as a man fws^ {o alio /hail he reap. The fear of Divine juftice, in this degree, is the - natural fruit of true piety, and is a falutary ■ guard to the good man. It excites vigilance and eircumfpecYion ; it animates repentance ; and it even co-operates with the love ot God, in 158 DISCOURSE VIII. in enfuring a fincere and perfevering obe- dience. But there is a degree of this fear which is totally incompatible with the love of God. This takes place when the fear of Divine jus- tice is extreme; when it degenerates into ter- ror ; when it covers the paternal afpect of the Father of Mercies from the view of the alarmed and defponding offender, and prefents only to his wounded fpirit the laws and the tribunal of the righteous Judge. It is this degree of fear, this fervile terror, that the Apoftle has evidently in view, when he fays in our text, that fear hath torment ; that is, it is the fling of remorfe accompanied with de- fpair. It is in this degree, fo long as it con- tinues, that fear is incompatible with love^ and can never produce a rational or ingenuous fervice. The one muft neceffarily deftroy the other. Servile terror excludes love. Perfect or fincere love cafteth out fervile terror, and fubftitutes in its place that prudent appre- henfion, that ingenuous fear, which will never remove confidence in God's mercyj nor boldnefs and humble hope in the day of judgment. Thus DISCOURSE VIII. 159 Thus you fee, that the love of God never excludes totally, that fear of Divine juftice which may lead to repentance; it only baniflies that fear which is attended with re- morfe and torment, without the falutary fruits of converfion and obedience. It will be worthy of our attention to con- fider, on this interefting fubject, how and to what extent the love of God produces this happy effect, and the different degrees in which its efficacy, in cafing out fear , is difplayed. It is manifeft that love produces this falutary effect, in greater or lefs degrees according to the meafure of its improvement and progrefs in the heart of the true Chriilian ; and victory over tormenting fear is only total and com- plete, when love is perfecl, that is, fmcere and predominant. What is meant by this general obfervation, may be illustrated by the follow- ing cafes and characters, taken from human life. I. The reclaimed tranfgreffor, who has but recently confidered his evil ways, and turned his feet to the Divine teflimonies^ will (bating peculiar circumftances or fuccours) be Uu completely delivered from painful fear, than the iGo DISCOURSE VIIi. the fervant of God, who has been long con- firmed in virtuous habits, increafing in love, and perfevering in a courfe of obedience. More efpecially if he has been an atrocious offender, the danger he has efcaped ftill alarms him ; he trembles ftill, more or lefs, at a reflexion on the punifhrnent his iniqui- ties have deferved ; and, when he confiders the fanclity of that God whom he has now chofen to ferve, his remaining corruption and infirmities will fometimes excite anxious feel- ings. Neverthelefs, the fources of comfort which difpel tormenting fear are at hand. His views of the Divine mercv, and his con- fcioufnefs of the grateful fentiments which this mercy excites in his heart, will gradually deliver him, more and more, from that fear which is accompanied with torment, and in- creafe his confidence in the Rock of bis fal- vation. i. But where is the man, however con- firmed both in his principles and practice, who may not, in a particular inftance, fall from his ftedfaftnefs before the power of temptation ? And if, at the fame time, he fell from his love, his condition would be deplor- able. DISCOURSE VIII. 161 able. But this will not be the cafe of the advanced Chriftian, who, by affiduous culture and the aids of grace, has carried his love of the beft of Beings to as high a meafure of improvement as is attainable in this imperfect ftate. When he falls from his ftedfaftnefs, it is the love of his Saviour and his God that will effect his recovery. It will melt his heart into a generous compunction at the view of offended goodnefs ; it will rife from compunction to new efforts of zeal and ar- dour in his virtuous courfe, and thus reftoring the fervant of God to the paths of duty, will reftore him, at the fame time, to the joy of his falvation. — Call your eye on St. Peter when he denied his Mafter ; it was indeed a dreadful moment, but how did this dread- ful moment affect him ? His confcience, no doubt, reported to him with a faithful feverity the enormity and aggravations of his crime ; but it was the love of his Mailer, more than the jujiice of his God, that was his inexpref- fible tormentor. He felt, no doubt, the pangs of remorfe ; but the anguiih of fear feems to have been totally abforbed in the forrows of love. He went out and •wept M bitterly ; i62 DISCOURSE VIII. bitterly ; for he who knoweth all things knew that he loved him* It is certain that the love of God, when in a high degree of improvement, as it is the nobleft, will be alfo the predominant, if not the fole principle of obedience to the good man in the general tenor of his life ; the mean of his recovery when he fails in duty, and the fource of his fubmiffion and comfort in the day of trial and adverfity. In this happy ftate of improvement, it will cajl out every kind of fear that brings torment^ and only leave in the heart of the Chriftian the filial and ingenuous fear of offending the celeftial Father whom he loves. And in this high degree of improvement, what a pleafing ftate of mind does it produce ? With what humble but ferene confidence will it en- courage the good man to look up to his God for protection and iupport ? To what fignal efforts of active obedience in the duties of life, and of patience and fubmiiTion in its calami- ties and trials, will it not animate the true Chriftian ? From St. Paul in affliction and chains, with the terrors of death and mar- tyrdom before him, it drew forth thofe effb- iions DISCOURSE VIII. 163 fiOns of triumphant hope ; / am peffuaded, that neither life nor death, principalities nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor things pre- fent nor things to come, nor any other creature^ fhall feparate me from the love of God y which is in fefus Chrijl my Lord, You fee, from the whole of this Difcourfe, how religion, or the love of God, which is its efTential and leading principle, reduces to perfect harmony affections which are dif- fimilar and, in appearance, difcordant. Un- der its influence and guidance, love is recon* cileable with fear ; confidence, with caution ; and the pleafing hope of immortality, with a falutary anxiety about our future and eternal interefts. It combines and blends thefe dif- ferent affections and qualities, fo as to make them conftitute precifely that moral character and temper of mind, which is fuited to our prefent ftate of imperfection and trial ; and thus they become the different parts of a whole, in which refides the true harmony of virtue. It is equally evident, that contra- diction and inconfiftency accompany and de- grade thofe natural affections which were implanted in us for ufeful purpofes, when M 2 they /■" 1 64 DISCOURSE VIII. they are not under the guidance of reafon and religious principle. Among thefe fear, which was defigned to be a prefervative againft evil and fuffering, may ferve as an example. How fatally is it mifplaced in a multitude of cafes ? More efpecially, how no- torioufly is it perverted in the minds of thofe, who dread the difpleafure of men, while they infult and violate, without apprehenfion or terror, the laws and majefty of God ; and of many who tremble at the profpect of death, while they go on fearlefs in the ways of folly and vice, which alone can render death terrible ? Let religion then be our facred guide in the exercife of our affections and in the con- duct of life. Let us, by an habitual con- templation of the Divine perfections in nature, providence, and the difpenfation of grace, nourifh that love of the beft of Beings, which comprehends in its nature and in its fruits every thing that can eftablifh order in our minds, rectitude in our conduct, and hope in our end. When the review of our tranfgrefiions difturbs our peace ; when the conicioufnefs of our infirmities diminifhes our 3 confi- DISCOURSE VIII. 165 confidence, and the profpecl: of death open- ing before us an awful eternity, alarms our apprehenfions, let us look up to him, whofe eflence is love, and who dwelleth in love 1 Then if our return of love to him, however imperfect, be humble and fincere, our peace fhall be eftablifhed, our confidence reftored, and our apprehenfions difpelled. Though all true Chriftians may not pofTefs a degree of confidence fo complete and triumphant as that which St. Paul derived from the love of God in its higheft improvement, they fhall, neverthelefs, enjoy that humble and comfort- able hope which renders fear filial and ingenu- ous, and, blending it with love in a growing progrefs, will render it the principle of a virtuous life here, and the anticipation of a happy and a glorious life hereafter. But thefe bleflings are unknown to obfti- nate and habitual tranfgreflbrs, who brave the juftice of God, and are unaffected by his goodnefs and mercy ; for there is no lafting peace or afluranee to the wicked. Nor can the noble privilege that is annexed by St. John to the love of God, in the words before us, be applied to thole whofe religious profeflion is m 3 little 166 DISCOURSE VIII. little animated by this divine principle. If neither profound veneration nor grateful love accompany their external attachment to the fer- vice of the greateft and beft of Beings ; if they have little tafte for the rational and elevated pleafure, which the contemplation of his per- fections and government is fo adapted to excite ; if they do not found their chief felicity on his precious and tranfporting promifes, and de- rive from them power and encouragement, to obey his commandments with a falutary mixture of pious joy and godly fear, can they be faid to poffeis that love that cqflcth out fer-r vile terror, and infpires boldnefs in the day of judgment ? No, certainly ; the barren profef- fion of Chriftianity is no fecurity againft the terrors of confcience, becaufe by fuch a pro- feffion the ultimate end of that divine Relir gion is not anfwered : for its BlefTed Author gave him/elf up for us, not only that he might redeem us from our iniquities, but alfo that he might purify unto himfelf a peculiar people %°.alous of good worfo. He came to reftore a fallen and corrupt nature to the love of order, and to the practice of thofe virtues which confirm our peace with God here, and lay the founda- DISCOURSE VIII. 167 foundations of an endlefs progrefs in moral perfection and felicity hereafter. — Happy, then, thofe who hear his voice, obey his laws, and take refuge in his mercy ! No fer- vile terror fhall trouble their tranquillity ; nor fhall the approach of death and judgment be able to remove their confidence. — The moun- tains may depart , and the hills may be removed^ but the loving-kindnefs and the promifes of the Lord fhall remain, and they that do the will of God Jhall endure for ever. Even in the valley of the fiadow of death they (hall be enabled to fay, with an humble magnanimity and a tri- umphant hope, / have fet the Lord always before me ; becaufe he is at my right hand, J flail not be moved, M 4 [ i63 ] DISCOURSE IX. On the Mixture of Prosperity and Adversity in the State of Man. ECCLESIASTES, vii. 14. IN THE DAY OF PROSPERITY REJOICE, BE JOYFUL; BUT IN THE DAY OF ADVER-* SITY CONSIDER : GoD ALSO HATH SET THE ONE OVER AGAINST THE OTHER, TO THE END THAT MAN SHOULD FIND NOTHING AFTER HIM. T is both the misfortune and the reproach of a great part of mankind, that they live without reflexion ; and furely the richeft fources of wifdom and comfort are loft to thofe who live fo. You fee many things t (faid the prophet Ifaiah to the people of Judah,) but DISCOURSE IX. 169 but ye obferve not *. Some, in a deep oblivion of their dependance, feldom or never raife their thoughts to the Supreme Caufe of the events which ftrike or affect them : others, if they entertain a general notion of the power and fuperintendance of the Invifible Being who fends good and permits evil, give little attention to the wife purpofes of his various difpenfations ; and too few reflect upon the duties and obligations to which Divine Provi- dence calls them, by the perpetual mixture of good and evil which marks the prefent flate of their exiftence. It was to correct this pernicious and crimi- nal indolence that Solomon exhorted the men of his time to ftudy the ways of Providence, in order to perceive the wifdom, and to im- .prove the inflructive voice of its difpenfa- tions. Confider^ fays he in the verfe preced- ing our text, the work of God; for who can make thai jlra'ight which he hath made crooked P a proverbial expreffion, defigned to (hew that all his ways are wife. It is as if Solomon had faid, What blind man may confider as * Ifaiah, xlii. 20. crooked i To DISCOURSE IX. crooked and perverfe, is, in reality, wife and right ; what he may call fate or chance, is wife direclion ; what to him appears diforder t may be harmony not underflood *; what he looks upon as evil, may be really fuch in the prefent moment, but in the iflue be pro- ductive of eternal good. — -Upon the whole, all things are wifely permitted, directed, and arranged under the univerfal empire of God's eternal providence : and it is the duty of man to obferve this, and to think, feel, and act accordingly. This is the fenfe and fpirit of the words of our text, in which we find three things to confider and illuftrate : ift, The matter of fact, that profperity and adverfity are aflbciated, placed the one over againjl the other in the life of man, and that God is the author of this arrangement : — 2dly, The wif- dom of this arrangement : — 3dly, The line of conduct pointed out to us by this mixture of natural good and evil, if we would act con-* formably to the intention of Divine Provi- dence. In the day of profperity be joyful ; in the day of adverfity wnfder. * See Pope's EfTay on tylan. i. We DISCOURSE IX. 171 1. We are then, firft, to confider the mat- ter of fad ; and this indeed is incontestable. Generally fpeaking, the life of every man is a mixed ftate of good and evil, of days of enjoyment and days of trouble. There is nothing permanent in the ftate through which we are pafling. Elevation, riches, pleafures, reputation, ftrength, beauty, all that we pof- fefs, all the external and accidental circum- ftances of our prefent exiftence, are either precarious with refped to their duration, and may be taken from us in a moment, or are fufceptible of great alterations and changes. Sometimes the objects of enjoyment are taken from us j and it frequently happens, that even when they are continued, we lofe a tafte for them* and become incapable of enjoying them with comfort. Take a general view of the various fcenes of human life ! How is it difturbed by a multitude of unforefeen and inevitable revolutions, which diflblve families, difperfe individuals, and turn opulence and joy into diftrefs and forrow ? The healthieft conftitutions, the moft mining reputations, the moft folid fortunes, and the pureft do- meftic comforts, are fubject to painful vicifii- tudes. 172 DISCOURSE IX. tudes. They fometimes decline gradually, and fometimes pafs rapidly from one extreme to another, as a ferene fky is fuddenly overcaft, by a rifmg ftorm, with clouds and darknefs. On the other hand, fcenes of adverfity and diftrefs are often followed by profperous days. At the moment when a favourable change is little expected, the ftorm ceafes, the clouds are difperfed, and the defpairing mariner enters, with pleafure and furprife, into the defired harbour. Thus, in the diverfified fcene of human life, if there is a time to weep, there is alfo a time to rejoice. Many favour- able changes and unexpected deliverances, after forrow endured in the night feafon, bring comfort and joy in the morning. Many, faith the Pfalmift, are the afflictions of the righteous ; but the Lord brings deliver- ance, and fo redeemeth the foul of 'his fervants, that none of them that truft in him fhall be deflate* It may be farther obferved here, not only that there are feafons of profperity and adver- fity which fucceed each other, but that, in every ftate, good is, more or lefs, mixed with evil, and evil with good : they are feldom or never entirely DISCOURSE IX. 173 entirely feparated ; but, on the contrary, they are very frequently produced or occafioned the one by the other. The moft brilliant profperity is not exempted from vexations and pains ; it gives rife to a multitude of imaginary wants and anxious cares, to tempt- ations, illufions, and vices which trouble its fmooth current. The evil day is often tem- pered and alleviated by rays of hope that pierce its gloom, or by fome gracious com- penfations that foothe and confole the dejected fufferer. It excites to induftry, prudence, and virtuous effort, which diminifh its bitternefs and produce a certain degree of felf-enjoy- ment and tranquillity. We might enumerate, in an ample detail, the cafes in which this fingular mixture of good and evil is palpable, where they exift together, and are placed the one over agalnji the other; but your own obfervation and experience render this un- neceffary. 2. Now this conftitution of things, this mixture of good and evil, in the prefent ftate of man, is the providential arrangement of God ; and it is this truth, exprefsly declared by Solomon in the words of our text, that we i 7 4 DISCOURSE IX. we proceed to confider, To regard this mix- ture of good and evil as the production of chance^ is the fenfelefs jargon of the Epi- curean, who, under a word void of meaning, conceals his ignorance of the true caufes of things, and of the Supreme Wifdom which prefides over them. Equally abfurd is it to attribute thefe events to blind fate y to an end- lefs concatenation of fecond caufes, without beginning or end ; which flow from each other, and, by an unmeaning and invincible neceffity, produce the ever-varying fcenes and circumftances of human life. This ac- count of things is as unphiloibphical and extravagant, as it is impious. It iuppofes a feries or chain of erTe&s, without any original caufe or ultimate end ; which, in other words, is a chain fufpended upon nothing; and it re- prefents the univerfe as an eternal chaos of confufion. It is an infult upon common fenfe, human liberty, and human nature ; and hap- lefs, beyond expreflion, would be the fate of man, if, amidft the days of forrow and pain, which fo often embitter his prefent exiftence, this gloomy fyftem were his only refuge for inftruclion and comfort ! Nor DISCOURSE IX. 175 Nor do they judge aright of things, who confider proiperity as depending only on our dexterity and efforts, and adverfity as merely the effect of our levity and imprudence. For this general rule has many exceptions, and the race is not always to the fwift, nor the battle to the flrong. There are many events, both profperous and adverfe, which are totally independent on human prudence and human power; and with refpecl: to which it may be faid, that promotion comcth neither from the eafl nor from the wefi y but God is the jfudge, who putteth down one and fetteth tip another. Nay, all events, good or evil, even thofe which proceed immediately from vifible caufes and human agency, depend on the laws and direction of Him, who, without wounding the liberty of beings, whom he has formed rational and free agents, prefides, nevenhe- lefs, with a fuperintending influence over all the motions both of matter and mind through- out the univerfe. The Lord reigns ; and it is only from this fublime truth that man can derive the pureft enjoyment in the day of profperity, and the mod foothing confolation and 176 DISCOURSE IX. and firmnefs of mind in the dark moments of affliction and trial. God, then, is the Supreme difpofer of our lot and condition in human life. The day of profperity and the day of adverfity pro- ceed from him. He has placed the one over againfl the other ; u e. he has blended a por- tion of evil with good in the prefent tranfi- tory ftate of man.' — —Bui: why fuch an arrangement, may fome fay ? Why this per- petual mixture of pain and pleafure, of fuf- fering and enjoyment, in the life of man ? Had we no other anfvver to give to fuch queftions, than the avowal of our ignorance, we mould not be amamed ; for mort and limited are the views of man, and immenfe is the plan of God's eternal government. More efpecially, when fuch queftions are pro- pofed by impatient mortals, with a fpirit of prefumption and difcontent, they muft be fatisfied with fuch an anfwer as this : " The " ways of God are not your ways ; nor does " it belong to man, who is but of yeflerday, " to comprehend, in this infancy of his " exiftence, all the purpofes of God in a " fcheme DISCOURSE IX. 177 *' fcheme of things, which embraces not only " the prefent, but the future, in an endlefs " duration. — It is enough for you to know, " that the ways, which you do not under- " ftand, are the ways of God, and fhall " therefore fhine forth in all the fulnefs of " their wifdom and goodnefs at the proper " feafon." But notwithstanding the limits affigned at prefent to our obfervation and knowledge of the ways of God, we may difcern luminous characters of their juftice, wifdom, and alfo of their goodnefs, even in many of thofe painful events, which ignorance and impatience rafhly confider as defects in the divine government : and it will be eafy, both to explain and juftify the affirmation of Solomon in our text, that God has mingled days of profperity with days of adverfity in human life, to the end that man fhould find nothing after him* This we proceed now to confider in our fecond head. II. Thefe words are fufceptible of different interpretations, which all convey wife and ufeful inftruclion. By the phrafe, that man fhould find nothing after him, fome underftand, that after, or befides the Supreme God, man N fhould 178 DISCOURSE IX. fhould acknowledge no other being, on whom his lot or deftiny abfolutely depends. Solo- mon is fuppofed to explode here the abfurd and pernicious do&rine of two independent principles, the one good and the other evil ; a doctrine fo prevalent in the eaft, and fo adapted to divide the human heart in that religious regard, which is alone due to the one Great and Supreme Difpofer of all events. In this view of the words the wife king calls men to acknowledge the goodnefs of God in the day of profperity, and to have recourfe to the fame Being for protection and deliverance in the day of adverfity, becaufe he is the fole difpofer of both, and they are both the meafures of his undivided empire over the children of men in this their firft and pro- bationary ftate. Agreeable to this are the words of the Moil High, by the mouth of his Prophet. / am the Lord, and there is 7ionc elfe. I form the light , and create dark- nefs : I make peace, and create evil. I the Lord do all thefe things*. The words before us are, no doubt, fufceptible of this fenfe, if we confider them * Ifaiah, xlv. 7. feparately DISCOURSE IX. 179 feparately from the connexion in which they ftand. But their 'connexion leads us palpably to confider them as expreffive not only of God's undivided empire, but alfo of its un- erring wifdom. Confider^ fays Solomon, the work of God ; who can make that fraigbt, •which he has made crooked? A proverbial expreffion, which implies that the work of God and the plan of his government, are unalterable and perfect. Our duty, then, according to the injunctions of the wife king, is to make a proper ufe of the difpenfations of Providence inftead of contefting their wif- dom. In the day of profperity we are called to be joyful 1 in the day of adverfity we are called to confider ; — for God hath placed the one over againft the other, to the end that man Jhould ftid nothing after him ; i.e. nothing to correct ; nothing that is liable to any well- founded objection, in point of wifdom and goodnefs. And it is this that the fon of Syrac has in view in that fine pafiage of his fublime book ; O how defirable are all his works ! All things are double , one againft another ; and he hath made nothing imperfecl : one thing eftabli/h- eth the good of another ; and whofhall be filed N 2 with 180 DISCOURSE IX. witb beholding his glory I — And, indeed, iti whatever point of view we confider the mix- ture of external good and evil, that charac- terizes the prefent ftate of man ; whether with refpect to private perfons or public communities, we mall find it both wife and falutary. In general, it has been acknow- ledged by the heft obfervers of men and things, that religion, and the virtues it is adapted to form and nourifh, are necelTary to the true happinefs, both of nations and indi- viduals. Now, if religious virtue be neceflary to the true happinefs of mankind, it feems evident, that a mixture of fuffering with en- joyment in their lot, is, in the prefent imper- fect ftate of human nature, neceflary to the fubfiftence of religious virtue. How often does it happen, that religious and virtuous principles lofe their energy during a long courfe of uninterrupted profperity, — that men forget the benefactor a'midft the multitude of his gifts, and lofe fight even of the duties, whofe obligation the experience of his good- iiefs renders peculiarly refpectable ? And this is not all ; for irregular paftions, nourifhed in the bofom of long peace and abundance, 14 counteract DISCOURSE IX. 181 counteract the true ends and purpofes of life, pervert the tafte for genuine felicity, render men proud, fenfual, and felfifh, from whence innumerable diforders arife, both on the pri- vate and public fcene, which poiibn all the fweets of profperity and turn them into bitter- nefs. And in fuch cafes, do not the correc- tions of adverfity become feafonable ? Is not the day of trial placed here with propriety and wifdom ? Is it not a meafure of good government, and (if properly improved) may it not turn out to be a meafure of providential benignity, to fhew men and nations the un- certainty of the blefiings they have enjoyed unworthily, that they may perceive their errors, and open their eyes on the govern- ment of that Great Being whofe laws they have infulted, and whofe mercies they have abufed ? To connect, then, both private and public calamities, in many instances, with moral diforder and vicious paflions, is fuch a neceflary meafure of ruling Wifdom, that if this connexion never took place, a foundation would be laid for a plauhble objection againft God's moral government. — If it does not always take place, the reafon is, that the fear n 3 fon i82 DISCOURSE IX. fon of full retribution is referved for a future fcene. But the mixture of good and evil in the life of man muft be confidered under other points of view, in order to the farther illuftration of this important fubjeCt. For it is a general law of Providence, to which all are more or lefs fubje&ed ; and the righteous, as well as the wicked, has his evil days, and thofe often in great number. — It is this promifcuous diftribution of external good and evil, that has frequently perplexed the impatient igno- rance of fhort-fighted obfervers of the ways of Providence ; nay, excited complaints and murmurs, equally detrimental to their inward peace and their religious improvement. The following confiderations will lead us to a more rational and falutary judgment concern- ing the mixture of temporal good and evil in the life of man. Firft) This conftitution of things is in no wife incpnfiftent with the juftice of God. In a Mate of exiftence, which we derive from the Deity, we can never complain of injuf- tice, if there be a compenfation of good attainable by us, which indemnifies for the evils DISCOURSE IX, 183 evils of life, and above all, if there be fuch high rewards, both here and hereafter, an- nexed to the practice of religion and virtue, as render, upon the whole, the ftate of the righteous moft defirable and happy. The children of affliction may feel deeply their forrows ; hut who are they that will prefume to fay, that they are unjuftly dealt with, and deferve nothing but good at the hand of God ? It is not furely the wicked, who brave his empire and tranfgrefs his laws ; nor the fenfual, indolent, and barren profeflbr of re- ligion, who receives the bounty of Heaven with an ungrateful infenfibility, that will pre- tend to deem it unjuft in the Supreme Being to mix evil with the good, which they have fo unworthily enjoyed. As to the good man, the righteous friend of God, he will neither murmur nor complain, for reafons which mail be particularly confidered in their place. He knows, that the Lord is not only juft, but gracious to him, even when the day of adver- fity feems to frown upon him. Confcious of his defects. Lord, be merciful to me a finner^ will be the language of his pious humiliry ; but, at the fame time, confcious of his finre- N 4 rity, i84 DISCOURSE IX. rity, and ftedfaft in hope, this truth, that all things Jhall work together for good to thofe that love God, will be the rich and permanent fource of his confolation. Befides, amidft all the evils which are mingled with our lot in human life, how manifold are our bleffings, unworthy as we are ? How many years of health are enjoyed for one feafon of infirmity and ficknefs ? If we take a recollected and impartial view of what we have experienced and obferved in human life, mail we not acknowledge, that the evil days of pain and fuffering have been very confiderably fur- paiTed in number, by days of well-being and comfort ; and that the latter would have been flill more numerous, if we had not embittered them by the neglect or mifimprovement of the means of true enjoyment, with which we were favoured, and an abufe of the gifts and bleffings of Providence. Dark, indeed, and gloomy is the day of adverfity with which we are at prefent vifited *, but it comes after long periods of peace and abundance, (very little and rarely interrupted,) which we have * This Difcourfe was delivered at the Hague in the year 1795 •* unworthily DISCOURSE IX. 185 unworthily enjoyed, and by the abufe of which we have fatally contributed to our actual degradation and the evils which op- prefs us. Do not then complain of feverity, and (till lefs of injuftice, in the Supreme Hand, which affociates the good and the evil day in the lot of humanity. It is not God, that is unjuft or fevere ; it is man, who is perverfe and ungrateful. Secondly. The mixture of good and evil in the lot of man is not only confident with juf- tice, but is, moreover, both in its defign and in its tendency, if properly improved, a dif- penfation of paternal goodnefs. Pain and fuf- fering are not ultimate ends, but falutary means \ in the government of that holy and benevolent Being, whole effence is love, and who dwelletb in love ; and it was only when man, created upright, fell from his rectitude, that natural evil was appointed to chaftife and correct moral diforder. Have I any pleafure at all that the wicked fhould die, faith the Lord God, and not rather that he fioidd turn from his ways and live * f and with refpect to the * Ezekiel, xviii. 23. righteous, i86 DISCOURSE IX. righteous, who, even in the midft of a virtuous courfe, have neverthelefs their errors and tranf- grefTions to acknowledge and lament, the Apof- tle obferves, that whom the Lord loveth he chaf- ienetb, andfcourgeth every f on whom he receiv- eth *. In effect, the mixture of external good and evil in the prefent probationary ftate of man is a palpable proof of the goodnefs and wifdom of a ruling Providence. For, from what we obferved at our entrance on this head, it will appear evident, that nothing is more danger- ous to the moral ftate of the mind than an uninterrupted courfe of profperity, which to paflions and fancy is the dream of falfe felicity, and by furnifhing them with perpetual means of indulgence, cools our zeal, and relaxes our activity in a virtuous practice. Now if this be true, and if it is the natural tendency of elevation and opulence to engender vanity and feif-importance, to create and multiply imaginary wants, and expofe to numberlefs temptations, the Chriftian, notwithstanding the goodnefs of his principles, may fometimes ftand in need of trials and fuffering, to main- * Heb. xii. 6. tain DISCOURSE IX. 187 tain his integrity and preferve his virtuous principles from corruption. And it is here that adverfity may come forward with fuccefs to abate the ardour of the paflions, difpel the illufions of fancy, and, bringing along with it the hour of reflexion, obtain for reafon and religion a fair hearing with refpect to true happinefs. Thus the attentive mind learns, by a falutary experience, that profperity has its dangers, and adverfity its advantages ; and perceives equally in both the wifdom and goodnefs of the great Diipofer of all events. In this view of God's providential difpenfa- tions, we fee all the Chriftian virtues im- proved, and we fee how they flrengthen and improve each other. In the changing fcenes of good and evil, fubmiffion is fupported and nourifhed by gratitude, and the love of God, which is never extinguished in the virtuous heart, even in the darker! moments, is however exercifed with redoubled feelings of piety and pleafure, when, after forrow endured in the night, joy returns in the morning. We may add, thirdly^ that the mixture of evil with good in the lot of man is a gracious^ as isS DISCOURSE IX. as well as a wife difpenfation of Providence, to modify our attachment to a prefent world. Excefiive would that attachment be, if the days of this life were always unclouded and ferene. Even as the cafe ftands, and with all the difap- pointments, vexations, and forrows, which mingle with bitternefs our prefent enjoyments^ we are ftill, God knows, too much difpofed to feek our chief portion, our fovereign good here below, inftead of laying up treafures in Heaven^ which is our true country. We are too apt to forget that we are only travellers, and too much inclined to think that we are at home. How much then would this dangerous illufion, this oblivion of our immortality, grow upon us, if a portion of bitternefs were not fre- quently mingled with the cup of pleafure, to admonifh us that pure enjoyment and true felicity are not to be found here below ? You fee, then, that the day of adverfity is adapted to correcl our illufions, and thus, though its afpect may feem fevere, its defign and ten- dency bear evident marks of divine wifdom and goodnefs. The bed of ficknefs, the lofs of our dear relations and friends, the frowns of fortune, the injuflice of our enemies, public DISCOURSE IX. 189 public calamities, and domeftic forrows are al! defigned, in the plan of Providence, to make us life a prefent world 'without abitfing it y and Jet our principle ajfeclions and defires on things above. In all thefe clouds that cover his pros- perous day, the faith of the Chriftian will fee the hand of his God pointing to immortality, and mewing him his true, his glorious defti- nation, to revive the ardour of his pious defires for the things that are invifible and eternal. And not only fupportabie, but happy and falutary are thofe dark moments, which lead the foul, finking under the burden of its pains and forrows, to feek for pure hap- pinefs at the fountain-head, and to draw from the promifes of God and the light of his countenance the aflurance and fore-tafte of eternal felicity ! Such is the defign, and fuch may be the fruits of the mixture of evil with good in the ftate of man, if man be not wanting to himfelf. For thefe reafons has God placed the day of adverfity over againft the day of profperity, and who jl?all find any thing after him f Who mail conteft his be- nignity and wifdom in this arrangement ? We mail fee its wifdom and benignity ftill farther difplayed, igo DISCOURSE IX. difplayed, when we come to (hew, in the two? following Difcourfes, the refpe&ive duties which the day of profperity and the day of adverfity require from man, In the mean time, let what has been now obferved concerning the difpenfations of the great and good Being, who creates the light, forms the darknefs, and afTcciates temporal good and evil in the lot of humanity, con- firm us in the pious habit of arifing to him, in every event which concerns us, with thofe fentiments of confidence or humility, grati- tude or refignation, which thefe events are refpe&ively adapted to excite, and always with a pious and obedient regard to his laws in every circumftance and condition of life. This will tend to realize and accomplifh, with refpecl: to us, that pofitive and important pro- mife, that all things fiall work together for good to thofe that love God, [ *9* ] DISCOURSE X. On the Duties and true Enjoyment of Prosperity. ECCLESIASTES, vii. 1 4. IN THE DAY OF PROSPERITY BE JOYFUL, np hat the day of profperity is placed by God over againjl the day ofadverfity, and that this mixture of good and evil in the life of man, bears confpicuous lines of Divine wifdom and goodnefs, we have already (hewn in a preceding Difcourfe. Thefe truths are not merely objects of fpeculation ; they have the moft folemn and important demands upon practice, as they are adapted to lead us to the proper improvement and the true enjoyment of human life. Accordingly, we now propofe to i 9 2 DISCOURSE X. to illuftrate and enforce the double precept, which Solomon founds on thefe interefting truths. In the day of profperity be joyful — In the day of adverfity confider. In the fequel of this Difcourfe we mall confine our meditauons to the firft of thefe precepts, and confider the duties and the line of conduit prefcribed in thefe words, In the day of profperity be joyful. I. By the day of profperity, we are to under- ftand, the pleafmg fcenes of human life, the external bleflings of health, abundance, repu- tation, focial enjoyment, which Providence has mixed with the fufferings and trials of our prefent tranfitory (late. The condition of life in which thefe abound, is, no doubt, highly defirable ; but it is not without its difficulties and dangers, becaufe proportion- able to the number and extent of our tem- poral advantages and enjoyments, are the duties we muft perform, the temptations we have to encounter, and the delufions we are to avoid. It is true, that what Solomon enjoins here, with refpect to the day of profperity, is exprefTed in a fmgle word, which, as our verfion DISCOURSE X. 193 verfion has rendered the original, does not feem, at fir ft fight, to have an extenfive fig- nification, or to contain a precept of any difficulty or much importance. To be joyful \ is a command eafily obeyed ; for nothing is more natural and lefs meritorious than to feel pleafure and joy in a ftate of profperity. There are, however, on the one hand, perfons of a fullen and fplenetic caft of mind, whofe hearts are never dilated with contentment and fatisfaclion, even under the richeft difplays of the bounty of Providence ; while, on the other, the day of profperity, abufed to the purpofes of luxurious riot, excites in others the intoxicating joys of intemperance and folly, which are followed by difguft, and engender forrow, Such joys, of which Solo- mon himfelf had experienced the vanity and the bitter fruits, could not be made the matter of a precept in the words before us. The words of our text, as they ftand in the original, may, with great propriety, be trans- lated thus ; V In the day of profperity enjoy " // ;" and this has a more extenfive figni- fication than the term joyful. It implies eflentially fuch a ufe and improvement o of i 9 4 DISCOURSE X. of profperity, as is necefiary to render it a fource of real fatisfaction and true enjoyment. The leflbns, even of Pagan wifdom, as well as the admonitions of the wifdom that is from above, call us to be upon our guard againft the allurements of a profperous ftate. And from the general tenour, and the folemn con- clufion of the book from which our text is taken, it is evident that, when Solomon exhorts us to enjoy the day of profperity, he means by this precept, that we mould enjoy it as becomes reafonable and immortal beings, whom God has placed for a fhort time in a ftate of trial, amidft a perpetual mixture of good and evil ; and whofe future condition, with refpect to happinefs or mifery, will depend upon our virtuous ufe or vicious abufe of the gifts of Heaven here below. Agreeable to this, is the manner in which he terminates his eftimate of human life, in the laft chapter of this book. Let ns hear the conchifion of the whole matter : fear God and keep his commandments : for God fh all bring every work into judgment, with every fecret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil. — To enjoy then truly the day of profpe- rity, DISCOURSE X. 195 rity, we rauft enjoy it, ift, as the gift of God ; 2dly, as a gift conferred for a certain end; and, 3dly, as a gift which may be recalled. I. To enjoy profperity in a manner fuitable to our nature and relations, we muft enjoy it as the gift of God ; which we hold in a per- petual dependence on his providential wifdom and goodnefs, and carry about with us an habitual perfuafion, that all its bleflings do really proceed directly or indirectly from God. This perfuafion, which is fo efTential to the exiftcnce of piety and virtue, is lefs general than you may imagine, or than any rational mind can conceive. It is combated by the wretched fophiftry of the fceptic, which fheds uncertainty over the origin of things, and terminates in vague and frigid ideas of Nature^ as the blind, mechanical, or cafual fource of all his enjoyments. In others, this perfuafion has no root or con- liftence, for want of attention and reflexion : — grovelling in ftupidity and ignorance, from the influence of a fenfual and frivolous life, they have no tafte for the pleafures of reafon and truth ; and rarely think of raifing their o 2 views 196 DISCOURSE X. views from the effect to the caufe, from the gift to the giver. Many acknowledge a Su- preme hand as concerned in their profperity, but have an undue confidence in fecond caufes, and attribute much to themfelves. The Chriftian philofopher will attribute, on the contrary, all the branches of his well- being to God. He will fee the Divine hand operating in his favour, in circumflances to which he has not, himfelr, in any wife con- curred ; fuch as thofe of advantageous birth, a well-directed education, a robuft conftitu- tion, acute and vigorous intellectual powers, and a variety of unforefeen events of a pleaf- ing kind. He will perceive the fame hand promoting his profperity, even in cafes where his own active exertions have concurred. He will acknowledge the Supreme caufe, which has furnifhed the means that he has em- ployed, beftowed and preferved the faculties he has exerted, and blefled the labour and induftry he has ufed in promoting his pro- fperity. Thus, while a great part of man- kind fee their Celeftial Benefactor in nothing : the good man will fee him in all things, and acknowledge his hand in all the circumflances and DISCOURSE X. 197 and events of his profperous day. It will be his earneft defire not to forget one of the benefits of his God ; or if they are too nu- merous to come all under his recollection, he will fay with the Pfalmift, How precious are thy thoughts to me, God, how great is the fum of them ! If I Jhould count them y they are more in number than the /and. His exiftence and prefervation, his health, ftrengtb, talents, and genius ; his opulence, reputation, pro- tectors, and friends, will all be fo many fteps to carry him up to his Creator, the Author of every good and pcrfctl gift. And here a peculiar and additional pleafure attends pro- fperity, which the rich eft abundance of its blellings cannot, alone, adminifter; and which none but the good man can feel. This plea- fure arifes from the consideration, that the day of profperity comes from the greateft and beft of Beings. The idea of Him, who is the giver, will embellim the gift, and render it peculiarly pleafing and precious. Even among men, the beneficence and gifts of a refpectable friend, have a fingular merit in our eftimation, on account of the donor : With what a gracious and pleafing afpecl: o 3 then 198 DISCOURSE X. then muft the day of profperity arife, to thole who confider it as proceeding from the Father of lights? This pure delight, which tempers the fervour of the paffions, and thus renders them fubfervient to our well-being, is un- known to thofe fenfual worldlings, who confine their views to the objects of defire and enjoyment, and feldom, or never, raife their thoughts to him from whom they pro- ceed. And how rarely does it happen that external profperity is to them a ftate of true fatisfaclion ? Like the Ifraelites in the defart, they receive the food of heaven ; and like them alfo, they eat and arejilkd, but are not fatlsfied. It is more efpecially painful to think, that the marks of a pious fenfibility to the gifts of the Almighty are not the mod obfervable, where the difplays of his goodnefs have been the mod ample and abundant ; and this is a proof of the dangerous tendency of a brilliant profperity, to engender a fpirit of levity and inattention, and corrupt the purefi: and nobleft feelings of the human mind. In the lefs exalted ltations of life, which are equally removed from fuperfiuity and want, (and whofe decent competence we may fairly compre- DISCOURSE X. 199 comprehend under what Solomon calls the day of profperity,) the hand of the Supreme Benefactor is, generally fpeaking, lefs for- gotten. But, under all the difpenfations of a beneficent Providence, it is the duty of the Chriftian to nourifh, habitually, the joyful fenfe of his dependence on the beft of Beings. This will be the fubject of his frequent and pleafing meditations. He will remember the Lord upon his bed, and meditate upon him in the night-watches ; and becaufe the Moft High has been his help, therefore will he rejoice in the fiadow of his wings. And thefe medi- tations on the author and fource of his pro- fperity, will go up to heaven and be rendered acceptable by the facred incenfe of gratitude, that delightful affection, which unites faints on earth and angels in heaven in one eter- nal bond of attachment to him, who is good unto all. He will even feel a pious anxiety to perform this facred duty with the greateft poffible fincerity and ardour of affection. The language of his heart and life will be, What JJoall I render unto the Lord for all his be" nefits f o 4 II. But 200 DISCOURSE X. II. But in order to the true enjoyment of profperity, it is not enough to regard it as the gift of God : we muft alfo receive it as a gift beflowed for certain ends and purpofes. In a general view of the Divine goodnefs, we may conclude that one of the purpofes for which it difpenfes profperity, is the per- fonal comfort and well-heing of thofe to whom it is fent. This gracious defign of Providence renders it properly an objecl of gratitude ; and, accordingly, when the opu- lent are exhorted by the Apoftle, not to trujl in uncertain riches , but in the Living God y he obferves, at the fame time, that God has given them all things richly to enjoy *. They, con- fequently, do not acl: conformably to the intentions of Providence, who, from the fcru- pulous fuggeltions of a fuperftitious aufterity, look upon it, almoft, as criminal to enjoy the bounty of Heaven, or to tafte the fweets of their profperity with fatisfaction and fenfi- bility. But on the other hand, it is certain, that both reafon and revelation announce it as the will and intention of our Supreme Be- * i Tim. vi. 17. nefa&or. DISCOURSE X. 201 nefa&or, Jirjl^ that profperity be enjoyed with that moderation and humility which are neceflary to render it a real bleMing ; and, fecondly, that it be employed as an inftru- ment of beneficence to our fellow-creatures, from whence it becomes a new and a noble fource of enjoyment to ourfelves. Thefe are, no doubt, the great ends and purpofes for which the wife beneficence of Providence fends profperity. I. In the day of profperity, moderation is abfolutely neceffary to its true enjoyment. This is the virtue, or rather the habitual frame and tenour of mind, which, formed by reafon and religious principle, gives the Chriftian a happy controul over his inferior paffions and appetites. It is fometimes termed, by the Sacred Writers, fobemefs, or foundnefs, of 'mind \ as it is a prefervative and fafeguard againft moral diforder, againft the blind impulfe of paflion and the illufions of irregular fancy, which lead to intemperance and excefs, and often convert pleafure and enjoyment into dejeclion and difguft. Without this happy frame of mind, you may obtain tumultuous and tem- porary flaflies of pleafure, but can derive no pure 202 DISCOURSE X. pure and permanent enjoyment from the day of profperity. Vice, in all its forms, and more efpecially that vicious excefs and intem- perance which are nourifhed by eafe and abundance, corrupt and degrade the mind : they let loofe the reins to the paffions, whofe nature it is to run into extremes, and even to grafp at contradictions, which fpread diforder and tumult in the foul, and render it like the troubled fea when it cannot reft. When mo- deration lofes thus its balance and its empire, a door is opened to degrading fenfuality, luxurious avarice, or infatiable ambition, fol- lowed by difcontent, envy, and remorfe. All thefe inflame, difturb, intoxicate, and deject, in their turns. They blaft the faireft gifts of God's bounty, and deftroy that internal tran- quillity which is effential to all true enjoy- ment of the external bleffings of life. But mild is the. luftre, and pure is the fatisfa&ion, which crown the day of pro- fperity to the good man, who has learned to abftain as well as to enjoy. Moderation, which maintains the afcendant of religion and virtue over his appetites and paflions, is his ^uide and his guardian againft the lufts of the 4 e y e DISCOURSE X. 203 eye and the pride of life, which the fplendour of power or high ftation are fo adapted to excite and inflame. No true enjoyment of profperity without this virtue, or rather this fpirit of power, formed by religious and virtu- ous principle, which holds, as it were, a fupre- macy in the mind over the inferior appetites. This ruling fpirit prevents that excels which makes the pleafures of fenfe terminate in fa- tiety, dejection, and remorfe ; it is the fource of that internal liberty which dignifies man, and which the Sacred Writers mention as the fublime characleriitic of the children of God : it renders the Chriftian capable of deriving pleafure from whatever he pofieiTes ; it con- tributes to preferve the health of his body and the ferenity of his mind, and from hence all the external bleffings and advantages, which conftitute the day of profperity, derive their fweeteft relifh. To all this we may add, that a profperous ftate, enjoyed with moderation and religious principle, will furnifh various means of perfecting our faculties, improving our talents, increafing our knowledge, and thus, of confequence, will greatly enlarge the fphere of our enjoyments. 2. But 204 DISCOURSE X. 2. But the nob'eft enjoyment of profperity, and that which crowns all the reft, is the generous and elevated pleafure it yields when it is made the inftrument of beneficence and ufefulnefs to our fellow- creatures. It is this that gives the moft exquifite gratification to thofe whom Providence has enriched with worldly abundance, and religion has taught and inclined to adorn it with the amiable diiplays of beneficence and charity. And, indeed, with- out thefe, the fplendour of profperity is tar- niflied, its luxuries grow infipid through habi- tual indulgence, the fenfes axe fated, while the mind, formed for nobler enjoyments, is not fatisfied ; and the fimple fare of the peafant, feafoned by fobriery and honeft labour, and competent to anfwer the real wants of nature,- is productive of more lading pleafure and contentment than the refined inventions of the opulent. Befides, profperity was not fent to you, O man ! only for your own perfonal comfort, and ftill lefs to fatiate your felfifh and fenfual pafTions ; but principally for the higher purpofe of rendering you a fellow- worker with the Giver of all good, in pro- moting the happinefs of thofe who are within the DISCOURSE X. 205 the reach of your beneficence. And to what a noble enjoyment does the day of profperity here call the good man ? By imparting a generous portion of his fubftance in benefi- cence, he fheds enjoyment upon others, which is reflected back into his own heart with the pureft and moft delicate fenfations of delight. By fuch acts, friendihip is vivi- fied ; charity, though it feeks no reward, is fublimely recompenfed by the fruits it pro- duces ; and a godlike temper is formed, which bears fome lines of the happinefs of angelic minds, who live in the prefence and fulfil the orders of Him, who is love, and dwclleth in love. It is more blejfed to give than to receive : this is the declaration of the Divine Saviour, who beft knew how to appreciate all the fentiments and feelings of the human heart. It was this truth that folaced Job in the extremity of his diftrefs, when he re- flected that, in his profperity, he had not with- held from the poor his defire, nor eaten his mor- Jel alone in prefence of the fathcrlcfs, nor left the needy to perifh for want of cloathing % — * Job, xxxi. 17. In 2o6 DISCOURSE X. In effect, if you feparate, in thought, from the porTefTion of profperity the grateful love of the Being from whom it comes, the method of enjoying' it truly which piety and wifdom prefcibe, the noble virtues for whofe exercife it furnimes the means, the applaufe of confcience which accompanies the performance of its beneficent duties, and the pure honour and reputation with which they cloath the good man, whofe eye is raifed to a more fub- lime reward ; — if you feparate, I fay, all this from the pofleffion of profperity, what remains ? The account is fhort ; there remain animal gratifications ; but thefe, however necef- fary, do not anfwer the demands of that kind of happinefs for which man was formed ; they cloy by frequent repetition, and often become productive of perturbation, difguft, and re- morfe. There may indeed remain enjoyments of a lefs grovelling nature, in which virtue has no exercife ; fuch are the pleafures of ingenious luxury, which occupy the imagina- tion, and the round of diverfions, in which a great part of the fafhionable world run from one object to another in refllefs expectation of what they feldom. find ; but all thefe leave no after- DISCOURSE X. 207 after-tafte that fatisfies the heart, no folid pro- vifion for permanent felf-enjoyment, nothing that rifes in pleafing remembrance in the hour of folitude and reflexion, nothing that refembles the fouVs calm funfiine, and the heartfelt joy which are the prize of virtue. — Be joyful then, O man ! in the day of profperity -, but that this joy may be pure and folid, enjoy it as the fervant of God, and as, by your gofpel vocation, the heir of immortality. This character and title give the Chriftian a liable tenor of tranquillity and felf-enjoyment amidft all the viciffitudes of earthly things. More efpecially, they prevent dejection and difmay, when he is told that profperity mull be enjoyed not only as the gift of God, and a gift beftowed in order to be wifely improved ; but alfo, thirdly ■, as a gift that may be recalled and withdrawn at a fhort warning. It is with the confideration of this plain but important truth that we fliall conclude this Difcourfe. III. Great, indeed, is the delufion of thofe who enjoy profperity as if it was a fixed and fure, initead of being a very precarious and uncertain, poffeflion. The providential ap- pointment of God mentioned in our text, and the soS DISCOURSE X. the changes and viciffitudes which fo often remove our faireft temporal bleffings, and mix forrow and bkternefs with thofe that remain, ought to prevent this delufion. There is fomething delirious in the cafe of the ava- ricious, 'who fays to gold \ thou art my hope, and to fine gold, thou art my confidence ; and in that of the votaries of luxury and fenfual pleafure, who are perpetually calling out, it is good to be here, and fay in their profperity, that they fhall never be moved. Belfhazzar was fpeaking in this (train when he perceived an ominous writing on the wall, which announced his blafted profperity, and immediately his thoughts trouble him ; the joints of his knees are loofed, and his knees finite one againjl the other. Similar examples of delufion and difappoint- ment are renewed and repeated to our obferv- ation every day, and fhall they not adminifter inftruclion ? Surely, my brethren, to true Chriftians their inftru&ion will be both affecting and falutary. Such will learn from thefe examples to enjoy the day of profperity as a day that may be fuddenly overcaft with clouds, and that fhall certainly pafs, fooner or later, like a tranfitory vifion, and end in dark- nefs* DISCOURSE X. 209 nefs. They will, more efpecially, learn to enjoy it truly by improving it wifely, and adorning it with the duties of piety and be- neficence, which will furvive its ruins, and render its temporary advantages productive of everlafting fruit. They will learn to tafte its comforts with grateful love, as marks of God's paternal goodnefs ; but they will look higher for their true and permanent felicity. They will coniider themfelves, even in their happieft days, as only Jlrangers and travellers upon earthy whofe chief treafure is in Heaven, to which, as to their true country, their affections and defires will tend. When they fee here below external gocd perpetually mixed with evil, when they find themfelves every mo- ment expofcd to fee their faireft comforts vanifh, and their moft precious connexions diffolved, they will efteem it the moft fatal imprudence and folly to attach their hearts immoderately to fuch tranfitory objects, and lay the foundations of their happinefs in a world, all whofe enjoyments are precarious, and whofe fajl.ion pajfeth away. But, above all, the hopes, the fublime hopes, which arife from his high and immortal deflination, p will 210 DISCOURSE X. will engage the Chriftian, eveninthemoftfmii- ing fcenes of human life, to raife his principal views and defires above the world. Confider- ing this world as only the firft ftate of his exiftence, he will deem it unwife to center his views and defires in it alone ; he will, by faith and hope, take frequent profpects of his celeftial country, and will thus be enabled to alleviate the pains and enjoy truly the advan- tages of his prefent condition. Such is the fecret, the true method, of rendering profperity a fource of fatisfacYion and comfort; but you fee that it is only in the fancluary of religion that this fecret is to be learned. It is only when profperity is enjoyed as the gift of God, as a gift conferred to be piovjly improved, as a gift which may be recalled, and muft always be confidered as precarious and unftable ; it is, I fay, in thefe cafes alone that profperity can be regarded as a real blelTmg. Certainly it k not fuch to the vicious and irreligious man, whofe deluded eyes profperity has clofed on righteoufnefs y temperance, and a judgment to come. Though the hour of reflexion and awakening may not yet have alarmed him, and made him tremble like DISCOURSE X. 211 like Felix in the midft of his voluptuous career, it would betray a ftrange ignorance of human nature to pronounce fuch a man con- tented and happy. He may riot in abundance, and drink deep of the intoxicating cup of pleafure ; but he is a prey to infatiable defires, which are accompanied with tumult, difquie- tude, and difguft ; and the calm dignity of a peaceful mind, which is the efTence of happi- nefs, is unknown to him. But there is peace to the virtuous fervant of God, even in the day of adveffity; how pleafing then muft his ftate be, when the Lord, his guardian and his fhepherd, makes him lie down in the green pajlures^ and leads him befide the JIM waters of temporal felicity. His pious intercourfe with the bountiful Au- thor of his profperity prevents thofe abufes that poifon its comforts, calms thofe paffions which would trouble its current, hinders guilty fears from damping its pleafures, and heightens thefe pleafures by ennobling them with fpiritual joys and celeftial profpe&s. — Go on then in thy way rejoicing. Eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry hearty for God accepteth thy work. p 2 [ 212 ] DISCOURSE XL On the proper Improvement of Adversity. ECCLESIASTES, vii. 14. IN THE DAY OF ADVERSITY CONSIDER. after having confidered the fentiments and the line of conduct which are necef- fary to the improvement and true enjoyment of profperity, we now propofe to follow the Chriftian in the painful circumftances of hu- man life, and to point out the duties implied in thefe emphatical words ; In the day of ad" verfity, consider. We need not tell you, what is to be un- derftood by the day of adverfity. Obferva- tion and experience teach this iufficiently to the children of men. Our complaints fhew, abundantly, DISCOURSE XI. 213 abundantly, that we feel it ; but our conduct (hews too rarely that we know how to im- prove it and allay its bitternefs. Man is born to trouble as the /parks fly upward; it is the condition of his tranfitory exiftence on this fcene of trial and mortality. This proceeds partly from the wife appoinment of God, and partly from the perverfe and irregular paffions of man ; for affliclion cometb not forth from the dufl y neither doth trouble fpring out of the ground \ that is, they are not the pro- ductions of chance, nor the unmeaning effects of a blind fatality, but proper arrangements in the empire of a wife and righteous Pro- vidence. As to the fa£t, it is evident. In all his relations, man is expofed to the (hafts of adverfity, to deep fuffering from public cala- mities, domeftic forrows, and perfonal pains ; and thefe, experienced in a great variety of kinds and degrees, for either a longer or fhorter duration, conftitute the day of ad" ver/ity. We pointed out, in a preceding Difcourfe, the dangers of a profperous ftate, from its tendency to inflame the paffions, and to form a vicious tafte for happinefs, for which ad- P 3 verfity 214 DISCOURSE XI. verfity. has been always efteemed a ufeful and falutary corrective. So, no doubt, it is, when properly improved. But adverfity has its dangers as well as profperity ; and Agur knew, what the infirmity and corruption of human nature had to apprehend from both the one and the other, when he faid, Give me neither poverty nor riches. If, in the one, men are prone, through the intoxication of pleafure, to forget their Supreme Benefactor ; in the other, they frequently lofe fight of the correcting hand of their Father and their Judge ; for fuffering excites, in many, indo- cility and impatience, and thefe increafe the gloom of adverfity, and produce additional perplexity and dejection. However, my brethren, in the fanctuary of religion, there is always a refuge and refource for the fuffer- ing Chriftian. In the counfels and promifes of that Divine Word which God has given us, as a lamp to our path, the believing mind will find both inftru&ion and power. From thence the good man may derive a rule of conduct, which will give him fure direction, and verify, to his experience, that faying of the Pfalmift ; Unto the upright light Jhall arife in DISCOURSE XI. 215 in the darknefs ; furely he Jhall not be moved. Let his calamities be heavy or light ; let them affect his perfbri or his external enjoyments and connexions, his rule of conduct is ftill the fame. In all the forms and inftances of adverfity, his duties are comprehended by Solomon, in our text, in one word. In the day of adverfity confider. But what are we to underftand by this precept ? It implies, in general, a proper attention to whatever may diminifh the evils we fuffer, or make them contribute, in the iffue, to our well-being and happinefs. More particularly, to confider^ in the day of adverfity, fuppofes a ferious atten- tion to the four following things ; — to the nature of the evils we fuffer, that we may eftimate them properly : — to the authority^ founded in juftice and wifdom, of him who fends them, that we may learn fubmiffion : — to the ends and purpofes for which they are fent, or permitted, by the providence of God, that we may enter into his views by a right improvement of his difpenfations : — and laftly, to the lawful means^ which wifdom and prudence may fuggeft to foften our pains, or to obtain their removal. p 4 I. Our 2i6 DISCOURSE XL I. Our firft care, then, in the day of ad- verfity, fhould be to confider the nature of the evils we fuffer, in order to eftimate them with equity. How defective is the manner of judging on this head, that too generally prevails ? The prejudices of education, the influence of example, our natural temper, and felflfh paffions, darken or pervert our reafon, and prevent our feeing things in their true point of view. Many, from an exceflive fenfibility and felfifhnefs, magnify, beyond meafure, the fum of their fufferings ; tire every one they meet, with an exaggerated recital of their difafters, and are perpetually calling out, like Cain, My chajlifement is greater than I am able to bear. Others appear infenfible, or lefs affected, in the day of adverfity ; their hearts, hardened by levity, corruption, or a certain pride and ferocity of character, fearcely feel at all, or if they feel painfully, they are foon comforted. But the conduct, both of thofe who feel with an exceflive fenfibility, and of thofe who fearcely feel at all, is equally erroneous and unhappy. It betrays, on both fides, a wrong frame of mind, which renders men unfit for difcharg- ing DISCOURSE XL 217 sng the moft important duties of human life. The former fhew, in their extreme deje&ion, a pufillanimity which, when their fufferings are perfonal, prevents thofe active and vi- gorous exertions which often bring relief; and when their calamities are derived from national adverfity, and they fuffer with the public, what happens ? In this cafe, their ex- ceflive fenfibility is contagious and becomes pernicious to the interefts of the public, by communicating difcouragement, terror, and weaknefs to thofe, who are within the reach and influence of their examples. With re- fped: to the latter clafs of perfons, their in- difference and apathy are vicious in a high degree. It is unnatural to be infenfible to our own afflictions : it is inhuman to be indif- ferent about the fufferings of others ; it is ungenerous and bafe to be little affected by public and national calamities. — The firft thing, then, incumbent upon thofe who are vifited with the day of adverfity, is to confider the nature and degree of the evils they fuffer, and without either exaggerating or difguifing their weight, to feel them, as, in reality, they ought to be felt. II. But, 218 DISCOURSE XI. II. But, in the fecond place, while we confider the nature of our afflictions and fufferings, we are called, by the day of adver- fity, to confider the authority by which they are appointed, that we may humble our- felves under the hand of the Difpofer of all events with profound and patient fubmiflion. It is the precious privilege of the Chriftian tq know from whence his fufferings and trials proceed. It is his happy privilege to know, that the day of adverfity comes from the fame Father of lights, who is the slutbor of every good and perfect gift ; and that all the events of time and of eternity are under his direc- tion. It is not to capricious chance, to blind fate, or to evil, unmbje&ed to the empire of Providence, that he is called to fubmit, but to fupreme and paternal wifdom ; to benignity clothed with righteoumefs and truth. This perfuafion can, alone, produce meek fubmif- fion and peace in the feeling mind, under the fharp trials of adverfity. Accordingly, we fee, how, in the dark feafons of human life, the felfifh paffions work in thofe who are des- titute of religious principles, or have only the form of godlinefs without its fpirit and power. Such DISCOURSE XT. 219 Such turn their whole attention to the calami- ties they fuffer, and to their fecond caufes. Inftead of checking their extreme fenfibility, they nourifh and indulge it, and impatience and murmuring appear to them, even inno- cent and lawful in the period of diftrefs. They forget that Providence has called them to drink their portion of the mixed cup which is held forth to man in his prefent ftate, and thus they increafe its bitternefs. They want that ftrength of mind which, formed by Reli- gious fentiments and profpects, foftens the iharpnefs of pain and forrow, and renders the heart accefTible to confolation and relief. — But different are the effects of the day ©f ad- verfity on the good mas-, who confiders it as the wife difpenfation of Heaven ; a tranfitory day in the fublime plan of God's righteous, eternal, and benevolent empire ; out of the depths he raifes his eye to that empire, and his heart is fixed by fubmiflion and hope. He will not conteft with that Sovereign, whofe authority, whether he forms the light , or creates darknefs, is always exercifed with wifdom and goodnefs. Through the dark eloud of affliction, as well as in the fun-fhine of no DISCOURSE XI. of profperity, he will perceive Him, whole government is wifdom, and whofe eflence is love ; and this view of the God that reigns, will foften his pains and turn his fubmiflion into pleafing confidence. It is true, indeed., that though we know in general, the falutary fruits of adverfity in mortifying thofe irregular paflions, whofe intemperance and excefs are the true fources of human mifery ; yet we cannot fee, in every inftance, the particular reafons why fome profper and others are affli&ed ; nor of the time, the kind, and degree of fuffering, with which the latter are vifned. We know but imperfectly the real characters of men ; we are ftill lefs able to perceive the remote tendencies of things, and their relations and connexions in the vaft plan of Providence, in which the paft, the prefent, and the future are comprehended. — Hence it muft be im- pofTible for us to fee clearly, in every parti- cular cafe, the reafons of God's ways to the children of men. But in the midft of this ignorance of particular reafons and particular cafes, there is one evident and general caufe of the external evils and fufferings of a pre- fent DISCOURSE XL 221 fent life, which we may know with certainty ; and this caufe is fin, or a deviation from the laws of righteoufnefs and order. Moral evil, and natural evil, that is, fin and fufFering, were originally connected, and are ftill fo in the Divine government ; and, for one feem- ing exception to this general rule, how many are the examples which daily illuftrate and confirm it ? We know, from the hiftory of our firft parents, \\\al Jin introduced forrow, into a ftate where every thing feemed adapted to produce fatisfaclion and enjoyment. The one was in the ju Price and wifdom of God, defigned to be the corrective and chaftifement of the other. Had man continued in the full enjoyment of external happinefs, after he became a tranfgreffbr, there would have been an end of all virtue and order upon earth* This great law of wifdom and juftice, which connects natural with moral evil, ftill remains in force. Nor does it only take place, with refpect to the more corrupt part of mankind ; it extends its influence even to the righteous. For the beft of men are not exempt from all remains of fin and corruption : they have their failings and their foliies, their irregular paffions, I 222 DISCOUPvSE XL paffions, their favourite fins, which more eafdy befet them, and therefore they are liable to the pains and fufferings to which fin has fubjected human nature. If thefe fufferings are not always punifmnents, in the ftrict fenfe of the word , they are, at leaft, corrective chaftifements, appointed by their Heavenly Father to reclaim them from their deviations, or falutary trials to exercife and purify their imperfect virtues. Thus all, though in dif- ferent ways, fuited to their different and re- fpe&ive characters, are called to acknowledge, in the day of adverfity, the wifdom and juftice of God in their refpective trials and fufferings, and to humble themfelves under his hand with the raoft profound fubmiffion. — Nor is it only to individuals that the dif- penfations of Providence addrefs this folemn and inftructive leffon, but alfo to nations, which have a moral perfonality under God's awful empire. They have their periods of profperity and adverfity, and how remarkably is their decline connected with the deprava- tion of their principles and manners \ Open the annals of hiftory, and fee what an awful fpectacle they exhibit, of grandeur and de- cline, DISCOURSE XL 223 cline, elevation and ruin, in confequence of that law of the Divine government, that righteoufnefs exalteth a nation, while fin is the reproach of a people. We have no example of a nation, whofe profperity has been blafted, without recovery, in the period of its virtue ; but we live in a time, when the language of Providence fpeaks with fingular perfpicuity, nay, with a tremendous majefty, in the fate of nations ; and calls mankind to fee, in glar- ing examples, the deplorable effects of daring impiety and overgrown corruption, III. Inftead, therefore, of contefting with God, by murmuring and impatience, it is our bufinefs to revere his difpenfations, to confider our ways, and to attend to the im- portant and falutary purpofes which are intended by Providence, and may be im- proved by us, when calamities fall to our lot. This is the third point we propofed to illus- trate ; and it has a peculiar claim to our ferious attention. This branch of religious confideration is too rarely employed in the day of adverfity. In that dark period, an anxious felf-love too generally confines the thoughts of men to the evils they fufFer, and the 224 DISCOURSE XL the means of removing them. The laft thing they think of, (and how many are there who never think of it at all?) is to afk themfelves why they have heen affli&ed ? For what pur- pofe the day of adverfity has vifited them, and w r hat it requires of them ? The anfwers to thefe queftions are not the fame, with refpect to all thofe who are afTaulted by the fhocks of adverfity. With refpect to the profligate, who are hardened in tranfgrefTion, thefe anfwers are awful; but they may prove falutary : with refpect to true Chrifiians, who have learned to read the language of Providence, they will anfwer thefe queftions to thernfeives in a manner that will make cheering rays of light arife to them, even in the deepeft darknefs, and turn, in the iffue, their fubmiffion and refignation into thankfgiving and praife. To you, obftinate tranfgrefTor, whom the truths and promifes of religion neither direct nor animate in the paths of obedience, nor elevate and delight with the hopes of immor- tality ; to you, whofe paffions are your idols and your guides, the day of adverfity is a day of punijlmient, in the flri£t fenfe of the word. 9 Yet DISCOURSE XI. 225 Yet even to you, punifhment carries a voice of warning and admonition, as long as your ftdte of trial continues. The beft of Beings afflicts none from arbitrary will ; he punifhes the paft with a view to the future, and fends to man temporal forrowsj that he may be led, by falutary chaftifement, to avoid eternal evils. Be injlrucled, left, my foul depart from thee ! — Mind, in this your day, the things that belong to your eternal peace. Such is the language of adverfity to obftinate finners; they may neglect it, but they will neglect it at their peril ; for the time muft come, when they will learn what a dreadful thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God, when his admonitions have been rejected, and his met* cies have been defpifed. And what are the ends and purpofes for which adverfity is permitted to vifit the righteous ? We anfwer, for correclion and trial. Whether their adverfity proceeds from the part, they muft, in the general laws of Pro- vidence, inevitably bear in all public and na- tional calamities, (for which participation they fhall be amply indemnified in due time,) or whether it confifts in the more private and Q^ perfonal 226 DISCOURSE XI. pergonal evils to which humanity is expofecl, its ends are always, in the inrentions of Pro- vidence, falutary correEllon and improving trial ; and happy thoie who know and feel this precious truth ! As to correction.) the language of Providence is clear and obvious. In a long courfe of uninterrupted profperity, a fecret pride in- finuates itfelf imperceptibly, even into good minds ; and who is fure of preferving, in a ftate of elevation and abundance, that meek- nefs and humility, which days of pain and forrow infpire, by mewing us experimentally our infirmities and our dependence ? — Again, the fins and errors which befet, with more or lefs facility, even good Chriftians, are not felt with fuch fenfibility in a profperous ftate, which engenders a fpirit of lethargy and eafe, as in the day of difappointment and affli&ion, which difpels illufion and awakens reflexion. The fons of Jacob fold their brother without compunction or remorfe, and only felt the atrocity of their crime, when they found themfelves diftreffed and afflicted in Egypt. But if the day of adverfity is defigned, by a paternal Providence, to corrccl the errors and DISCOURSE XI. 227 and illufions of the righteous, it is moreover intended to /ry, that is, to exercife and im- prove their virtues. It renders their patience and fortitude more vigorous, by conflict and oppofition. It calls up faith and hope to en- lighten their darknefs, and raife them from dejection, by lively views of the promifes of their Redeemer, and of the crown he holds forth to animate their perfeverance ; and thus purifies all their virtues from the drofs of fenfuality and felfifhnefs, as fire makes gold come purer and brighter from the furnace. When the day of adverfity is confidered in this point of view, how does its forbidding afpect change, and remove all objections againft the goodnefs and mercy of the Su- preme Being ! How beautifully does it illus- trate thofe remarkable pafTages of Scripture, where the afflictions with which God vifits his people are declared to be evidences of his paternal benignity and care, and that in which our BlefTed Saviour himfelf exprefs- ly fays, As many as I love I rebuke and chqften * / * Rev. in. 19. 0*2 If, 228 DISCOURSE XL If, in the day of adverfity, we had the wif* dom to confider thefe things, and to antici- pate, by faith and pious reflexion, that happy day, when to thofe, who have fuffered with a patient continuance in well-doing, adverfity and forrow fhall be no more, what balm would this pour into our wounds, and how would it foften all our evils ! Then fhould We feel the power of that faith, which blunts the fharp fting of adverfity, of that trium- phant faith that overcomes the world. Even in thofe fcenes of affliction which are the moll diftreffing and affecting to generous and feeling minds, the virtuous fufferer will not fink under his burden : he will ihed the tears of friendfliip and tendernefs on his broken connexions; but he will not grieve without a fweet mixture of hope and ferenity, from the profpe&s of religion furmounting the tran- fitory triumphs of death and the grave. IV. Neverthelefs it is (till true, that the day of adverfity, though fufceptible of falutary improvement, is ftill an evil day, a ftate of violence painful to nature. It is, in itfelf, an evil, and never can be deemed good, but 9 as DISCOURSE XI. 229 as a bitter remedy to a malignant difeafe. Therefore, when we have made a wife im- provement of it, we are abundantly juftified in wifhing for its removal, and employing the lawful means which wifdom may fuggeft for that purpofe ; and this is the laft point to be confidered. To obtain deliverance from the day of ad- verfity, or (where this is not practicable) to foften its bitternefs and alleviate its evils, is the natural and legitimate defire of man. But whatever the nature of our adverfity may be, whether it be public, domeftic, or perfonal, let us be cautious, ieverely cautious of the means we employ to alleviate or to remove it. Thefe means muft be lawful and juft, in or- der to be permanently fuccefsful and effectual. Injuftice may have an apparent and moment- ary fuccefs ; but its triumphs are fhort, and are often compenfated by new calamities. The evil generally remains under other forms, when unrighteous means are employed to ob- tain deliverance. The records of hiftory, and our own obfervation and experience, if attentively recollected, will fhew us, in many and affecting examples, how the blind and 0^3 ungoverned 230 DISCOURSE XI. ungoverned paflions of men have aggravated their calamities, by the very means which they employed to remove them. That can never be true happinefs, either private or public ', which is procured by crimes or fup- ported by iniquity. Fortitude and prudence, active induftry, and virtuous effort, feconded by a pious recourfe to the protection of Hea- ven, thefe are the only means which the Chriftian will think himfelf permitted to em- ploy, either to throw off or to alleviate his burden. But above all, — the refuge, the high retreat of the virtuous children of affliction, is the Great Being, under whofe fupreme direction and controul all human efforts and fecond caufes are immediately placed, and he will grant his Almighty protection to thofe who have learned rigbteoufnefs by his paternal dis- cipline in the day of adverlity. Let us then implore his bleffmg on our efforts and means, in the prefent period of our trial : their fuc- cefs muff come from him. Does he refufe it to our fupplications ? We muft then conclude that the proper feafon of deliverance is not yet come, and fubmit with refignation ; wait- ing i DISCOURSE XL 231 ing for the God of our falvation. His time mu ft be ours ; his time alone will be the true and proper feafon for the accoinplifhment of our defines. It is enough for us to know, that in the period of our trial his grace will he fujjiacnt for us ; and that, in the final iflue of things, all events Jhall work together for good. What other refource than this remains for the reflecting and feeling mind, amidft thofe clouds of terror which hang over this Re- public*, and threaten its ruin? While an enemy from without invades its territory, and difcord from within confumes its ftrength, will complaints and murmurs relieve us : or will a brutiih infenfibiiity held out many days longer among fome, who feem irrvnerfed in a criminal or delirious tranquillity ? No, my brethren, murmurs and complaints aggra- vate fuffering ; and in the day of adverfity, the infenfibiiity contracted by profperous eafe, is foon awakened into terror and anguifh. But in all events, there is a high retreat for the righteous in the providence and promifes * This Difcourfe tvas delivered at the Hague in November 1794, near the time of the French invafion of the Republic. CL4 of 232 DISCOURSE XI. of their God. Thefe are their fanctuary ; and to it they fly, and are fafe. — Yes, they are fafe; — their great interefts are beyond the reach of the world ; its changes and revolu- tions cannot affect them effentially. The im- mortal Child of God, if he knows truly his Father and his Redeemer, will never be dif- mayed in the moft gloomy fcenes of human life. He may fuffer ; but he will not be con- founded. Should the day of adverfity come upon him like a whirlwind, his conflict is comparatively fhort, his victory is fure, and his crown fhall be eternal ; for neither life nor deaths nor things prefent nor things to come, rior height nor depth, nor any other creature, fhall feparate the good man from the pro- tection and love of that God, in whom he has believed, and with whom alone is the fountain of life and happinefs eternal E *n ] DISCOURSE XII. Concerning the refpective Importance of Profession and Practice in Religion. Matthew, vii. 21. NOT EVERY ONE THAT SAITH UNTO ME, LORD, LORD, SHALL ENTER INTO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, BUT HE THAT DOETH THE WILL OF MY FATHER, WHICH IS IN HEAVEN. T) eligious truth is the light of the foul. It is a lamp from heaven, defigned to direct our fteps through this world to a better. But truth, which neither excites pious affec- tions, nor forms virtuous habits, is ufdefs y becaufe its purpofe is defeated ; and it muft, fooner or later, become painful, becaufe it cannot 234 DISCOURSE XII. cannot ceafe to be a principle of direction without becoming a fource of condemnation. Truth is the friendly guide of thole who, like the Pfalmift, ufe it as a light to their feet, and a lamp to their path ; but it has an awful afpect to thofe who profefs to believe the doc- trines of religion, while the)' are little, if at all, felicitous about forming the tenour of their conduct on its faered precepts. What would you fay, in effect, if the declarations of the Gofpei announced to fuch, a fentence of indulgence and abfolution, offered to them the prize of our high vocation, and opened to them, indifcriminately, the manfions of felicity beyond the grave ? Surely, in fuch a cafe, the Gofpei would lofe that fublime mix- ture of fanctity and clemency, which confti- tutes its glory : its author would be the en- courager of fin, and the perfe&ions of God would be in contradiction with each other. We are taught otherwife in the words of our text, which enforce the connexion be- tween truth and duty, profefhon and practice ; and difpel, by a clear and pofitive declaration, all the illufions which are fuggefted by cor- ruption, with refpect to the neceflity and pof- fibility DISCOURSE XII. zzs fibility cf obedience to the will of God: they remove the pretexts of the flothful and un- worthy feivant by a folemn fenteuce, pro- nounced even by Him, who came to fried his blood for a fmfui world : Not every one that faith, Lord, Lord, fiall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doth the will of my Fa- ther, which is in Heaven. Thefe words are full of important matter. In order, therefore, to illuftrate and enforce the practical truths and obligations which they prefent to us, we mall, I. Shew what we are to underftand by an entrance into the kingdom of Heaven, and the fate and privileges which this phrafe is de- signed to exprefs. II. We fhall point out the falfe pretentions and claims which are made to this fate and thefe privileges by thofe who fay, Lord J Lord ! that is, who content themfelves with an ex- ternal profeflion of religion ; and, III. Shall endeavour to unfold the lines of that character to which thefe privileges truly belong, even the character of thofe who do fhe will of their Heavenly Father, I. We 236 DISCOURSE XII. I. We are to confider, what is meant by an entrance into the kingdo?n of heaven, and the flate and privileges which this phrafe is de~ figned to exprefs. The kingdom of heaven is generally ufed in Scripture for the Gofpel difpenfation, or that kingdom of grace, truth, righteoufnefs, and immortality, which the Son of God came to eftabliih among men, by his miniftry, death, and refurre&ion ; — a kingdom whofe founda- tion is laid here, but whofe completion fhall be carried on hereafter in endlefs difplays of felicity and glory. The true difciple ofChrift is a fubjeit of this kingdom ; and his flate and privileges, refulting from this important rela- tion, prefent to us feveral points of view which deferve our ferious attention. — Confi- der the aclual ftate of man, and fee how it is ennobled by bis profpecls as a Chriftian, a fubjeel: of the kingdom of heaven. His actual ftate, by nature, is marked with three circumftances, which painfully counterba- lance all his terreftial and tranfitory advan- tages ; for it is a ftate of mortality, guilt, and fiferi/rg. I. It DISCOURSE XII. 237 1. It is a ftate of mortality. The love of life is the ftrongeft principle in human nature, and yet one of the lirft things we learn is, that we muft die. Nay, in the midft of life, it may be faid that we are in death, fince ex- iftence here is not fecured to us beyond the prefent moment. Such is the law of our na- ture relative to a prefent world ; and though the illufions of fancy and the pleafures and occupations of life put off this evil day, or rather difguife its approach, yet, when con- fidered in itfelf, it is an object which a re- flecting mind cannot behold without dejec- tion and reluctance. But the kingdom of heaven announced in our text dlfpels its gloom by opening the eye of the Chriftian on an endlefs duration. This is one of the firft objects which prefents itfelf to his view, when he becomes the difciple of Him, who has abolifhed death by his crofs, and brought life and immortality to a full and certain light by his Go/pel. Here, indeed, a grand profpect is opened to humanity, and a moft important privilege is conferred upon the creature, which by nature became fubject to the bondage of corruption and death. 2. How- 238 DISCOURSE XIL 2. However, if an endlefs duration, con- fidered in itfelf, imprints on man a chara&er of grandeur, fin and guilt blaft this grandeur, and give it an afped of terror. Immortality and guilt is an awful compound. Confcience, even in the bed, muft behold an endlefs dura- tion with painful anxiety, if there were no pro- miles to relieve and comfort finful man under thofe impreffions of a righteous government, which, though often overpowered, are rarely extinguished. But while nature is thus, by the confcioufnefs of guilt, difqualified for en- joying fully the profpect of immortality, the grace of the Gofpel comes in to its aid, and difpels its anxiety. The Chriftian who enters into the true fpirit of ChritVs kingdom fees a difpenfation of mercy coming forth, even from the throne of righteoufnefs, in the hands of a Redeemer ; and this difpenfation, though it brings no relief to the obftinate tranfgreflbr, revives the hopes and brightens the profpe&s of the humble and the penitent. 3. But it was not enough for the King Immortal to vanquifh death, and to deliver confcience, in its views of futurity, from thofe anxious fears which held in bondage the children DISCOURSE XII. 239 children of men. The privileges of his true fubjects go ftill farther : for they are pofitively encouraged, by afire word of promife, to look hereafter for a total exemption from evil and fuffering, and the endlefs poffeffion of com- plete felicity. Here the efTential wants and longings of nature are fatisned in a manner in- finitely furpafling the views which philofophy had exhibited to man, even in its moft im- proved ftate. For here death appears not only as the final term of fufTering and forrow, but as a fhort pafiage to that fulnefs of joy which is in the prcfence of God, and thofe rivers of pleafure which flow from his right hand for evermore. Such then are the privileges and profpecls which are connected with an entrance into the kingdom of heaven. But here we may 'afk, in the language of the Pfalmift, Lord, who floall abide in thy tabernacle ? Who Jhall dwell in thy holy place ? There is a negative and alfo a pofitive anfwer made to this ques- tion in the words of our text, and they both defer ve our ferious attention. The firft is, Not every one that faith, Lord I Lord I Jhall enter into the kingdom of heaven ; — this leads us 240 DISCOURSE XII. us to confider the falfe pretenfions and claims which are made to an entrance into the king- dom of God, by thofe who fay, Lord ! Lord I that is, who content themfelves with a merely external profefTion of religion ; and it is the nature and inefficiency of this profeffion that we (hall now confider, in the fecond head of this Difcourfe. II. We begin by obferving, that a decent external profeffion of religion is, in a certain degree, refpectable, as it is the natural ex- prefTion of inward piety and virtue. It is not, therefore, to be difcouraged, even when unattended with the fruits which ought to accompany it ; becaufe it has ftill a promifing afpect, and may prove a mean of real im- provement and fanctitication. And as it be- comes daily lefs uncommon to fee perfons throwing off even the appearance of religion, ■ fome regard is due to its external profeffion, where it is not palpably infincere and hypo- critical. But even when this profeffion is fincere, it is not fufficient. No truth, perhaps* ought to be more inculcated than this on the generality of Chriftians ; becaufe if the affect- ation of irrcligion is criminal and audacious, the DISCOURSE XII. 241 the illufions infpired by a more or lefs fincere profeffion of Chriflianity, are highly danger- ous; and thefe illufions are common. To be clear and explicit on a matter of fuch high importance, confider the nature of an external profeffion, compare it with the facred demands of our vocation, and you will be convinced of its infufficiency. Confider it in its nature, fiift as it implies an affent to the truths of the Gofpel, and fecondly as it ex- tends to a careful obfervance of the pofitive rites and inflituticns of relic-ion. o Firjl) as it implies an affent to the truths of, the Gofpel. — The external profeffor comes to his Saviour with the confeffion of his faith, and fays unto him, Lord I Lord', that is, he acknowledges his religion to be true and di- vine, and believes its Author to be the Son of God, and the Redeemer of Man. If this hiftori- cal faith be the effect of a rational conviction, founded on fuch an attentive examination of the truth as every candid mind is capable of, it is, no doubt, a ftep of real confequence in religion; but it lofes all its importance, if it has little or no influence in directing the con- duct and fan&ifying the heart. Faith is an ti affent 242 DISCOURSE XII. aflent to the truths of the Gofpel ; but for what purpofe is an aflent to thefe truths required of us ? Is it only that they fhould be laid up in our memory, and be employed as objects of difcuflion and barren contemplation, or, as is too often the cafe, of angry and uncharitable controverfy ? No, furely ; all the great and eflential truths of the Gofpel have a reference to the improvement of the mind, and to religious and moral con- duct ; and if they have no real and palpable influence in this refpeet, the profeflional be- lief of them can fignify little. When (Thrift faid to his difciples, Tcjhall know the truth *, he adds thofe remarkable words, and the truth Jliall make youfi-ee. Free from what ? free (as he explains the phrafe himfelf) from the tyranny of paflions and the fervitude of fin. And in that mediatorial prayer in favour of his fervants, addrefled to the Father, he fays, Sa?iclify them through thy truth; thy word is truth ; by which you fee, that it is the eflential purpofe of the truths of the Gofpel, feconded by divine fuccours, to purify the * John, vili. 37. hearts DISCOURSE XII. 243 hearts and direct the anions of men. — If, therefore, while we fay Lord I Lord I in con- fequence of an external profeffion of the truth, this truth does not excite our grateful love to our Saviour and our God, and render this love a principle of obedience ; if it neither obtains an empire over our fenfual appetites, nor foftens the animofity of our angry and vindictive paffions ; if it neither humbles our pride at the view of cur demerit, nor modifies ambition by the reftraints of humanity and juftice ; if it neither diminifhes the rapacity of avarice and felf-love, nor nourifhes in the heart the godlike habits of charity and bene- ficence ; if it neither removes our narrow prejudices, nor corrects our weak and capri- cious humours, nor prevents our rafhand un- charitable judgments ; finally, if it neither* raifes our predominant views and defires be- yond this world, nor puts our minds into a frame of fanctity and benevolence which prepares them for a better; — what purp'ofes does fuch a profeffion of the truth ferve, but to deceive us with refpect to our effential and eternal in- terefts ? Let none deceive themfelves in this momentous concern, where miftakes and felf- r 2 delufion, 244 D I S C O U R SE XII. delufion are fo fatal. Chriftianity was de- figned to improve our nature ; but a mere external profeffion degrades it, by throwing our corruption under a mafk, which fome- times deceives even ourfelves, and thus leaves corruption in all its power. „ Secondly, Still more delufive is that branch of an external profeffion mentioned above, which confifts in a careful obfervance of the pofitive rites and institutions of religion. For an external profeffion is not merely an affent to truth, but comprehends alfo pofitive ads of religion, and a regular attendance on the ftated inftitutions of public worfhip. Thefe external fervices are undoubtedly pre- cious means of fanctification and virtue. • When we come into the houfe of God, the *• objects which, of all others, are the moft adapted to affect and better our hearts, are there prefented to our view. We come pro- feifedly to fix all our attention on thefe ob- jects. Our worldly occupations are fufpended, that nothing may prevent the folemn and pleafmg impreffions which they are adapted to make upon our minds. We prefent our- felves before the Being, whofe grandeur afto- 8 nifhes, DISCOURSE XII. 245 nifties, whofe juftice awes, whofe goodnefs and mercy encourage and confole, who fills immenfity, and yet condefcends to dwell with the contrite heart. We come to hear the word, which tells us that we are immortal, holds forth a lamp to guide us in the path of life, and prefents to us a Redeemer to pre- vent our being dejected by a fenfe of guilt, by the terrors of death, or by the profpect of judgment. We come to read and hear thofe divine precepts which rejoice the heart, and make the fimple wife. We approach to the table of the Lord, and are allured there, that there is pardon for the penitent, ftrength for the feeble, and life eternal for the dying crea- ture. Such are the purpofes for which we come profefledly into the houfe of God. But how do many return from thence to the w r orld ? They return like a man who behold" eth his face in a g/afs, and then goeth air ay and forgettcth what manner of man he was *. The impreffions made by the public iervices of reli- gion (if impreffions there have been) are often momentary ; and da>ly obfervation Ihews * James, i. 23, 24. R 3 that 246 DISCOURSE XII. that they neither fortify againft tempta- tion, nor fupport under trial, nor animate to duty ; it mews that men may pafs their lives in a regular obfervance of religious inftitu- tions, and yet flill remain proud, voluptuous, envious, avaricious, and unjuft, equally un- affected by the goodnefs of God, and the confideration of his righteous and awful go- vernment. This people fcrve me with their I/ps, faith the Lord by the mouth of his pro- phet, but their hearts are far from me. Now, furely, where the external fervices of religion leave us as they found us, and our predomi- nant paffions, humours, and violations of duty, go on uncorrected in the frme irregular train, it cannot be faid that fuch fervices anfwer the purpofe of their inftitution, nor, indeed, any good purpofe at all. On the contrary, they aggravate our guilt in an awful manner, becaufe they are falutary means of grace criminally milimproved. It is thus that the precious privileges and bleflings of the Gofpel difpenfalion are unhappily for T feited ; for it would be ftrange to imagine that thefe privileges and bleflings were connected with the performance of external fervices, which DISCOURSE XII. 247 which are accompanied with no fruits of righteoufnefs ; that pardon fhould be given to the perfevering offender ; and that the regions of purity and love fliould be indifcriminately opened to the pure and the impure, the vin- dictive and the merciful, to thole who trample upon the laws of God, and thofe who ferve him in fincerity and truth. This is not the defign of that holy and merciful Saviour, •who gave himfelf for us, that he might re- deem us from our iniquities^ and purify unto himfelf a peculiar people 'zealous of good works *. • It is not meant, however, by any thing hitherto advanced on this fubject, to invali- date the promifes of merciful indulgence, which are made to fincere, though ftill im- perfect piety, by Him who knows our frame , and confiders that we are but dujl. In this prefent ftate of our frail humanity, all in- ftances of inconfiftency and contradiction between faith and practice cannot be entirely avoided, and in fome cafes they will even be found in true and advanced Chriflians. Thefe contradictions make a part of our ftate of , * Titus, II. 14. R 4 trial : 24 8 DISCOURSE XII. trial : they are adapted to exercife our pious activity in furmounting them ; and to improve our intellectual and moral powers, by continual efforts to add to our faith virtue, that we may not be found barren and unfruitful in the day of the Lord Jcfus. But when we take no pains to remove thefe contradictions, by fubjecYing the influence of fenfe and paflions to the controul of reafon and faith, our profefiion is difhonoured, its privileges are forfeited ; becaufe, though we may fay, Lord ! Lord ! to our Divine Mafter, we fay this with a fpirit of difTafFeciion. To what we have already obferved, with refpecl to the infufficiency of an external pro- fefiion, however foiemn and fpecious it may be, we cannot help adding, that there is a high degree of ftperftition in the confidence which many place in it. This is peculiarly fhameful and criminal, confidering the dif- penfation of light and knowledge under which we live. Caft an eye back on thofe periods of the world, in which the darkneis and errors of Paganifm degraded the human mind. There you fee fmoking altars, crowded temples, coftly facrifices, and laborious rites, accom- DISCOURSE XII. 249 accompanying vicious morals and unre- ftrained corruption. Yet, even in this dif- mal period of ignorance and fuperftition, reafon fuggefted purer notions of religion to fome of the Pagan fages. They confidered an upright and virtuous heart as the moft acceptable oblation that we can prefent to the Deity ; and maintained, that they honour and glorify him belt, who endeavour to refemble him. Whether it was reafon or tradition that taught them this fublime and important truth, it has been repeatedly confirmed by Divine Revelation. It is impoflible to ufe more precautions againft the illufions of human corruption on this head, than have been taken by the writers of thofe facred book?, which are the great and effential fources of our con- folation, and ought therefore to be the chief rule of our conduct. See how they admonifh the Jews, who placed fuch confidence in a barren profeffion ! The language, addrefTed to them by the Prophets of the Mod High, is, Bring no more vain oblations (/. c. offerings, which neither purify the heart nor reform the life). To what purpofe is the multitude of your facrifces unto me, faith the LGrd ? — Tour new 250 DISCOURSE XII. new moons, fabbaths, and folemn affemblics, are a profanation. — When ye fpread forth your hands , 1 will hide mine eyes from you. But ceafe to do evil, learn to do well ; and then y though your fun be as fcarlet, they fjjall be as white as fnoiv *. We have, in the words following our text, a fignal proof of the . infufficiency of every thing, but purity of heart and life, to render us genuine difciples of Chrift, and the true fubjects of his kingdom of grace and glory. For net only they, who fay Lord ! Lord! by a mere external profeffion, are excluded from this kingdom, but even they, alfo, who held a diflinguiihed rank in the church, by their extenfive knowledge, their fplendid and even miraculous gifts, are declared unworthy fub- jects of the kingdom of Chrifi ; becaufe their conduct was not anfwerable to their profef- fion. Many will fay, in that day, (the day of judgment,) Lord, have we not prophefed in thy name, and in thy name done many wondrous works ? The anfwer is, / never knew you, (that is, acknowledged you for my faithful * Ifaiah, i. 18. fervantSj) DISCOURSE XH. 251 Servants,) depart from me ye workers of iniquity. God may employ, in the dif- penfation of the Gofpel, as lie does in the government of Providence, unworthy inftru- ments in the execution of his defigns ; becaufe it is his glorious province to draw good out of evil, and to direct the faculties and paf- fions, even of the unrighteous, to promote, in the iffue of things, the purpofes of his goodnefs and mercy. But at the great day of accounts fuch inftruments will be rejected. Men may defend the truth of the Gofpel, with great acutenefs of judgment and extent of knowledge, without feeling in their hearts, or manifefting in their lives its finctifying power and its moral influence. It is by their fruits that true Chriftians mud be difcerned. If ye know thefe things, happy are ye if ye do them. This is the indifpenfable law of grace, as well as of reafon, otherwile the law of grace would be in direct oppofirion to the nature of God, the nature of man, and the nature of things. It is be that doeth the will of my Fa- ther which is in heaven, faith o«-ir BlefTed Lord, that (hall enter into the kingdom of grace 252 DISCOURSE XII. grace and glory. What is implied in doing this will, we propofe to confider in a follow- ing Difcourfe. In the mean time, let us confider, with an eye of recollection turned upon ourfelves, what has been already obferved with refpect to the infufHciency of fervices, merely exter- nal, to anfwer the purpofes of our high vo- cation. Let us confider feiioufly the obliga- tions of our Chriflian profefTion, and the manner in which we fulfil them. The cafe of thofe, who are infenfible both of its facred and pleafing duties, and of its fublime and immortal promifes and profpecls, is truly de- plorable ; their guilt, and its confequences, muft be awful ; for how can they efcape, who fo fatally negletl Jitcb a great falvation ? But inexpreffibly happy are they, who, awakened frcm a criminal indifference, look upon religion as a ferious and momentous thing; who behold in it a comforter and a guide ; who tajie the good word of God, and the powers of the 'world to come. They, indeed^ will look with felf-abafement upon the difproportion that there is between the means DISCOURSE XII. 253 means they have enjoyed and their improve- ment of them; but their candid view of this difproportion will diminifh it from day to day ; and their Heavenly Father will not only confider their frame with paternal mercy, but alfo perfecl his victorious ftrength in their infirmity. t 2 54 ] DISCOURSE XIII. The fame Subject continued. Matthew, vii. 21. NOT EVERY ONE THAT SAITH UNTO ME, LORD, LORD, SHALL ENTER INTO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, BUT HE THAT DOETH THE WILL OF MY FATHER, WHICH IS IN HEAVEN. T n the preceding Difcourfe, we confidered, firft, what is to be underftood by an en- trance into the kingdom of beaven y and the privileges which are comprehended in that phrafe. • We expofed, fecondly, the fatal illu- fions of thofe, who found their claims to thefe privileges and bleffings upon a merely external profefTion of religion. We DISCOURSE XIII. 255 We now proceed to fhew, in the third place, that the bleffings of the kingdom of grace and glory belong only to thofe who do the will of their Heavenly Father, and to illuftrate and afcertain the fenfe and import of that phrafe. To do the will of God is an exprefiion of momentous import, which, too often, is lamentably reduced, by indolence and corrup- tion, to vague refolutions and feeble efforts. This will, fo far as it is manifefted, muft always have been, and muft always be, the fupreme fource of obligation, and the great rule of conduct to all intelligent and moral beings. As effentially righteous and good, its authority is refpeetable and facred : and as the will of our Creator, Preferver, Benefactor, and Judge, its obligation is both attracting and awful. The higheft angels obey this will ; for order is their delight, and this will is the fource of order. Human nature, in its pri- mitive ftate, whofe duration is not precifely marked in Holy Writ, obeyed this will, and then anxiety and pain, the tumult of paflions, difguft in falfe enjoyment, and remorfe of confeience, were unknown. But when hu- man £56 DISCOURSE XIII. man nature fell from its integrity, then pure and unmixed happinefs fled from the abodes of mortals. The mind loft its hope and its peace, and both mental diforder and bodily fufferinp; fhewed the fatal effects of iniquity ; and it was in the mod deplorable period of human depravity and mifery that the Son of God appeared upon earth, to feek and to iave that which was loft. But he did not come to fave the guilty, that they might continue in fin. He did not proclaim mercy and reconciliation from his crofs, that ingratitude and difobedience might trample upon goodnefs, through the hope of impunity. — No : — obedience was the ultimate end of redemption, and the merciful Author of that redemption matches the penitent (in- ner from deftruction, that he may turn from his wirighteoifncfs and live. For this purpofe the voice came cut of ' Sion, which, while it offered mercy and pardon to finful man, pro- claimed to him, at the fame time, in the Gofpel of Jeilis, a facred rule of moral con- duct and republished the will of God. He, that came forth from the Father, difplayed the Divine perfections to the world in all their attracting DISCOURSE XIII. 257 attracting luftre and awful grandeur, and inculcated the great duties of the love of God, refignation to his wifdom, and fubmiiTion to his authority, with fuch clearnefs and fimpli- city, as were adapted to enlighten the igno- rant, to affedl the learned, and to place the wormip of the Supreme Being upon the pureft and moft rational foundations. — He unfolded the duties of benevolence, juftice, and mercy to our fellow- creatures, as the great laws of God's moral empire, and of his peculiar kingdom of grace. He enforced the obligations of temperance, humility, patience, and contentment in the ftrongeft manner. Thus the facred and unchangeable rule of religious and moral conduct was renewed to man : and this rule, whofe jurifdi&ion ex- tends to our words and a&ions, to our affec- tions and intentions, in every condition of life, and in all the relations in which we are placed, is the will of God. — God can only will that which is good, and man can neither be accepted nor happy in the omiffion of good 2nd in the purfuit of evil • and this con- fideration is fufficient to (hew us, that they, who would enter into the kingdom of God, and s afpire 258 DISCOURSE XIII. afp : re after the promifes and profpects it holds forth, muft do the will of their Heavenly- Father. A g.eat and important quefiion remains. — When may we be faid to do the will of God? Or, in other words, What does this expref- fion comprehend and imply ? This, though a very important queftion, and one whole folution is fo effential to the well-founded tranquillity of man, is too rarely an object of attention and concern, even among pro- feffed ChriRians. Some live without re- flexion on their characters, fentiments, and actions, and hurry through life, in a thought- lefs manner, as paflion and imagination lead them. This is a kind of folly, highly cri- minal in a reafonable and immortal being, to whom happinels or mifery are exhibited in awful prolpect at the end of a tranfitory life. Others truft in vague notions of the mercy of God, or place their hopes of acceptance in that covenant of grace and pardon which was ratified by the death and refurrection of our ElefTed Lord. But if this be, no doubt, a comfortable fource of tranquillity, it is not fuch to thofe, who forget that there is for- givenefs DISCOURSE XIIL 259 givenefs with God y that he may be feared^ and that the Redeemer of the world holds forth, in one hand, an act of mercy, and in the other, a law of life. Avoiding thefe fatal illufions, let us return to the important qntftion, — What is implied in doing the will of God? We anfwer, in general, and negatively, not any thing be- yond the reach of fincere effort and Divine fuccours. — It has been difingenuoufly ob- jected to Chriftian morality, that its precepts are of too refined and exalted a nature to be practicable by man, and that they are not fuited to the imperfection and infirmities of human nature in its prefent ftate. Our firft anfwer removes this objection. But we alk, in our turn, What are the precepts which are above human effort and Divine fuccours ? or, Where is the precept that has not, in effect, been reduced to practice by good men in all ages of the Chriftian church ? There is no doubt that, in many cafes and circumftances, obedience to the will of God has, to a weak and corrupt uature, great difficulties. Though the Law of the Lord be right, rejoicing the heart ; though the increafing habit of obedU s 2 ence a6o DISCOURSE XIIT. ence in a virtuous mind be productive of a pure and permanent pleafure ; yet, in fome, paffions unfubdued, and bad habits, more or lefs inveterate, excite a painful conflict be- tween appetite and reafon, inclination rnd confcience. And, accordingly, St. Paul ob- ferves, that the flefh lufteth agahiji the Jplr'it^ and the fplrit agahiji the J/eJJj ; and that thefe are contrary the one to the other. But if that be deemed unreaibnably fevere, which op- pofes any irregular inclination or any vicious habit, what, we befeech you, will at laft be regarded as reafonable ? The inclinations of men are fo various, that every virtue and every duty will, by one or another, be com- plained of as a rigorous reftraint, and thus the whole moral law will be confidered as an intolerable burden. The vindictive will plead againft the law of love and mercy ; — the voluptuous and fenfual will complain of the law of temperance ; — the mifer will object to the law of beneficence; — and thofe who live in a whirlwind of diiTipation, trifling, and folly, will complain of a law, that fixes our pur- pofes, and leads us to aim, with afliduity and zeal, at fuch ends as afcertain the dignity of human DISCOURSE XIII. 261 human nature, and, at the proper feafon, will infallibly render it glorious and happy. If fuch objedtors require a iaw, which is neither defigned to regulate their affections and defires, nor to influence their conduct and make them wifer and better, than a cri- minal inclination, corrupt indolence, or a vicious tafte difpofe them to be ; then, indeed, the will of God cannot he their rule. But after all, — the queftion is not, What the folly of man would require ? but, What the wifdom of God has thought fit to prefcribe ? — The queftion is not, Whether there are inevitable difficulties attending duty and obedience in this fhort ftate of trial ? (difficulties, whofe conqueft is attended with the fweeteft fruits, and fhall be followed by eternal felicity,) but, Whether obedience to the will of God be neceflary to an entrance into the kingdom of heaven, and what is properly implied in doing his will? It implies, pofitively, four tilings ; which we (hall confider in their order. It implies, firjl, a fixed intention and pur- pofe to ferve the bed of Beings, and to ap- prove ourfelves to him in the whole courfe of our conduct and converfation. Neither s 3 temerity 262 DISCOURSE XIII- tementy nor diffidence ought to enter into the formation of this folemn purpofe. In oppofition to levity and temerity, it muft be calm and deliberate ; and, in oppofition to diffi- dence, it muft be firm and refolute. Animated by a perfuafion of the truth of religon, of the importance of its doctrines, precepts, and pro- jnifes, and of the folemn intereft we have, both here and hereafter, in the approbation and pro- tection of its great Author, it will be zealous and permanent, while a conicioufnefs of our infirmities will, at the fame time, render it Jiumble and modeft. It is thus that faith, rifing beyond a barren and merely external profeffion, will make the true Chnftian adopt, with fenfibility, the vow of the Pfalmift, Truly % Lord, lam thyfervant; — I delight to do thy will, my God ! yea thy law is ivithin my heart. Secondly, To do the will of God implies a careful and Impartial inquiry into what that Will requires from us in the way of duty. This is the natural confequence of a firm intention and purpofe to ferve the beft of Beings. In order to follow a rule, we muft know what it prefcribes ; and veneration and love for the Being, whofe fervice is the mojl perfecl DISCOURSE XIII. 263 perfecl freedom, will render his faithful fer- • vants attentive to every manif'efbtion of his will and pleafure. Thefe will prevent preci- pitation in a&ing, and will lead the true Chriftian to examine with care what is the good and acceptable ivill of his Heavenly Fa- ther. He will not be afraid (as too many are) to know this will, even when he may have reafon to apprehend that it will be un- favourable to the fentiments he has adopted, and the views and propenfities which have the greateft afcendant in his mind. — More efpecially, he will employ a particular and habitual attention in applying the maxims and precepts of the Gofpel to his own cha- racter, pailions, relations, and circumftances. This will prevent his condemning in otheis what he is difpofed to excufe in himfelf, and will render truly the word of God a light to his feel and a lamp to his path. So far, however, the Chriftian is only pre- pared for doing the will of his Heavenly Fa- ther ; for this implies elTentially, in the third place, ferious and vigorous efforts to avoid whatever the law of God forbids, and to per- form what it commands. However plain s 4 this 264 DISCOURSE XIII. this may appear, it is here that the illufions of men are frequent and peculiarly dangerous to the religious and moral ftate of the mind. Thefe illufions are various. There are illufions with refpect to fincerity ; for fome think themfelves fincere in their attachment to duty, if their imagination is pleafingly affected by the noble and lovely form of religion, and they applaud virtue when it is pra&ifed by others. But this is a dangerous error. Sin- cerity is not only oppofed to hypocrify, but alfo to a corrupt indolence ; and it fuppofes ardour and activity in the practice of duty. There are alfo illufions equally dangerous, which relate to the extent of cur obedience to the Divine will, as when favourite paffions, unjuftifiable omiffions, and vicious habits are excepted in our refolutions and efforts of obe- dience. Hence arife thole motly mixtures of vice and virtue, which we often meet with in the characters of men; — mixtures which give reafon to fear, that while the vices are real, the virtues are, at belt., but ambiguous. It is certain, that a cordial attachment and fubmiffion to the will of God can never ad- mit of exceptions and referves in favour of what DISCOURSE XIII. 26 5 what that holy will has declared to be finful. Then flail I not be afoamed, when I have refpecl unto all thy commandments. This is the lan- guage of fmcerity, and fincerity is (if I may ufe that expreflion) the main fpring of active and zealous efforts. The Chriflian is not exempted from infirmities and lapfes in his virtuous courfe j but he will not habitually and deliberately turn afide from it in any in- jflance of known duty. He will watch over his heart in every inftance of temptation and trial ; he will refpecl: every command as in- difpenfable and facred, which comes from his Heavenly Father. Pie will raife an eye of ardent fupplication for fuccour to the throne of Grace, to enable him to fubdue every paf- fion which oppofes the will of his God, and wars againft the peace of his mind. He will employ every motive, which faith and hope, love and fear fuggeft, to call forth the latent powers of the foul ; and thus ardent efforts, excited by views of what is great, beautiful, and important, in religion, will animate him to a zealous and univerfal obedience. Thirdly, The good man, who propofes it as the great end of his being to do the will of God, 2 66 DISCOURSE XIII. God, will not be contented with any progrefs he may have made in piety and virtue, but will ftill be defirous of farther improvement. A pious ambition will make him prefs for- ward to the mark i adding to his faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, and brotherly love, that he may not be barren nor unfruitful in the day of the Lord f{fas. As he comes nearer to the term of his trial and the enjoyment of his crown, fhall he relax his pace and faint in his journey ? Shall he fet limits to his obedience, the nearer that he advances to thofe blefled regions, of which obedience, without referve, constitutes the divine freedom and felicity r No; — he will go on in his way, rejoicing in hope, and happy and glorious will be the con- clufion of his courfe. Thus have we endeavoured to point out the effential lines of religious and moral duty, which are comprehended in doing the will of God. — — It is not to be expected, that thefe lines of obedience will be pofTefTed in the fame degree of purity and improvement by all who profefs the Gofpel of Chrift. Dif- ferent are the circumftances and capacities of men ; different are their means and meafures of DISCOURSE XIII. 267 of grace ; and it was not required by the gracious and equitable Matter, that the fer- vant who had received but one talent fhould come with an improvement equal to that of the man who had received five. But the characters of obedience already defcribed are, in a certain degree, effential to true obedience in all. If any plead, with refpecl: to religious obedience, an incapacity, the very fuipicion of which would affront them in the mod dif- ficult affairs of the world ; — if they plead ig- norance, while the light of heaven yet blazes around them, and complain of the want of means in the midft of their abundance, their cafe feems fatal, but it is inexcufable. The repeated declarations of the Gofpel affure us, that we (hall be judged by our works, if not as titles of merit, yet as marks of that fanclifi- cation without which no man can fee the Lord. Faith faves, by furnifhing the ftrongeft mo tives to obedience ; and obedience difplays the life, the power, and efficacy of faith. Their feparation is fatal, and deftroys both: their union is the life, peace, and felicity of the foul. Let us carry thefe things home to ourfelves, 268 DISCOURSE XIII. ourfelves, and apply them confcientioufly to our refpedtive cafes. We (hut the kingdom of heaven upon none ; but unhappy they who fhut it upon them- felves ! For the External Wifdom calls out to man, Be not deceived : God is not mocked ; for as a manfows^fo alfofiall be reap. — And even the merciful Redeemer, who died upon the crofs for the fins of men, declares that the day {hall come when he will fay to many, I know ye no{ : depart from me, ye that do iniquity, What an awful fentence, coming from Him who opened the fource of mercy to mankind ! But againft whom is it pronounced ? Not againft the contrite fmner, whom a fincere repentance brings to the fountain of mercy and falvation, and who, though amidft much imperfedlion, defires and endeavours to do the will of his Heavenly Father : — nor againft thofe, whofe failings in duty are repaired by redoubled diligence, and who run with per- feverance the race that isfet before them, with waiting eyes, railed to the Great Author and FiniJJjer of their faith. No ; — it is pro- nounced againft thofe who have never fixed it DISCOURSE XIII. 269 it as their great purpofe in life, to fcrve the Author of their being, hut live at random, as their paftions, fancies, and fenfual appe- tites lead them. It is alio pronounced againft thofe who, though not chargeable with enormous tranfgrefilons, live in the indolent, voluntary, and habitual omiffion of eflential duties, whofe lives are a biank, on which no palpable characters of virtue are inferibed ; — ztidtbat in a ftate of difcipline, manifeftly de- figned for moral and religious improvement, and preparatory to a future and eternal ftate. — We fpeak not of thofe (till more enormous tranfgreflbrs, who affront all laws, human and divine, and feem even to reject the pro- feffion of Chriftianity, by their carelefs, con- temptuous neglect of the ordinances and inftitutions of public worihip : fiich do not come within the compafs of our fubjedt ; for it relates only to thofe who, by faying, Lord 1 Lord! profefs an attachment to the truths of religion, and its Divine Author. O ye wiho/et the Lord before you, to do his will, how happy is your ftate, compared both with that of the defperate infidel, who rejects the truth, and that of the unworthy profeftbr, 9 who 270 DISCOURSE XIIL "who holds it in nnrigbieoiifnrfs ? Your cou rfe an J yout aeftination are honourable and glo- rious. They add new dignity to your eleva- tion, if Providence has placed you in the higher ranks of human life ; and fhould your ohfeurity conceal you from the eyes of the world, their pure and permanent though difguifed luftre (hall one day break forth into eternal fplendour and glory. You ferve the King of kings : you are the objects of his favour ; and his favour is neither impotent ncr traniitory ; it is permanent and almighty. There is an amazing dignity in your condition, though the eye of fenfe cannot perceive it. You are fubjecls of a kingdom, which has its com- mencement in time, and its completion in eternity ; — a moral and fpiritual kingdom, which mall flourifh in full glory when the kingdoms of this world mall have paffed like a vifion, and their placesfball &/tow them no more. — My brethren, there is no fpectacle equal in dignity and excellence to that of the good man who does the will of God, with an eye railed to immortality, and his confidence fixed on the promifes of Him who is the faithful and the true. Go DISCOURSE XIII. 271 Go on, then, in your way rejoicing, fer- vant of the Moil High, for your labour (hall not be in vain. Every pious fentiment you nourifh, every virtuous deed you perform, will be new fteps towards perfection. And the day fhall, at length, come, when heaven and earth, refounding the praifes of religious virtue, (hall tranfport you with the confciouf- nefs of your happy condition. The day {hall come, when felf- condemned and dejected finners fhall behold, with aitonifhment, your triumph, and be amazed at the jlrangenefs of your falvation *. They accounted your life as folly y and ejleemed your end without honour ; but they {hall fee you numbered among the children of God y and your lot among the faints for ever. * Wifdom, v. 2, & pajjim. 272 DISCOURSE XIV. On the Nature, Extent, and Import- ance of the Love of God. Matthew, xxii. 37. JESUS SAID UNTO HIM, THOU SHALT LOVE THE LORD, THY GOD, WITH ALL THY HEART, AND WITH ALL THY SOUL, AND WITH ALL THY MIND. /np h E R e is no fubjecl: of religious meditation •* more noble, afFe&ing, and important than that which is prefented to us in thefe words ; but alfo there is none, on which we ought to be more upon our guard againft the illufions of fancy and the influence of a con- flitutional fervour. It is certain, however, that we are formed to/eel, as well as to judge* and DISCOURSE XIV. 273 and the contemplation and purfuit of truth are not more effential to the true improvement of human nature, than a tafte for what is good, praife-worthy, and excellent, and the love of thofe characters in which thefe amiable qua- lities are difplayed. Nay, it is this tafte, cul- tivated and improved by an attention to its proper objects, which renders human nature fufceptible of true felicity. Without it reafon would be merely a fpeculative faculty ; for it would neither excite to action nor admini- fter enjoyment, if the objects it difcovered awakened no pleafing feelings, nor gave exer- cife to any generous affections. The improve- ment of the underftanding may form the phi- lofopher and render him learned ; but the warm and well- governed feelings of the heart conftitute the Chriftian and render him happy. He fays with the Pfalmift, how I love thy law ! it is my meditation all the day. My me- ditation of thee fiall befweet^ 1 will be glad in the Lord, It is true, that all feelings and affections, however refined, have, when carried to a cer- tain degree of fervour, fome kind of connection with our material frame. They are, alfo, not T inac- 2 7 •r DISCOURSE XIV. inacceffible to the influence of imagination, and, therefore, if not under the controul and direction of right reafon, may degenerate into enthufiafm. It is well known that the love of God, the moft noble and reafonable of all affections, has been fometimes disfigured by pafling through the irregular fancies of men ; and while, to the reproach of the reafonable nature, this pious affecton is little cultivated in the minds of lbme, it is perverted and de- graded, in others, by fentiments and ideas that do not belong to it. To be guarded againft all thefe, — againft the coldnefs of an unfeeling heart on the one hand, and the vifions of an ungoverned fancy on the other, let us confider the fublime duty of our text, in the three fol- lowing points of view. Firjl, in its object: and its nature, thou Jhalt love the Lord thy God; where we mall confider the foundation and the eflential pro- perties of this pious affection. Secondly, in its extent, as it is exprefTed in thefe words, with all thy heart, with all thy foul, and with all thy mind. Thirdly, in its high importance, — this is the Jirfi and great commandment. I. We DISCOURSE XIV. 275 I. We are to confider the love of God, both in its foundation and alfo in the efTential cha- racters which diftinguifh this noble and pious affection. I. The love of God is founded on the ex- cellence of the Divine nature, confidered in itfelf, and on the affecting relations which the greateft and beft of Beings has condefcended to affume with refpect to us Of the nature of God, which exhibits to us fanctity, wifdom, juftice, and power, in infinite perfection, good- nefs is the attractive and crowning attribute. It fheds its luftre over all the reft, and finifhes the glory of the Divine character. Goodnefs is the immediate object of love, and cannot be contemplated deliberately, by the human mind, without pleafure and delight. It is the very effence of moral excellence. Confider, how we are affected by goodnefs, even in the imperfect manifeftations of it in the characters and conduct of viruous men ! It excites in the heart of the ingenuous obferver the mod pleafing impreffions of approbation and love. The affection of the heart belongs peculiarly (if 1 may ufe that expreffion) to thofe lines of character, in which we difcern benignity, dif- t 2 mtereft- 276 DISCOURSE XIV. intereftednefs, and mercy. And when thefe qualities are accompanied with integrity, tem- perance, and wifdom, which are alio the ob- jects of approbation, in their own nature, the love of goodnefs in fuch characters is ftill heightened, and is blended with efteem and veneration. Now, if we admire the feeble fhades of goodnefs, fanctity, and wifdom, which we difcern in imperfect mortals, how ought we to be affected by thefe qualities, as they are pofleiTed by the Supreme Mind in in- finite perfection ? If we admire the borrowed ftreams, mall we behold with a criminal in- difference, the eternal fountain from whence they flow ? The nature of God, whofe wif- dom is a compound of knowledge and good- nefs, and whofe omnipotence is only the in- flrument of promoting the wife, the righteous, the benevolent purpofes of his eternal empire, lay the true foundations for the duty of our text. We need not enumerate the proofs of that goodnefs by which the Supreme Being is en- titled to our love. They fhine forth in the univerfal frame of nature, which carries the palpable and permanent marks of the wif- dom DISCOURSE XIV. 277 dom and benignity of its author. They pre- dominate, v^ith majefty and fplendor, amidft ■the temporary evils and diforders incident to mankind in this firft ftate of their exiftence, which is a preparatory ftate of dilcipline and trial for a higher and more permanent deftina- tion. Theie evils are permitted for reafons which we now fee only in part, but mall per- ceive fully at the proper feafon, when that 'which is perfecl JJjall come^ and that which is in part Jha/l be done away *. But we may fee, even at prefent, in the peculiar and affect- ing relations, which the Supreme Being con- defcends to affume with refpect to us, mani- feftations of benignity, which, befides the in- trinfic excellence of his nature, are every way proper to excite our love. Confider this glo- rious Being, as the author of our exiftence, who has made man but a little lower than the angels, by endowing him with reafon and im- mortality, and thus rendering him fufcentible of high improvements in knowledge and virtue through an endlefs duration. Confider that providential goodnefs, which renders all the * 1 Cor. xiii. io. t 3 elements 278 DISCOURSE XIV. elements and powers of nature inftrumental in our prefervation from day to day, and fubfervient to the fupply of our various wants, Confider what thnt glorious Being has done to heal or foften the temporary evils of a pre- fent life, and even to deprive/)/ of its mortal Jling and death of its terrors. Behold him in redemption and grace. Here he declares himfelf the Lord merciful and gracious, flow to anger and abundant in loving- fondne/s ', pardon- ing the travfgrcjjwns of the humble and the pe- nitent. Here he mitigates the awful lines of his character as judge of the world, blends with them the mild rays of paternal benignity, receives the prodigal, but penitent, fon into the arms of his protection and mercy, bears with long-fuffering patience the infirmities of his children, and offers the powerful fuccours of his fpii it to maintain their perfeverance in. the paths of virtue. Confider, finally, this fu- preme Creator, this providential Benefactor, this merciful Father, opening the manfions of life eternal, by the Son of his love, and point- ing out, by a pofitive and tranfporting pre- mife, a glorious and amazing period, when fin and fuffering mall ceafe for ever, and his fer- vants DISCOURSE XIV. 279 vants and children fhall rejoice in his empire and partake of his felicity through the endlefs ages. In thefe views of the Supreme Being, the attentive mind will perceive the nobleft foundations laid for the exercife of its love, and find every thing that is adapted to excite and nourifh this pious and elevated affection ; and it is here that the feeling heart will adopt the language of the Pfalmift, and fay, whom have I in heaven but thee ? and what is there upon the earth that I can defire befide thee f I will love thee, Lord, my Jlrength and the rock of my falvation . 2, But if the foundation of the duty of our text is evident, it is of importance to form juft ideas of this duty, that we may praclife it with propriety, and enjoy, in reality, its ineftimable fruits. We have hinted already, that, as the irregular fancies and paffions of men have abui'ed the bed things, fo myftical enthufidfm has been impofed upon the world under the fpecious denomination of divine love. We fhall now therefore confider the nature and point out the diftincYive marks and characters of the love cf God. T 4 And 2 8o DISCOURSE XIV. And here we may obferve in general, that this noble affection, when founded on rational and enlightened conceptions of its great object, is calm in its tenour, yet powerful in its ef- fects . It is not fiery like enthufiafm, nor tur- bulent like the movements of fenfe and paf- fion. It is, indeed, a fervent affection, but its fervour is of a kind that permits the foul to be fedate and ferene in its higheft exercife. Its vivacity is tempered by profound refpect, and its ardour, when it grows too forward, is modified by a reflexion on the majefty of its equally awful and amiable object. " The " love of God therefore (as far as we can *' comprehend it in a general definition) is an " habitual, affectionate, and refpectful attach- " ment of the heart to the greateft and bell " of Beings, arifing from a juft and lively " fenfe of his excellence and goodnefs, as they " are difplayed in nature, providence, and " grace, and exprefling itfelf fuitably in our " lives and actions." Now from this general definition feveral dif- tinct branches of piety naturally arife, and the love of God manifefts itfelf in various forms and DISCOURSE XIV. 281 and afpects, according to the different points of view, in which we confider the Supreme Being, whether in his own intrinjic excellence^ or in the relations he has affumed with refpecl to us. 1. The love of God, when we confider it as arifing from a view of the intrinfic excel- lence of the divine nature, comprehends ve- neration. This is infpired by the union of grandeur with benignity, and it has a bound- lefs exercife in the contemplation of a Being, in whom refides a full and complete affem- blage of all that is great, good, excellent, and happy. With this is connected an exalted kind of pleafure in the contemplation of fuch a Being. In our connexions in life we have a very refined and animated kind of fatisfac- tion in the view of great and good characters, and the corruption of thofe muft be extreme who behold them with indifference. How great then, how exalted muft the fatisfaction of a pious mind be in the contemplation of that great Being, who is the object of its Love? This pleafure, which the Christian feels with peculiar fenfibility, when he attends to that declaration of an infpired apoftle, that God is love % 232 DISCOURSE XIV. love, is the vital fpirit of true devotion. It gives the mind a high relifh for religious worfhip, and makes it adopt the language of the Pfalmift, when he faid, one day in thy courts is better than a thoitfand — How amiable are thy tabernacles , O Lord! bleffed are they that dwell in thy houfe */ My meditation of thee ft all befweet ; / will be glad in the Lordf. Again, 2. The love of God mud be naturally ac- companied with a high fenfe of the value of his favour, and a defire of obtaining it. In human life, our defire of the favour and approbation of others rifes in proportion to the perfuafion we have of their merit, and to our efteem for their characters. If therefore we love God truly, mufi: it not be our higheft ambition to obtain a place in his, approbation, and fhall we not fay, in the fmcerity of cur hearts, with the Pfalmift, Thy favour, Lord ! is letter than life? 3. And when, after contemplating the Su- preme Being in the intrinfic excellence of his nature, we coriilder him in the relations which lie bears to us in providence and grace, as our * Pfalm Ixxxlv'. f Pfalm civ. 34. 15 prefer ver, DISCOURSE XIV. 283 preferver, benefactor, and merciful Father, then love not only grows more fervent, but expands itfclf in a variety of congenial fenti- ments, which are equally pleafing and im- proving to the heart. Here it aftumes the form of pious gratitude. The Chriflian comes into the prefence of his God with thankfgiving y and enters his courts with pra'ife. He flirs up all that is within him to magnify and blefs his Redeemer and benefactor. When he re- flects upon the gifts imparted to him in the difpenfations of providence and grace, and looks forward to the bleffings fecured to him, in an endlefs duration, by the promifes of him who is the faithful and, the true 'witne/s, he fays, with emotion, TVhat fjall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits *f 4. In this view of the Supreme Being, love humbly affumes the ferene and cheerful character of truii and confidence. Imperfect, precarious, and in many refpects, humiliating, is the prefent condition of man confidered in himfelf. Wants, anxieties, and cares, fur round him, as a dependent being : Anprehenfions * Pfalm civ. alarm 23 4 DISCOURSE XIV. alarm him as a firmer ; and he is expofed to perpetual dangers and viciflitudes in this tran- fitory world. It is in this fituation that an adequate object of confidence is neceffary to his tranquillity and hope. God is that object ; and the love of God, as already defcribed, in- fpires that humble confidence, which cajieth out anxiety and fear. This confidence, which flows directly from the love of God, as its fource, is confirmed by the pofitive promife, that all things Jhall work together for good to ihofe that love God*. The more the love of God prevails in our hearts, the more will It refolve our wills into the divine will, and ftrengthen our confidence in the merciful de- signs of God towards us, and in the profpecl: of a happy iffue to our anxieties and forrows. And as this love excites confidence in the good man's heart with refpect to the happy iffue of his fevereft trials, fo alfo, of confe- quence, does it, by a mild but powerful in- fluence, fuftain his refignation in the period of fuffering. In the dark moments of afflic- tion and adverfity, the love of God and placid * Rom. vrii. 23, refignatiou DISCOURSE XIV. 285 refignation may be confidered as one and the fame affection. If you feparate refignation from the love of the great and good Being, who forms the light and creates darknefs, it lofes its beauty, nay, its very efience, and be- comes an involuntary and fervile fubmiflion. Refignation is the love of God, fmoothing the brow of affliction, alleviating the bitternefs of injuries, foftening the hardfhips of poverty, putting God in the place of the friends we lofe, and fetting him and his promifes before us in all the calamities and trials we are called to endure. All this is expreffed with great beauty and energy in the prayer which an infpired prophet addrelfed to God under a dark and aw- ful difpenfation of Providence. Although the fig- tree flail not bloffom, neither fij "all fruit be in the vine, the labour of the olive fij all fail and the fields fill all yield no meat, the flock fij all be cat off from the fold, and there filoall be no herd in the flails ; yet will I rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of 'my falvation*. From what prin- ciples can fuch language proceed, but from the love of the great and good Being who is * Hab. iii. 17, 18. the 286 DISCOURSE XIV. the difpenfer of our lot, and from the hope? and confidence which this noble affection in- fpires ? 5. We obferve farther, that the defire of refembiing the bell of Beings, (though it muft always be at an immenfe diftance, ) is a feeling truly congenial and connected with the love of God. It is not poffible for the human mind to love and admire fmcerely any excel- lent and attainable quality, without defiling to be poffelfed of it. This defire, indeed, will have different degrees of vigour and warmth, in human characters, according to the refpec- tive degrees of their religious knowledge and moral improvement ; but piteous, truly, is the cafe of thofe in whom this defire is dormant or languid ! It is certain, that admiration and love, exercifed towards mining difplays of gocdnefs and wifdom, elevate the mind, and excite a defire of imitating the object: in which they appear. As for me, (faith the Pfalmilt,) I will behold thy face in right eoufnefs, and I will be fatisjied, when I awake, with thy iikenefs, I need not, therefore, obferve farther, that the love of God is not merely an internal af- fection, DISCOURSE XIV. 287 fection, which lies unactive in the mind, but the powerful and vigorous principle of a vo- luntary and cheerful obedience. This obe- dience is the proper effect of the love of God, and fhall be confidered in its place. In the mean time, we fhall conclude with a few in- ferences, deducible from what has been already faid on this fubject. Firjiy then, by the account we have given of- the nature and foundation of the duty of our text, it will be eafy to decide a queftion, which has been difcuffed with much more fubtilty than good fenfe, namely, Whether or not the love of God is to be confidered as a dlfinterejled affection ? No fuch queftion could ever have been propofed, but from partial or confufed notions of this important fubject. If you confider the love of God, as that pious fentiment of veneration and complacence, which the wifdom and goodnefs of the Su- preme Being, confidered in themfelves, excite in the mind, this affection is abfolutely difin- terefted. No profpect of advantage can make us efteem a being whom we do not think worthy of efteem : it may induce us to fpeak a language foreign to our hearts j but it cannot . engage zSS DISCOURSE XIV. engage us to love and refpect what our minds have not previoufly judged refpectable and lovely. But when we confider the Supreme Being in the endearing relations of our Bene- Jaclor, Redeemer, and heavenly Father, then is it true, that, in the exercife of gratitude, refig- nation, and hope, a pious and rational felf-love which afpires after felicity and perfection, mingles itfelf with our Jove to the beft of Beings. Afecond, and {till more important, inference from what has been faid on this interefting fubject, is the neceffity of an attentive ftudy of the divine perfections, as they are difplayed in nature, providence, and grace, in order to our poflefling truly and exercifing properly the delightful affection of love to God. Un- lefs we know, in a certain degree, what God is, and in what refpects he is worthy of our love, it. is impoffible that we can have any fuitable regard for him at all. Without this knowledge, our love muft be a blind, enthu- fiaftical principle, neither honourable to its glorious object nor falutary to our own fouls. Moft certainly our love to God will be more or lefs pure, rational, and fervent, in propor- tion DISCOURSE XIV. 289 tion as our knowledge and views of his per- fections are more or lefs extenfive. They that know thee, Eternal Source of light and love ! will love thee above all things, and Hill perceive that their love comes infinitely fhort of the awful and delightful regard, which is due to thy fublime perfections. They will confider thy fe?-vlce as the mofr. perfect freedom, and thy favour as better than life and all its enjoyments. Let it be the pious ambition of our hearts to be of that happy number. Let us hold converfe with God in his works, in his ways, in the magnificent fcenes of nature, in the government of his adorable providence, and in the fublime difpenfation of his grace, which holds forth life and immortality to man. Let us arife habitually as we proceed in our Chriftian courfe from the efTecl to the caufe, from the gift to the giver, from every tempo- ral comfort to its adorable fource, from every trial and pain to him, that fends it with uner- ring wifdom and from the fublime promifes of the Gofpel, to the faithful and the true y who will accomplifh them to the everlafting . felicity of his fervants. Enlightened Itill more u and 290 DISCOURSE XIV. and more with extenfive views of the Divine perfections from day to day, and improving in the knowledge of that Glorious Being, whofe ftudy brings fuch wifdom, and whofe contemplation affords fuch fubftantial delight, let this falutary knowledge pafs from the un- derftanding to the heart. Let us love the Lord our God with joy, tempered by pro- found veneration, with a holy ambition to obtain his favour, and to acquire through his grace, in the contemplation of his nature, fome happy, though diftant refemblance of his moral perfections. Let us love him here with gratitude, truft, refignation, and hope, that we may love and enjoy him hereafter without interruption, when that which is per- fect Jhall come, and that which is in part Jhall be done away* [ 2 9 I ] DISCOURSE XV. The fame Subjed continued. Matthew, xxii. 37. JESUS SAID UNTO HIM, THOU SHALT LOVE THE LORD, THY GOD, WITH ALL THY HEART, AND WITH ALL THY SOUL, AND WITH ALL THY MIND. A fter having confidered, in our former Difcourfe, the love of God in its foun- dation, its nature, and its effential properties, we come now to point out, in our Hid general head, the meafure and degree in which this pious affe&ion ought to be pofleffed by the true Chriftian, in conformity with the injunc- u 2 tion 292 DISCOURSE XV. tion of our BlefTed Saviour. Thou Jhalt love the Lord, thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy foul, and with all thy mind. It is here, that, under the pretext of afpir- ing after the perfection of divine love, much fanatical exaggeration has been employed by the irregular fancies of men, and that this molt rational and noble affection has been dif- figured by the unfeemly effufions of myltical enthufiafm. The feet of the quieti/ls, in the early ages of the church, and their fucceflbrs, even in modern and more enlightened times, have been chargeable with great abufes on this article. Nay even in the beginning of the prefent century, perfons, difiinguifhed by their piety and genius, gave fuch an air of purity and refinement to the fyftem of the quietifts, as rendered its errors more dangerous and feducing. But their exaggerated felf- denial, their ecjlatic raptures, their foaring flights of pretended love, that carried the foul cut of it/elf, and plunged it into the abyfs of the divine ejjence, only ihewed that the belt things are fulceptible of the molt egregious abufe. But, my brethren, if the ardours of enthu- fiafm have often disfigured the noble affection of DISCOURSE XV. 295 of our text, a contrary extreme has almoft extinguifhed it in the hearts of many. No- thing is more common, even among profefled Chriftians, than a coldneis and infenfibility on this article, which are a reproach to the rea- fonable nature of man, whom eminent facul- ties and offered fuccours render capable of contemplating, with admiration and delight, the works, the government, and the perfec- tions of his Creator. In too many a fenfual life has ib degraded the moral tafte and dimi- nifhed the capacity of enjoying pleafure from the love and imitation of what is excellent and good, that neither the contemplation of the Divine nature and perfections, nor the expe- rience of his benignity and tender mercies, nor the grandeur of his tranfporting promifes, make any fuitable or falutary impreilion on their hearts. The light Jlolneth in darknefs^ and the darknefs comprehended it not. It is of high importance to avoid, on this mod intereiling fubjeel, the extremes now mentioned. We (hall therefore at prefent explain the expreflions of our text, which de- note the meafure in which the love of God muft poflefs the heart of the Ghriftian, in order u 3 to 2 9 4 DISCOURSE XV. to anfwer the intention of our Saviour, and from the words, explained in their true figni- fication, we fhall draw fome conclufions rela- tive to the practical application of this part of our fubject. The words before us were addreffed by Mofes to the people of Ifrael, and they con- tain the principle and the end of true religion ; but it is the gofpel of Jefus and the paternal afpect of the Being of Beings in that gracious difpenfation, that give the precept of the text a mild, attracting, and victorious influence on the ingenuous heart. In the explication of this paiTage, fome have given a diftinct figni- fication, more fanciful than obvious, to each term. According to them, the heart denotes the human will, the foul ftands for the feat and centre of the affections, while by the mind we are to underftand our intellectual faculties, and by Jlrength, (which St. Luke adds in the parallel place,) the energy, of which we are capable by vigorous refolution and effort. But without entering into fuch minute diftinc- tions, we may take the words, in a general fenfe, as expreffive of the pious efforts of the Qhriftian to nourifh and cultivate the purefl and DISCOURSE XV. 295 and mod elevated fentiments of veneration and love for the greater! and bed of Beings. If, however, any fhould alledge, that the expreflions of our text feem to require, in the love of God, a degree of fervour, of which all good Chriftians are not capable, and an attach- ment to the Deity, which excludes or fuper- fedes all other propenfities, affections, and de- fires, we are ready to reply, that neither the nature of the fublime duty under confider- ation, nor the words before us, juftify fuch an exaggerated interpretation ; for, In the 1 ft place, you muft conclude from what we obferved in a preceding Difcourfe, that the love of God does not require any pofitive degree of that conftitutional fervour, which is allied to fenfe and paflion, and is far from being an unexceptionable proof of the purity of religious feelings. The want of this kind of fervour fometimes dejects, though without reafon, good Chriftians of a melan-. choly or phlegmatic complexion, while the pofTeffion of it elates, though equally without foundation, perfons of a more lively and cheerful temper. The degree of pleafure and fatisfaction, even in objects of a fpiritual and u 4 moral 2 9 6 DISCOURSE XV. moral kind, is, no doubt, increafed or dimi- niihed by the temperature of the body and the influence it has on the frame of the mind ; and it is not to be denied that, even in the exercife of religious affections, a conftitutional warmth, under the reftraint of rational and juft notions of God, is an agreeable thing; but, at the fame time, we maintain, that it is not efTential to the real poffeffion of the facred affection recommended in our text. Nor, adly, is the precept, which exhorts us to love God, with all our hearty foul, and mlnd r incompatible with the affections and propenfi- ties, which objects of inferior dignity and va- lue are adapted to infpire. In the prefent ftate of man, his various wants, fenfes, and fa- culties, prefent to him a variety of objects, which have all a fubordinate claim to a fuit- able portion of his attachment. The crea- tures of God have fubordinate degrees of va- lue and excellence. They adminifter means, of fatisfaction and comfort to foften our paf- fage through this ftate of trial. Many of them alfo, by their order and beauty, attract admiration, and excite lively and elegant {en- fatipns of pleasure, and are, thus, fo many fteps DISCOURSE XV. 297 by which we afcend to the contemplation and love of the Great Being from whom they de- rive the beauty and ufefulnefs which they refpe&ively poflefs. We mud begin more or lefs by loving the works, before we can have a well-founded love for the worker : we mud love, as well as rcafon, from the effect to the caufe, or, in other words, our love mud begin with the creature and end in the Creator. When Mofes. exhorted the people of Ifrael to love the Lord, their God, with all their heart, with all their foul, and with all their mind, he enumerated in the verfes that follow this injunction, the temporal bleliings which the divine benignity was to fhed upon them, by giving them great cities, houfes full of 'good things, vineyards, and olive trees *, which he mentions as fources of innocent enjoyment. He does not fay, like ibme audere moralids, (in their vague declamations againd the love of the world,) " withdraw all your attach- " ment from thefe tranfitory creature-com- V forts, that you may love the Creator ivitb * Pcuteronomy, vi. 2 9 3 DISCOURSE XV. all your heart. No ; but he fays, When thou haft eaten and art full, beware lejl thou forget the Lord. The words of Mofes, which are repeated in our text, amount to this, that every affection and defire towards inferior and tranfitory objects fhould be inferior and fubor- dinate to the love of Him, who is the eternal fource of all excellence and felicity, This general view of the meafure, in which the love of God ought to occupy our hearts, is fufceptible of details highly interefting, but which are too full of matter to be treated here in all their extent. We mall only obferve that there is one principle , which may enable us to judge of the meafure, in which the love of God ought to prevail in us, and at the fame time affift us in arriving at it. This is the principle offencerity, which (if I may ufe that exprefhon) is the vital fpirit of faith, obe- dience, and acceptance with God. It is mani- fest that this principle requires the reality of all the Chrift ian virtues, where Chriftianity is pro- feffed ; and if, on the one hand, it does not feem to fix piecifely their meafure, yet, on the other, it does not leave this meafure en- tirely DISCOURSE XV. 299 tirely undetermined. A few words will ex- plain our meaning ; and the fubjeit is both delicate and important. Sincerity implies, among other things, our being in earneft, both in the profeflion of truth and in the practice of duty; and furely, if we poffefs the effential characters of the love of God, as they have been already pointed out, we cannot be indifferent whether we poffefs them in a high or in a low degree. If we have ajincere veneration for and attach- ment to the Supreme Being ; if we are affected by his goodnefs, rejoice in his government, refign ourfelves to his will, and confide in his promifes, we cannot be indifferent whether thefe characters of the love of God be predo- minant in our hearts or not — whether they control our inferior appetites and paffion?, or are controlled by them — whether they direct and govern our conduct, or have little influ- ence on the general courfe and tenour of our actions. The duty, under conliJeration, is too fublime and excellent to admit of this. in- difference ; and here indifference is abiolutely incompatible vinhjincerity. It is not, indeed, to be denied, that fincerity may exift where there 3 co DISCOURSE XV. there a: *e many infirmities and defect"? ; yet it Sminijhei in proportk hefe defects become grofs, habitu al, and predominant \ and it is extingiujloed when our love to God and virtue become weak and feeble fentiments, are fubdued by a favourite paffion, enervated by fenfuality and indolence, or overpowered by frequent relapfes into tranfgreffion. Therefore, when our love to God is fmcere, it will be poflfcfTed in fuch a degree, at leaft, as will render him, not only the object of our veneration, gratitude, and confidence, but the principal object of thefe affections : it will have fuch an afcendant over the temptations to tranfgreffion, as will render our obedience to the belt of Beings habitual and perfever- ing, and engage us to conhcler his fervice as the higher! and the nobleii freedom. Thus you fee that the principle ofjincerity will animate the true Chriftian to tend towards perfection in the love of the Deity; for though we cannot arrive at it here below, we may ftill be making nearer approaches towards it, and if the demands of perfection are high, we have a vaft eternity before us to fulfil them. The angelic orders obferve^ in a glorious ex- tent, DISCOURSE XV. 30 i tent, the precept of our text, and it is by this that we meafure and appreciate their perfec- tion and felicity. We can form very exalted, though inadequate notions of thtir knowledge of the perfections and works of God, and of the high degrees of pleating wonder, venera- tion, and love which they excite. We can conceive more or lefs how a contemplation of the Sovereign Mind, in full dlfplays of his eternal beauty, fancYity, and -goodnefs, rnuft form a union of their wills with his, which will gradually improve in them the immortal lines of a divine nature. Now the fame path towards perfection, which dignifies the angels, is fet before the Chriftian. He is lower in the great fcale ; but his capacity and means are fuch as give him an accefs to its higheft de- grees. He is, by his rational and immortal nature, made but a little lower than the angels; but his future fphere and deftination are the fame with theirs. Thus no limits are fet to our improvement and progrefs in the love of God. The principle of fincerity and the law or capacity cf perfection require our growth in this higheft and nobleft grace of the Chrif- tian life j they require that we go on from one degree 3 o2 DISCOURSE XV. degree of it to another, until we come to the fullnefs of thejlature of a p erf eel man in Chrlji Jefus. Thus the principle of fmcerity, ani- mating Chriftians to turn to profit the capa- city of tending towards perfection, will en- gage them to ufe their utmoft efforts to purify and improve the love of God in their hearts, and to difplay its happy fruits in their lives. This is all which the law of perfection, or, in other words, the obligation of tending to- wards it, requires. We cannot love God in exact proportion to the excellence of his na- ture and the manifestation of his perfections ; this is beyond the pow 7 ers of finite beings, however exalted, and much more fo of man ■who is but of yeferday, and, comparatively fpeaking, knoweth nothing. The wifdom, goodnefs, and power of God are difplayed in numberlefs worlds, while we can only trace them (and that imperfectly) on the fmall fpot which we inhabit during a few fleeting mo- ments. Nay more (and this is an humbling circumftance,) even what we know of the di- vine perfections, which are affectingly mani- fefted in our prefent fphere and our farther deftination, too rarely excites correfpondent, 13 and DISCOURSE XV. 303 and flill more feldom proportionable returns of veneration and grateful love. To correct this deficiency ought to be the object of our pious ambition and our daily endeavours. We fee then, from what has been already faid, the fpirit and import of the words of our text. To fum up the whole in a few words — they exhort us to a fincere, affectionate, active, and perfevering attachment to the Supreme Beingj^z/^fovV/z/ to make his fervice and the at- tainment of his favour our principal bufinefs and delight — -fufficient^ through his grace, with time and effort, to deftroy the dominion of every corrupt inclination which interferes with our duty to the beft of Beings — -fujjicient with time and effort to remove that miferable divifion of the heart between virtue and vice, between God and Baal, which is the ignoble and unhappy ftate of too many profeffed Chriftians — -Jufficient^ in fine, to increafe the power of good habits, to purify more and more the moral tafle, and to call forth the ac- tive faculties of the foul in the fervice of God. Having thus confidered the love of God, jprjl^ in its object and its nature, and fccondly y in its mealure and extent, it remains to con- fider 504 DISCOURSE XV. fider the importance of this principle, as it is expreffec! in thofe words of our Bleffed Lord, 'This is tbejirji and great commandment. This fhall be the fubjecl; of another Difcourfe. From what has been faid in the preient one, let us, In the fir/I place, be engaged to difiinguifh carefully between a conftitutional and tranfi- tory fervour of devotion, and the calm and genuine love of God, and, in the exercife of this noble affeci:on, let us guard againft the ex- aggerations of enthufiafin. All violent emo- tions of fervour afford ftrong fufpicions that our love is not pure in its nature, nor folid and permanent with refpect to its duration. Our love of the Supreme Being cannot be pure, if our conceptions of his nature be not juft ; and juft conceptions even of his good- nefs and mercy, combined, as they are, with fanclity, wifdom, and an awful majefty, will always blend the eiiufions of love with pro- found veneration, and prevent all familiar flights of a rapturous devotion in the prefence of Him, before whom the feraphims are faid to hide their faces *. Befides, nothing is * Ifaiah, vi. 2. more DISCOURSE XV. 305 more precarious and uncertain than thofe re- ligious affections, in which a conftitutional fervour hath the afcendant. They are va- riable and inconftant ; whereas the true love of God is a fettled habit founded on convic- tion and knowledge. As in human inter- courfe and connexions no wife man will con- found with real friendfhip the declarations of attachment which are made in a fally of good humour or a'flow of animal fpirits ; fo in reli- gion no good judge of things will confound the precarious fervours of enthufiafm with the genuine love of God. A vein of fteady and perfevering piety, animated by veneration and complacence, gratitude, and hope, is the mod perfect homage we can pay to the Deity. This will be more acceptable to him, with whom there is no variablenefs nor JJjadow of turning, than the paffionate fervour and inter- mitting effufions of an unequal devotion. But more efpecially, In the fecond place, Let what has been here faid concerning the meafure and extent of the love of God awaken the infenfibility and warm the hearts of thofe in whom this divine flame has never been kindled or feems well x nigh io6- DISCOURSE XV. nigh extinguished. Let them revolve in their minds, the innumerable reaibns they have, and the weighty obligations they are under, to revere and love the beft of Beings. Let them hear the voice, or rather the multitude of voices, which call to rhem from nature, providence, and grace, to love the Lord 'with all their foul \ with all their heart, and with all their mind. Let them endeavour to conceive (what no tongue can exprefs) what they owe to him, who by his creating goodnefs called them into exiftence, to make them partakers of reafon and immortality ; who by his provi- dential benignity conduces them through the various ftages of this tranfitory life, and by his redeeming mercy has prepared for them, at its concluiion, fuch glorious fcenes of feli- city, as eye hath not feen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive* Let them behold the majefty of their Judge, afiuming the mild afpec~t of a Father ; the Son, to whom all the angels of heaven paid ho- mage, taking upon him our nature and dying on the crofs, that he might bring peace, hope, falvation, and immortality to miferable of- fenders ; and the eternal Spirit offanctity and truth, DISCOURSE XV. 3 o 7 truth, offering to dwell with men upon earth. Let them, like David, mufe and meditate on thefe tranfporting views of Deity, until the Jire kindles and their hearts are affected with delightful fentiments of veneration, gratitude, confidence, and hope towards the Author of their temporal and eternal bleffings. They, whofe hearts are untouched with thefe things, and unaffected with thefe interefting views of the Supreme Being, are deprived of the nobleft and moft delightful feelings of which human nature is capable. Let us nourifh thefe feelings by the frequent contemplation of their great and glorious object. Let us not only be careful to afcertain the fincerity of our love, but afpire after its improvement and perfec- tion, employing all the means of religion and the events of Providence to confirm our com- munion with the beft of Beings, that we may be rooted and grounded in love^ and Jilled with $e fullnefs of God*. • Ephef. Hi. 19. X 2 [ 3°S ] DISCOURSE XVI. The fame Subject continued. Matthew, xxii. 37. JESUS SAID UNTO HIM, THOU SHALT LOVE THE LORD, THY GOD, WITH ALL THY HEART, AND WITH ALL THY SOUL, AND WITH ALL THY MIND. A fter having treated, in two preceding Difcourfes, ift, of the foundation and eflential properties of the love of God; and, sdly, of the meafure and extent of this noble and delightful duty, we proceed to confider, in cur 3d and laft head, its high moment and importance, from thofe words of our blefled Lord, Ibis is the first and great com- mandment. The DISCOURSE XVI. 309 The two epithets here given to the pre- cept of our text are exprefhve, and full of meaning. It is the firjl commandment, that is, it is fuperior to all others in dignity and ob- ligation — and it is the great commandment, whofe influence and importance are the mofl extenfive. Thefe two general ideas deferve a particular and circumstantial illuftration. I. The love of God is the jirjl command- ment in point of dignity and obligation. It would feem fcarcely neceflary to enlarge on this part of our fubjeet ; becaufe, from what was faid in our firft general head, concerning the foundations of our love to the Supreme Being, your own reflections will eafily deduce the fuperior and unrivalled dignity and obli- gation of this noble duty. For the Being, in whom every thing venerable and lovely is united in the higheft perfection, — whofe goodnefs is pure, difinterefted, and unchange- able, and is manifefled to mankind in the en- gaging relations of Father and Redeemer, of Benefactor in time and Rewarder in eternity, is not only entitled to our higheft love, but the love of fuch a Being muft ftrike, intui- x 3 tively, 3 io DISCOURSE XVI. tively, the mind as the firft, the nobleft, and the moft facred of all obligations. But, II. If this duty is of the very higheft dig- nity and obligation, fo alfo is its falutaty in- fluence great and remarkable, and the fublime affection of love to God is, in its very nature, adapted to produce the happieft effects. i. In xhzfrft place, the exercife of love to the greateft and beft of Beings has a direct tendency to ennoble human nature, by puri- fying and improving the frame and temper of our minds. The frequent contemplation of the Divine perfections, to which this pious affection naturally leads, mud repeatedly pre- fent to us the ideas of what is great, good, ex- cellent, and happy, and thus gradually im- prove the fenfibility of our fpirituai tails for thefe objects. It will make the mind aflume fome feeble lines of their fupreme excellence and beauty, and the Chriftian beholding as in a mirrour or glafs, the glory of the Lord, will, according to the apoftle's expreffion, be tranf- formed into the fame image from glory to glory as by the fpirit of the Lord*. The affediou * 2 Cor. in. iS. Of DISCOURSE XVI. 311 ©r iove to God will give this contemplation a peculiar degree of fanctifying and transform- ing power, by exciting a defire to imitate his moral perfections, as far as his grace mail enable us, and our imperfection will admit. It is impoflible, as we obferved in our pre- ceding Dilcourfe, that we can love in another any quality warmly and cordially, without deiiring to pofTefs it, and finding the natural principle of imitation arifing in our hearts. But it is alfo remarkable, that no qualities excite love in the human mind, but fuch as are of a benevolent nature, and, in fome de- gree, linkable by thofe who love them. We do not love the Supreme Being on account of his omnipotence, his omnifcience, his im- menfity. Thefe fublime perfections, when confidered in them (elves, excite only admi- ration and aftonimment : but we love him for his goodnefs, wifdom, and mercy, and thefe lGvely and attracting attributes are in their nature imitable in different degrees by- moral beings. Their pofleffion, in a certain meafure, confthuted, originally, the image of God in the heart of man, before his fall ; and their reftoration will, one day, renew that x 4 image, 3i2 DISCOURSE XVI. image, through the divine power of tranf- forming love, and make it approach more and more towards perfection, through the everlafting ages. 2. Great alfo, in the fecond place ^ is the in- fluence and importance of the love of God in rendering all the divine laws facred to the heart, and forming, thus, the falutary principle and habit of a univerfal obedience. It is one of the immediate effects of love to unite wills ; and though there may be exceptions to this rule among men, there can be none applicable to the love of God, becaufe his will is always righteous and good. Therefore, if we love truly the beft of Beings, — if the difpenfations of his providential goodnefs and redeeming mercy have excited fuitable fentiments of gratitude, hope, and confidence in him, this mud produce, in the nature of the thing, a bleffed harmony between our will and his, wherever his defigns and intentions are ma- nifefted. The true Chriftian will fay, from a habit of harmony with the will of his Creator, Thy will be done upo?i earthy as it is in heaven. and as love excites this cordial defire, that the will of God Ihould be fulfilled, fo will it pro- duce DISCOURSE XVI. 313 duce a powerful inclination to obey it upon every call of duty. It will aflume a com- manding power over our actions, and bend them gently to the dominion of the great and good Being, whom we love and revere. Every law, which bears the flamp of his au- thority, however painful it may be to a cor- rupt tafte, or to an irregular paffion, will be revered, and a view to the approbation of him, f this uncertain flare. Independent on the changes and revolutions of earthly things, with refpecl: to their true well-being — their great prize is beyond time, and their eyes are fixed habitually upon it. Undifturbed with thofe tormenting fears, thofe vain defires and diforderly appetites that perplex the anxious children of this world, they enjoy, in the profpect of things eternal, a contentment and tranquillity truly divine. In the evils of life they have the nobleft refources, and in the valley of death they fhall have the mod vic- torious fupport. That day, that fhall bring terror and defpair to thofe who have forgot the end of their being, and the grandeur of their deftination, fhall be to them a day of humble, yet complete triumph. Then fhall they fee, that Jefus is the faithful and the true witne/s y and fhall enjoy the glories of that life and immortality that he has pro* mifed to his fervants. Then transformed in- BS^ tO 376 DISCOURSE XVIII. to the likenefs of their Divine Redeemer in foul and in body, they fhall fliine, through eternity, like the brightnefs of the firmament* and like the Jiars for ever and ever. Amen. t 377 ] DISCOURSE XIX. On the Diverfity of Rank and Station in Civil Society. Corinthians, xii. 18, 19, 20, 21. BUT NOW HATH GOD SET THE MEMBERS, EVERY ONE OF THEM IN THE BODY, AS IT HATH PLEASED HIM; AND IF THEY WERE ALL ONE MEMBER, WHERE WERE THE BODY? BUT NOW ARE THEY MANY MEMBERS, YET BUT ONE BODY. AND THE EYE CANNOT SAY UNTO THE HAND, I HAVE NO NEED OF THEE J NOR AGAIN, THE HEAD TO THE FEET, I HAVE NO NEED OF YOU. w hen we confider, with attention, the works of Nature, an immenfe variety of obje&s are prefented to our view; and ne- verthelefs, 378 DISCOURSE XIX. verthelefs, by their mutual relations and con- nexions, they only compofe one world. In the fame manner, the various characters, ta- lents, capacities, and ftations of men com- pofe one great fociety^ combined of many fmaller ones, in every one of which the fame uniformity and variety take place. We need not go farther, for an ill miration of this ge- neral law of Providence, than the human frame ; of which the different members, by their mutual relations and dependencies, con- ftitute one body. This latter object, by a beautiful figure, the apoftle applies to the Chriftian church, and to the variety of fpiritual gifts which were there- in adminiilered by the great Father of lights^ for the edification of the whole body ofCbriff. His addrefs was defigned to correct the mur- murs of thofe who complained of their infe- rior gifts, and of their filling lower and fub- ordinate vocations in the fervice of the church. He obferves, for this purpofe, that as the hu- man body is compofed by the union of many members, whofe various offices tend to the harmony and perfection of the whole, fuch was the cafe with the Chriftian church, of which they DISCOURSE XIX. 379 they were members, and in which God had Jet feme for apofles, others for prophets, others for teachers ; after that, miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diverfties of tongues. All this diverfity was fo wifely ar- ranged, that as the eye cannot fay to the hand, I have no need of thee ; nor again, the hand to the feet, 1 have no need of you; fo the fuperior and inferior minifters of the Chriftian church were in a reciprocal dependence on each others fervices j and in the Chriftian church, as in the human body, God hath ft, or placed, the members, every one of them, as it hath pleafed him. The figure, which the apoftle applied to the diverfity of ftations and offices in the Chriftian church, is well adapted to reprefent the variety of ftations and circumftances which diverfify the face of civil fociety or human life in its prefent tranfitory form ; and in this application of it we mall, i. Confider this variety of ftations and cir- cumftances, and the wifdom of God in its appointment or permiffion. 2. Point out the duties and obligations which arife from this diverfity, and the true method 380 DISCOURSE XIX. method of rendering it as happy for the indi- vidual, as it is ornamental and beneficial to the whole. L There is a pleafmg and a palpable dif- play of the Divine wililom in that part of God's providential government which we are now to confider, even in that variety of fituations and circum dances which diverfify the fcene of human life. On the one hand, this variety flows naturally from the various talents, capacities, taftes, and characters of men, which have no fmall influence in fixing their external Ration and condition ; though in the prefent ftate of human fociety this is often determined by birth and other accidental circumftances. On the other hand, this va- riety of Hations and circumftances ^like the variety of talents, capacities, and characters) is necefiary to our living in fociety, in the performance of active duties, and the mutual intercourle of good offices. It may be doubt- ed whether there be in the whole univerfe, even in heaven itfelf, any fociety, of which all the members have exactly the fame capacities and ftations. It is, at lead, certain, that with refpect to mankind, the variety we fee before 1 1 our DISCOURSE XIX. 381 our eyes is abfolutely neceflary ; and that with- out it, activity, enjoyment, and even virtue, would fuffer effentially. There can be no fo- ciety without mutual dependence. We have no idea of mutual dependence without mu- tual wants, which fuppofe variety and even inequality in talent, capacity, ftation, or pof- feflions. In a word, without diverfity of fta- tion and circumftances, the high enjoyments of active benevolence and virtue would be en- tirely loft. What a motley fcene of confu- fion, terror, and violence would human fo- ciety be, if all were to govern, and none to obey ! And if there were no ftations, ex- pofed, by their inferiority, to the hardships of indigence, the divine virtues of beneficence and liberality would lofe all their exercife, and confequently all their energy and beauty : they would be no more eyes to the Uind % nor feet to the lame ; they would draw no more upon the generous benefactor " the blefting " of him that was ready to perifh, nor make " the widow s heart tofingforjoy" And is it not true, alfo, that the inferior ftations or human life, and the adverfe circumftances which often attend them, furnifti matter for the 3 8a DISCOURSE XIX. the exercife of the nobleft virtues, whofe pleafures and fruits, though often pofTefled in fecret, have a venerable reality, and tend to lay the foundations of eternal enjoyment? Patience and refignation, humility and tem- perance, a found mind and a found body, are the more peculiar fruits of piety in thefe (ra- tions and circumftances ; as gratitude, libe- rality, and benevolence are the virtues which give a true and genuine luftre to elevation and profperity. Both ftates, and, indeed, all our ftations and circumftances, are means of im- provement; and important advantages, with refpect to true and lading felicity, may be derived from them all ; for there is nothing ordered or permitted without a wife purpofe in the divine government. As the light of the fun, reflected from different objects, pro- duces beautiful colours in a great variety, fo true piety, fhedding its influence on the dif- ferent characters, ftations, and circumftances of men, exhibits noble lines of its fuperior beauty and diverfified luftre. It adds a new fplendour to the throne, and gives a cheerful and pleafing afpecl: to the cottage ; it digni- fies and directs the talents and labours of the ftatefman : DISCOURSE XIX. 3$s flatefman ; it animates and maintains the va- lour of the foldier, and foftens his ferocity ; it adorns with humility and ufefulnefs the knowledge of the learned, and fuggefts mo- dzfty and docility to the ignorant; it miti- gates, by humanity, the fuperiority of the mafter, and renders the inferiority of the fer- vant refpectable by integrity and principle. Falling upon this variety of objects, piety and virtue difplay all their glorious colours, and {hew fome lines of that beauty and felicity which, in God's wife and good government, will be their immortal fruits, for intelligent and moral beings of all ranks and orders, in a future ceconomy. Thus, according to the expreffion of our text, God hath fet the members , every one of them in the body ; that is, (as we apply the ex- preffion to our prefent fubjec~r,) all the con- ditions, circumftances, relations, and ftations of human life are arranged, in confequence of the permiffion or appointment of God's all-wife and gracious Providence. " He hath " fet the members every one in the body," as it hath pleafed hhn ; not that there is any thing arbitrary in the difpenfations of divine Provi- dence ; 384 DISCOURSE XIX. dence ; the figure of the text is a prefervative againft this interpretation of the term ; for the placing of the members in the human body is fo far from being arbitrary, or without wife and good intention, that they could not have been placed otherwife without producing deformity and diforder. Thus God has arranged the circumftances of human life as it hath pleafed him: but nothing can pleafe him which does not anfwer the purpofes of his wifdom and goodnefs, and tend, ultimately, to the order of his works and the happinefs of his crea- tures. And, indeed, this variety of ftation and condition, as it opens a large field for focial action and virtuous energy, fo it tends directly and effectually to the general good. Would not the comforts and conveniencies of human life be greatly diminifhed, if there did not exifh a vaft diverfity of offices and em- ployments — fome more, others lefs honour- able — fome even mean and fervile, which are neceffary to the fupply of our various wants \ If a perfect equality took place among men, and every one was obliged to undergo for him- felf that diverfity of labour which is requifite to procure the neceffary and ordinary com- forts DISCOURSE XIX. 385 forts of life, what would be the confequence ? All the efforts of genius would be fup- prefled, the progrefs of knowledge fuf- pended, and the intellectual powers of man, which are fufceptible of fuch high improve- ment and productive of fuch pure and ele- vated pleafure, would be either neglected, or confined in their exertions to a low fphere, to the fordid cares and objects of animal life. It is the variety, under confideration, which gives occafion to all the noble exertions of genius, benevolence, and virtue ; and forms that chain of mutual dependence between high and low, rich and poor, learned and ig- norant, which renders them, according to the expreffion of St. Peter, fubjeSl one to an- other *. Accordingly, the voice of revelation as well as of reafon proclaims the wifdom of God in the diverfified fcene of human life. // is the Lord that maketh poor and maketb rich; he bringeth low and lifteth up f . The powers that be are ordained of God J, and let every • Eph. v. 5. f 1 Sam. \u 7. X Rom. xiii. 1. 5. c c man. 3 86 DISCOURSE XIX. mail) (fays the apoftle,) wherein he is called, abide therein with God, It may be alledged, that this diverfity of ftations and circumftances, though it contri- butes, by its general tendency, to the good of the whole, bears hard, neverthelefs, upon thofe individuals who are in the lower ftations and unfavourable circumftances of life : but this feeming objection to God's providential wif- dom and goodnefs will vanilh, if we confider the following things : i ft, That in point of contentment and true happinefs, the iuwer ftations are not always inferior to the higher. The peafant is often happier than the prince, the fervant than his mafter, the man who enjoys the competence of a middle ftate, than the lplendid fori of profperity, who fares fiimptnoujly every day. Why ? becauie the fources of true enjoyment, which lie in the faith, the virtue, and the hopes of the Chriftian, are acceffible equally to all, in all ftations and in all circumftances. You know, alfo, that, even out of the hard- fhips of indigence and the bofom of affliction, the providence and grace of God may draw that DISCOURSE XIX. 387 that falutary improvement, thofe fruits of righteoufnefs which are productive of peace, joy , and ajfurance for ever. When we hear the good man pour forth fuch ftrains as thefe, — thou hafl put more joy in my heart than in theirs whofe corn and isuine have increafed — // is good for me that I have been afflicled — Though the fig-tree fjould not bloffom, neither fhould there be fruit in the vine; though the labour of the olive fhould fail and the fields fhould yield no meat ; though the flock fhould be cut off from the fold and the herd from the flail, yet will I re- joice in God, and joy in the God ofmyfalvation; — what muft we conclude ? The natural con- clufion is, that it is no folid objection to the wifdom and goodnefs of Providence, that many are placed, for ajhort 'tme, (for fuch is the meafure of our prefent (late,) in the lower ftations of human fociety, and the unfavour- able circumftances which often attend them. 2. It is very remarkable, that, almoft gene- rally fpeaking, there is fuch an accommodation of the inclinations of men to the places they fill, and the fpheres in which they are provi- dentially deftined to move and acl in human life, that this confideration is, alone, fufficient c c 2 to tf8 DISCOURSE XIX. to remove objections. Where do envy and murmuring moft frequently take place ? Is it not between perfons of nearly the fame rank and ftation in life ? The peafant does not re- pine at his condition, when compared with that of the magiftrate, nor does the latter feel any anxiety at his not being a prince. The exceptions to this general rule are not many. Ambition and genius have, indeed, fometimes raifed men from the moft obfcure fituations to high fpheres of action. But thefe cafes are rare, and can never become commou, until civil fociety lofes its proper and falutary tenor, and is thrown into confufion and anarchy, by the licentious profligacy and unbridled paf- fions of the wicked. In the natural courfe of things, the anxiety even of the ambitious is rather to be diftinguifhed in his fphere than to get out of it ; and we generally fee birth, habit, and education attaching men to their refpect- ive places in human life. But a third confideration which removes all difficulties and objections reflecting inequa- lities of ftation and condition among men is this, not only that the fources of true felicity are open to all, but that the inequalities com- plained DISCOURSE XIX. 389 plained of are fhort and tranfitory. They are the vifion of a day, compared with our endlefs duration ; and when the vocations we have filled on the fcene of life fhail be fucceffively concluded — the fovereign and the fubjecl:, the magiftrate and the peafant, and all other tem- porary characters and diftindions fhall vanifh, but the man (hall remain, and his future and eternal lot fhall be determined, not by his paft, terreftrial, and momentary diftin&ions, but by the piety with which he adorned elevation or dignified obfcurity, — by the virtues which have fried a benignant luftre on his profperous day, or the patience and resignation with which he has borne his burden in the day of his adverfity. There is no doubt but that a future date mall difplay this momentous truth to our aftonifhed view, and will correct the erroneous judgments we formed here below with refpeft to the characters, the condition, and the happinefs of man in this fhort paffage to his eternal deftination. In the mean time, as the poor and the rich meet together^ and God is the maker of them all; and as the various ftations and circumftances of human life are the appointments of God's ruling wifdom and c c 3 good- 39^ DISCOURSE XIX. goodnefs, calling us all, in our refpe&ive con- ditions, to enter into his views and improve his difpenfations ; let us hear his voice — let us folemnly attend to the conclufions relative to our fentiments and conduct, which are dedu- cible from the diverfity we have been now confidering, and which will render it as happy to the individual as it is ufeful to the whole, This is the important duty which we come now to explain and enforce in our fecond Head. II. The firft improvement we mould make of the diverfity which the Almighty has per- mitted or appointed in the ftations and cir- cumftances of men, is a contented fpirit and a patient continuance in our ftation, if we cannot change it advantageoufly, by fuch me- thods as are confident with the principles, not of worldly wifdom, but of Chriftian virtue. We have feen already how confpicuous the wifdom of God appears in the vaft variety of human conditions. We have feen that the inequalities, of which fome have complained, are necejfary to the harmony, the comfort, and fupport of civil fociety ; and we learn from day to day to appreciate with more truth and DISCOURSE XIX. 391 and precifion that phantom of equality which can never exift, but whofe vifionary ftandard is raifed as a pretext for all the plagues of de- valuation and fanguinary violence, which, in this period of darkneis and confufion, degrade and afflict human fociety. But above all, we fee, in the Divine promifes, after this fhort and fleeting life, a fublime change, which opens to man new fcenes of exigence and fe- licity. Remain, therefore, in your prefent fta- tions, whatever they may be, with patience and contentment, in the pleafing hope, that your faith and patience fhall be crowned with ftations more exalted and happy, when the time of refrejhing fhall come from the prefence of the Lord. It is not, however, meant by this, that every man muft confider himielf as confined, by the order of Providence, to the poft which he actually fills, or that he may not fairly at- tempt to rife from a lower to a higher ftation. On the contrary, nothing is more lawful than to attempt to better our ftations in life by fair and virtuous means : it is even laudable and ufeful, as it excites genius, promotes induftry, and improves fociety. Befides, we find, not c c 4 feldom, 392 DISCOURSE XIX. feldom, in the obfcure walks of life, perfons competent, by capacity and cbara&er, to fill places of eminence and importance j and fuch changes we fee, accordingly, take place in the world. It is not fo rare to fee the fervant be- come a matter in his turn, nor to fee the poor arifing to opulence and profperity. So that we only mean to enjoin here a contented con- tinuance in ftations which we cannot lawfully better. This precept is fo much the more important, as there is no ftation in life with- out its peculiar croffes and inconveniencies, and a fubmiffion to thefe is a very effential part of the duty under confideration. High and opulent ftations expofe to envy, jealoufy, cenfure, and cares. Low and lefs honourable fituations are too often accompanied with ill- founded contempt, painful labour, and the hardfhips of poverty. Submiflion, therefore, to the inconveniencies either natural or acci- dental that attend thefe different conditions, is a duty founded on the wifdom of God, on the one hand, and on the ignorance of man, with refpect to the things that are truly good for him, on the other. But as there is no Mate in life without its inconveniencies, and which, DISCOURSE XIX. 393 which, of confequence, does not require fome meafure of patience and fubmifiion ; fo it may be obferved that there is no condition without its peculiar mercies and advantages. There is in every Situation a mixture of good as well as evil, fomething that juftifies the oblation of praife, as well as refignation : — and this leads us to a Second practical concluiion deducible from the diverfity of conditions in hie, even the obli- gation of gratitude to God for the bleflings that attend our refpedtive ftations and circum- ftances in a prefent world. It is the charac- ter of certain melancholy and felfiih minds, to let their views always centre in the disadvan- tages and crofTes that attend their condition— and we may have often heard the evils, the troubles and calamities of the world, painted in the blacked colours, and with the greateft exaggeration, by thofe who were vifited with the fmalleft portion of them. This exaggera- tion proceeds from that ignoble and exceffive felf-love, which is ever unfatisfied and un- grateful ; and it is incompatible with the ge- nuine fpirit of piety and virtue. The true Chriftian will be attentive to all the ad- vantages 394 DISCOURSE XIX. vantages of his condition, and thankful to the fupreme and bountiful hand from whence they proceed. He will not forget any of the bene- fits of his God ; and his gratitude for the temporal and fpiritual bleffings which are mixed with his lot will enable him to bear its diiad vantages with the greater ferenity and refignation. Gratitude and refignation go hand in hand through the bleffings and trials of the good man, who, raifing his eye habit- ually to the difpenfer of his lot, alternately magnifies his goodnefs, and kijfes the rod of his paternal wifdom. But if the diverfity of conditions and cir- cumftances in life call each one to acknow- ledge gratefully the bleffings that may accom- pany, or the advantages that may be derived from their refpeclive conditions, fo are we bound, thirdly, to guard againft thofe temp- tations to which we are more peculiarly ex- pofed by the ftate and circumftances in which we are placed. It is not eafy to maintain a found mind, a meek and virtuous fpirit, in a ftate of elevation, power, and opulence. Truly critical is fuch a ftate, and many are the temptations which attend it. It engen- ders DISCOURSE XIX. 395 ders a fpirit of independence — a fenfual frame and temper of mind — and furnifhes incite- ments to intemperance, and all the vices of a luxurious life. A peculiar and folemn voice is therefore addreiTed to the opulent, to guard againft thefe vices by the efforts of piety and virtuous principle. They are peculiarly called to preferve the foundnefs of their minds, by the facred culture of reafon and religion ; that thus, amidft honours and elevation, they may be preferved from the infolence of pride and the barbarity of ambition ; and, amidft the in- toxicating feduclions of opulence, may not be enflaved by thofe low and frivolous pleafures, thofe idle revels of intemperance and folly, which are the degradation of human nature, the ruin of its moral tafte, its improvable and noble faculties, and its immortal profpedfcs. Amidft the ftraits of poverty, and the diffi- culties of a low or adverie condition, the Chriftian is obliged to guard againft the temptation which this fituation holds forth to murmuring impatience, and the uie of crimi- nal means of bettering his circumftances and fupplying his wants. The 396 DISCOURSE XIX. The fourth, and mod important practical inference from the fubjecl we have been treat- ing, is the obligation we are under to dif- charge the particular duties which are con- nected with our particular and refpective fta- tions and circumftances in life. There are certain obligations and duties incumbent on all men, in all circumftances, confidered as reafonable creatures and Chriftians j for they have all the fame rule of action, founded on the univerfal fenfe of good and evil ; and the fame path to happinefs, even the facred path of religion, which the Father of lights has opened to the faith and piety of his children and fer- vants in all the ftations of human life, from the higheft to the loweft. But there are alfo duties-and virtues of a more relative and par- ticular kind; which are determined by fpecial fituations and circumftances. The high and low, the rich and poor, have their refpective obligations. The variety of conditions gives occafion for difplaying all the different kinds and branches of Chriftian virtue. Every one's ftation may be his monitor here, and (hew him what is good y and what God requireth of him in his particular fphere. They who are 4 clothed DISCOURSE XIX. 397 clothed with power and authority ought to know that Providence has not fo highly ex- alted them from any pred election for their perfons, but to impofe upon them the moft folemn, honourable, and important duties., He has charged them with a fublime and be- neficent commiffion to maintain order and peace, to promote juftice and equity, to ren- der all the efforts of their virtuous ambition conducive to the well-being of thofe who are under their authority. Under fuch a com- bination of grandeur and goodnefs, the afpect of elevation becomes amiable and humane, and obfcurity looks cheerful, contented, and happy. The advantages and means of thofe in power, for promoting thefe godlike pur- pofes, are ample and abundant. They can do more by a word, than ordinary mortals can effect by the molt laborious efforts : but in proportion to the abundance of their means, will their refponfibiiity be folemn and awful. The ufe they have made of their advantages and means will one day be tried at that great tribunal, where their tranfitory grandeur will difappear, and they {hall be judged, like the meaneft of the people, by Kim who alone reigns 39 S DISCOURSE XIX. reigns for ever, with perfect equity and un- erring wifdom. With refpect to the rich in this world's goods, if God permits them to en- joy largely the iweets of their profperity, he at the fame time calls them to duties which adminifter a delicate pleafure to the generous mind ; he calls them to the relief of the poor and needy, whom he has left to their mercy, that they might enjoy the exalted fatisfa&ion of being fellow- workers with him, who is good unto all. He calls alfo the virtuous children of adverfity to patience and refignation, du- ring the temporary fufferings to which they are fubjected, in the hopes of a better and eternal country, in comparifon with which the tranfitory diftincuons of a prefent life are of little or no account. The duties which pecu- liarly become a middle ftation in lite are in- duftry and prudence, and a modeft and fober fimplicity of manners, which render the calm fcene of mediocrity truly eftimable and pro- ductive of comfort. Thus, under the empire of the univerfal Pa- rent, who has diverfiried the ftations and cir- cumftances of his immenfe family for the good of the whole, every member of that family (hall enjoy DISCOURSE XIX. 399 enjoy individually, in the proper feafon, that happinefs which they have fought in the paths of religion and virtue, whether in high or in low ftation ; and then it fhall appear, that even in the moft unpleafing fituations of this tranfi- tory life, all the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth to thofe that keep his covenant and tejli- monies. [ 4©° J DISCOURSE XX. On St. Peter's Denial of his Matter, Luke, xxii. 61, 62. AND THE LORD TURNED, AND LOOKED UPON PETER ; AND PETER REMEMBER- ED THE WORD OF THE LORD, HOW HE SAID UNTO HIM, BEFORE THE COCK CROW, THOU SHALT DENY ME THRICE. AND PETER WENT OUT AND WEPT BITTERLY. AyMiis is one of the affecting pafiages in the **■ hiftory of our bleffed Lord, of which we ought not to lofe fight, if we defire to run our Chriftian race with perfeverance, and pr ove faithful unto death. The fubjeft it offers to our contideration is interefting in various refpe&s : it exhibits falutary views of human infirmity DISCOURSE XX. 401 infirmity and Divine condtfcenfion, a warning againft prefumption, a call to circumfpeclion and vigilance, and a comfortable difplay of Divine mercy, fhed forth upon the pious an- guifti of fincere repentance. In St. Peter's de- nial of his Matter, a warning voice from the earth exhorts him, who thinketh he Jlandeth y to take heed left he fall : but in the recovery of this backfliding Saint, a comforting voice, as it were, from heaven, calls to the fincere and penitent Chriftian, / will never leave thee nor forfake thee. In treating this important fubjecl, we mall, 1 ft, Confider the denial of St. Peter, in the caufes which gave rife to it, and the peculiar circumftances that aggravate its guilt: 2dly, The repentance of the fallen apoftle^ with the means that produced it, the qualities that attended it, and the fruits that followed it : — and, 3dly, We mall confider this fignal event in its tendency to confirm our faith and to direct our conduct. I. When Chrift had delivered his perfon into the hands of his enemies, the time came when the faith and ftedfall refolution of his D D difciples 4 02 DISCOURSE XX. difciples were to meet with a {harp trial. Ac- cordingly, knowing the weaknefs of his fin- cere but feeble fervants, the good Mafter pleaded with the multitude, which came out to feize him, for their liberty, faying, as we find it in the gofpel of St. John *. If it is me that ycfcek let theje go away. But on this oc- cafion, the bold and impetuous fpirit of St. Peter hindered him from affociating the im- pulfe of zeal with the diclates of prudence. He followed Chrift at a certain diftance ; and, not fatisfied with avoiding the danger of which he had been warned, he went into the court of the high prieft, and mingled with the crowd who were waiting the irTue of Chrift's trial in the council of Caiphas. But how dif- couraging was the fcene w r hich here prefented itfelf to the ardent and anxious difciple ! His Mafter, his friend in the hands of his ene- mies, and fubmitting to their violence, was an object every way proper to deject his fpirit. It was an object fhocking to the views which Peter, mod probably, as yet retained of the grandeur of the Mefliah \ and no doubt it * Johtu Jtviii. 1 8. filled DISCOURSE XX. 403 filled his mind with the deepeft perplexity. In this diftrefling moment, his faith is fur- prifed by a Hidden aflault. A fervant maid beholds him with an earned look, and fays, This man ivas alfo with him. At this dif- covery, his fears were alarmed ; death and mar- tyrdom arife to his view; his faith is eclipfed ; he falls from his (ledfaftnefs, and denies his Mat- ter ; as we fee in the 1 7th verfe of this chapter. St. Matthew obferves, that after the firft denial, Peter went out of the palace into the porch^ probably overpowered with a fenfe of his dan- ger, his weaknefs, and his crime : but a fe- fecond aflault met him there, when he hoped to efcape ; and, as one crime brings on an- other, when confcience has once yielded to temptation, he repeats the denial of his Matter with an oath. A third aflault finifhes the de- feat of the falling difciple, and produces a third denial, with new and aggravated circum- ftances of guilt. What a rapid fucceflion of crimes do we find here, in a good man, a chofen faint ! and where is the heart that will not take the alarm at a view of human weaknefs, fo affedt^ngly exemplified in the cafe before us? DD2 II. If 4 o4 DISCOURSE XX. II. If we pafs from the crime of St. Peter, to the canjes which contributed to his lament- able fall, we {hall find fome views of human nature which are worthy of our ferious medi- tation, and will lead us, particularly, to avoid laying too much ftrefs on natural good quali- ties, before they have acquired the purity, confiftence, and gracious humility of Chrift- ian virtues. There was fomething frank, ge- nerous, ardent, and bold, in the character of St. Peter. He had all the qualities that form the Chriftian hero, when thefe qualities were tempered by humility, fan&ified by grace, directed by religious truth, and improved by experience ; and we fee, in effect:, what a glorious luftre they afterwards fhed upon the miniftry of the man who had denied his Mafter, and faid that he knew him not. But now they were, in part, the caufes of his fall. His boldnefs and ardour, in their natural workings, produced felf- confidence and teme- rity, which removed a proper fenfe of his frailty, and a juft apprehenfion of his danger. When his Divine Mailer predicted the apo- ftafy of his tfifciple, and faid to him, Before the cock crow, thou fi alt deny me thrice ', it was pre- DISCOURSE XX. 405 prefumption, and not infincerity, which dic- tated that pompous anfwer. Though IJhould die with thee, yet I will not deny thee. Though all Jhoidd deny thee, yet will I not deny thee* Here courage produced prefumption, and pre- sumption a fall. The natural ardour of this apoftle contri- buted to produce temerity and imprudence in acting : it excited him to encounter a trial to which he was unequal. Had he been more calm and fedate, he would not have en- tered into the palace of Caiphas, where he had no vocation ; for the time was not yet come, when he was to brave the world and all its ap- portion, even in the face of martyrdom and death. Nor were the fuccours as yet vouch- fafed, which were to render the caufe of his Divine mafter triumphant over all his enemies. But the natural fervour of St. Peter rendered him blind to thefe confiderations j and thus he was vanquifhed, after the boldeft profeiTions of firmnefs and perfeverance. In the ordi- nary courfe of life, the greater!: dependance is not always to be placed on thofe who are the mod eager and ardent in forming refoiutionsj buj; rather on fuch as, having deliberately D D 3 con- 4 o6 DISCOURSE XX. confidered the difficulties they are to encoun- ter, are prepared for overcoming them. It is alfo obfervable, that God's paternal wifdom is often remarkably difplayed in adapting provi- dential trials to the characters and predomi- nant paflions of his fervants, to correct their faults by experimental proofs of their unhappy effects, and thus to reinftate and confirm them in the paths of wifdom and virtue. Such was the cafe with St. Peter, in that mortifying oc- currence which is related in our text. Deplorable indeed was the fall of this dif- ciple, as you will eafily perceive, when, after having obferved its caufes, you coniider the circumftances which aggravate its guilt. For whom did he deny ? It was the holy and the; juft — the model of all virtue, human and di- vine: it was his Mafter and his Friend, to whom he had prole Med the moft tender and ardent attachment ; who had always given him peculiar tokens of his attention and love, and marked him as a great and lignal inftru- ment in the propagation of his gofpel. And when did Peter deny his Mafter ? It was in the day of his adverfuy, when he looked about, and there was none to help him : it was in DISCOURSE XX. 407 in one of thofe dark and tryings feafons, when the effufions of friendfnip are always the moft tender, and even rife to heroic efforts to bring fuccour and relief to fuffering virtue : it was in fuch an hour of calamity and diftrefs that the feeble difciple difowned his Matter, and uttered thofe cruel words, I know him not.—* Thou knowejl him not I — Thou knoweft not him, whom thou didft declare to be the Son of the living God ; and to whom, but a few days before, thou didft addrefs that fublime and af- fectionate anfwer to a pathetic queftion, Lord> to 'whom foould we go f Thou haji the words of eternal life ! Thus you fee the criminal nature, and fome of the aggravating circumftances, of that ig- noble fall, that covered with fhame a chofen apoftle; a fhame, however, foon to be effaced by the glorious luftre of his happy reftoration. For if we fee, in Peter's denial of his Matter, what man is, when left to his weaknefs and his paflions, the repentance of this fallen dif- ciple opens a new and a very different fcene, which exhibits affecting views of Divine mercy, and of the triumphs of returning vir- tue, when fupported "from above. It is this p D 4 repent- 4 o8 DISCOURSE XX. repentance, with the characters that diftin.- guifhed it, and the fruits that followed it, that we come now to confider in our fecond head. II. We have been contemplating a painful objecT: — we have feen in a man, whofe heart was radically good, the power of religious principle fufpended, faith eclipfed, and virtue overpowered, by a hidden temptation. In this humbling fituation was St. Peter: but the compafTionate Mafter was not unmindful of his feeble and vanquished fervant. And here a fcene enfues, which is fhort, but affecting; and, in the beautiful fimplicity of the narra- tion before us, prefents a lingular mixture of the pathetic and the fublime : for when the of- fence was completed, the cock crew. This was, if we may fo fpeak, the fignal for con- ference to awake from its 11 umber. Then the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter ; and Peter *uuent out and ivept bitterly* We may con- ceive the feelings of the alarmed difcipje, -at this affecting moment : but who (hall attempt to exprefs the energy of that lock which the Saviour call on his feeble fervant, whofe heart it pierced with a fenfe of his guilt ? We can, however. DISCOURSE XX. 409 however, reprefent to ourfelves, more or lefs, the ferene mnjefty of that look, recalling to the diiciple the grandeur and goodnefs of the Mafter he had denied, and, with an affecting mixture of clemency and reproach, rekind- ling love, exciting contrition and reftoring the momentary apoftate to himfelf, his Sa- viour, and his God. And Peter went out and wept bitterly. Many things will ftrike an attentive mind and a feel- ing heart, in thefe few words. How fpeedy the repentance of this good man ! How ibon is his candid heart alarmed, and how quickly is he melted into tears of compunction by the ienfe of his crime! No illufions of felf-love fufpend or fuppreis the feelings of a faithful confcience ; no delays, fuggefted by a corrupt indolence, retard the falutary work of repent- ance : he went out fpeedily from the palace of the high prieft, trufting himfelf no longer in that dreadful place, where temptation had af- faulted him with fuch difmal fuccefs. He re- tired into a folitary place; and there, between God and his own foul, he poured forth the abundance of his penitential forrow. He got no more than one look of his Mafter, who is now 4io DISCOURSE XX. now gone to clofe his eyes in an ignominious death. He fcarcely expects to fee him any- more. He reprefents to his mind the blefTed Jefus, in his fpotlefs innocence — in his Divine virtues — loaded with chains, covered with re- proaches, and denied by him in this deftitute condition, when he looked about, and there was none to help him. He remembers the in- dulgent tendernefs of the Saviour to him, and the affectionate advice he had fo often given him, in times of trial and danger : he calls to mind the promifes of fidelity that he had made to his IVJafter in the vehemence of his zeal, the ihameful and criminal manner in which he had violated his folemn engagements, and the companion and patience of the Divine Man, who gave his falling difciple no other mark of refentment than an earned look. And when all thefe affecting circumftances arofe to hia recollection, they pierced his ingenuous heart, and he wept bitterly. He wept bitterly. Well does the eloquent fimplicity of thefe few words exprefs the na- ture of Peter's repentance, the anguifh of his generous heart, the fincerity of his pious con- trition and forrow ! His tears were not the tears DISCOURSE XX. 411 tears of defpair; the farrow of the worlds that worketh death, had no part in them. The love of his Divine Mafter, the ingratitude of a cri- minal though momentary denial, the awful view of offended Heaven, and the image of Ghrift's ccleftial virtue that arifes to his trou- bled mind — all thefe recollections draw forth the tears of pious contrition and generous re- morfe. Sacred tears ! they flowed from a ienfe of offended goodnefs ; and no profpect of impunity would have dried them, without the comforts of returning virtue, and the fruits of true repentance, which are peace and affurance for ever. And glorious indeed were the fruits that crowned the repentance of this apoftle ! amazing the change that was wrought in him after this event ! He rofe triumphant from his fall, and a new luftre adorned his virtues, purified in the furnace of trial and affliction. His prefumption was changed into humble fortitude ; the ardour of his temper was modified into ftedfaft zeal and refolute perfe- verance ; he was no more a reedfhaken by the wind, but a rock, againft which the ftorms ofad- yerfity and perfecution fpent their force in vain. He, 4 i2 DISCOURSE XX. He, who lately trembled at the voice of a fer- vant maid, is the firft who preaches a crucified Saviour in the ftreets of Jerufalem, in the face of perfecution and death. And though, after his happy reftoration, nothing could vanquifh his intrepidity, or even damp his courage, yet his humility and meeknefs were equal to his conftancy and fortitude. No more boafting comparifons in his own favour I No more felf-fufficiency ! The remembrance of his fall had fupprefled all the motions of pride and prefumption : and it is worthy of being remark- ed here, that when, on a certain occafion, Jefus faid unto him, Simon Peter, lovejl thou me more than thefe do f he declines the com- parifon ; and humbly appealing to the Searcher of hearts for the fincerity of his af- fection, he replies to his Divine Mafter in the language of modeft confidence, and fays, Lord, thou ivho knowejl all things, thou kuowejl that I love thee. Such were the bleffed fruits of Peter's re- pentance, which changed the anguifh and bit- ternefs of his foul into that peace of God that pajfeth under/landing ; and, after tears fhed in the night-ieafon, brought joy and rejoicing with DISCOURSE XX. 413 with the return of the morning. Merciful are the ways of Heaven to erring man, as the gof- pel of grace and truth (hows ; not only by re- viving promifes, but alfo by affecting ex- amples. And in all its circumftances, prefented with fuch firnplicity, what example can be more affecting than that of our text ? It re- mains, now, to confider this fignal event in its happy tendency to confirm our faith, and to direct: our conduct. This is what we pro- pofed to do in the third head. III. Obferve here, firft, what a bright luftre the penitential tears and forrow of St. Peter fhed upon the character and million of our Bleffed Lord. Had not Chrifl been the holy and the juft, the true Mefliah ; wherefore mould Peter have wept fo bitterly for having denied him ? Who would take fhame to him- felf, and feel the pangs of remorfe, for having denied an impoftor ? And was there ever a man who, after having denied an impof- tor, would not only repent in the duft, but in the face of death defend his caufe againft the powers of the world, after he had expired in the agonies of an ignominious crokl In all the events of this remarkable hiftory. 4H DISCOURSE XX. hiftory, the fpotlefs innocence of the Divine Saviour is glorioufly difplayed. Even in the defertion of his friends, as well as in the rage of his enemies, his celeftial virtues Jhine forth as the lights and his righteoufnefs as the fan at noon-day. In the fecond place, If we confider the fall and reftoration of St. Peter in a point of view relative to practice, we fhall find them in- ftructive in feveral refpects, of great moment to our moral and religious conduct. We fee, among other things, a very affecting example of the precious advantages of virtuous habit, by the facility it gives to the repentance of the good man, when he has fallen before a fudden temptation. One look of the Saviour was fuf- ficient for the recovery of his fallen difciple. A fingle look melted him into the tears and forrows of repentance. Let us take this for the teft of our religious and moral ftate, when in any inftance we fall from our ftedfaftnefs. If, when we have yielded to temptation, an igenuous forrow dejects our hearts, and a fpeedy return to the paths of virtue crowns our repentance ; if, upon jthe alarms and ter- rors of a faithful confcien.ce, reafon and virtue refumc DISCOURSE XX. 415 refume their afcendant, and a painful reflexion on offended goodnefs animates anew our zealous efforts to ferve the greateft: and beft of Beings ; this may encourage us to look up to his throne of mercy with humble confidence, and to go on in our way rejoicing in hope. To- day, if ye will hear hie voice, harden not your hearts in that lethargic infenfibility, and thofe delays of repentance, which are ominous fymptoms of a dangerous (late. It is certain that the reftoration of St. Peter is a truth, full of encouragement and confolation to fincere Chriftians. In it they fee the mercy of that God, who defireth not the death of afinner ; who knows our frame^ and remembers that we are but duji ; who be- holds, with an eye of companion, the infirmi- ties of his fervants, and never fails either to fupport them in the hour of temptation, or, when they fall, to reftore them, by a godly forrow and a folitary repentance, to the paths of virtue. / will never leave thee nor forfake thce t is the promife of the Almighty to thofe that put their truft in him, and commit their fouls to his keeping. But glorious and com- fortable as this promife may be, let it not lead 12 any 4 i6 DISCOURSE XX. any of us to fold our arms in an indolent fe-^ curity, as if nothing were to be done on our part. This abufe of the promifes of God, and the fuccours of grace, muft prove fatal to our belt interefts ; for the fall of St. Peter is as much adapted to excite vigilance, as his re- covery is to prevent defpair. It is a perpetual admonition to avoid temptations, as far as is poflible and confiftent with duty: for if it is comfortable to be reftored, it is much more fo not to fall. Happy indeed they, who, when they are afTailed by trials and temptations, combat them through the fuccours of Heaven, and come off victorious. But becaufe this victory is not always fure, wife are they who prudently avoid them. The good man in our text ran into the way of danger without ne- ceflity ; and thus, trufting with too much confidence in the warmth of his zeal, and the imagined goodnefs of his principles, he was furprifed by temptation, and fell from his in- tegrity. Let us profit by the warning which his example holds forth : let vigilance and prudence, accompanied with an humble fenfe of our infirmity, and a pious dependence on the fuccours of Heaven, be the conftant guides of DISCOURSE XX. 417 of our moral conduct ; they will happily con- tribute to make us Jledfaft and immovable in our Chriftian courfe ; they will render our re- folutions effectual, and our perfeverance fteady and victorious. Let him that thinketh hejland* i'tb take heed left befall. With thefe rules and precautions, the ex- ample of this apoftle's glorious reftoration to the favour of God and the paths of virtue will fhed confolation and hope through the heart of the Chriftian in the day of trial and infirmity : but it is to the fincere Chriftian alone that this confolation and hope belong,, They do not belong to you, who refemble St. Peter only in his fall, and not in the ingenu- ous and falutary contrition with which he la- mented his defection, and the fignal fidelity and fublime virtues with which he crowned his re- turn to the profeffion he had dishonoured. It is rather to be lamented than difguifed, that the Chriftian profeflion is often dishonoured by a falfe fhame in thofe who filently and without any mark of difapprobation hear the caufe of religion attacked by the infidel, or profaned by the indecent raillery of the licentious. This is a fort of denial of the Saviour which be- E E trays 4 i8 DISCOURSE XX. trays a very criminal weaknefs of mind : it furely can never take place in thofe who have a full perfuafion, a lively fenfe of the dignity of their Divine Mafter, the excellence and im- portance of his doctrine, and the grandeur of his immortal promifes. Such, knowing in whom they have believed, will never be ajhamed of 'the go/pel of Chrifl • on the contrary, they will glory in the name of their Divine Re- deemer ; and, after having been faithful even unto the death, fhall obtain from him the crown of eternal life. [ 4»9 ] DISCOURSE XXI. On the Tendency of Religion to excite a Spirit Q? Union and Energy in the Time of Danger. [Delivered at the Hague, February 13, 1793, on the day of the General Faft, immediately after the French had declared war againft the Dutch intheperfon of their Stadtholder.J Jeremiah, xiii. 16. Give glory to the Lord your God, before he caufc darkness, and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains, and while ye look for LIGHT, he turn it into thefiadow o/death, and make it grofs darknefs. XX7 E have never been called to the celebra- tion of our annual and national Faft under an afpect of things fo ominous and alarming as that which is prefented to us at this moment. A cloud (if I may ufe the me- E e 2 taphor 420 DISCOURSE XXL taphor of the text) has arifen in our neigh- bourhood, loaded with calamity and deftruc- tion, and we need not enumerate the horrors that have already proceeded from its bofom ; they are known to you in all their atrocity ; and where is the heart that has not felt them with aftonifhment and anguifh ? The daily recital of them oppreffes the heart ; — piety is troubled at the view of them; — humanity weeps over them ; and they are marked with fuch ftrange and dreadful characters of no- velty, that to defcribe them farther, would only difturb that calm fpirit of pious recol- lection, contrition, and confidence, with which we ought to humble ourfelves, on this folemn day, before the throne of God. This is furely a time to enter, like Afapb^ into the /ancillary of the Divine Providence, which is the high refuge of the religious mind, amidft the tumults and calamities of a tranfi- tory world. As the hand of the Moll High is evidently ftretched out to vifit the nations, let us hear the voice that calls us to give glory to him, before he permits the calamitous dark- nefs of thefe unhappy times to extend to us, and DISCOURSE XXL 421 and to cover a country which has been long and often peculiarly diftinguifhed by his al- mighty protection. The words of our text were addrefled by the prophet to a people who had long conti- nued ungrateful and impenitent, under the moft flgnal mercies and the mod folemn warnings of Providence. At length, how- ever, the time approached when the decree was to bring forth and unfold its terrors. Je- remiah, divinely inftruc~led to connect the fate of nations with the empire of Providence, had frequently admonilhed the people of their danger, but in vain. They went on enjoying the calm feafon of their profperity with a le- thargic fecurity ; and, not confidering how foon a ferene fky might be overcaft with clouds, they took no precautions againft the evil day. In the mean time, the prophet faw the cloud gathering which was to involve Je- rufalem in a fatal darknefs y and he addrefTes to the people the folemn admonition of our text : Give glory to the Lord your God, before he caufe darkness, and before your feet fumble on the dark mountains ', and while you e e 3 hok 422 DISCOURSE XXL look for lights he turn it into the fiadow of death, and make it grofs darknefs. The fcenes of confufion and calamity, which were opening to this unhappy country, are here reprefented by expreffive metaphors, which have a determinate lenfe in the pro- phetic writings. Darknefs is always ufed to denote great calamities ; fuch as war, famine, civil difcords, and popular commotions : as lights on the contrary, is employed to fignify peace, abundance, and other national bleflings. Before your feet fumble upon the dark mountains , is a phrafe which reprefents, in a lively man- ner, a date of perplexity, precipitation, and diftrefs, occafioned by the fudden approach of danger or adverfity, againft which national virtue and prudent forefight had made no preparation. This was precifely the ftate of the Jews when they were furprifed by a hof- tile invafion. When the Babylonians arrived, their lethargy was awakened into aftonifh- ment and anxiety ; their efforts were ill-di- rected and ineffectual ; and, while they fought for light) (/. e. for national fafety,) it was turned into darknefs and the fiadow of death* DISCOURSE XXI. 423 Afcer horrid fcenes of carnage, in which the royal family was not fpared, they were carried into captivity ; and thus were verified the predictions of the prophets, which had been regarded as vain declamation by the minute philofophers of the time, who, funk in an in- dolent fenfuality, the foftering parent of irre- ligion, and the mortal enemy of all public fpirit, had been perpetually crying out, the Lordjhall do no goody neither flail he do evil. We would hope that the inhabitants of this republic neither refemble the people to whom thele words were addrefTed in their moral ftate, nor in the fate that awaited them in the dif- penfations of Providence. They are, never- thelefs, fo far applicable to our prefent circum- (tances, as to furnim the mod folemn and fa- lutary admonitions in this dark and critical period of time. In this point of view they prefent to our ferious confideration two im- portant objects : Firjt, A time of danger, in which trying fcenes of calamity and darknefs may be too juftly apprehended. Secondly^ A folemn and national duty, to which this time of danger loudly calls us. E e 4 Give 424 DISCOURSE XXI. Give glory to the Lord your God, before he caufc darknefs, &c. I. Firjl, The prefent time is a time of danger, in which trying fcenes of calamity and darknefs may be juftly apprehended. The awful events that alarm us on all fides, are proper to difpel all illufion on this head, and they muft naturally excite a painful fenfibility in every heart. — There are three plagues which have for fome time pad been extending their fatal influence through a confiderable part of the Continent ; and they threaten the deftruclion of all focia order, all perfonal fe- curity and domeftic comort, all public and national felicity. They have been formed and foftered, fince the commencement of the prefent century in the bofom of the mod: cor- rupt nation in Chriftendom, and have now iflued forth with combined fury ; carrying de- flation and mifery wherever they come, and exciting painful anxiety wherever their ap- proach is apprehended. And, as if the pre- fent period of time were to be marked with the ftrangeft characters of contradiction and abfurdity, thefe plagues derive their origin from the fchools of a pretended philofophy, *7 whofe DISCOURSE XXL 425 whofe imperious pedagogues fet themfelves up as the law-givers and dictators of the hu- man race. And what are the plagues which this philofophy has produced ? Alas ! the tree is known by its fruits, and its fruits are a fpirit of irreligion, a fpirit of popular commotion, and a fpirit of war and dominion, exerted under the bloody mafk of a fantaftic and fpurious liberty. 1. The firft fruit of this gloomy and dread- ful philofophy is a fpirit of irreligion ; and this indeed, by difengaging confcience from the in- fluence of all authority, human and divine, and letting loofe the reign to every irregular pafiion, gives a fatal nourifhment to the other plagues now mentioned. But what muft we think of a fpirit of irreligion proceeding from philofophy ! This furely is a monftrous pro- duction ; it is a ftrange and total inverfion of the order of things ; it is, however, of a piece with the other unnatural productions of the day. In the times of Paganifm the only true notions which were entertained concerning a Supreme Being and a ruling Providence were found in the fchools of the philofophers, and not 426 DISCOURSE XXI. not in the colleges of the priefts and augurs ; and philofophy was the only guide they had to religion and morals. And how would the fages of Athens and Rome have ftood afto- niihed, had it been predicted to them, that in the future and more enlightened ages of the world, and even under the advantages of a Divine Revelation, (which the moft eminent of thefe fages * almoft forefaw,) atheifm and irreligion would one day be propagated under the name of philofophy, and a pantheon of departed profligates (metamorphoied into he- roes and demi-gods) erected to infult the divine religion of Him who was the Light of the ivor Id? The article of religion^ as a national as well as a perfonal concern, is the great object that ought principally to employ our meditations on this folemn day, when we prefent our- felves before the Ruler of nations, to acknow- ledge his empire and to implore his protec« tion. Religion is the true [philofophy of ce- lsftial wifdom ; it is the inftructor, the guide, and the friend of man in all his relations, and * Socnttc*. in DISCOURSE XXI. 427 in all the circumftances of enjoyment or fuf- fering in which he can be placed. To the in- dividual it is a fource of confolation and an anchor of hope, amidft all the tranfient tumult* and diforders of the world ; and as it ftrength- ens all the bonds of focial order and moral virtue, it dignifies, ftrengthens, and exalts a nation. Confider with candour the fpirit and tendency of the Gofpel of Jefus ; the cha- racter it is adapted to form in the true Chrift- ian who embraces it in its genuine fimplicity, difengaged from the abufes of fuperftition and enthufiafm, and the influence that fuch a cha- racter rauft have in promoting the beft in- terefts of civil fociety. This divine Gofpel, you know, fends its gentle but commanding power where human laws cannot reach, — even into the fecret receffes of the heart ; it con- nects the Chriflian with God, as the creator, the benefactor, the faviour of men, the fearcher of hearts, the affertor of righteoufnefs, and the judge of the world. It governs his fenti- ments and affections as well as his conduct and actions, and engages him to be virtuous in his own eye as well as in the eyes of the world. 423 DISCOURSE XXI. world. It addreffes its divine language equally to the higheft and the loweft in human fo- ciety j becaufe their effential interefts, both in time and in eternity, are equally concerned in the initru&ions it adminifters. It fheds peace in the cottage of the peafant ; it forms the manners of the citizen to order and juftice ; it adds new dignity to fovereignty, foftens fubordination, and, after having promoted all the falutary ends of a wife and happy govern- ment here below, it prepares the temporary fubjecls of earthly empires for a kingdom of order, peace, and felicity, 'which jljall never be moved. And it is the falutary influence, it is the far- cred authority of this Gofpel, that a notorious confederacy has, for many years paft, been en- deavouring to undermine and deftroy : firft, in fecret, by perfidious intrigues even in the cabinets of princes ; and afterwards more openly by licentious publications, in which the imagination, deluded by vicious plea- fantry, and the paffions, inflamed by every art of fedutYion, corrupted the judgment, and procured for fophiftry an eafy accefs, efpecially DISCOURSE XXI. 429 efpecially to youthful and unexperienced minds. But all attempts to extirpate or undermine by violence or fophiftry the difpenfation of celeftial truth and mercy, which has already triumphed over fo many forms of oppofition in the world, are as vain as they are impiou9. For the foundation ofGodfandethfure*, and neither the powers of darknefs nor the rage of the wicked mail finally prevail againft it. The time will come (and perhaps that time is not far off) when the mod outrageous enemies of that Gofpel which God in his mercy has given to man as a fource of redemption and a rule of life, mall be broken afunder^ and be difperfed like chaff before the wind, for the in- ftru&ion of the lefs guilty nations of the world. In the mean time, are we in no danger from the poifonous contagion of that irreligious fpirit which has gained fuch fatal ground in thefe latter days ? Are there no ominous fymptoms of it in the midft of us ? Thefe are important queftions, and we cannot anfwer them without * 2 Tim. ii. 19. affliction. 430 DISCOURSE XXI. affli&ion. It is true, the inhabitants of this republic have been always deemed a religious people — and can they ever ceafe to be fuch, until they loofe fight of their marvellous origin, and of the long feries of providential wonders by which they have been fuftained and pre- ferved againft the ufual courfe of fecond caufes, though by glorious inftruments ? For what nation is there who have had God fo nigh unto them as the Lord your God hath been to you in all things that you called upon him for * f Ah ! never lofe fight of thefe things ! — tell them to your children ; — tranfmit them to your children's children, that they may keep alive that fpirit of religion and of religious fortitude which animated your forefathers to fuch heroic deeds as will render your annals refpectable and illuflrious in all ages. But though this nation has not, in the main, forfeited its religious character ; though the number of thofe who know, by their inward peace and tranfporting hopes, what a happy thing it is to be a Chriftian, is far from being ioconfiderable in this republic; though the • Deuteronomy, iv. 7. edifying DISCOURSE XXI. 431 edifying appearance of real devotion and pious recollection with which the folemn fer- vice of this day is performed, affords a com- fortable prefumption, that there are multitudes in this favoured land who have adopted that memorable vow of Jofliua — As for me and my houfe we willferve the Lord \ yet it muft be confefled, that there are many exceptions to lament on this head. — We do not affirm this from our own obfervation. It is the complaint of our fovereigns, in the proclamation which affembles us at this time. — They complain of the increafe of a cold indifference with refpect to religion ; and it is certain that religion has, in a great meafure, loft its influence on the minds of many, who have neither renounced the belief nor the profeflion of Chriftianity. It is to them neither a fource of confolation in affli&ion, nor a buckler againft the temptations of profperity, nor a rule of life and manners. It neither awakens their confciences, nor re- ftrains their irregular paffions, nor betters their hearts, nor excites their zeal for the fer- vice of that Divine Redeemer who has called them out of darknefs Into his marvellous light \ and whofe fervice is the molt perfect freedom. They 432 DISCOURSE XXL They complain of " a fpirit of luxury and le- " vity, which receives no reftraint even from " the admonitions of an alarming Provi- " dence." And is this complaint without foundation ? It is true, our refinements in luxury are not carried to fuch a length as they are in other nations, where fertile and exten- five territories furnifh with facility fources of opulence, and nature fheds her treafures with a liberal and lavifti hand. They are, how- ever, gone far enough to threaten the rapid decline of a country where the parfimony of nature, in a fmall territory, can only be cora- penfated by a fober fimplicity of life and man- ners, and by laborious and perfevering in- duftry : — they are gone far enough to multiply thofe imaginary wants which render the indi- viduals of a n&ttonfel/i/h, and confequently in- difpofed to furnifh, from their opulence, a re- fource to the public in time of need : — they are gone far enough to relax both our prin- ciples and our morals, and to produce among us (as they generally do in fmaller ftates) a decline of genius, talent, capacity, and public fpirit. And what a humiliating contrail: do thefe things make with the alarming circumftances in DISCOURSE XXI. 435 in which we are a&ually placed ? In the moll peaceable times thefe fymptoms of national corruption ought to excite forrow and fhame ; but in the day of dark?iefs, when the tempeft is preparing its terrors all around us, they mud wound every virtuous and feeling mind, and fink the heart into difcouragement and de- fpondency. We muft not difguife our moral Mate, which has fuch a momentous influence on our na- tional confidence, dignity, and profperity : and it muft be confeffed that our moral ftate has been gradually declining in many refpecls. That virtuous fimplicity of manners, that mafculine and fteady vigour of mind, which diftinguifhed the men of ancient days, have undergone a vifible alteration in our times. It is, among other things, remarkable that we have been corrupted by that nation which for above a century pad has been the corrup- ter of Europe, and is now extravagantly at- tempting to involve it in barbarifm and anar- chy. Our young men reforted thither to finifh their education and polifh their manners, and too frequently returned with the infection of its infidelity, its luxury, and its vices. Thus F f that 434 DISCOURSE XXI. that nation did us more real injury by their examples, their phllofophy^ and their modes, than they have ever done by their arms and their intrigues, though they fometimes invaded and laid wafie our territories with hoftile fury, and have often feduced us into labyrinths of perplexity and diftrefs, under the mafk of friendftiip. But that nation will corrupt us no more. — On the contrary, it holds forth to us y and to all the nations of the world, an ex- ample every way proper to terrify and in- ftruct. It fhews us in what the maxims of an impious philofophy, and the licentious frenzy of unprincipled liberty, terminate, by the com- plicated fcenes of mifery which they have ex- hibited to our obfervation ; for, amidft the temporary fuccefs of its romantic exploits, we fee all the branches of its profperity blafted ; — millions of its inhabitants, at home or in exile, involved in all the horrors of carnage, famine, and defpair, and all the fymptoms of approach- ing ruin fermenting in its bofom. Happy would it be for human nature and civil fociety, if the dreadful example of this infatuated people produced effects (till more felutary than a preservative, merely againft their DISCOURSE XXI. 435 their overgrown corruption ! It is not enough to behold with horror the fanguinary fpirit of Anarchy and Barbarifm to which irreligion and atheifm open a full career by removing the molt refpectable and powerful reftraints which can be impofed upon the paffions of men. Is not this calamitous example likewife adapted to change into zeal that cold indiffer- ence which fo often accompanies the external profeffion of Chriftianity ? Ought it not to make us all perceive and feel^ with new de- grees of conviction and fenlibility, the excel- lence and importance of that divine religion which is the vital principle of right conduct, fecial order, and true fatisfaction in all our re- lations in this life, as well as in thofe which we hope to form or renew in a better ? 2. The fecond plague which has proceeded from the pretended philofophy of certain re- formers, and which renders the times dark and calamitous, is a fpirit of popular commo- tion and interline difcord. This plague is often exprefTed in the facred writings under the image of darknefs y on account of the difmal and deftrucTive confufion it produces. And if there ever was a time when this poifon of F F 2 publlQ 436 DISCOURSE XXI. public felicity ought to be the object of out raoft ferious attention, it is in this hour of re- ligious meditation, when we come to plead with the mercv of Heaven for the falvation of our country. We need not defcribe the hor- rid commotions and infurrections which the novel doctrines of thefe times have excited in a country at this moment perifhing in convul- fions under their fatal influence ; nor need we mention the odious methods which that de- graded nation has employed to flir up a fpirit of infubordination and rebellion in all the countries of Europe, and even in more diftant parts of the world. Their attempts have not been, entirely unfuccefsfui : for if they have totally overturned no government but their own, (whofe defpotifm and corruption called, indeed, loudly for reformation^) they have difturbed well-being, order, and tranquillity in many ftates. Their doctrines and pro- jects, when only promoted by fophiftry, in- trigue, and pompous declamations on fuch ambiguous words as natural equality and the rights of men, deluded many : but fince vio- lence and affaffi nation have become the per- manent fupporters of their anarchy at home, and DISCOURSE XXI. 437 and facrilege and plunder the inftruments of its propagation abroad, the eyes of mankind begin to open : the fpecious mafk that covered a peftilential philofophy is falling, and its oc- cult qualities, (if I may ufe that exprefTion,) being known by their fruits, will come forth to view in their genuine colours, and will ap- pear to be nothing more than the Iuft of do- minion and rapine, or, at beft, the fanaticifm of difordered brains. It is certain that popular tumults and infur- reiftions muft be confidered as the mod: fatal and criminal calamities that can afflict a coun- try. In Scripture-hiftory they are often men- tioned as the decifive marks of God's final judgments ; they are even placed in the lift of thofe awful circumftances that are to pre- cede the diffolution of the world. However that may be, they are, in the nature of things, when they become permanent and exceffive, convulfive fymptoms of the ruin of a nation. In fuch an unnatural ftate of things, all laws and authority, human and divine, being re- duced to contempt, the reins are let loofe to eyery paflion. A lawlefs multitude are fet in f f 3 motion, 43S DISCOURSE XXL motion, and the bed members of fociety are at the mercy of the worft. No fecurity re- mains for our perfons or our property. All our focial enjoyments are embittered, and all the comforts of our domeflic relations become objects of terror, on account of the. dangers which threaten them. If fuch a fpirit of diforder mould arife in this peaceable and induftrious country, mer- ciful Heaven ! what would become of us I We had painful fymptoms of it fome years ago, which fraternal charity would wifh to forget, but which, in wifdom and prudence, we are obliged to recollect, that we may pre- vent their return, arm curfelves with the fa- cred principles of religion and virtue againfl the licentious maxims that produce them, and point out, as the enemies of human fociety and human felicity, the perfons that would dare to renew our difcords. Our late troubles were fomented and inflamed by the fame unprincipled enemy who threatens us at prefent with unjuft, unprovoked hoftilities; and had they not been providentially fup- prefled, they would have involved us in ca- lamities DISCOURSE XXI. 439 famities fimilar to thofe which have been produced in our neighbourhood by the fury of fanatical reformers and lawgivers. Even the progrefs they made was afflicting, by its unhappy effects on our national ftrength and refources. We mail not enter into any farther detail concerning them, as all thefe things rauft be frefh in your memory. But we afk, — Where is the virtuous citizen, whatever his political opinions may be, who would wifh the return of fuch times, to trouble the tran- quillity and blafl the profperity of a country where the voice of the opprefTor was never heard, where every mqnfitteth under his own vine and his own fg-tree *, under the pro- tection of a mild government and equal laws ; with full fecurity for his perfon and property, the freedom of his actions and opinions, and the unmolefted enjoyment of all his focial and jdomeflic comforts ? But thefe are not the only confiderations that would render popular commotions cri- minal and odious at this time. There is a circumftance that would render them flagitious * Zechar. iii. 10. f f 4 and 440 DISCOURSE XXI. and treafonable in a very high degree ; and that is, the hoftile ftandard which, with equal treachery and violence, is raifed to encourage and fupport them. What ! is it at the mo- ment when a fierce and cruel enemy threatens to infult us in the bofom of our profound and neutral tranquillity, that any would work to his hand by troubling our internal peace ? In what light muft we confider fuch as are ca- pable of expecting with pleafure, or beholding with indifference, thefe lawlefs invaders ? Can we confider them as Chriftians? No ; let not that facred, that benevolent denomination be defiled by its application to the fomenter of civil difcord under a hoflile ftandard, under the protection of armed legions, who have re- nounced even the profejjion of religion, as well as the laws of juftice and humanity. Can we confider them as true patriots ? — a term whofe proftitution we deplore. Surely there is no virtuous citizen, no true patriot, who, in a mo- ment of cool and candid reflection, would be willing to facrifice the ineftimable ble/hngs and privileges we enjoy, to the purfuit of a fpurious and chimerical liberty, which (when- ever DISCOURSE XXI. 441 ever attempts have been made to introduce it) has produced nothing but diforder and de- folation. But though popular commotions and tu- mults deferve to be confidered as the greateft of all temporal calamities, and render the times dark and perilous in the higheft degree, yet there is another circumftance which, as it is fomewhat related Jo them, and fometimes excites them, we cannot pafs over in filence. What I have here in view is a violent party- fpirit, and a want of union among the heads and members of a nation, more efpecially in the profpecl of common danger. We are or- dered this day, by the Sovereign, to pray to God, the author of peace and the lover of concord, that he would be pleafed to remove our difcords and heal our divifions. This em- boldens us to touch that fore, that dangerous wound, which fellers in the bofom of our na- tional health and felicity. Difcords and divi- fions, even in peaceable times, retard the pro~ grefs of national profperity, particularly when they are nourifhed by corrupt principles and felfiili views : but in the period of danger, when 442 DISCOURSE XXI. when the commonwealth is threatened hy a foreign enemy, they are criminal and difaf- trous in the extreme. In fuch a cafe, it is only when the mariners join hearts and hands to ride out the Jlorm, that the public veffel, which carries all that is dear to us as men and Chriftians, can, with the fuccours of the Al- mighty, be faved from fliip wreck. -We have lately feen a noble and animating proof of this in the Britifh liles. They are not without their portion of party-ipirit and political diifenfion. But when the profpecl: of common danger called for their union ; when they faw apian, equally abfurd and portentous, formed by the diftra&ed regicides of our day ? to overturn thrones, to extirpate fovereigns, and to propagate univerfal diforder and anarchy ; what happened ? They forgot their divifions j they fufpended the execution of unfeafonable projects ; they united, as in a phalanx, in fupport of their liberty, their laws, their constitution, and their country, and (with few exceptions) rofe in one virtuous and majeftic body, under the ftandard of their pious monarch, to play the man for the fal- vation DISCOURSE XXI. 443 yalion of their Ifracl and the cities of their God*. And mall not we alio forget our divifions, the low attra&icns of partial views and fepa- rate interefts, while the enemies of Heaven and earth menace our peace, our conditution, and our independence ? Whe ~e fhall we find ftrengtb, under the prote&ion of Heaven, to ward off the evils that threaten us, but in united hearts and in united counfels? Be Jlrong and Jlrengthcn one another, faid Samuel to the people of Ifrael, under the apprehen- fion of common danger. This fpirit of union (according to the words of the prophet) makes a little one to become a thoufand, and a Jmall one a Jlrong nation f , and fhews that the JVloft High is in the midft of a people, with a prefence of favour and protection. It was thus that your country has often been faved, even on the very brink of deftruclion, and faved by inftruments (facred be their memory!) who had nothing to oppoie to the formidable legions of thcNebuchadnezzars and Sennacheribs of their day, but their patriotic union, their * z Samuel, x. 12, f Ifaiah, Ix. 22. perfevering 444 DISCOURSE XXI. perfeveiing valour, and their truft in Heaven, Let not then their descendants, in this hour of darknefs, exhibit the difmal fpec~tacle of a dis- couraged and divided people. We are defiroyed, if we a-re divided. This is the motto which we find inferibed on one of thofe medals which mark the virtuous and heroic period of this republic, when union of counfels, efforts, and powers rendered its name great and refpeclable among the nations. This was the old path \ the good old way *, in which your anceftors walked, and in which they found rejl and dig- nity after their glorious labours. 3. To the two plagues which we have been now considering, is added a third, which has for fome time been ravaging the countries in our neighbourhood, and is at this moment ap- proaching the territories of this republic. This plague is War, which is declared againft us by the fanguinary dictators of an infatuated people, whom Providence is permitting, for a time, to chaftife us, before they perilh. It is declared, with a palpable but infidious abfurd- ity, againft the Firft Member of the republic, * Jeremiah, vi. 1$. with DISCOURSE XXI. 445 'with a defign to excite divifions between the conftituent branches of the union, and, under pretexts which profligacy can eafily contrive, to render the whole community, and efpecially its more opulent members, the objects of de- vastation and plunder. And how ought we to be affected by this hoftile invafion ? War, indeed, is a deplorable calamity. Confidered in itfelf it is the re- proach of nature and humanity; but confi- dered as a difpenfation of Providence, which permits the fury of the wicked to correct us by temporary fhocks of adverfity, it may be falutary in its fruits. It may reftore the dying flame of piety and public fpirit, w T here it has been nearly extinguifhed by luxurious eafe : it may revive the vigour and energy of a people, and awaken them from that lethargy of fentiment and principle, which is the flow bufc mortal difeafe of a country. Was it not adverfity, and more fpecially the calamities of war, that formed to noble and virtuous deeds the illuftrious founders of this republic ; that turned the Belgic burghers into heroes, and fhewed that fufFering and trials were the feeds of national profperity and grandeur? War, then, 446 DISCOURSE XXL then, though deplorable in itfelf, may, througH the direction of God's wife providence, ter- minate in a new and a better ftate of things to this republic, and in time to come give liabi- lity to its peace, and render its conftitution and independence ftill more refpectable. But this will depend on the pious improvement of our prefent critical fitaation, and on the blefling of the Almighty on our mealures, our efforts, our arms, and thofe of our allies. Let us then give glory to the Lord our God, that he may not permit the darknefs which approaches to overwhelm us, nor our feet \.oJlumble % through confufion and perplexity, on the dark moun- tains ^ nor the light of deliverance, which we feek, to be turned into the Jhadow of death and grcfs darknefs. Let us, above all things, con- fider theie words of our text in the effential duties they require on our part ; this is what we moil earneftly recommend to you in the coaclufioti of this difcourfe. II. This, indeed, is the great purpofe of our prefent meeting. We come as a favoured, a fmful, and an alarmed people, before the throne of our Benefactor and our Judge : and if we do not come before him with the fentiments 8 and DISCOURSE XXL 447 and difpofitions which this folemn and na- tional act of religion fuppofes and requires ; if we have nothing to prefent to him this day but our tranfgreffions and omifiions, and thefe neither accompanied with a generous com- punction, nor with fincere and fervent refo- lutions of amendment, to what will our fo- lemn Fait amount ? Will it be an object of ap- probation in the eye of Him who is thejearcber of hearts, and can only be pleafed with fin- cerity and truth in the inward parts f And if it be not the object of his approbation, will it' recommend us to his protection in this critical period of danger and trial ? Bring no more vain oblations, was his awful admonition to his an- cient people ; and does not the fame voice ad- drefs itfeif to us ? To fuppofe that the Supreme Being beholds with indifference the religious and moral characters of individuals and na- tions, is to fall into a kind of aiheijm y as im- pious and fenfelefs as that which all good men lament and abhor in a neighbouring people ; for if the Atheift denies His exijlence, the impe- nitent tranfgreiTor denies, or at leaft infill ts y His government and His perfections ; and without thefe what is His exiitence ? Let < 4 8 DISCOURSE XXL Let us then this day, in ihejirjl place, giv<* glory to God, by a pious acknowledgment of his fupreme dominion. This is that rational and elevating act of religion which, by con- necting the world with its Author, and all events, both in oiir public and private rela- tions, with the righteous and beneficent go* vernment of their great Difpofer, opens to man the true fources of confolation, hope and moral improvement in all the different fcenes and viciffitudes of human life. In effect, what ftrength and conftancy of mind muft the reli- gious man, the virtuous citizen, receive from this habitual act of veneration and homage to that Sovereign Majefty that governs the world ? It nourifhes in his mind the full and happy perfuafion, that neither his interefts, nor the interefts of his country, are at the dif- pofal of blind chance or & fatal necejfity ; thofe vain idols which afford neither confolation nor help to man in the time of trouble. He fees them, on the contrary, placed in the hands of the Great Being who, during this proba- tionary flate, fends profperity, that we may rejoice with gratitude in his benignity ; and adverfity, that we may confidcr our errors and our DISCOURSE XXI. 449 our abufes, and be corrected by the difcpline of his wifdom : and who, in the final refult of things, will make all events, even thofe that are the mod painful and afflicting, termi- nate in the happinefs of his faithful fervants. Secondly^ Let us give glory to the Lord our God by our gratitude and contrition. We join thefe two fentiments together, becaufe we appear this day both as a favoured and a finful nation before our offended Benefactor ; and if we can recollect our paft bleflings, and the manner in which we have improved them, without ingenuous confufion and forrow, we are certainly unworthy to appear in his pre- fence. We had enjoyed during a long period (before our late troubles) the precious blef- fings of peace and true liberty, and faw the revolving years pafs without any anxious or alarming apprehenfions. But the bleflings of Heaven loft their impreflions upon us by the very circumftance that ought to have rendered them affecting, even their long continuance ; and they were neither improved to the ad- vancement of our national ftrength and hap- pinefs, nor to enliven our gratitude and ani- mate our obedience to the Rock of our Salva- g g tion. 45 o DISCOURSE XXI. tion. Even in this prefent moment of painful apprehenfion, the long-fuffering patience of God has not withdrawn from us the precious marks of his favour and protection, and the actual pofTelfion of many ineftimable bleffings, fhews that his loving-kind nefs is unwilling to depart from us. Therefore let all that is with- in us be Jlirred up to magnify his name, before his mercies be withdrawn, and the day of dark' nefs and calamity comes upon us. From the ingenuous compunction of contrite hearts, that fincerely lament the abufe of his gifts and the tranfgreffion of his laws, let us fend up our penitential fupplications to this throne of grace, that he would not cajl us off for ever, but be the hope and faviour of our Ifrael in the time of trouble , and in the midjl of deferved wrath remember mercy. Lafly, Let the effufions of our gratitude and contrition be accompanied with folemn vows and deliberate reflations of reformation and obedience. This is the great purpofe of our National Fall ; the ultimate end to which our acknowledgment of God's empire, gratitude for his mercies, and contrition for our fins, directly point. This fuppofes and requires the DISCOURSE XXI. 451 the candid review of our manifold tranfgref- fions, of our irregular paftions, of our corrupt habits, of our falfe notions of duty and hap- pinefs, that, through the fuccours of the great Sanctifier of minds, who gives grace to the humble and ftrength to the feeble, we may com- bat and fubdue thofe mortal enemies both of our temporal and eternal felicity. Without this true fpirit of reformation what folid found- ation can we have for hope, amidft the evils we fuffer and the calamities which threaten us ? If we feek for deliverance by means unac- companied with piety and virtue, have we not too much reafon to fear that the hand of the Moil High will confound our devices, and make our unrighteous enemies his fcourge, to afflicl: us grievoufly, before their iniquities turn finally upon themfelves, and accomplifh. their perdition I And mould this be the cafe, what ihould we have to plead in our behalf in the day of our vifitation ? We could only fay to the Ruler of Nations, Righteoufnefs belong- eth unto thee, God! but unto us piame and confufwn of face, to our rulers, to our princes, and to our fathers ; becaufe we have finned again/} thee. Let us adopt this ingenuous 2 confeffion j 452 DISCOURSE XXI. confeflion ; but let us not flop here. Let us found the depths of confcience, and, examin- ing our refpective duties and obligations, let us adopt alfo the pious vow of Jofhua, and fay, every one for himfelf, with an humble depend- ance on the Divine grace, As for me and my houfe, *we willferve the Lord. Did fuch a refolution crown the celebration of our folemn Faft, then mould we have nothing to fear. No: even under the ominous clouds that hang over our heads, we fhould have nothing to fear from the rage of man, and we mould have every thing to hope from the protection of God. For then might we look with unfhaken confi- dence to the Supreme Difpofer of all events, who is able to fave by many or by few , and un- der whofe direction the arrangement of things that feems the moft unfavourable to our hopes may become the occafion of our deliverance. then that there were in us fuch a heart, that we would fear God and keep bis commandments y that it might be well with us and with our chil- dren I Amen. THE END. Printed by A. Strahan, Printers-Street, London. ^ i