will be his portion hereafter, we shall find, that there are many and great evils to which he is exposed, besides the torments of a guilty conscience. Are not pains and aches, rottenness and diseases, the natural effects of lust and intemperance; 'poverty and broken fortunes, the certain consequences of pride and prodigality? Does not passion, and anger, and revenge, frequently expose men to mischievous, and many times fatal quarrels and contentions? Does not robbery, theft, and murder, bring upon others a shameful and untimely end? How many evils are there in the world, that are the immediate effects of men's vices? From whence come wars and fightings among you? (says St. James :) come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?' James iv. 1.-And from the same fatal source are derived many of those other evils and calamities which some men labour under. If we trace them to their original, we shall find them to be the natural fruits of men's lusts and passions; to have proceeded from their covetous and ambitious desires, and the gratification of their unruly lusts and appetites. Indeed, how can it be otherwise, if we consider, That the curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked;' Prov. iii. 33; and that evil pursueth sinners?' Prov. xiii. 21.-How can any thing but misery attend him who has provoked the wrath of an Almighty God?

Let us now consider what is the lot and portion of good men in this world; and whether the practice of virtue and righteousness is not the most likely way to promote present as well as future happiness, and to make our pilgrimage here on earth a state of tolerable ease and comfort.

Solomon had as much experience of the pleasures of the world as ever man had, and tried as

many ways to make himself happy as his heart could devise; having kept nothing from his eyes that they desired, nor withheld his heart from any joy;' Eccles. ii. 10; and yet, when he came to cast up the account, he found this to be the sum of it, ' that all was vanity and vexation of spirit.' Accordingly, when he is instructing his son in the ways of true happiness, he advises him to get wisdom and understanding.' For wisdom,' says he, is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom; and with all thy getting, get understanding;' Prov. iii. 13.-And, as an encouragement to do so, he tells him, that happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding: for the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies; and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace;' Prov. iii. 13, &c.-This wisdom and understanding, which he recommends as a treasure of so great value, is not the wisdom of this world,' (for that is 'foolishness with God,' 1 Cor. iii. 19.) but it is 'the wisdom that cometh from above,' which will make us wise unto salvation: the wisdom of living in the fear and love of God, and in a strict obedience to his commandments. "The fear of the Lord,' says he, is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy is understanding;" Prov. ix. 10. Or, as it is in Job, Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.'

Behold, then, the excellence of religion! it not only secures to us a reversion of endless happiness,

but makes our lives at present easy and delightful. The very paths of religion are pleasant, as well as the end to which they lead. It is true, vice has its present pleasures as well as virtue: but then there is this difference between them; the pleasures of sin are weak, short-lived, and only varnished over; they begin and end almost in the same moment, and can never be purchased but at the expense of much succeeding trouble, shame, and self-condemnation. Whereas, those which result from a holy and religious life are substantial, sincere, steady, and secure they leave no disgust upon the mind; no loathings and dislike; are neither accompanied with shame, nor followed with remorse or sadness -those bitter allays to all sinful gratifications. 'We may talk of pleasures and enjoyments,' says a great prelate of our church; but no man ever truly found them till he became acquainted with God, and was made sensible of his love, and partaker of his heavenly favours, and lived in an entire friendship and communion with him.' No, certainly; religion is the only happiness of a rational creature, the only thing that can give us any true and real satisfaction. All other pleasures are, at best, but short and transitory; but in religion we find a delight and satisfaction which is solid, substantial, and lasting; a delight that grows and improves under thought and reflection.

'Whenever,' to use the words of another excellent person, an action is good and virtuous, it is not only natural, but it carries with it a felicity flowing from, and essential to, the very nature of it. Paternal, conjugal, filial affection; are they not full of delight? Justice, friendship, beneficence, all the offices of humanity, and the whole train of virtues; does not the exercise of them ad

minister the most sincere and lasting joy? The propensity there is in us toward them, and the satisfaction there is in the doing of them, does, in dispositions not debauched, lead, most irresistibly, to the practice of them. We have, when we are about them, no boding, misgiving thoughts, no forbidding whispers, no secret reluctancy: comfort, complacency of mind, and a gratulating conscience, always accompany such actions.'

What a perpetual source of joy and comfort is a good conscience! It gladdens the heart, cheers and refreshes the soul, and fills the mind with a constant serenity and cheerfulness, which is infinitely to be preferred before the noisy mirth of fools and madmen. He that is possessed of this inestimable jewel, has a treasure greater than all the riches of the Indies: a treasure which he always carries about with him, and which neither the malice of the devil, nor the wickedness of men, can rob him of; and so long as he retains this fund of joy and comfort (as he may always do, unless he is wretchedly wanting to himself), he can never be truly miserable. For a good conscience, as it gives a relish to all our outward enjoyments, so it abates and takes off the edge of the sharpest affliction; and not only enables a man to bear up under present evils, but fortifies him against the dread and apprehension of future ones. It arms him with courage and resolution, and gives him such a firmness and presence of mind, as makes him able to endure the greatest shock. Solomon observes, that the wicked flee when no man pursueth; but the righteous are bold as a lion;' Prov. xxviii. 1.—And the holy Psalmist tells us, that a good man shall not be afraid of any evil tidings; for his heart standeth fast, and believeth in the

Lord;' Psalm cxii. 7.- The Lord,' says he, is my light and my salvation; whom then shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?' Psalm xxvii. 1. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff comfort me;' Psalm xxiii. 4.-What, indeed, should he fear whose soul is anchored on the rock of ages; who has the God of Jacob for his help; whose hope is in the Lord his God?" Psalm cxlvi. 5-He knows that he is in the hands of a most gracious and merciful Father, and is fully persuaded that all things shall work together for good to them that love him.' He is assured, that the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him; upon them that hope in his mercy to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine;' Psalm xxxiii. 18, 19.-And therefore he can rejoice in God, even in the midst of trouble and affliction, when he considers, that as his afflictions come from the hands of a good and gracious Being, who does not willingly afflict the children of men; so he knows, that as the time is short,' they can be of no long continuance, and that, if he makes a right use of them, they will work for him a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; 2 Cor. iv. 17.

See then the folly and madness of those that take not God for their strength, but trust to the multitude of their riches, and strengthen themselves in their wickedness,' Psalm lii. 7, and think by these means to be fortified against the evils of this life! Alas! there are numberless calamities, from which wealth and power can never shelter us: and therefore if a man withdraws his trust in God," and takes sanctuary in the strength of his wickedness, he will find himself miserably mistaken when