nor forsake me." Need I ask, whether a mind thus freed from gloomy and distressing fears, does not experience a composure, and a delight peculiarly its own?

A third cause of great disquietude to which human nature is incident, is the prospect of death. Nothing is more evident than that death is a subject highly distasteful to men. They love not to hear of death, to talk of death, to think of death. They have recourse to numberless expedients, that they may banish the thoughts of death from their mind. Does the idea occasionally obtrude? They instantly dismiss it, "Go thy way for this time; when we have a more convenient season, we will call for thee." Are they occasionally constrained to remember and acknowledge the uncertain tenure of their own existence? They speedily labour to forget it.“ Why should we be tormented before our time? Why should we cast a gloom over the present scene by anticipating the dreary prospect of dissolution?" In this manner men feel and argue. They dread death as an enemy, from whose iron grasp they would, if it were possible, gladly escape; and thus, " through the fear of death are all their life-time subject to bondage."-But from this cause also of disquietude, godliness emancipates its followers. One express object of Christ's coming in the flesh was to deliver his people from this wretched bondage. And they are delivered from it. Die indeed they must, as well as others. This debt to sin they are not exempted from discharging. But death to them has lost its terrors. Though still exposed to the stroke, they are freed from the dread of death. Enabled to look forward with hope beyond the grave, they can look upon it without dismay. Christ has disarmed death of its sting. Why then should they be afraid to encounter this vanquished enemy? Death is to them the messenger of peace and joy: the messenger which is sent to terminate every trial, to wipe away all tears from their eyes, to transport them to the blessed mansions of their heavenly Father. Why then should they tremble at its approach? Securely can they trust the time, the mode, the circumstances of their departure. out of life to him, who has destroyed death, and has promised that when his people pass through the waters, he will be with them What is their language? "Yea,

though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we will fear no evil: for thou art with us; thy rod and thy staff they shall comfort us.

Behold another proof of that superior happiness, which godliness vindicates to herself.

2. But godliness not only delivers its followers from many causes of disquietude, to which ungodly men are subject: it opens also a source of positive enjoyment, from which others are totally excluded. How unsatisfying are the pleasures of the world, how delusive are the gratifications of sin, compared with that full and substantial happiness, which the people of God experience in religion! They have communion with God. They have fellowship with the Father and with the Son. Reconciled to God by the blood of Christ, pardoned, justified, accepted in the beloved, they have access with confidence to the throne of grace. Inconceivable is the delight which flows to them from this privilege. God they contemplate as a Father, who tenderly loves, pities, and supports them: who with anxious solicitude watches over their interests, and attends even to the minutest circumstances, in which their felicity or their safety is involved. Hence the daily blessings, which in common with others they receive, assume to them the form of special mercies. The food by which they are sustained, the raiment which they wear, the air which they breathe, are gifts not only received with thankfulness, but sweetened by the recollection of the gracious and bountiful benefactor.-They set the Lord alway before them. In the works of nature, in the events of providence, while they acknowledge and adore the hand of God, they feel an inward complacency resulting from a sense of the relation which they bear to him, the Almighty Creator, governor, and controller of the universe. They walk with God. Are they visited with afflictions? They have a friend, to whom, without restraint or fear, they can pour out the sorrows of their heart. Have they reason to rejoice? They abound in praise and gratitude: and thus expressing the devout affections of their soul, receive a tenfold increase of happiness. "Filled with all peace and joy in believing, they abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost.' -But in vain do we attempt by language to convey an

adequate conception of the enjoyment which the godly man possesses. In order to be known, it must be felt. It is that "secret of the Lord which is with them that fear him:" that " peace of God, which passeth all understanding" that "hidden joy with which a stranger intermeddleth not:" that blessed effect of the inward abiding of the Comforter, "even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him."

Such are some of the proofs which confirm the proposition in the text, that " godliness has promise of the life that now is."

What, my brethren, are your conclusions on the subject? Hitherto you have deemed religion, so far as this world is concerned, a discouraging, an unprofitable pursuit. You have been accustomed to look upon the godly man as suffering at least considerable deductions from his present happiness, as sacrificing a large proportion of ease, of comfort, of enjoyment in "the life that now is." You have habitually associated in your mind the idea of godliness with that of melancholy and gloom. Has the discussion tended to convince you that such an association is unwarranted and incongruous? Do you now perceive that your former sentiments originated in ignorance and error? Do you now perceive that, even in respect to this world, godliness is gain? May such, at this moment, be your views on this interesting point! For surely with such views you cannot continue in an ungodly state. Convinced that the ways of religion are ways of pleasantness and peace, you cannot but wish to share that pleasantness, to taste that peace. The pleasures of sin indeed must be renounced, before you can experience the delights of godliness. But who would not willingly relinquish tumultuous and unsatisfying joys, for calm and solid happiness? Who would not willingly relinquish the pleasures of sin, which are but for a season, and which leave a deadly sting behind, for the pleasures of religion, which never fail nor cloy; pleasures, which death, instead of terminating, inconceivably augments. For be it remembered, that godliness has promise, not only of the life that now is, but "of that also which is to come." In this sense it may be pre-eminently said, that "Length

of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and honour." My brethren, make these riches your own. Appropriate this honour to yourselves. Seek heavenly wisdom; and you shall find "that the merchandize of it is better than the merchandize of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold." Be godly; and you shall participate in all that happiness which godliness confers.

Recollect, however, what is the nature of godliness. Recollect that the godliness to which the promises are given, is not merely a persuasion, not merely an acknowledgment, of the power and the providence of God; not merely a profession of dependence on that power and that providence. No. It is christianity. It is faith in Jesus. It is the hope of the gospel. It is love, the fruit of faith. Recollect, that this godliness, both in its commencement and in its progress, is the gift and work of the Holy Spirit of God. Recollect, that the foundation of this godliness must be laid in a deep conviction of sin, in an utter renunciation of every self-righteous plea, in a cordial acquiescence in the revealed method of salvation. Recollect that the evidence of this godliness consists in a life of holiness, in a faithful discharge of every duty, in the unwearied exercise of purity, of patience, of selfdenial, of disinterestedness, of all those heavenly tempers and affections, which shone so illustriously in Christ, and distinguish and adorn his true people on earth.

If such be not the nature of your godliness, think not to experience an interest in the promise. Some of you, perhaps, who assume the profession of religion, complain that you have been deceived in the expectations which you have been induced to form; that you find not in the ways of godliness, that happiness which you had hoped. to find. But let me inquire, Is not the cause of this disappointment in yourselves? Are you not seeking to enjoy the privileges, while you neglect the duties of religion? Are not you careless in improving the means of grace? Are not you remiss in private prayer? Is not your conduct inconsistent with your professions? In the pursuit and the employment of worldly things, do not you too nearly resemble the openly irreligious and ungodly? If this be the case, cease to wonder, cease to complain, that you are strangers to the comforts of religion. Would

you taste these comforts, arise and trim your lamps. Cast off your sloth and negligence. Deny and mortify your worldly spirit. "Let your conversation be as becometh the gospel of Christ." Thus shall you partake of the consolations of the gospel. Thus practically choosing the Lord for your portion, you shall find him, both in the life that now is, as well as in that which is to come, your exceeding great reward.

SERMON XXIII.

EARNESTNESS IN RELIGION, RECOMMENDED AND ENFORCED.

Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able.-Luke xiii. 24.

THERE is in the human mind a strong propensity to indulge in unprofitable speculation: while in nothing men more clearly betray this propensity, than in their presumptuous attempts to penetrate into those mysteries, which the divine wisdom has thought fit to veil in obscurity. Such criminal curiosity the scriptures in the most decided manner discourage and reprove. They teach us, that our true interest, no less than our duty, consists, not in prying into things which are purposely hidden from our eyes, but in converting to a proper use and a practical improvement, those truths which the Almighty has been pleased to disclose. "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed, belong unto us, and to our children for ever, that we may

do all the words of this law."

The text when viewed in connection with the circumstances which introduced it, illustrates these remarks. As our Saviour was 66 going through the cities and villages teaching," a certain person proposed to him a question, respecting the number of those who should finally be admitted to heaven; "Lord, are there few that be saved ?" Deut. xxix. 29.