of truth, of integrity, of freedom, the cause of God, according to the utmost of his power: Prosecutes the work that Jesus began on earth, and enlarges the borders of his kingdom; assists mankind, his brethren, in their education for heaven; and is useful to them, not only here, not only long after his death, but even in eternity. How much must not such prospects as these ennoble all his virtuous endeavors and actions! Can the imagination frame any loftier, any more extensive purposes than these?

And will they ever allow him to be weary or disheartened in his endeavors to improve himself and others? Will he ever set bounds to his wisdom, his goodness, and his general utility; ever think that he has done too much, or even enough? No; his aim is perfection, christian perfection, ever greater resemblance to Jesus, ever progressive approximation to God. Nothing short of this can satisfy him. The standard by which he measures the value or the magnitude of his virtue, is not the judgment of the world, but the judgment of heaven; not what he is and does, but what he can do, and what he may be. Even when he has labored long at his improvement, has already made great advances, already done much, brought much about, and suffered much, he still exclaims with the apostle, "Not that I have already attained or am already perfect." No; I forget those things that are behind, I scarcely make any account of what I have already done and performed, while so much remains for me to do; I press forward, after the higher degrees of perfection I have not yet attained, after the prize of the mark of righteousness and integrity I have then to expect when I surmount all things, and persevere unto the end.

Yes, this is thy generous disposition, this thy modest and yet ardent language, thou best and surest guide of man, O christian virtue !-Blessed be

thy arrival upon earth! and blessed the Lord who brought thee amongst men, and laid the foundations of thy empire in their hearts! Gentle is thy sway, and obedience to thee is liberty and peace. Thou givest strength to the weary, and power to the impotent. Thou liftest up the poor out of the mire; thou exaltest the humble and meek. Thou blessest them with the sentiment of their present and future dignity. Thou art divine wisdom to the unlearned as well as to the learned. Thou givest resolution to the irresolute; inspirest the dead with life, and the timid with the courage of heroes. The miserable is indebted to thee for his sweetest comfort, the despised good man for the inward repose of his spirit, the victim of persecution for the rewarding consciousness of his integrity and constancy, the sufferer for his silent persevering courage, and the dying man for his joyful hopes. Thou hast performed, and still daily performest, numberless noble acts, which never come to the knowledge of any mortal, which are sullied by no vain thirst of fame, which he only sees who sees in secret and which under his inspection never ceases to spread happiness and joy throughout his kingdom. O that thy dominion were universal, that every christian were animated by thy warmth, and that every Christian might make thee his model for becoming what he is not yet!

Yes, my pious hearers, this may the christian, and this should he be! The light of the world, the salt of the earth, the instructor, the pattern, the improver, the helper, the savior of the rest of mankind; far wiser, far more virtuous, a far more useful citizen, a far greater benefactor to his brethren, than the wisest, the best of men, who is not a christian! This is his calling, this his election; and this should be the aim of his endeavors!

And it promises him, both in the present and in the future world, far greater happiness than to any other wise and virtuous man. Every degree of virtue renders us susceptible of a certain degree of happiness; wherefore let us, no more than God, exclude any good man from all felicity. But christian virtue is the way that leads to the purest and the sublimest bliss. Walk then therein, O thou that hast the happiness to be called a christian! Thy business should not merely be to escape eternal ruin, or to be transported after death into a state not altogether wretched. Wouldest thou be a christian indeed, and turn the privileges of christianity to thy real advantage, then must thou think more generously, and strive after greater things, rise superior to all thy brethren who are not christians; aspire after a higher felicity, that hereafter thou mayest be, still more than here, the leader, the teacher, the benefactor, the helper of thy less perfect and less happy brethren; that thou mayest be ever approaching nearer to God, ever acquiring a greater resemblance to Jesus, and mayest have ever more communion with the father, and with his son. What a prospect my dear brethren! O may it be ever present to our minds, to our constant improvement in all christian virtue, ever bringing us nearer to perfection!

SERMON XIV

The Pleasures of Virtue.

O GOD the supreme uncontrolable ruler of all man

kind, of all worlds, to obey thee is pure felicity. The ways thou commandest us as rational creatures, to walk, are ways of pleasantness, all the paths thou pointest out to us are peace and lead to happiness. If thou requirest of us virtue and obedience, thou requirest them of us, because without them we cannot be at rest, cannot be contented, and could not enjoy so many real substantial pleasures, so many pure delights, or but in a very inferior degree. Yes, this we clearly perceive in the calmest, best hours of our rational life, when reason and conscience, nature and scripture address us in plain terms, in a language that cannot be mistaken. Oh might we not forget it, Oh might we then acknowledge and believe it when inordinate passions are rising within us, when temptations and dangers and bad example beset us, amidst the tumult of worldly affairs and distractions! Oh might virtue even then be our companion and guide, our monitor and patron! How securely then should we not walk! How contented and blessed not be ! We are now assembled before thee, in'silence in a place consecrated to reflections on the most momentous subjects, to remind ourselves of those eternal truths, and to imprint them

deeply on our minds and our hearts, Oh then do thou bless our reflections upon them! Do thou teach us to esteem virtue for what she is, let her present herself to us in her captivating form attended by her peculiar satisfactions and delights, that we may ever revere and love her the more and more carefully follow her dictates. We make our prayers to thee in this behalf as the followers of thy son Jesus, the most perfect exemplar and the greatest promoter of virtue, addressing thee farther in his name: Our father, &c.

PROVERBS iii. 17.

Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.

Of all the mistaken notions that may be and actually are entertained in regard to moral matters, not one is more pernicious than this, that though virtue may hope for joys and rewards in a future world, yet in the present she procures but few pleasures to her followers and friends. Who can be ignorant how much more forcibly we are affected by the present than by the future, and how extremely difficult it is to the generality of mankind to concern himself merely about the latter, to the neglect of the former? To suffer at present, in order at some time hereafter to rejoice; to impose restraints on our appetites and to do violence to ourselves at present, in order at some distant indeterminate period, to live the more comfortably and happy; to sacrifice and relinqush at present a number of things that we love and value, in order to receive a VOL. I. Q