year, every day, every hour, and it is purely our own fault when this is not the case. Who would not then in this view cry out, with the Psalmist, "Lord, let my soul live, and it shall praise thee !" That it may ever advance in the knowledge of truth, in the knowledge of thee who art the fountain of all truth; that it may be ever advancing, ever be thinking more justly, and ever be learning to employ all its powers in a better and worthier manner.

This life is, farther, of great value: It is highly desirable, as in it we may attempt and execute much good. And, in fact, my dear brethren, how much may we not do for ourselves and for others, for the large and the little society to which we belong! How far, either mediately or immediately, operate about us! What a manifold influence, and of what immense extent, may we have on the happiness of our brethren! And to this purpose, we need neither be sovereigns, nor ministers of state, nor heroes, nor inventors of new discoveries, nor leaders and teachers of the people; in every condition, in every station, in every walk of life, in every lawful calling, we may daily and hourly effect some good. We have only to fulfil our duties, to discharge them continually in the best manner, only ever to walk the way of christian integrity and virtue, and in every circumstance to do what the love of God and man invites us to; so shall we spread goodness in general all around us, disturbing none, and injuring none, but rejoicing thousands, and being useful to thousands more. What a beneficent influence have not order, application, industry, diligence, fidelity, and conscientiousness in affairs upon all with whom we have to do, who stand in a near or a remote connexion with us! What a genial light, what a clear lustre does every good, every generous example, throw around it! And how fruitful is it not frequent

ly in as good, as generous actions! How much may we not do by words and by works, by our deportment among the members of our family, our acquaintance, our friends, and our fellow citizens, and again by them among others, and probably among people utterly unknown to us, and far distant from us! Who can number up all the blessed consequences often produced by a prudent piece of advice, a word well spoken with feeling and energy, a truly christian act, an admonition seasonably introduced, some magnanimous sacrifice, some public spirited undertaking-and which it will produce in future? And when are we wanting in an opportunity either of comforting some mourner, of cheering some wretched being, of assisting some indigent, or relieving some poor and needy person? When is there a scarcity of opportunities for instructing the ignorant, for correcting and reforming the wicked, for confirming and delighting the good, for encouraging and supporting public establishments for the common good, and by all these means of providing for our own? How few days, how few hours of our lives, without our own fault, pass quite destitute of occasions, quite void of incitements to do some kind of good, to further some beneficent designs, or to bring them to effect about us! May not therefore every day, every hour, we pass as wise men, as christians, increase the sum of the good we do, and the sum of human happiness promoted by our means? And how great must not this sum be in the course of a whole life spent according to the precepts of christian wisdom and virtue! What think ye, my pious hearers, is a life, that may be so rich in good consequences and effects, without any worth? Must it not be of the highest value? May not a man say, upon the soundest principles, "Let my soul live, and

it shall praise thee," that it may glorify thee by righteousness and beneficence, and like thee diffuse more joy and felicity around it?

This life has, thirdly, a great value, it is highly desirable; as we may enjoy so much good in it. How manifold, how rich, how inexhaustible, are not the sources of pleasure, delight, and joy, which God has prepared and opened for us, in nature, in religion, in domestic, in civil and human society! Of what various and inexhaustible impressions and feelings are we not rendered capable by our senses, our understanding and our heart! Certainly, if we were less inattentive, less cold and insensible, than we but too frequently are, we should be astonished at the amount of the blessings we daily and hourly enjoy; we should acknowledge and feel at our hearts, the overbalance, the great and manifest overbalance of good to evil in life; and, struck with admiration and gratitude, should exclaim, Lord! The whole earth, and our whole lives, are full of thy goodness! -What agreeable sensations of our abilities and our health have we not had, during the greatest part of our lives! What pleasure is there not connected with eating and drinking, with waking and sleeping, with employment and rest, with the use of our organs of sense, and the application of our mental powers! What pleasures do not silence, and the ineditations of retirement, afford us, and what pleasures the social converse, and the communication of our thoughts and sentiments to others! What joys belong not to the father and the mother of a family in the comforts of their dwelling, in the possession of domestic felicity; what joys to the friend in the heart and in the company of his friend! And with what still purer, still higher joys, is not the man, the christian, blessed in the pious elevation of his heart to God, in the public and private adoration of him

in communion with the spirit of supreme perfection! What satisfaction, what agreeable, what delightful sensations do not follow upon every labor successfully ended, every vanquished difficulty, every surmounted sorrow, every good action, every victory over ourselves, every advance to perfection, every view of our future felicity!—And how much alleviation of toil, how much refreshment and comfort in afflictions, how many helps in distress, how many means of escape, or how much courage and strength in danger, how much hope even in misery, does not a wise and kind providence cause us to find within and without us; and how much light does not all this shed even on the gloomier and less happy periods of our lives! Nay, what day, what hour of our lives, that does not some way other testify of the kindness of our author and preserver, that does not bring with it some kind of satisfaction or pleasure or comfort to the wise man and the christian? And if some gloomy hours, some dismal days succeed, how are they lost among the far, far greater number of more happy, more delightful days and hours! But how much value must not such a life be of, that is so rich in satisfactions and joys, to every man of reflection and sentiment! What a noble present must not the preservation and continuance of it be in his sight! And how much reason has he not to pray to God in the words of the Psalmist, "Let my soul. live, and it shall praise thee!" that it may enjoy thy bounty, and praise thee for it with a joyful heart!

But that which gives the greatest weight to these arguments for highly prizing human life, what renders it most desirable, is, that during the course of it we may fit and capacitate ourselves for better and greater objects in the world to come. Without this prospect, our knowledge and spiritual perfection would have but little value, our virtue but little in.

citement and comfort, our joy but little satisfaction, and still less continuance. Chiefly by the connexion of the present with the future, by the influence this has upon that, all we now are and do and enjoy, is of real importance, and brings unending consequences after it. At present we can do nothing for becoming wiser, better and more pious, which does not prepare and smooth the way for us to a higher degree of perfection and happiness in the future world. We can now perform no good deed that does not draw after it everlasting satisfaction. We now enjoy no innocent, generous delight, which does not render us capable of still greater delights, and secure them to us. We are now working and laboring for eternity. Now even exertion and toil may become pleasure, sorrows become joys, and losses become gains. Here we are to learn; there put what we have learnt to the best use: Here strengthen our abilities by exercise; there apply them to more important matters: Here sow good seed; there reap of it happiness and glory: Here make ourselves fit for converse with superior spirits; there actually enjoy their converse: Here resemble Jesus, our chieftain and lord, in virtuous and pious sentiments; there in glory and bliss: Here approach nearer to the deity; there find the completion of all our aspirations in more intimate communion with him. The longer then we live here, the more good we imagine and perform and promote and enjoy; the greater perfection and felicity await us hereafter. The purer and richer our sowing here, the richer and more glorious will be our harvest hereafter. Thus may every day and every hour of this life lay for us the foundation of unfading honors, of ever blooming joys. And shall such a life, a life attended by consequences so great and continuing in eternity, shall such a life be of no great value in our eyes? Shall it not inspire