Religion and virtue, on the other | no dependence is more contemptible hand, confer on the mind principles than that under which the voluptuof noble independence. The upright ous, the covetous, or the ambitious man is satisfied from himself. He de man lies, to the means of pleasure, spises not the advantages of fortune; gain, or power. Yet this is the but he centres not his happiness in boasted liberty which vice promises, them. With a moderate share of as the recompense of setting us free them, he can be contented; and con- from the salutary restraints of virtue. tentment is felicity. Happy in his own integrity, conscious of the esteem of good men, reposing firm trust in the providence and the promises of God, he is exempted from servile dependence on other things. He can wrap himself up in a good conscience, and look forward, without terror, to the changes of the world. Let all things shift around him as they please, he believes that, by the divine ordination, they shall be made to work together in the issue for his good: and, therefore, having much to hope from God, and little to fear from the world, he can be easy in every state. One who possesses within himself such an establishment of mind, is truly free. But shall I call that man free, who has nothing that is his own, nor property assured; whose very heart is not his own, but rendered the appendage of external things, and the sport of fortune? Is that man free, let his outward condition be ever so splendid, whom his imperious passions detain at their call, whom they send forth at their pleasure to drudge and toil, and to beg his only enjoyment from the casualties of the world? Is he free, who must flatter and lie, to compass his ends; who must bear with this man's caprice, and that man's scorn; must profess friendship where he hates, and respect where he contemns; who is not at liberty to appear in his own colours, nor to speak his own sentiments; who dares not be honest lest he should be poor?-Believe it, no chains bind so hard, no fetters are so heavy, as those which fasten the corrupted heart to this treacherous world; III. Another character of the slavery of vice, is that mean, cowardly, and disquieted state to which it reduces the sinner. Boldness and magnanimity have ever been accounted the native effects of liberty. He who enjoys it, having nothing to apprehend from oppressive power, performs the offices and enjoys the comforts of life, with a manly and undisturbed mind. Hence his behaviour is dignified, and his sentiments are honourable; while he who is accustomed to bend under servile subjection, has always been found mean-spirited, timorous, and base.-Compare, in these respects, the virtuous and the vicious man, and you will easily see to which of them the characteristics of freedom most justly belong. The man of virtue relying on a good conscience and the protection of Heaven, acts with firmness and courage; and, in the discharge of his duty, fears not the face of man. The man of vice, conscious of his low and corrupt aims, shrinks before the steadfast and piercing eye of integrity; is ever looking around him with anxious and fearful circumspection, and thinking of subterfuges, by which he may escape from danger. The one is bold as a lion; the other flieth when no man pursueth. To the one, nothing appears contemptible by which he can procure any present advantage. The other looks with disdain on whatever would degrade his character. “I will not,” says he, so demean myself, as to catch the favour of the greatest man, by this or that low art. It shall not be said or thought of me, that what I did was base, in order to make my fortune. Let others stoop so low, who cannot be without the favours of the world. But I can want them, and therefore at such a price I will not purchase them." This is the voice of true liberty; and speaks that greatness of mind which it is formed to inspire. Corresponding to that abject disposition which characterizes a bad man, are the fears that haunt him. The terrors of a slave dwell on his mind, and often appear in his behaviour. For guilt is never free from suspicion and alarm. The sinner is afraid, sometimes, of the partners of his crimes, lest they betray him; sometimes, of those who have suffered by his crimes, lest they revenge themselves; frequently, of the world around him, lest it detect him; and, what is worst of all, he is reduced to be afraid of himself. There is a witness within him, that testifies against his misdeeds and threatens him in secret, when other alarms leave him. Conscience holds up to his view the image of his past crimes, with this inscription engraved upon it, "God will bring every work into judgment." How opposite is such a state as this, to the peaceful security arising from the liberty enjoyed by the virtuous? Were there nothing more in the circumstances of sinners to affix upon them the marks of servitude, this alone would be sufficient, that, as the Scripture expresses it, through fear of death they are all their lifetime subject to bondage. (Heb. ii. 15.) Death sets all other captives free. The slave who digs in the mine, or labours at the oar, can rejoice at the prospect of laying down his burden together with his life; and tastes the hope of being at last on equal terms with his cruel oppressor. But to the slave of guilt, there arises no hope from death. On the contrary, he is obliged to look forward with constant terror to this most certain of all events, as the conclusion of all his hopes, and the commencement of his greatest miseries. I have thus set before you such clear and unequivocal marks of the servitude undergone by sinners, as fully verify the assertion in the text, that a state of vice and corruption is a state of bondage. In order to perceive how severe a bondage it is, let us attend to some peculiar circumstances of aggravation which belong to it. First, it is a bondage to which the mind itself, the native seat of liberty, is subjected. In other cases, a brave man can comfort himself with reflecting that, let tyrants do their worst, let prisons or fetters be his lot, his mind remains unconquered and free. Of this liberty, they cannot rob him; here he moves in a higher sphere, above the reach of oppression or confinement. But what avails the show of external liberty, to one who has lost the government of himself? As our Saviour reasons in another case, If the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness? So we may reason here, if that part of thy nature, thy mind, thy will, by which only thou canst enjoy and relish liberty, be itself in bondage to evil passions and habits, how miserable must be that bondage? Next, it is aggravated by this consideration, that it is a bondage which we have brought upon ourselves. To have been forced into slavery, is misfortune and misery. But to have renounced our liberty and chosen to be slaves, is the greatest reproach added to the greatest misery. Moments there certainly must be when a sinner is sensible of the degradation of his state; when he feels with pain the slavish dependence under which he is brought to fortune and the world, to violent passions and settled habits, and to fears and apprehensions arising from conscious guilt. In such moments, how cruel is the reflection, that of all this disgrace and misery, he has been the author to himself; that, by voluntary compliance, he has given to his passions that haughty ascendant which they now exercise over him; has forged the chains with which he is bound, and sold himself to do iniquity. and mortifications more painful, than any which they would have undergone under the discipline of religion. It will perhaps be contended by some, that although the representation which has now been given of the slavery of sin holds true in certain instances, yet that it is applicable only to those who come under the description of atrocious sinners. They imagine that a certain moderate course may be held in vice, by means of which, men, without throwing altogether aside the restraints of reason, may enjoy an easy and pleasurable life.-By reasoning thus, my friends, you flatter and deceive yourselves to your own destruction. Be assured that, by every vicious indulgence, you are making an approach to a state of complete slavery; you are forfeiting a certain share of your liberty; how soon the whole of it may be forfeited, you are not aware. It is true, that all which has now been said of the servitude of sin, applies only to a character corrupted in the extreme. But remember, that to this extreme no man ever arrives at once. He passes through many of those intermediate stages, in one of which you are now perhaps found. Vice always creeps by degrees; and insensibly twines around us those concealed fetters by which we are at last completely bound. As you value there Lastly, the servitude of vice is accompanied with this farther aggravation, that it is subjection to our own servants. Those desires and passions which the sinner has raised to lawless rule, were given us as instruments of self-preservation; but were plainly designed to be under the direction of a higher power. Of themselves, they are headstrong and blind; they bear all the marks of intended subordination; and conscience is invested with every ensign of authority and supremacy. But sin inverts the whole frame of human nature. It compels reason to bow down before those passions which it was formed to command; and leads it, as it were in triumph, to grace the shameful conquest of its ministers and servants. It has been always observed that none are so insolent in power, as they who have usurped an authority to which they had no right; and so it is found to hold in this instance. The desires and passions of a vicious man having once obtained an unlimited sway, trample him under their feet. They make him feel that he is sub-fore your liberty and your happiness, ject to divers, and contradictory as well as imperious, masters, who often pull him different ways. His soul is rendered the receptacle of many repugnant and jarring dispositions; and resembles some barbarous country, cantoned out into different principa-The most pure and virtuous man is lities, who are continually waging war on one another. Such is the state into which sinners have brought themselves, in order to be free from the supposed confinement of virtue. Where they had promised themselves nothing but ease and pleasure, they are made experience restraints more severe, avoid every approach to evil. Consider all vicious pleasures as enchanted ground, by entering on which, you will be farther and farther insnared within the magic circle, till, at length, you are precluded from all retreat. always the freest. The religion of Christ is justly entitled the perfect law of liberty. (James i. 25.) It is only when the Son makes us free, that we are free indeed: and it was with reason the Psalmist said, I will walk at liberty, for I seek thy precepts. (Psal. cxix. 45.) SERMON LXI. ON THE IMPORTANCE OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth.—Psal. xxvi. 8. GOD is a spirit, and they that worship | him, must worship him in spirit and in truth. That religion chiefly consists in an inward principle of goodness, is beyond dispute, and that its value and efficacy are derived from its effects in purifying the heart, and reforming the life. All external services, which have not this tendency, are entirely insignificant. They degenerate into mere superstition, equally unacceptable to God, and unprofitable to man. Hence they are so often treated in Scripture with high contempt, when substituted in the room of the important duties of a virtuous life. Notwithstanding this, it is certain that external services have their own place, and a considerable one too, in the system of religion. What their proper place is, no one can be at a loss to discern, who will only make a just distinction between the means and the end, in religion. It is evident there is danger in men's erring here either on one side or other; and it is certain that they have erred on both. After, it was observed, that mankind were prone to lay too much weight on the external parts of religion, it began to be thought that no weight was to be allowed to them at all. The time was, when all religion centred in attending the duties of the church, and paying veneration to whatever was accounted sacred. This alone sanctified the character, and compensated every blemish in moral conduct. From this extreme the spirit of the age seems to be running fast into the opposite extreme, of holding every thing light that belongs to public worship. But if superstition be an evil, and a very great one it undoubtedly is, irreligion is not a smaller evil; and though the form of godliness may often remain when the power of it is wanting; yet the power cannot well subsist where the form is altogether gone. The holy Psalmist, whose words are now before us, discovers much better principles. Expressing always the highest regard for the laws of God, and the precepts of virtue, he breathes at the same time a spirit of pure devotion. Though loaded with the cares of royalty, and encircled with the splendour of a court, he thought it well became him to shew respect to the great Lord of nature; and on many occasions expresses, as he does in the text, his delight in the public service of the temple. Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth. In discoursing from which words, I purpose to shew the importance of the public worship of God, and the benefits resulting from it. I shall consider it in three lights :—as it respects God; as it respects the world; as it respects ourselves. I. Let us consider it with respect to God. If there exist a Supreme Being, the Creator of the world, no consequence appears more natural and direct than this, that he ought to be worshipped by his creatures, with every outward expression of submission and honour. We need only appeal to every man's heart, whether this be not a principle which carries along with its own obligation, that to Him, who is the fountain of our life and the Father of our mercies; to Him, who has raised up that beautiful structure of the universe in significant of spiritual things, and directly conducive to good life and practice. How inexcusable, then, are we, if, placed in such happy circumstances, the sense of those obligations to the public worship of God shall be obliterated among us, which the light of nature inculcated, in some measure, on the most wild and barbarous nations! which we dwell, and where we are surrounded with so many blessings and comforts; solemn acknowledgments of gratitude should be made, praises and prayers should be offered, and all suitable marks of dependance on him be expressed.-This obligation extends beyond the silent and secret sentiments of our hearts. Besides private devotion, it naturally leads to associations for public wor- The refinements of false philosoship; to open and declared profes-phy have indeed suggested this shasions of respect for the Deity. Where dow of objection, that God is too blessings are received in common, an great to stand in need of any exterobligation lies upon the community nal service from his creatures; that jointly to acknowledge them. Sinour expressions of praise and honour cere gratitude is always of an open are misplaced with respect to Him, and diffusive nature. It loves to pour who is above all honour and all itself forth; to give free vent to its praise; that in his sight, the homage emotions; and before the world, to we seek to pay must appear contempacknowledge and honour a bene- tible; and is therefore in itself superfactor. fluous and trifling.-But who hath taught those vain reasoners, that all expressions of gratitude and honour towards a superior become unsuitable, merely because that superior needs not any returns? Were they ever indebted to one whose favours they had it not in their power to repay; and did they, on that account, feel themselves set loose from every obligation to acknowledge and to praise their benefactor? On the contrary, the more disinterested his beneficence was, did not gratitude, in any ingenuous mind, burn with the greater ardour, and prompt them the more eagerly to seize every opportunity of publicly testifying the feelings of our hearts ?-Almighty God, it is true, is too great to need our service or homage. But he is also too good not to accept when it is a native expression of a grateful and generous mind. If pride and self-sufficiency stifle all sentiments of dependance on our Creator; if levity, and attachment to worldly pleasures, render us totally neglectful of expressing our thankfulness to Him for his blessings; do we not hereby discover So consonant is this to the natural sentiments of mankind, that all the nations of the earth have, as with one consent, agreed to institute some forms of worship; to hold meetings at certain times in honour of their deities. Survey the societies of men in their rudest state; explore the African deserts, the wilds of America, or the distant islands of the ocean; and you will find that over all the earth some religious ceremonies have obtained. You will every where trace, in one form or other, the temple, the priest, and the offering. The prevalence of the most absurd superstitions furnishes this testimony to the truth, that in the hearts of all men the principle is engraved, of worship being due to that invisible Power who rules the world. Herein consists the great excellency of the Christian religion, that it hath instructed us in the simple and spiritual nature of that worship. Disencumbered of idle and unmeaning ceremonies, its ritual is pure, and worthy of a Divine Author. Its positive institutions are few in number, most |