SERMON burden to those with whom they are con

LX.

nected; a nuisance to all whom they oppress with their company. On whom does time hang so heavy, as on the slothful and lazy? To whom are the hours so lingering? Who are so often devoured with spleen, are obliged to fly to every expedient which can help them to get rid of themselves? Instead of producing tranquillity, indolence produces a fretful restlessness of mind; gives rise to cravings which are never satisfied; nourishes a sickly effeminate delicacy, which sours and corrupts every pleasure.

ENOUGH has now been said to convince every thinking person, of the folly, the guilt, and the misery, of an idle state. Let these admonitions stir us up, to exert ourselves in our different occupations, with that virtuous activity which becomes men and Christians. Let us arise from the bed of sloth; distribute our time with attention and care; and improve to advantage the opportunities which Providence has bestowed. The material business in which our several stations engage us, may often prove

IX.

not sufficient to occupy the whole of our SERMON time and attention. In the life even of busy men, there are frequent intervals of leisure. Let them take care, that into. these, none of the vices of idleness creep. Let some secondary, some subsidiary employment, of fair and laudable kind, be always at hand to fill up those vacant spaces of life, which too many assign, either to corrupting amusements, or to mere inaction. We ought never to forget, that entire idleness always borders either on misery or on guilt.

AT the same time, let the course of our employments be ordered in such a manner, that in carrying them on, we may be also promoting our eternal interest. With the business of the world let us properly intermix the exercises of devotion. By religious duties and virtuous actions, let us study to prepare ourselves for a better world. In the midst of our labours for this life, it is never to be forgotten, that we must first seek the kingdom of God, and bis righteousness; and give diligence to make our calling and election sure. Otherwise, how active soever

SERMON we may seem to be, our whole activity will

IX.

prove only a laborious idleness: We shall appear, in the end, to have been busy to no purpose, or to a purpose worse than none. Then only we fulfil the proper character of Christians, when we join that pious zeal which becomes us as the servants of God, with that industry which is required of us, as good members of society; when, according to the exhortation of the Apostle, we are found not slothful in business, and, at the same time, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord*.

*Rom, xii. II,

SERMON X,

On the SENSE of the DIVINE PRESENCE.

PSALM 1xxiii. 23.

-I am continually with thee.

We live in a world which is full of the SERMON

WE

Divine

presence and

power.

We be

X.

hold every where around us the traces of that supreme goodness which enlivens and supports the universe. Day uttereth speech of it to-day; and night sheweth knowledge of it to-night. Yet, surrounded as we are with the perfections of God, meeting him whereever we go, and talled upon by a thousand objects, to confess his presence, it is both the misfortune and the crime of a great part of mankind that they are strangers to Him, in whose world they dwell. Occupied with nothing

N 4

SERMON nothing but their pursuits of interest and X. pleasure, they pass through this world, as though God were not there, The virtuous and reflecting are particularly distinguished from the giddy and dissolute, by that habitual sense of the Divine presence which characterises the former. To them, nothing appears void of God. They contemplate his perfections in the works of nature; and they trace his Providence in the incidents of life. When retired from the world, he often employs their meditation. When engaged in action, he always influences their conduct. Wherever a pious man is, or whatever he does, in the style of the text, he is continually with God.

The happy effect of this sentiment on the heart, is fully displayed in the context, We see it allaying all the disquiet which the Psalmist, in the preceding verses, describes himself to have suffered on account of the prosperity of the wicked. The first reflection which restored tranquillity to his mind, was the remembrance of the presence of God. Nevertheless, I am continually with thee; thou hast holden me by my right hand. He became sensible, that what