as long as they are kept within due bounds, it does not censure nor condemn them; neither does it propose them as rewards to the virtuous, or as the principal objects of their pursuit. To such it points out nobler ends of action. • Their felicity it engages them to seek in the discharge of an useful, an upright, and honourable part in life; and, as the habitual tenor of their mind, it promotes cheerfulness, and discourages levity. Between these two there is a wide distinction;

a and the mind which is most open to levity, is frequently a stranger to cheerfulness. It has been remarked, that transports of intemperate mirth are often no more than flashes from the dark cloud; and that in proportion to the violence of the effulgence is the succeeding gloom. Levity may be the forced production of folly or vice; cheerfulness is the natural offspring of wisdom and virtue only. The one is an occasional agitation; the other a permanent habit. The one degrades the character; the other is perfectly consistent with the dignity of reason, and the steady and manly spirit of religion. To aim at a constant succession of high and vivid sensations of pleasure, is an idea of happiness altogether chimerical. Calm and temperate enjoyment is the utmost that is allotted to man. Beyond this, we struggle in vain to raise our state; and, in fact, depress our joys by endeavouring to heighten them. Instead of those fallacious hopes of perpetual festivity, with which the world would allure us, religion confers upon us a cheerful tranquillity. Instead of dazzling us with meteors of joy, which sparkle and expire, it sheds around us a calm and steady light. By mixing trembling with our joy, it renders that joy more solid, more equal, and more lasting.

In this spirit, then, let us serve God, and hold our course through life. Let us approach to the Divine Being, as to a sovereign of whom we stand in awe, and to a father in whom we trust. In our conduct, let us be cautious and humble, as those who have ground to fear well pleased and cheerful, as those who have cause to rejoice. Let us shew the world that a religious temper, is a temper sedate, not sad; that a religious behaviour, is a behaviour regulated, not stiff and formal. Thus we shall use the world as not abusing it ; we shall pass through its various changes, with the least discomposure; and we shall vindicate religion from the reproaches of those who would attribute to it either enthusiastic joys, or slavish terrors. We shall shew, that it is a rational rule of life, worthy of the perfection of God, and suited to the nature and state of man,

And let us not be weary in well-doing ; for in

due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

It is a

Disco

CONTENT is the most general of all the evils which trouble the life of man. disease which every where finds materials to feed itself; for, if real distresses be wanting, it substitutes such as are imaginary in their place. It converts even the good things of the world, when they have been long enjoyed, into occasions of disgust. In the midst of prosperity, it disposes us to complain ; and renders tranquillity tiresome, only because it is uniform. There is no wonder that this spirit of restlessness and dissatisfaction, which corrupts every terrestrial enjoyment, should have sometimes penetrated into the region of

1

.

virtue. Good men are not without their frailties; and the perverseness incident to human nature too readily leads us, who become weary of all other things, to be weary, also, in welldoing

Let me put a case, which, perhaps, will be found not unfrequent in ordinary life. Suppose a person, after much commerce with the world, to be convinced of its vanity. He has seen its most flattering hopes to be fallacious. He has felt its most boasted pleasures to be unsatisfactory. He resolves, therefore, to place his happiness in virtue ; and disregarding all temptations from interest, to adhere to what is right and honourable in conduct. He cultivates acquaintance with religion. He performs, with seriousness, the offices of devotion. He lays down to himself, a rational and useful plan of life; and, with satisfaction, holds on for a while in this reformed course. But, by degrees, discouragements arise.--

, The peace which he hoped to enjoy, is interrupted, either by his own frailties, or by the vices of others. Passions which had not been thoroughly subdued, struggle for their accustomed gratification.

The pleasure which he expected to find in devotion, sometimes fails him ; and the injustice of the world often sours and frets him. Friends

prove ungrateful ; enemies misrepresent, rivals supplant him: And part, at least, of the mortifications he suffers, he begins to ascribe to virtue. - Is this all the reward of my serving God, and renouncing the pleasures of sin ? -Verily, in vain I have cleansed my heart,

ใ and washed my hands in innocency. Behold, the ungodly prosper in the world, and have more than heart can wish ; while, all the day long, I am plagued and chastened every morning.“ To such persons as these, and to all who are in hazard of being infected with their spirit, I now address myself. In reply to their complaints, I purpose to show, That in no state they can choose on earth, by no plan of conduct they can form, it is possible for them to escape uneasiness and disappointment; that in a life of virtue they will suffer less uneasiness, and fewer disappointments, than in a course of vice; they will possess much higher resources and advantages: and they will be assured of complete reward at the end. From these considerations, I hope to make it appear, that there is no sufficient reason for our being weary in well-doing ; and that, taking human life upon the whole, Virtue is far the most eligible portion of man.

1. Uneasiness and disappointment are in