always changing their state, and imagining a happiness which continually flies from them. It is the same in every period of life. In youth, the objects of the world not being tried, they think themselves at liberty to take excursions after happiness, and place it in the gratification of their passions. Weary of these, they become men, and affect a grave and dignified course: they then pursue riches, and aspire after grandeur and consequence, but soon find that these have their cares and anxieties. When they become old, they look with equal contempt upon both periods; for both appear to them like a confused dream, that leaves nothing but a succession of images which have lost their charms. But piety will produce satisfaction with our condition, and prevent the indulgence of the passions. In fact, in every way and at all periods, it will preserve them; in youth, in manhood, and in advanced age. It will teach men that they have one solid good to obtain, and that time is short for attaining it. Dejection and gloom can have no place in that man who, having spent his life in serving God, looks forward to glory, honour, and immortality; for he " runs without being weary, and walks without being faint." He has exchanged the vigour of youth for the full growth of the christian, and is ready to say, with the apostle, "I have fought a good fight; I have finished my course; I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me at that day.”

On the whole, we learn that the knowledge of God, and that substantial piety which flows from it, will insure an eternal happiness. Remember, my brethren, that death roams abroad, and reason and faith ought to set the distance aside. You are going into the presence of God; and all that now amuses you will then appear as a dream. Resolve to spend this year for God and religion. Through want of watchfulness, resolutions are ineffectual; yet no man can be wise unless he resolves to be so. Go to that God who has promised to give wisdom, and beg that he will teach you the knowledge of himself: that is the source of happiness to all beings, and supports the saints under affliction, and in the hour of death. Entreat that he would give you of the fruit of that tree of knowledge, of which whoever tastes will live, and appear spotless before the throne. In comparison with this, all the riches of the world are folly, all its grandeur is meanness, and the universe but dust. "Know thou the God of thy father; and serve him with a perfect heart and a willing mind."

IV.

:

MATT. XXV. 31-46.—When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory and before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and he shall set the sheep on his right

hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink : I was a stranger, and ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer, and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink : I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

I

[PREACHED AT CAMBRIDGE, JANUARY 10, 1802.]

My brethren, I have set myself frequently to consider the cause of the ruin of professing christians,

and am persuaded that it does not so much arise from a mistake of the doctrines of christianity, as from a low idea of christian morals; which appears to me to be evinced in abstaining from certain crimes and disorders through fear of the loss of character and of punishment, without reflecting on the spirit of that holy religion which we profess. Jesus Christ did not come, let it be remembered, to establish a mere external morality, that his followers might be screened from human laws and human justice, for human law will take care of this; the holy institution of Christianity has a nobler object, that of purifying our hearts and regulating our behaviour by the love of God. In the most practical accounts of the proceedings of the last day given in the Scriptures, the excellency which is represented as being a criterion and distinguishing feature of the disciples of Christ, and which he will acknowledge, is christian benevolence—love to man manifested in the relief of the pious poor for his sake. Probably some of you may not have been much impressed with this practical part of christian virtue; it shall be, therefore, my purpose to shew,

I. The propriety of this proceeding, or why the exercise of christian benevolence is of so much importance.

II. The mode of doing good.

I. Why is the exercise of christian benevolence so important?

For the satisfaction of those who wish to enter into the spirit of this passage, and to ascertain why

it is represented to be of so much importance in the opinion of our Judge, I remark,

1. Christian benevolence is the image of God, the nearest approach we can make to his likeness. Jesus Christ represents it as the imitation of God— "That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven, for he maketh his sun to shine on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.-Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect." Accordingly the apostle John has given us a most sublime description of the love of God, when he says, "God is love." Love is not so much an attribute of his nature, as his very essence, the spirit of himself. All the measures of his government originate in no other rules than such as an enlightened love would dictate, and "he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God." We cannot enter largely into this idea; but we have here. sufficient evidence to shew that love is so much the image of God, that we may make the nearest approaches to him by its practice. If we consider his nature, his absolute independence, his perfect happiness as infinite in himself, he can have no other motive in giving life than to impart that happiness to his creatures. For this he has suffered the plenitude of his happiness to flow into thousands of channels, receiving from none but imparting to all. Would we wish to partake of the happiness of the blessed and only Potentate? It cannot be by the indulgence of the passion of selfishness, but by imitating him.