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to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kind. ness charity. For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly, into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."

Let us then be no longer "slothful in business, but fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." Amen.

SERMON XLII.

JAMES iv. 13, 14, 15.

Go to now, ye that say, to-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain. Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? it is even a vapour that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the LORD will, we shall live, and do this or that.

THE obvious design of this passage is to detect the fol. ly and presumption of those who lay schemes for futurity, without a proper acknowledgment of their dependance on the providence of God. The particular scheme, which the Apostle represents and condemns, is one of the most plausible that can well be imagined. A merchant resolves on a journey to some city, in which he can carry on his trade to advantage. That he may lose no time, he saith, "To-day," or, at farthest, "to-morrow, I will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy

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and sell, and get gain." There is no intimation that he meant to enrich himself by fraud or extortion. The gain he had in view may be supposed to have been the profits of a fair and honourable commerce; the honest reward of his attention and diligence.

I apprehend that none of us would be greatly startled, thongh we should hear some of our friends talking in the manner which is here represented. There are few of us, perhaps, who have not on some occasions held such a language, without suspecting that it was either presumptuous or wrong. In order, therefore, to discover what is faulty in it, and to enter into the spirit of this text, let us examine with attention,

1st. The form of expression which the Apostle condemus. And,

2dly. The amendment which he suggests. And if it shall please God to afford us the assistance of his Spirit, I am persuaded that several remarks will occur to us in the course of this inquiry, which may be "profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness." Let us then attend,

First. To the form of expression which the Apostle condemns. "Go to now, ye that say, to-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain."

In general, we may observe, that this language relates altogether to a worldly project. The principal object is gain: "not the true riches ;" or "that good part" which shall never be taken from those who choose it; but the gain of this world, the gain which is acquired by buying and selling. They say nothing of the measure of gain that would satisfy them, and nothing of the use to which they meant to apply their wealth. For any thing that their expressions imply, their desires might be without

bounds, and their sole aim might be to "heap up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets;" or, in the language of Isaiah, "to join house to house, and field to field, till they were placed alone in the midst of the earth."

If this remark is just, we have already discovered one capital error in the expressions before us.-To seek gain by honest industry, either for the supply of our own wants, or to enable us to relieve the necessities of others, is not only lawful but honourable: But to seek wealth for its own sake, and merely for the sordid pleasure of possessing it, betrays a mean and selfish spirit, unworthy of a man, and much more unworthy of a Christian.

Supposing this then to be the end in view, there can be no doubt that it is in a high degree culpable. But as the Apostle is silent on this head, we shall admit, that the persons who hold the language before us, might intend to make a proper use of their riches, and proceed to examine the means by which they propose to obtain them. "To-day," say they, "or to-morrow, we will go into such a city." These words may pass in common conversation; but when we seriously weigh the import of them, as at present we are called to do, we shall find that they are chargeable both with folly and presumption.

The great Lord of all has no part in this scheme. These little arrogant words, we WILL, thrust him out at once, and occupy his place. And for what do the persons here described undertake? They undertake, without hesitation, to insure their lives against death, their bodies against sickness, and their effects against every casualty or hazard. They speak of the morrow as if they had the absolute property of it. They promise themselves, that to-morrow they shall not only be alive,

but in health, to set out on their journey; that they shall meet with no cross accidents by the way; that the goods which they carry along with them shall be protected against thieves and robbers; and that in due time they shall arrive at the city where their plan of business is to be carried into execution. But what follows is still more extravagant. They promise upon life for a full year: "We will continue there a year": and not upon life only, but on health of body, and soundness of mind, during all that time. No allowance is made for the change of climate, or the fatigues of business: they are always to be in a condition to buy and sell, and to manage their affairs with activity and prudence. Nay, more, they as sure themselves of success. "We will buy and sell, and get gain." They undertake, not for themselves alone, but for all whom they shall employ, or with whom they shall have commerce-that they shall have diligent and faithful servants; that they shall have large profits from those to whom they sell, and cheap bargains from those of whom they buy. In a word, they speak as if every thing relating to themselves and others were so dependant on their will, that they might command the events which they desired, and dispose of all things according to their own pleasure.

Well might the Apostle give this the name of boasting, as he doth at the 16th verse of this chapter; and had it suited the gravity of an inspired writer, he might have examined the different parts of the scheme, computed the risks which were plainly against them in every step, and thus turned the whole design into matter of contempt and ridicule. But instead of this, he arrests them at the very first outset. You talk of "going to such a city, of continuing there a year, of buying, of selling, and getting gain:"-" whereas ye know not what shall

be on the morrow." The present moment is all that ye can call your own. This night your souls may be required of you: to-day you are; but to-morrow ye may be numbered with those who have been. He would not trifle with miserable men, who might die whilst he was speaking to them. He therefore seizeth one important truth, the force of which could not be denied, and instantly placeth it full in their view. "What is your life?" saith he, "it is even a vapour." At present it appears; but while I yet speak to you it may vanish away. Cease then, vain boasters, to talk of a year hence," until ye can say something with certainty of the succeeding day. Thus the visionary Babel falls to the ground. This plain proposition, "Life is a vapour," undermines it at once, and overwhelms the proud builders with shame.

It hath often given me pleasure to observe, that the truths which are best fitted to touch the heart, and to influence the life, are universally the most simple and obvious, and lie so near us, that we need only to stretch forth our hand to take hold of them. God knows, that we have much work to do, and little time to do it in: and therefore, that we may lose no part of it, the most useful and necessary things are scattered around us with the greatest profusion. Were it otherwise, the opportunity of acting might frequently pass away before the means of action were ready. Yet such, alas! is our folly and perverseness, that overlooking what is near, we roam abroad, and always grasp most eagerly at those things which are farthest from us. Thwarting the merciful designs of God, we despise common truths, merely because they are common; and wander in pursuit of abstruse and intricate speculations, which puzzle the understanding, and amuse the fancy, but leave the heart cold and insen

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