to the testimony of facts, and facts assure me that thousands of unfortunate and unhappy men have themselves declared that their ruin can be traced to misspent Sundays as its source. In this there is nothing mysterious. If the day that is set apart for rest, for instruction, and for worship, is given to folly and to sin, the man deprived of the rest and the instruction, and of all the blessings which the worship of God secures, must needs stand at a disadvantage, and no wonder if there is no luck about his house. I leave it to the most careless and godless man to say, whether the abuse of the day of rest and worship is not likely to have a most injurious effect upon himself and upon his family.

"There is no luck about the house." I do not think that there will be, or that there ought to be any luck about the house of a man who does not recognise the authority of God, and pray for his blessing upon himself, his family, and his business. Is it not a reasonable thing that the Divine Source of all happiness should be gratefully adored, and that we should put ourselves under the protection of him in whose hands is the disposal of all events, and the sovereign control of all circumstances that can affect us, favorably or otherwise? I do not say that we should serve God for the sake of temporal advantage; if we serve him with no better motive than this, we shall serve him in vain; but, at the same time, irreligion is the main cause of the lucklessness of which so many houses are the scene. True godliness must be based on better grounds than the expectation of secular good; yet that secular good is one of the gifts of godliness is certain. Godliness, fostering as it does every virtuous principle,

requiring temperance and chastity, diligence and prudence, truthfulness and integrity, forms the character that can scarcely fail of commanding a good share of what men call "luck." "Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord, that walketh in his ways; for thou shalt eat the labor of thy hands, happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee."

If, then, instead of dirt there is cleanliness, instead of drunkenness sobriety, instead of idleness industry, instead of confusion order, instead of extravagance economy, instead of discord peace, instead of parental neglect parental care and discipline, instead of misspent Sundays Sundays consecrated to physical rest and religious worship, instead of ungodliness the fear and the love of God, the house in which these abide must needs have luck about it; and its happy occupants, living in peace, in comfort, in plenty, will never have to utter the complaint which forms the motto of this lecture. And now, in conclusion let me say from my heart, "The Lord prosper you; I wish you good luck in the name of the Lord."

LECTURE XIII.

THE ROAD TO HELL

IS PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS.

"Is there a hell?" asks one; "or is not all that we are told about it the creation of superstitious fears, or the invention of a cunning and self-interested priestcraft? If there be a God at all, surely he will not be so hard upon us as to condemn us to endless misery, because we don't do exactly the right thing in this world?" Many persons are very unwilling to believe in a hell; but they are generally persons who have good reason to dread such a belief; for their consciences tell them that if there be such a place, or such a state, they are candidates for admission whose claims will never be disputed. If we trace the history of this belief, however, we shall find that it has not been entertained by superstitious people alone, but by the wisest and the best men of every age, heathens as well as Christians; and this fact ought of itself to shake the unbelief of the boldest and most hardened, and most intelligent sceptic. He may be very wise; but if So, then he knows very well that far wiser men than he have believed in the future punishment of sin. He may be a very able reasoner; but he will surely admit that abler reasoners than himself have arrived at conclu

sions exactly opposite to those at which he has arrived. Perhaps you say, "I don't intend to pin my faith to any man's sleeve; I don't care what conclusions others have arrived at; I will confide in the exercise of my private judgment, and think for myself." Very well; think for yourself by all means; but remember, the man who always confides in his own judgment, must be immensely conceited, and will probably soon bring himself to grief. Perhaps the next time you are very ill, you will exercise your private judgment, call in no medical man, and do the doctoring yourself; and if ever you are so unfortunate as to have a dispute that brings you into a court of law, though your opponent secures the ablest counsel, you will rely on your private judgment, plead your own cause, and have, what a well-known proverb tells you you will have, for your client. Or, if you have to buy a horse, you will ask no man's opinion, but confide in your own judgment-a very dangerous experiment, I should say, for most men. Perhaps, though you have never been at sea in your life, you are prepared, in reliance upon that infallible judgment of yours, to take a ship to any part of the world. The fact is, that we do not in one matter out of a thousand confide in our own judgment, but in the judgment of others; and the soundest conclusion of private judgment is this, to be guided by the men who are most likely to be best informed upon this, that, or the other question, whether it be commercial, scientific, historical, or theological. A sound and sensible private judgment will in many things, and in most things of great importance and difficulty, be distrustful of itself, and feel that there are other judgments more worthy of

confidence; and therefore I submit if many of the wisest and best men, if nearly all the truly wise and good men of every age, with all their differences of opinion upon other points, have unanimously agreed in the belief of a future state of retribution, this fact claims every man's respectful attention; and no one who wishes to have credit for good sense, will say that the belief in a hell is nothing more than a superstition, or an invention of priestcraft.

Is there a For if there

The

The question, Is there a hell? resolves itself into this, Is there a moral governor of the world? moral law? Is there such a thing as sin? be, then there is such a thing as punishment for sin, and that punishment, whatever form it assume, may be designated hell. Yes; there is sin, and there is punishment for sin, punishment which we often witness, which falls upon many a man before he leaves this world. disgrace and ruin which are so often the consequences of a dishonest life, and even of some one dishonest act, the poverty of the idler and the drunkard, the shattered health of the profligate, are instances of the manner in which sin is punished even in the present life. But still, there is not for all sin such a reckoning in this world as meets the claims of righteousness and justice. There are many men whose evil doings pass undetected and unpunished, whom neither the laws of man nor the laws of nature can reach. There have been many tyrants in the world, who shed much innocent blood, but whom no vengeance ever overtook on earth. "Murder will out," says the proverb; but if by this is meant that murder will in every case be discovered by man, the proverb is