will readily admit. That all this may be readily applied to other worlds cannot be questioned.

But philosophy can direct us to no conduct which will be useful to this purpose. Yet the purpose itself is probably of more importance than any other, and may not improbably involve all that is important to us.

V. Reason knows nothing concerning our own future state. I readily acknowledge, that reason can supply arguments, of sufficient weight to render our future existence probable; but this probability is not knowledge. Of the manner of being, of the circumstances, of the residence, of the society which may be found there, reason is absolutely ignorant. It cannot tell whether it will be happy or miserable. If we are to be happy, it knows not the kind nor degree of happiness, nor the means by which it may be secured, nor the duration through which it will extend.

A single act of ours in the beginning of our present life has often, perhaps usually, a controlling influence over all our earthly destiny. Such an act determines what shall be our education; what our profession in life; what our character, our usefulness, our enjoyments. By a fair analogy, the conduct of the present life may be concluded to have a decisive influence on our whole future state thoughout eternity. It is, therefore, of immeasurable importance to us, that we should know how to act in such a manner here as to make our eternal existence desirable.

As

But on this subject reason can give us no satisfaction. it cannot comprehend the nature nor designs of God, it cannot tell what he will demand or accept. As it understands our own nature very imperfectly, it is wholly unable to divine what we can do, what we ought to do, and the moral nature, deserts, and reward of what we actually do. What a blind miserable guide is reason, then, with regard to our future being; and yet in our future being all our important interests lie, except preparing ourselves for it in the present life.

If the observations made in the present discourse are ad

mitted to be just, it will, I presume, be conceded, that the doctrine in the text is established.

It has been no part of my design to determine with precision how far reason is able to proceed in investigating the several subjects which I have mentioned. To do this, in all the particulars, would demand volumes. The object which I have wished to compass in this discourse, is to show what is the amount, the sum of all the possible attainments of reason or philosophy, with respect to the momentous subjects which have been mentioned. This, if I am not deceived, has been proved to be the following:

That in some of them it is wholly ignorant; and in all is so imperfectly informed, as to be lost in uncertainty, and forced to rely on conjecture.

This is the state of the whole subject, taken in a single view, which I have wished to press upon your minds.

Infidels, and especially young men who are infidels, are prone to be satisfied with their situation and their prospects, without even so much as inquiring whether they have any solid ground for their satisfaction. Nor is this unhappy propensity confined to infidels only, or to young men. Multitudes, who consider themselves as Christians; thousands, nay millions, and a great number of them mature in years, and not a small number exhibiting, in other respects, sobriety and good sense, are accustomed to inquire very little, if at all, concerning the foundation of their hopes of future happiness. Can this conduct consist with common sense? is it not a strong specimen of delirium to hazard the soul on mere uncertainty ? Can it be wisdom, can it be common sense to launch into the ocean of eternity upon a plank?

The only manner in which reason can argue or conclude concerning the momentous subject of this discourse, is by analogy founded on experience. But what is the experience, and where is the analogy which in this case will enable us to argue at all, or to arrive at conclusions on which we can rest with a hope? Can we say that the self-existent, independent, omnipresent, almighty, all-knowing Jehovah is so much like man,

who is a worm, and the son of man, who is but a worm, that from the character and actions of men we may safely conclude concerning his character and actions, or determine, from what men might be expected to do, what will be done by him? Can we suppose the plans and the designs of a being, who sees from the beginning to the end, whose plans are formed for the interests of one immense and eternal empire, can resemble the views and purposes of beings who are of yesterday?

We are prone to recline upon the divine mercy, very loosely examined, and very imperfectly understood. Look at the events of this world; at the providence, and at the actions of God himself. Certainly it is safer to derive our analogies from his actions than from our own. That he should act like himself is rationally believed; that he should act as we do is impossible. Look at the ravages of the pestilence, of the famine, the earthquake, and the volcano. Look at the far more terrible ravages of war. All these exist during our day of trial. Do they furnish us with a single hope of mercy from the same God in our day of reward? Will not he, who does such terrible things in righteousness here, prove a consuming fire to sinners beyond the grave? Is there not unanswerable reasoning contained in that text, " If these things are done in the "green tree, what shall be done in the dry ?”

When we apply our analogical reasoning to the great universe and to a future state, is it not equally lame? What is there in this world, which we know to be resembled by any thing in that? What in eternity similar to that which now exists? Who can tell, by the force of his own reason, what will be the conditions of his acceptance, and the proper preparation for happiness in the world unseen? Who can satisfy himself what will be the influence of a single doctrine believed, a disposition fixed, a habit formed, a course of conduct pursued? Every action of ours, of course every principle, and much more, every hope may plainly be connected with an endless chain of consequences. A single volition may make all these consequences widely different from what they otherwise would be. The determination of Washington to accept the command of the revolutionary army has materially changed

the world, not only throughout the present, but throughout all succeeding generations. The cordial determination of a Christian to believe and obey will, according to the Scriptures, make an incomprehensible change in him and his destination throughout eternity. The change, wrought by a single act, may at first be small; yet it may gradually become greater and greater, until it shall become immeasurable. But we know not God; we know not ourselves; we know not another state of existence, in any such manner, as to establish one rational expectation of future good. We have no premises on which we can rest, and can come to no safe conclusions. The soul is here ventured in the dark, and is not able even to grope its way. It knows not whither it is going. If it did, it could not possibly find the path which leads to the place of its destination. What rational man can possibly be willing to live and die, in such uncertainty, in a case incomprehensibly momentous ? Who can be willing to hazard eternity upon the toss of a die? Who, much more deliriously, can venture this immense object upon the casual conclusions of infidel philosophy?

SERMON V.

SERMONS ON REVELATION.

SERMON III.

MAN CANNOT FIND OUT A RELIGION WHICH WILL RENDER HIM ACCEPTABLE TO GOD.

MICAH VI. 5-7.

"O my people, remember, now, what Balak, King of Moab, consulted, and what Balaam, the son of Beor, answered him, from Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye may know the righteousness of the Lord.

"Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself be

fore the most high God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old?

"Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression; the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?"

In this singular passage of Scripture, God calls upon the Israelites to remember a solemn and most interesting consultation of Balak, king of Moab, directed to Balaam, the son of Beor, concerning the means of worshipping God in an acceptable manner, and of making an expiation for his sins. The consultation itself is recited in the text, and respects a subject of the highest possible importance to man. It is also given in terms unusually affecting. "Wherewith shall I come before "the Lord, and bow myself before the most high God?" With