advertisement of evil! How much more com pletely enjoy the good that is and remains good in itself! Is not the want of this wisdom, this just judgment of the value of things, one of the primary fources of all the defeated hopes, all the fruftrated expectations, all the, difappointments, all the fruitlefs undertakings and exertions, all the forrow and all the remorse, all the difcontent and all the mifery of mankind? They feek what is no where to be found, or seek it where it is not to be had; they expect from mankind and things, far more than either the one or the other is capable of affording; they run in queft of every deceitful fantom, every empty fhadow, with as much eagerness as if they were in chafe of the fubftance itself, and then break forth into bitter lamentations on discovering their error when it is too late. Wouldst thou avoid thefe wistakes on the career of happinefs, o man; incline thine ear unto wifdom, apply thy heart to understanding, let them guide and conduct thee; fo fhalt thou make but few unavailing steps towards the mark. Another fource, another ground of human happinefs is virtue: the overbalancing, predominant love for whatever is true and beautiful, right and expedient, the constant readiness to act conformably to truth, to order, to the nature and relations of things, and to do the will of God. This virtue reduces all our inclinations to order and harmony, directs them all to the best, worthiest, most permanent ob jects, gives them all their proper pitch, and strength ens and weakens them according to the nature and importance of the subject. Virtue fecures us from a thousand foolish, childish wishes, from vain, extravagant affections, from inordinate violent paffions; fhe helps us to the mastery over ourselves and outward things, and teaches us to make a proper, in every cafe the best, use and application of all that we have and befalls us. And how much, how infinitely much do we thus gain with regard to happinefs! What fources of disappointment, of uneafiness and vexation, of diffatisfaction are annihilated where neither envy, nor pride, nor selfishness, neither covetoufnefs, nor low ambition contract and infect the heart! And what fources of fatisfaction are opened, where modefty and love, where generous, magnanimous fentiments and affections bear fway! How many things may the virtuous man dispense with without inconvenience! How many others may he lose without vehement pain! How eafily is he pleased, with what fatisfaction does he behold all that is confiftent with the laws of order, with the laws of the greatest poffible good! How multiplied, how enhanced are his fatisfactions, his pleasures, his endowments by the interest he takes in the pleasures, the fatisfactions, the endowments of his brethren! How eafy it is to him to bear, to fuffer, to work for others, and how agreeable to him are frequently the facrifices he makes to the general benefit, to the welfare of any of his fellowcreatures! creatures! Yes, the lefs virtue, fo much the more mifery: the more virtue, fo much the more happiness. Both conftantly increase in the fame proportion; both are capable of infinite augmentation. The third fource, the third ground of human happiness is piety, or the virtue that is founded on religion, which does and endures, difpenfes with and enjoys all things from obedience and from love to God. It calls us to confider all things, the evil as well as the good, the adverse as well as the defirable, in its dependency on God, to revere them all as ordinances and difpenfations of his fovereign wisdom and goodness, as infallible means to the attainment of his all-comprehending defigns, as the way to fuperior perfection. It teaches us, in all that happens and does not happen, in whatever befalls us and others, in fmall matters as in great, in the deepest night of affliction as in the splendour of profperity, to adore the hand of our Father in heaven as holy and unblamable, and to expect from him only good, and conftantly the best. It opens to us profpects into a better world, where the ways of God with mankind will be more difcovered, where we fhall more clearly perceive the longdrawn linked feries of our fortunes, where many difquieting difficulties and ænigmas will be folved, where at last pure truth, pure order, pure happinefs will prevail; profpects that even here already greatly enhance the value of whatever good the pious man enjoys, and confiderably diminish the preffure A A 3 preffure of all the evil he experiences and beholds. Yes, in his eyes moft objects acquire a quite different afpect. He ftands firm and undifmayed amidst a thousand formidable appearances and events, by which others are stunned and overthrown. In favour of him many restrictions and troubles are converted into benefits, many forrows into joys, many evils into fources of greater good. Darkness itself is often light to him; and he fees caufes and reafons for calmnefs and content, where others find only matter for lamentation and complaint. So true it is that in this refpect alfo godlinefs is profitable to all things, and is the firmest foundation, the most exuberant fource of human happiness. Yes, wisdom, virtue, piety, to you will we expand our hearts; you fhall be our guides and companions on the road of happiness. You fhall teach us rightly to judge, rightly to chufe, circumspectly to act. You fhall difpenfe light to our minds, peace and tranquillity to our hearts, truth to our thoughts and fenfations, order and harmony to our whole deportment. You fhall teach us to understand our faculties and our destination, to use and apply the former in the best manner, and to advance towards the latter by the directeft way. Under your guidance and conduct, in confidence and courage, we will pursue our course towards the prize, and always be as fure of seizing it as if we had hold of it already. SERMON XLIV. The Difference between Profperity and Happiness. GOD, thou haft defigned us for happiness and made us capable of the enjoyment of it. We are constantly longing and ftriving for happiness, and thy parental kindness is ever opening to us the moft various and abundant fources of it, Might we not so often thoughtlessly and negligently pass them by, but draw from them as much pleasure and delight as they are able to afford! Alas, we are too often deceived by appearances! We are often dazzled and misled by the glittering forms of pleafure and happiness, which are not and yield not, what they pretend to be and to yield! Yes, we frequently spend our ftrength in vain, and with wearifome, fruitless ardour, feek our happiness where it is not to be found. We frequently fhun and avoid, as mifery and unhappiness, what would prove a real benefit, a permanent bleffing to us. We too often pursue the shadow with childish impetuofity, and let the substance escape. And yet complain of mifery |