that natural alliance in which even a heathen poet has placed him, namely, that of a man ;——————and as fach to his honour, as one incapable of standing un-, concerned in whatever concerns his fellow-creatures, -Compaffion has fo great a fhare in our nature, and the miseries of this world are so constant an exercife of it, as to leave it in no one's power) who deserves the name of a man), in this respect, to live to bimself.

He cannot ftap his ears against the cries of the unfortunate. The fad ftory of the fatherless and him that has no helper must be heard.—The forrowful fighing of the prifoner will come before him; and a thoufand other untold cafes of distress to which the life of man is fubject, find a way to his heart, let interest guard the paffage as it will:-if he hath this world's goods, and feeth his brother have need, he will not be able, to fbut up his bowels of compaffion from him.

Let any man of common humanity look back up. on his own life as subjected to these ftrong claims, and recollect the influence they have had upon him. How oft the mere impulfes of generofity and compaffion have led him out of his way ::-In how many acts of charity and kindnefs, his fellow-feeling for others has made him forget himfelf:-In neighbourly offices, how oft he has acted against all confiderations of profit, convenience, pay fometimes even of juftice itself ?Let him add to this account, how much, in the progress of his life, has been given up even to the leffer obligations of civility and good manners, what restraints they have laid him under ! How large a portion of his time,-how much of his in

clination and the plan of life he should most have wifhed, has from time to time been made a facrifice to his good nature and difinclination to give pain or difguft to others.

Whoever takes a view of the life of man in this glafs wherein I have shown it, will find it fo befet and hemmed in with obligations of one kind or other, as to leave little room to fufpect, that man can live to himself and so closely has our Creator linked us together (as well as all other parts of his works) for the preservation of that harmony in the frame and fyftem of things which his wifdom has at firft eftablished, that we find this bond of mutual dependence, however relaxed, is too ftrong to be broke: and I believe, that the most selfish men find it is fo, and that they cannot, in fact, live fo much to themfelves, as the narrowness of their own hearts inclines them. If thefe reflections are juft, upon the moral relations in which we ftand to each other, let us close the examination with a fhort reflection upon the great relation in which we ftand to God.

The first and more natural thought on this fubject, which at one time or other will thruft itself upon every man's mind, is this,-That there is a GOD who made me,-to whofe gift I owe all the powers and faculties of my foul, to whose providence I owe all the bleflings of my life, and by whofe permiffion it is that I exercife and enjoy them;—that I am placed in this world as a creature of but a day, hafting to the place from whence I fhall not return;—that I am accountable for my conduct and behavour to this great and wifeft of Beings, be

fore whose judgment-seat I must finally appear, and receive the things done in my body,-whether they are good, or whether they are bad.

Can any one doubt, but the moft inconfiderate of men fometimes fit down coolly, and make fome fuch plain reflections as these upon their state and condition?—or that, after they have made them, can one imagine they lose all effe&t ?—As little appearance as there is of religion in the world, there is a great deal of its influence felt in its affairs-nor can one fo root out the principles of it, but, like nature, they will return again, and give checks and interruptions to guilty purfuits. There are feasons when the thoughts of a juft GOD overlooking, and the terror of an after-reckoning, has made the most determined tremble, and ftop fhort in the execution of a wicked purpose; and if we conceive that the worst of men lay fome restraint upon themselves from the weight of this principle, what fhall we think of the good and virtuous part of the world, who live under the perpetual influence of it,who facrifice their appetites and paffions from a confcience of their duty to God; and confider him as the object to whom they have dedicated their fervice, and make that the first principle, and ultimate end of all their actions?

How many real and unaffected inftances there are in the world of men thus governed, will not concern us fo much to enquire, as to take care that we are of the number which may God grant for the fake of Jefus Chrift. Amen.

SERMON VIII.

Time and Chance.

ECCLESIASTES IX. II.

I returned and faw under the fun, that the race is not to the swift, -nor the battle to the strong,-neither yet bread to the wife, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill, but time and chance happeneth to them all.

Wi

HEN a man cafts a look upon this melancholy description of the world, and fees, contrary to all his gueffes and expectations, what different fates attend the lives of men, how oft it happens in the world, that there is not even bread to the wife, nor riches to men of understanding, &c.—he is apt to conclude with a figh upon it,-in the words,-though not in the fense of the wife man, that time and chance happeneth to them all.That time and chance,apt feasons and fit conjunctures have the greatest fway, in the turns and disposals of men's fortunes: and that, as these lucky hits (as they are called) happen to be for, or against a man, they either open the way to his advancement against all obftacles,or block it up against all helps and attempts ;-that, as the text intimates, neither wisdom, nor underftanding, nor skill, fhall be able to furmount them.

However widely we may differ in our reasonings upon this obfervation of Solomon's, the authority of the obfervation is ftrong beyond doubt, and the evidence given of it in all ages fo alternately confirmed by examples and complaints, as to leave the fact itfelf unquestionable,That things are carried on in this world fometimes fo contrary to all our reasonings, and the seeming probabilities of fuccefs,-that even the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the ftrong, nay, what is stranger still nor yet bread to the wife, who should leaft ftand in want of it,nor yet riches to men of understanding, who you would think beft qualified to acquire them,-----nor yet favour to men of skill, whose merit and pretences bid the fairest for it, but that there are fome fecret and unfeen workings in human affairs, which baffle all our endeavours,and turn afide the course of things in fuch a manner,that the moft likely caufes disappoint and fail of producing for us the effect which we wished and naturally expected from them.

You will fee a man, of whom, was you to form a conjecture from the appearances of things in his fa vour, you would fay was fetting out in the world, with the fairest profpect of making his fortune in it; ―with all the advantages of birth to recommend him,-of perfonal merit to speak for him—and of friends to help and push him forwards: you will behold him, notwithstanding this, disappointed in every effect you might naturally have looked for, from them; every ftep he takes towards his advancement, fomething invifible fhall pull him back, fome unforeVol. V. E