lead the fafeft, and, for that reafon, the moft defirable life. By aspiring too high we frequently miss the happiness, which, by a less ambitious aim, we might have gained. High happiness on earth is rather a picture which the imagination forms, than reality which man is allowed to poffefs.

W

SPIRITUAL FELICITY.

ITH regard to fpiritual felicity, we are not confined to humble views. Clear and determinate objects are proposed to our purfuits, and full scope is given to our most ardent defires. The forgiveness of our fins, and God's holy grace to guide our life; the protection and favour of the great Father of all, of the bleffed Redeemer of mankind, and of the fpirit of fanctification and comfort; these are objects, in the purfuit of which there is no room for hefitation and diftruft.

Had Providence spread an equal obfcurity over happiness of every kind, we might have had fome reafon to complain of the vanity of our condition. But we are not left to fo hard a fate. The Son of God hath removed that veil which

covered true blifs from the fearch of wandering mortals, and hath taught them the way which leads to eternal life.

WANT OF FORESIGHT RESPECTING OUR SPIRITUAL STATE.

E foresee the dangers of our fpiritual, ftill

e;.

lefs than we do thofe of our natural state; because we are less attentive to trace them. We are still more exposed to vice than mifery. We cannot esteem him profperous who is raised to a fituation which flatters his paffions, but which corrupts his principles, diforders his temper, and, finally, overfets his virtue.

In the ardour of purfuit these effects are not forefeen; and yet how often are they accomplished by the change of condition. Latent corruptions are called forth;-feeds of guilt are quickened into life;-a growth of crimes arifes, which, had it not been for the fatal culture of profperity, would never have seen the light.

Man, boastful as he is of reafon, is merely the creature of his fortune, formed and moulded by the incidents of his life; incapable of pronouncing

nouncing with certainty concerning his own good or evil; of futurity he difcerns little, and even that little he fees through a cloud. Ignorant of the alteration which his fentiments and defires will undergo from new fituations in life ;-ignorant of the confequences which will follow from the combination of his circumftances with those of others around him ;-ignorant of the influence which the present may have on the future events of life;-ignorant of the effect which a change of condition may produce on his moral character and his eternal interefts; how can he know what is good for him all the days of his vain life, which Spendeth as a fhadow. Inftead therefore of lamenting this ignorance only, he should confider how it ought to be improved; what duties it fuggefts; and what wife ends it was intended by Providence to promote.

IN

GOD WITH RESPECT TO MAN.

N the midst of his glory, the Almighty is not inattentive to the meanest of his fubjects. Neither obfcurity of ftation, nor imperfection of knowledge, finks those below his regard who worship and obey him. Every prayer which they send up from their fecret retirement is lif tened

tened to by him; and every work of charity which they perform, how unknown foever to the world, attracts his notice.

He is the patron of the diftreffed. Compaffion is that attribute of his nature which he has chofen to place in the greatest variety of lights, on purpofe that he might accommodate his majesty to our weakness, and provide a cordial for human griefs.

All his creatures he governs with justice and wifdom-an afflicted ftate he commiferates-he is the refuge of the virtuous and pious, and invites them, amidst all their troubles, to pour out their hearts before him. The neglect, or fcorn of the world,, expofes them not to any contempt in his fight. No obfcurity conceals them from his notice, and though they should be forgotten by every friend on earth, they are remembered by the God of heaven.

That figh heaved from the afflicted bosom, which is heard by no human ear, is liftened to by him; and that tear is remarked which falls unnoticed, or defpifed by the world. These prefent his administration under an afpect fo mild and benign as in a great measure to difperfe the gloom which hangs over human life.

IT

IGNORANCE OF GOOD AND EVIL,

ITS UTILITY.

T serves to check prefumption and rafhness, and to enforce a diligent exertion of our rational powers, joined with an humble dependence on divine aid. It moderates eager paffions refpecting worldly fuccefs. It inculcates refignation to the difpofal of a providence which is much wifer than man. It reftrains us from employing unlawful means, in order to compass our most favourite designs. It tends to attach us more closely to those things which are unquestionably good. It is therefore fuch a degree of ignorance as fuits the prefent circumftances of man better than more complete information concerning good and evil. At the fame tiine the caufes which render this obscurity necessary, too plainly indicate a broken and corrupted state of human nature. They fhew this life to be a fhort trial. They suggest the ideas of a land of pilgrimage, not of a house of rest.

GOOD