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SERMON III.

On the Influence of RELIGION upon
PROSPERITY.

PSALM i. 3.

He fhall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his feafon; his leaf alfo fhall not wither, and whatsoever he doth fhall profper.

SERM. THE happy influence of religion

III.

upon human life, in the time of adversity, has been confidered in the preceding discourse. Concerning this the fentiments of men are more generally agreed, than with respect to fome other prerogatives which religion claims. They very readily affign to it the office of a ComforBut as long as their ftate is profperous, they are apt to account it an unnecef

ter.

fary

fary gueft, perhaps an unwelcome intruder.
Let us not be thus unjuft to religion, nor
confine its importance to one period only
in the life of man. It was never intended
to be merely the nurse of sickness, and the
staff of old age. I purpose now to show
you, That it is no less effential to the en-
joyment of profperity, than to the comfort
of adversity: That profperity is profperous,
if we may be allowed the expreffion, to a
good man only and that to every other
perfon, it will
prove, notwithstanding its
fair appearance, a barren and joyless state.

The Pfalmift, in the Text, by an image taken from one of the most beautiful objects in nature, describes a man who flourishes in full profperity. But to whom is the description limited? To him, as the preceding verfes inform us, that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of finners, nor fitteth in the feat of the fcornful, but hath his delight in the law of God. He only is like the tree planted by the rivers of water; whilft the ungodly, as he adds, are not fo; but, how

profperous

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III.

SERM. profperous foever they may appear to the world, are in truth but like the chaff which the wind driveth away. In confirmation of this doctrine, I fhall lay before you, fome of thofe circumftances which diftinguish the profperity of the good man beyond that of the finner; and fhall conclude, with pointing out the dangers and miferies, into which the latter is apt to be betrayed, by his favourable fituation in the world.

I. PIETY, and gratitude to God, contribute in a high degree to enliven prosperity. Gratitude is a pleasing emotion. The sense of being diftinguished by the kindness of another, gladdens the heart, warms it with reciprocal affection, and gives to any poffeffion which is agreeable in itself, a double relifh, from its being the gift of a friend. Favours conferred by men, I acknowledge, may prove burdenfome. For human virtue is never perfe&t; and fometimes unreasonable expectations on the one fide, fometimes a mortifying fense of dependence on the other, corrode

III.

corrode in secret the pleasure of benefits, SERM. and convert the obligations of friendship into grounds of jealoufy. But nothing of this kind can affect the intercourse of gratitude with Heaven. Its favours are wholly disinterested; and with a gratitude the most cordial and unfufpicious, a good man looks up to that Almighty Benefactor, who aims at no end but the happiness of those whom he bleffes, and who defires no return from them but a devout and thankful heart. While others can trace their sperity to no higher fource than a concurrence of worldly caufes, and often, of mean or trifling incidents, which occafionally favoured their designs; with what fuperior fatisfaction does the fervant of God remark the hand of that gracious. Power which hath raised him up; which hath happily conducted him through the various steps of life, and crowned him with the moft favourable diftinction beyond his equals ?

pro

Let us farther confider, that not only gratitude for the past, but a cheering sense

of

SERM. of God's favour at the present, enter inte

III.

the pious emotion. They are only the virtuous, who in their profperous days hear this voice addreffed to them: Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works*. He who is the Author of their profperity, gives them a title to enjoy with complacency, his own gift. While bad men fnatch the pleasures of the world as by ftealth, without countenance from God the proprietor of the world; the righteous fit openly down to the feaft of life, under the fmile of approving Heaven. No guilty fears damp their joys. The bleffing of God refts upon all that they poffefs; his protection furrounds them; and hence, in the habitations of the righteous, is found the voice of rejoicing and falvation. A luftre unknown to others, invests, in their fight, the whole face of nature. Their piety reflects a funfhine from Heaven upon the profperity of the world; unites in one point of view,

* Ecclef. ix. 7.

the

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