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VI.

nations, who have been inftructed in SER M. true religion, sentiments of the fame nature pave the way for prayer, repentance, faith, and all thofe duties, by means of which we may hope, through a divine Mediator and interceffor, to be reconciled to heaven. Natural and revealed religion here appear in concord. We behold the original dictates of the human heart laying a foundation for the glad reception of the comfortable tidings of the gospel.

I HAVE thus endeavoured to fhew in what manner, by regarding the work of the Lord, and confidering the operation of his hands, we may prevent the dangers arifing from a thoughtless indulgence of pleasure; we may be furnished with an antidote to the poison which is too often mixed in that intoxicating cup. Human life is full of troubles. We are all tempted to alleviate them as much as we can, by freely enjoying the pleasurable moments which Providence thinks fit to al

low

SER M. lów us. Enjoy them we may: But, if

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we would enjoy them fafely, and enjoy them long, let us temper them with the fear of God. As foon as this is forgotten and obliterated, the found of the harp and the viol is changed into the fignal of death. The ferpent comes forth from the roses where it had lain in ambush, and gives the fatal fting. Pleafure in moderation is the cordial, in excess it is the bane, of life,

SERMON

SERMON VII.

On the PRESENCE of GOD in a Future

State.

PSALM XVI. It.

Thou wilt fhew me the path of life: In thy prefence is fulness of joy: at thy right hand there are pleafures for evermore.

TH

HE apostle Peter, in a discourse $ E R M. which he held to the Jews, ap- VII. plies this paffage, in a mystical and prophetical sense, to the Meffiah*. But, in its literal and primitive meaning, it expreffes the exalted hopes by which the Pfalmift

Acts ii. 25.-28.

SER M. Pfalmift David fupported himself amidst

VII.

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the changes and revolutions, of which his life was full. By thefe hopes, when flying before Saul, when driven from his throne, and perfecuted by an unnatural fon, he was enabled to preserve his virtue, and to maintain unfhaken trust in God. In that early age of the world, thofe explicit difcoveries of a state of immortality, which we enjoy, had not yet been given to mankind. But though the Sun of righteoufness was not arisen, the dawn had appeared of that glorious day which he was to introduce. Even in thofe antient times, holy men, as the apoftle writes to the Hebrews, faw the promifes afar off, and were perfuaded of them and embraced them; and confefing that they were firangers and pilgrims on earth, declared that they fought after a better country, that is an heavenly*. Indeed, in every age, God permitted fuch hopes to afford fupport and confolation to those who ferved him. The full

effect

* Heb. xi. 13,-16.

VII.

effect of them we behold in thofe tri- SER M. umphant expreffions of the text, which are to be the subject of this difcourfe. They lead us to confider; first, The hope of the Pfalmift in his present state; Thou wilt fhew me the path of life. And, secondly, the termination of his hope in that future ftate, where in the prefence of God is fulness of joy, and at his right hand there are pleafures for evermore.

I. Thou wilt fhew me the paths of life. This plainly imports that there are different paths or courfes of conduct, which may be pursued by men in this world; a path which leads to life or happiness, and a path which iffues in death or deftruction. Thefe oppofite lines of conduct are determined by the choice which men make of virtue or of vice; and hence men are divided into two great claffes, according as their inclinations lead them to good or to evil. The path of life is often a rough and difficult path, followed

only

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