XIV.

flictions of the world, may often be ow- SER M. ing to God's appointment; but when, in the midst of thefe, you also fuffer from the diforders of your mind and paffions, this is owing to yourselves; and they are thofe inward diforders which add the fevereft fting to external afflictions. Many are the resources of a good and a wife man, under all the difafters of life. In the midft of them, it is always in his power to enjoy peace of mind, and hope in God. He may fuffer; but under suffering he will not fink, as long as all is found within. But when the fpirit has been wounded by guilt and folly, its wounds open, and bleed afresh, upon every blow that is received from the world. The mind becomes fenfible and fore to the flightest injuries of fortune; and a fmall reverse is felt as an infupportable calamity.

On the whole; the farther you search into human life, and the more you obferve the manners and the conduct of men, you will be the more convinced of this great truth, that of the diftreffes

SERM. which abound in the world, we are the
XIV. chief authors. Among the multitudes

who are, at this day, bewailing their
condition and lot, it will be found to
hold of far the greater part, that they are
reaping the fruit of their own doings;
their iniquities are reproving them, and
their backflidings correcting them. Unat-
tainable objects foolishly pursued, in-
temperate paffions nourished, vicious
pleasures and defires indulged, God and
God's holy laws forgotten; these, these
are the great fcourges of the world; the
great causes of the life of man being fo
embroiled and unhappy. God hath or-
dained our state on earth to be a mixed
and imperfect state. We have ourselves
to blame for its becoming an infupport-
able one.
If it bring forth nothing to
us but vexation and vanity, we have
fown the feeds of that vanity and vex-
ation; and as we have fown, we must
reap.-I now proceed to make im-
provement of those truths which we
have been confidering.

IN the first place, let us be taught, to

look

look fin as the fource of all our SER M. upon miferies. It may fometimes affume the

gentler names of folly, irregularity, or levity; but under whatever form it appears, it always imports a deviation from that facred law which ought to regulate our conduct. It is ftill the root that beareth gall and wormwood*; and in exact proportion to the quantity of this poisonous weed, which we ourselves have infused into our cup, we must expect to drink the waters of bitterness. If the foolishness of man did not pervert his ways, his heart would have no occafion to fret against the Lord. He would enjoy competent fatisfaction in every fituation of life; and under its unavoidable evils, would derive confolation from religion and virtue.Indeed, of every evil which we now endure, of those evils which we look upon to be the appointment of providence, as well as of others, fin is ultimately the cause; as it was man's revolt from God,

which

XIV.

XI V.

SER M. which gave rise originally to those evils, and which rendered the chastisements we undergo, in this ftate of difcipline, neceffary, even for the fons of God. But at prefent, we confine our observation to those miseries of which men are the immediate procurers to themselves; and from them alone, we find fufficient feason to confider fin as the capital foe to man; as the great troubler and difturber of his life. To Providence, then, let us look up with reverence. On fin let our indignation be vented; and, what is of more confequence, against fin and all its approaches, let our utmost caution be employed. As we proceed through the different paths of life, let us accustom ourselves to beware of fin, as the hidden fnake lurking among the grafs, from whose fatal touch we must fly in haste, if we would not experience its fting.

Too many have no just apprehenfions of this danger. Fools, faid the wife man, make a mock at fin. A fool indeed he must be, who dares to think lightly of it. He shows not only the depravity

XIV.

pravity of his heart, but, what perhaps s E R M. he will be more afhamed to be charged with, he shows his ignorance of the world. He shows that he knows not, he understands not, even his worldly intereft, nor the interest and happiness of human fociety.

In the fecond place, let us learn from what has been fet forth, one of the most awful and important of all truths, the reality of a divine government exercised over the world. Blind muft that man be, who difcerns not the most striking marks of it, in the doctrine which has been under our view. If there be a sceptic, who contends, that unrestrained liberty in the gratification of defire is given to man; that in the fight of his Creator, all actions are equal; and that no rule of moral conduct hath been prescribed, or by any penalty enforced; in order to confute fuch a man, we have not recourfe to reafonings, but fimply appeal to plain and obvious facts. We bid him look only to the life of man; and take notice how every vice, is by the conftitution of things,

U 2