V.

his own character; or when, drawing to- SER M. wards the clofe of life, his paffions fubfide, his pleasures withdraw, and a future ftate comes forward to his view ; in fuch fituations it often happens, that the paft follies and crimes of fuch a man appear to him in a light most odious and fhocking; and not odious only, but terrifying to his heart. He confiders that he is undoubtedly placed under the government of a juft God, who did not fend him into this world for nought; that he has neglected the part affigned to him; has contemned the laws of heaven; has degraded his own nature; and instead of being useful, having been hurtful and pernicious to those among whom he lived, is about to leave a deteftable memory behind him. -What account shall he give of himfelf to his maker? Self condemned, polluted by fo many crimes, how can he expect to find mercy in his fight?— Hence, an overwhelmed and dejected mind; hence, difmal forebodings of punishment; hence, that wounded fpi

V.

SERM. rit. which, when it is deeply pierced, becomes the foreft of all human evils, and has fometimes rendered existence a burden which could not be endured.

Such diftreffes as thefe, arifing from moral internal caufes, may be made light of by the giddy and the vain; and reprefented as confined to a few persons only of diftempered imagination. But to those whose profeffions give them occafion to fee men under various circumftances of affliction, they are known to be far from being unfrequent in the world; and, on many more occafions than is commonly imagined, to throw over the human mind the blackest gloom of which it is susceptible. Religious feelings, be affured, have a deep root in the nature of man. They form a part of the human conftitution. They are interwov en with many of thofe fears and hopes which actuate us in the changing fituations of fortune. During the gay and active periods of life, they may be smothered; but with moft men, they are fmothered rather than totally obliterated:

And

V.

And if any crifis of our condition fhall SER M. awaken, and bring them forth, in their full force, upon a conscious guilty heart, woe to the man, who, in fome difconfolate feafon, is doomed to fuffer their extreme vengeance!

BUT, while under fuch diftreffes of the mind not a few may be faid to labour and to be heavy laden, greater still is the multitude of those who, from natural external causes, from the calamities and evils of life, undergo much fuffering and mifery. The life of man is not indeed wholly composed of mifery. It admits of many pleafing scenes. On the whole, there is reafon to believe that it affords more joy than grief. At the fame time, the unfortunate, as I before observed, form always a numerous clafs of mankind; and it may be faid with truth, that fore travel is ordained for the fons of men. Though the burden is not equally laid on all; fome there always are, on whom it falls with oppreffive weight. Unexpected disappointments have crushed their

hopes,

V.

SER M. hopes, and blasted the plans which they had formed for comfort in the world. The world had, perhaps, fmiled upon them once, only to give them a sharper feeling of its miferies at the laft. Struggling with poverty, unable to fupport their families whom they see languishing around them, they, at the fame time, are obliged by their fituation in fociety to conceal their neceffities; and under the forced appearance of cheerfulnefs, to hide from the world a broken heart. They are stung, perhaps, by the unkindness of friends; caft off by thofe in whom they had trufted; or torn by untimely death from real friends, in connexion with whom they might have flourished and been happy; at the fame time borne down, it may be, with the infirmities of a fickly body, and left to drag a painful life without affiftance or relief.-How many fad fcenes of this nature, on which it were painful to infift, does the world afford?

When'

V.

When we turn to those who are ac- SER M. counted profperous men, we shall always find many forrows mingled with their pleasures? many hours of care and vexation, wherein they acknowledge themfelves claffed with those who labour and are heavy laden. In entering into fome gay festive assembly, we behold affected chearfulness displayed on every countenance; and might fancy that we had arrived at the temple of unmixed pleasure and gladness of heart. Yet, even there, could we look into the bofoms of these apparently happy perfons, how often would we find them inwardly preyed upon by fome tormenting suspicions, fome anxious fears, fome fecret griefs, which either they dare not disclose to the world, or from which, if disclosed, they can look for no relief?-In short, amidst that great company of pilgrims, who are journeying through life, many there are whose journey lies through a valley of tears; and many to whom that valley

VOL. IV.

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