to quench and fatisfy their thirft ;-minding, or (as the apoftle fays) relishing earthly things,-making them the end and fum total of their defires and wishes, and in one word,-loving this worldjust as they are commanded to love God; that is,

with all their heart, with all their foul,with all their mind and strength. But this is not the ftrangest part of this paradox. A man fhall not only lean and reft upon the world with his whole ftrefs,-but in many inftances, fhall live notoriously bad and vitious: -when he is reproved, he shall feem convinced ;— when he is obferved, he fhall be ashamed; when he purfues his fin, he will do it in the dark ;-and when he has done it, fhall even be diffatisfied with himfelf:-yet ftill, this fhall produce no alterationin his conduct.-Tell him he fhall one day die ;or bring the event ftill nearer, and show, that, according to the courfe of nature, he cannot poffibly live many years, he will figh, perhaps, and tellyou, he is convinced of that, as much as reafon and experience can make him proceed, and urge to him.

that after death comes judgment, and that he, will certainly there be dealt with by a juft God according to his actions; he will thank God he is no deift, and tell you with the fame grave face,-he is thoroughly convinced of that too ;-and as he be-lieves, no doubt, he trembles too:-and yet, after all, with all this conviction upon his mind, you will fee him still perfevere in the fame courfe, and commit his fia with as certain an event and refolution, as if he knew no argument against it. These notices of things, however terrible and true, pass through hiss

understanding as an eagle through the air, that leaves no path behind.

So that, upon the whole, inftead of abounding with occafions to fet us feriously on thinking,-the world might difpenfe with many more calls of this kind; and were they feven times as many as they are, confidering what infufficient ufe we make of those we have, all, I fear, would be little enough to bring these things to our remembrance as often, and engage us to lay them to our hearts with that affectionate concern, which the weight and interest of them requires at our hands.Sooner or later, the moft inconfiderate of us all fhall find, with Solomon, -that to do this effectually, is the whole, duty, of

man.

And I cannot conclude this difcourfe upon his words, better, than with a fhort and earneft exhorta tion, that the folemnity of this feafon,and the meditations to which it is devoted, may lead you up to the true knowledge and practice of the fame point, of fearing God and keeping his commandments,and convince you, as it did him, of the indispenfible neceffity of making that the bufinefs of a man's life,, which is the chief end of his being,-the eternal happiness and falvation of his foul.

Which may God grant for the fake of Jefus Chrift Amen.

SERMON XL.

Afa: A Thanksgiving Sermon.

2 CHRONICLES XV. 14.

And they sware unto the Lord with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets.

of Judah rejoiced at the oath.

-And all the men »

Ir will be neceffary to give a particular account of

what was the occafion, as well as the nature, of the oath which the men of Judah fware unto the Lord;

which will explain, not only the reafons why it became a matter of fo much joy to them, but likewife admit of an application suitable to the purposes of this folema affembly.

Abijah, and Afa his son, were fucceffive kings of Judah. The first came to the crown at the clofe of a long, and, in the end, a very unfuccefsful war, which had gradually wafted the ftrength and riches of his kingdom.

He was a prince endowed with the talents which: the emergencies of his country required, and feemed: born to make Judah a victorious, as well as a happy people. The conduct and great fuccefs of his arms against Jeroboam, had well established the firft;

but his kingdom, which had been fo many years the feat of a war, had been fo wafted and bewildered, that his reign, good as it was, was too short to ac-complish the latter. He died, and left the work unfinished for his fon.-Afa fucceeded in the room of Abijah his father, with the trueft notions of religion and government that could be derived either from reafon or experience. His reason told him, that God fhould be worshipped in fimplicity and finglenefs af heart; therefore he took away the altars of the frange gods, and broke down their images.His experience told him, that the most fuccessful wars, inftead of invigorating, more generally drained away the vitals of government, and at the best, ended but in a brighter and more oftentatious kind of poverty and defolation ; therefore he laid afide his fword, and ftudied the arts of ruling Judah with peace.-Conscience would not suffer Afa to facrifice his fub jects to private views of ambition, and wisdom for bade he should fuffer them to offer up themselves to the pretence of public ones;fince enlargement of empire, by the destruction of its people (the natural and only valuable fource of strength and riches), was a difhoneft and miferable exchange.And, how ever well the glory of a conquest might appear in the eyes of a common beholder, yet, when bought at that costly rate, a father to his country would behold the triumphs which attended it, and weep as it paffed by him. Amidst all the glare and jollity of the day, the parent's eyes would fix attentively upon his child; he would discern him drooping under the weight of his attire, without strength or vigour, his former

beauty and comelinefs gone off:he would behold the coat of many colours ftained with blood, and cry

Alas! they have decked thee with a parent's pride, but not with a parent's care and forefight. With fuch affectionate fentiments of government, and just principles of religion, Afa began his reign:

a.reign marked out with new eras, and a fucceffion of happier occurrences, than what had distinguished former days.

The juft and gentle spirit of the prince, infenfibly ftole into the breafts of the people,- -The men of Judah turned their fwords into plough-fhares, and their spears into pruning-hooks. By induftry and virtuous labour, they acquired, what by fpoil and rapine they might have fought after long in vain,The traces of their late troubles foon began to wear out.- -The cities, which had become ruinous and defolate (the prey of famine and the fword) were now rebuilt, fortified and made populous.Peace, fecurity, wealth and profperity, feemed to compofe the whole hiftory of Afa's reign.-O Judah! what could then have been done more than what was done to make thy people happy?

What one bleffing was withheld, that thou shouldst ever withhold thy thankfulness?

That thou didst not continually turn thy eyes towards heaven with an habitual fenfe of God's mercies, and devoutly praife him for fetting Afa over you?

Were not the public bleflings, and the private enjoyments which every man of Judah derived from them, fuch as to make the continuance of them