ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels!" There is an assembly of evil spirits to which you must then be consigned, for them you have studied to please rather than Jesus Christ, and you have dispositions fitted for that wretched society, where your laughter will be turned into heaviness and mourning for ever.

I speak plain truths to you, careless sinners. To prevent all these evils, "repent, and believe the Gospel," while time remains; for I have missed my aim, if this day, in placing life and death before you, I have not dropped a word in season, which, by the blessing of God, may prove an useful admonition, and make you see the wickedness of not loving Jesus Christ. I own, that some of the profane sort whom I am addressing, as years and experience teach them something of worldly wisdom, reform, and live more prudently and regularly, and think to pacify God for their past transgressions by some external acts of obedience. But all this is no conversion, if you learn not to love Jesus Christ; and this you will not do, except you be convinced of the great sin of hating him. Agreeably to the text, I have endeavoured to apply myself to your consciences with this view. Enter into your hearts, and beg of God to enable you, by comparing your lives with the rule of his word, to estimate what is the true state of your souls. I have this morning considered one of those rules, which is, the

duty of loving Jesus Christ-a very pleasant, excellent, reasonable duty: for what is so reasonable as gratitude? and do not all men own an ungrateful person to have a very bad heart? How black, then, must be the case of those who all their days hitherto have been enemies of the very best Friend to mankind! May you feel the force of this consideration, loathe yourselves, repent, and never rest till he wash you in his blood from your filthiness, and make you meet for his kingdom.

SERMON XIII.

THE HAPPINESS OF TRUSTING IN THE LORD.

PROV. xvi. 20.

Whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he.

SIMPLE recipe of happiness! How singularly divine is the Scripture! You might look over all the volumes of human philosophy, all the creeds and systems of all religions besides, and you would not find such a sentiment as this,

Whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he." The Epicurean philosophers directed men to place their happiness in pleasure. The Stoic, made the chief good of man to consist in virtue. But what did they mean by virtue? a proud self-confidence. They directed a man to remove his confidence from all other objects, and to fix it-where? on himself! To trust himself was the way to make him happy! Man was to be a sort of god to himself, and in the resources of his own mind to find his bliss! Ah! wretched plan of happiness! Who, that knows his own weakness and blindness, can trust in himself? It required a very unwarrantable insolence of pride to bring a man to place his happiness in his own resources. The

Academics, and other sects of pagan philosophy, content themselves with disputing against all other opinions, and establish nothing certain or solid in their room and Mahometans, Indian Bramins, Papists, Socinians, and all Christian formalists, in the account which they give of happiness, are all of one religion; they always send a man to self-dependence. Let a man attend to such and such thingsceremonies, morals, or something else, it matters not what it be, but let him depend on himself, and in the strength of his own mindand for the merit of such and such good actions, he may work himself into happiness. So that, in this view, all religions and systems of morals may be reduced to one thing: to trust in a man's self for happiness is the simple point of all. And such a plan is what it may be expected man would fall into, since he fell from God. For what was it that brought about the fall of man, and the first sin in paradise? was it not self-dependence? Did not man cease to put his trust in God; set up for self, in the spirit of independence; and contrive to be happy by his own strength? We know he thence became to himself only a region of misery and desolation? We all naturally walk in this way we trust to an arm of flesh: and all the religions, and plans to make men happy, which men have invented, are all constructed on this self-righteous principle.

But, behold, superior and alone, in a sin

gular light, stands the religion of God. It teaches,, as in the text, to trust in the Lord: that man is happy who does so. What Solomon thus briefly expresses, is the substance of the Bible. Would you be happy? mark what the Lord saith. Happiness is a great word; oh, we all pant after it! Here it is: learn to trust in the Lord for it. And here you do nothing, you know nothing, you contrive nothing you only know yourself wretched, and all that is vile and empty and helpless; and you behold the Lord himself your supreme good; and you trust him as such; and as such you make him your own, when you trust him. It is not that you are called on to feel any happiness before you trust him, or to have any resources at all beforehand: only you trust him; and it rests with his veracity to make you happy.

See you how singular this plan of religion is, how entirely distinct from any other? Men need not be distracted with a multiplicity of plans and opinions: there are but two, there can be no more, in the nature of things. Men may differ about a thousand little things, which do not affect the general principle; but this is the single note of distinction,-trust in self, or trust in God. The first, is man's religion, and meant to honour man, and is the same in Pagan philosopher, Mahometan, or nominal Christian the second, is God's religion, and it is the faith of Jesus; for, in trusting the