tion and serious thought. Prayer, in particular, operates to our high advantage, both by the immediate assistance which we may hope it will procure from Him who is the author and inspirer of virtue, and by its native influence in softening, purifying, and exalting the heart. In vain would he attempt to behave himself wisely in a perfect way, who looks not frequently up to God for grace and aid; and who would presumptuously attempt to separate moral virtue from devotion, its natural and original ally. Besides the exercises of religious worship, both public and private, seasonable returns of retirement from the world, of calm recollection and serious thought, are most important auxiliaries to virtue. He who is without intermission engaged in the bustle of society and worldly occupation, becomes incapable of exercising that discipline over himself, and giving that attention to his temper and character which virtue requires. Commune with your own hearts on your bed, and be still. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord.*

By the observance of such rules and maxims as have been now pointed out, it may be hoped that, through divine grace, we may be enabled to behave ourselves wisely in a perfect way, until, in the end, we receive the reward of such behaviour. The wisdom here spoken of, as conjoined with virtue, is that wisdom from above, which is appointed by God to enlighten and guide the course of integrity. It opens to us that path of the just, which is now as the shining light, and which will shine more and more until the perfect day.

SERMON LXXXI.

ON THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL, AND A FUTURE STATE.

For we know, that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.-2 CORINTHIANS, V. 1.

THIS passage presents to us in one view the nature of our present earthly state, and the future object of the Christian's hope. The style is figurative; but the figures employed are both obvious and expressive. The body is represented as a house inhabited by the soul, or the thinking part of man. But it is an earthly house, a tabernacle erected only for passing accommodation, and to be dissolved; to which is to succeed the future dwelling of the just in a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Here then are three great objects presented to our consideration. First, the nature of our present condition. Secondly, that succeeding state which is the object of good men's hope. Thirdly, the certain foundation of their hope; we know, that if our earthly house be dissolved, we have a building of God.

I. THE text gives a full description of our present embodied state; as an earthly house, an earthly house of this tabernacle, and a tabernacle, which is to be dissolved.

We dwell in an earthly house. Within this cottage of earth is lodged that spiritual. immortal substance, into which God breathed the breath of life. So we are elsewhere said in Scripture, to have our foundation in the dust, and to dwell in houses of clay.During its continuance in this humble abode, the soul may be justly considered as confined and imprisoned. It is restrained from the full exertion of its powers by many obstructions. It can perceive and act only by very imperfect organs. It looks

abroad as through the windows of the senses; and beholds truth as through a glass darkly. It is beset with a numerous train of temptations to evil, which arise from bodily appetites. It is obliged to sympathize with the body in its wants; and is depressed with infirmities not its own. For it suffers from the frailty of those materials of which its earthly house is compac ted. It languishes and droops, along with the body; is wounded by its pains; and the slightest discomposure of bodily organs is sufficient to derange some of the highest operations of the soul.

All these circumstances bear the marks of a fallen and degraded state of human nature. The mansion in which the soul is lodged, corresponds so little with the powers and capacities of a rational immortal spirit, as gives us reason to think that the souls of good men were not designed to remain always thus confined. Such a state was calculated for answering the ends proposed by our condition of trial and probation in this life; but was not intended to be lasting and final. Accordingly, the Apostle in his description, calls it the earthly house of this tabernacle; alluding to a wayfaring or sojourning state, where tabernacles or tents are occasionally erected for the accommodation of passengers. The same metaphor is here made use of which is employed in several other passages of Scripture, where we are said to be strangers and sojourners on earth before God, as were all our fathers. This earth may be compared to a wide field spread with tents, where troops of pilgrims appear in succession and pass away. They enter for a little into the tents prepared for them; and remain there to undergo their appointed probation. When that is finished, their tents are taken down, and they retire to make way for others who come forward in their allotted order. Thus one generation passeth away, and another generation cometh; and the earthly house is to all no other than the house of their pilgrimage.*

The earthly house of this tabernacle, the Apostle, proceeding in his description, tells us, is to be dissolved. Close as the union between the soul and body now appears to be, it is no more than a temporary union. It subsists only during the continuance of a tabernacle of dust, which, by its nature is tending towards ruin. The dust must soon return to the dust, and the spirit to God who gave it.-The dissolution of the earthly house of this tabernacle, is an event full of dismay to wicked men. Beyond that period they see nothing but a dark unknown, which as far as they can discern, is peopled with objects full of terror; even to the just, this dissolution is a serious and awful event. Providence has wisely appointed that, burdened as our present state is with

Psalm cxix. 54.

various ills and frailties, we should, however, he naturally attached to it. Its final close is always attended with several melancholy ideas. Thou who now flourishes most in health and strength, must then have thy head laid low. From thy closing eyes the light of the sun shall disappear for ever. That light shail continue to shine, the seasons to return, and the earth to flourish; but to thee no more, separated from the dwellings of men, and cut off from all thou wert accustomed to love, as though thou hadst never been.-Such is the fate of man considered merely as mortal; as dwelling in an earthly house which is about to be dissolved. The consolatory corrective of those humbling ideas, the ray that is to dissipate this gloom, we behold in the subsequest part of the text; that when this earthly house is dissolved, there is prepared for the righteous a building of God, an house not made with hands. But before proceeding to this part of the subject, let us pause for a little, and make some reflections on what has been already said.

-LET the distinction between the soul and the body, which is so clearly marked in the text, be deeply imprinted on our minds. Few things in religion or morals are entitled to make a stronger impression than this distinction; and yet, with the bulk of men the impression it makes appears to be slight. They seem to think and act as if they consisted of no more than mere flesh and blood, and had no other concerns than what respect their embodied state. If their health be firm, if their senses be gratified, and their appetites, indulged all is well with them. Is not this to forget that the body is no more than an earthly house or tabernacle of the soul? The soul, that thinking part which they feel within them, and which it is impossible for them to confound with their flesh or their bones, is certainly far nobler than the tenement of clay which it inhabits. The soul is the principle of all life, and knowledge, and action. The body is no more than its instrument, or organ; and as much nobler as is the part which belongs to him who employs an instrument, than to the instrument which is employed, so much is the soul of greater dignity than the body. The one is only a frail and perishable machine; the other survives its ruin, and lives for ever. During the time that the union continues between those two very different parts of our frame, I by no means say that it is incum bent upon us to disregard all that relates to the body. It is not possible, nor though it were possible, would it be requisite ar fit, for a man to act as if he were pure immaterial spirit. This is what the condition and laws of our nature permit not.-But must not the greatest sensualist admit, that if the soul be the chief part of man, it must have interests of its own, which require to be carefully attended to? Can he imagine that he truly consults either his interest or his pleasure, if he employs the thinking

part of his nature only to serve, and to minister to the bodily part? Must not this infer, not merely a degredation of the superior part, but an entire perversion of that whole constitution of nature which our Maker hath given us? Be assured, my breathren, that the soul hath a health and a sickness, hath pleasures and pains of its own, quite distinct from those of the body, and which have a powerful influence on the happiness or misery of man. He who pays no attention to these, and neglects all care of preserving the health and soundness of his soul, is not only preparing final mis ery for himself when he shall enter into a disembodied state, but is laying, even for his present state, the foundation of many a bitter distress. By folly and guilt he is wounding his spirit. Its wounds will often bleed, when his body appears sound, and will give rise to inward pangs, which no animal comforts shall be able to assuage or heal.

When we impress our minds with a sense of this important distinction between the body and the soul, let us not forget, that closely united as they now are in our frame, their union is soon to terminate. The earthly house of this tabernacle is to be dissolved; but the soul which inhabits it remains. Let us therefore dwell in our earthly house with the sentiments of those who know they are about to dislodge. The endowments and improvements of the soul are the only possessions on which we can reckon as continuing to be our own. On every possession which belongs to our bodily estate, we ought to view this inscription as written by God; "This is an earthly house which is tottering to its fall; This is a tabernacle which is about to be taken "down."Let us with pleasure turn our thoughts towards those higher prospects that are set before us, when this change shall have taken place in the human condition; which naturally brings us to the

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Ild Head of discourse,-the great object of the hope of good men in a succeeding state. The earthly house is contrasted by the Apostle with a building of God: an house not made with hands; and the tabernacle which is to be dissolved, with a house eternal in the heavens.

The expressions here employed to signify what is promised to the righteous, a building of God, an house not made with hands, are expressions of mysterious import. They suggest to us things which we cannot now conceive, far less describe. Into that house which is above, those habitations of eternity, no living man has entered, to explore them, and to report to us tidings of what he there beheld. A sacred veil conceils the mansions of glory. But, in general, these expressions of the text plainly import that the spirits of good men shall, upon death, be translated from an imperfect to a glorious state. Whether we explain the building of God, the house not made with hands to signify