frife, railings, perverfe difputings of men of corrupt minds and deftitute of the truth. Be not defirous of vain-glory. Let all bitterness and clamour and evil-speaking be put away

from you.

Putting away lying, Speak

every man truth with his neighbour : for we are members one of another. Lay afide all guile and hypocrify. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth; but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minifter grace unto the bearers. Give unto the Lord the honour due unto His name.

The God of patience and confolation grant that, according to Chrift Jefus, ye may with one mouth glorify God.

SERMON XIV.

On the Identity of Wisdom and Religion.

PSALM CXix. 34.

Give me understanding, and I fhall keep thy law, yea, I fhall obferve it with my whole

heart.

IN the book of Proverbs and in other

parts of Scripture, men are earnestly exhorted to pursue wisdom. It is evident that by wisdom the facred writers intended religion. They were in fact fo steadfastly convinced that religion is real wisdom, and the greatest wisdom, and the only true wifdom; that the term wifdom continually presented itself to their minds as peculiarly adapted to designate a life of faith and holiness and folly appeared to them the ap propriate denomination of fin. In com

mon with many other pofitions of Holy Writ, the identity of wisdom and religion is by no means univerfally recognised as

faithful faying, and worthy of all acceptation. The infidel fneers at the doctrine as fanatical. The licentious encounter it with broad derifion as refuted by daily experience. And among those who are untainted by scepticism and decent in their characters, numbers, especially of the young, while they acquiefce in it as a fcriptural declaration, regard it as a strange and mysterious truth: and though not prepared to affirm with the unbeliever and the profligate that the fervants of religion are in this life of all men the most miferable, reft inwardly of opinion that the sphere of their own happiness would be confiderably enlarged if, without forfeiting the future recompenfe of holiness, they were at liberty to expatiate in the present gratifications of the finner. Let us then furvey, one by one, the characteristic marks of wifdom: and examine whether they are not fingly and collectively exemplified in the conduct of the man, who fixes his heart upon God through Jefus Chrift.

I. Wif

I. Wisdom, in the first place, felects fuch objects of purfuit as the difcerns a fatisfactory prospect of attaining. Has religion this characteristic of wisdom? Compare under this point of view the objects which inspire the exertions of the irreligious man with those which the true Chriftian propofes to himself. Be it opulence, or power, or reputation, or any other worldly poffeffion or enjoyment, after which you labour; how great is the uncertainty whether you fhall fucceed! When at the clofe of the long-protracted chafe you hang in triumphant expectation over your prize; how frequently does it elude your grafp! What language is more common in the mouths of men bufied in fuch pursuits than that of disappointment? How often do you hear them complaining that they have failed in their defigns! How often, when they keep filence, do their looks befpeak, a complaining heart! How many men, eager to heap up wealth have found themselves, after years of toil, fcarcely richer than when they set out in life! Their lands have proved unproductive; or their crops have been blighted; or they have been ruined by bad debts; or their veffels have been fhipwrecked; or their customers have been

drawn away by rivals; or friends, on whofe recommendation and affiftance they depended, have deceived them. How many, in the higher ranks of fociety, feverish with unceafing thirst for pre-eminence, have continually been excluded and depreffed by more fortunate competitors! How often is the man who pants for reputation stunned with cenfure and contempt, when he fancies himself fecure of fame! Look to any other earthly pursuit; and you behold the fame croffes, the fame uncertainty. You are taught by a crowd of examples how frequently the race is not to the swift; nor the battle to the ftrong; nor the prize of ability to the skilful; nor the reward of induftry to the perfevering. But is the man who yields his heart to religion thus expofed to disappointment? Does he labour and persevere in the path which he has chofen, and fail of his recompense? His recompenfe is fure. The children of this world may fucceed in their purfuits. The religious man must succeed in his. The favour of his heavenly Father, the atonement of his Redeemer, the fanctification of the Holy Ghost the Comforter, are secured to him by the unchangeable promise of God. Omnipotence is pledged to up

hold