purfuit of bufinefs, of ambition, or of plea fure. All flesh is as grafs, and all the glory of man as the flower of grafs; the grafs withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away.

Now, for a being poffeffed of fuch a nature, and placed in fuch circumftances, what is the proper fcheme of life, in order to fecure his greatest good? Certainly one, (if it can be found) which will restore to their proper order all the parts of his inward frame, and quict the fears and apprehenfions of guilt; thus procuring peace and ferenity of mind: one which will enable him to take as much of the good things of human life, with as little of the evil as is poffible: one which will teach him how to prolong the power of receiving fatisfaction from the pleasures of it: and laftly, one which will enable him to look with fteadfaft hope beyond the boundaries of the pre

fent

fent contracted state of existence, and to be eafy in his mind notwithstanding the uncertainty of it.

AND is there not fuch a scheme of life to be found? Do we not indeed already poffefs it in that which is pointed out to us by the chriftian religion? Is it not the profeffed aim of the chriftian religion to remedy the evils which spring from the disorder of our internal frame, and by reducing cach part to its due ftate, to restore the original harmony of our minds? Does it not endeavour to restrain our appetites within the bounds proper to the inferior part of our nature, to moderate our paffions, to refine and exalt our affections, to enlarge our conceptions, and correct our judgment, to quicken our fenfe of right and wrong-by precept, by example, by discoveries, by extraordinary affiftance? The fears and apprehenfions of guilt ought to vanish at once.

from

from every afflicted breaft on hearing the affurances contained in the gofpel, of the willingness of our heavenly Father to receive all fuch as turn unto him with hearty repentance and true faith in his Son Jefus Christ. Come unto me, faid the Redeemer of the world, all ye that travail and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you. So God loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, to the end that all who believe in him fhould not perish but have eternal life. He was fent to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of fight to the blind, to fet at liberty them which are bruifed, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.--Acquaint yourselves then with the merciful Jefus and be at peace. Though your fins be red as fcarlet, they shall be made white as fnow; and though they be as purple, they fhall be made white as wool.

WITH respect to the mixture of good and evil in the present world: evils, which come not unexpected, lofe much of their power, for they bring not with them the bitterness of disappointment. Now, in what light is the prefent ftate of our existence represented in the gofpel of Chrift? Is this world any where reprefented as a state of perfect cafe, and undisturbed enjoyment? Is it not represented juft as we find it, and fuch as we might expect to find a state of probationary education, which is to introduce us to a state of reft and perfect happinefs?

IF then we will enter upon the world as christian faith will lead us, we fhall enter upon it with the knowledge of its nature, which is ufually derived from experience, accompanied by the advantage of not having our minds depreffed, and our relish of enjoyment blunted by unhappy disappoint

ment

ment of too fanguine expectations

置

and

we shall alfo learn how to make the leaft of the evil and the most of the good. Chriftianity prevents by the caution which it gives, many particular evils which fwell the general load of calamity, and it affuages the anguifh of fuch as are unavoidable, nay, almost alters their nature. Recollect how large a portion of human calamity arifes from an ungoverned imagination, and vain fears and anxieties about future events; how much of it fprings from vicious indulgences, and wrong or hard hearted conduct of one fort or another: and then confider what a check to all these evils is provided by the chriftian religion? For one part, in that juft, fober, enlarged view of things, fuggefted by contemplating the œconomy of the gofpel difpenfation, and by a thorough belief that all events are under the direction of infinite wisdom, goodnefs, and power. For the other part, in

the