"Lord that which cofts thee nothing? wilt thou "give me only that which thou canst no longer "retain ?" Thou hadft the poor always with thee; "the hungry, and the thirsty, to have fed; the "naked, to have clothed; the houfelefs, to have "fheltered; the fick, and the prifoner, to have "vifited with relief and confolation; the unedu"cated, to have inftructed; and, have I not af "fured thee, that inasmuch as thou hadst done it "unto one of the leaft of thefe my brethren (efpe"cially among the true difciples of my dear Son} "thou wouldeft have done it unto me; that not "even a cup of cold water, given to them for my “fake, would have failed of its reward! But thou "haft rejected these my representatives, and I will "reject thee. Think not to fay what thou wilt do "at thy deceafe. But, if thou wilt give unto me, give immediately, and freely. "Now is the act "cepted time, now is the day of falvation; now, "while it is called day; the night cometh, when "no man can work." If thou wilt have treasure in "heaven, "fell all that thou haft, and give to the poor, and follow me." Give up thy fordid difpo"fition, thy craving and insatiable defires; the deeply-rooted propenfities of thy foul; the growth of 66 66 46 many years; thy very self---thy heaven---thy hap"pinefs---thy all; tear them up by the very roots, "and facrifice them on my altar, or think not to "become my difciple." Should he continue impenitent, and God utterly turn away from him; to whom will he next fly for comfort? Who, indeed, could beftow it, if he would; and how few would beftow it, if they could! If he go to his family, they they have, perhaps, long looked with difguft on his felfifh paffion, which denied them the customary enjoyments, and decent conveniencies of life; have long fince loft their affection for him; and now, look forward to his death, and the divifion of his treasures, with eagerness and defire.--- If he go to his rich neighbours, they will either need comfort, like himself; or will fhew him, in the liberality of their own lives, a fad reproachful contraft ;e very part of which will fill him with regret, forrow, and difmay. Will he go to his poor neighbours ? What! to the wretched and defeafed Lazarus, who lay at his gate neglected and defpifed: will a drop of water to cool his tongue be, at length, afked of him? No wonder, then, that it is afked in vain. "Lo! thus fhall it be to the man, that "maketh not God his ftrength; but, trufteth in "the abundance of his riches, and ftrengtheneth "himself in his fubftance *." 2. But, let us pafs on to the confideration of another finner against God: The drunkard. Is his a life of pleasure? If it be, it is the pleasure of a beast; for reason, and reflection, and religion, the great difcriminating excellencies of man, have all been driven from theirfeat, to make room for his brutal paffion. Before reafon be dethroned, there may be, indeed, fome delight (fuch as it is) from the tafte of the liquor, and from the falfe. fpirits afforded by it to himself and the companions of his revels: It may be fweet to the tafte; Pfalm lii. 7. but but it is bitter in the ftomach: It may fmile in their faces, and fparkle in their cups; " but, at the "laft, it biteth like a ferpent, and ftingeth like an "adder*" "Who (faith the wife Solomon) hath 66 woe? Who hath forrow? Who hath contentions? Who hath babbling? Who hath wounds without caufe? Who hath rednefs of eyes ?----And, we may add, who have impaired and worn-out conftitutions, and premature old age? Who have deranged or ined fortunes? Who have negligent or wearied friends? The anfwer is the fame : They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to feek mixed wine t." And if we take into confideration the drunkard's difqualifying himfelf for the duties of that ftation of life, unto which it hath pleafed God to call him, not only during his fits of intoxication, but, alfo, from the effects of them afterwards, upon his powers both of body and mind: If we confider his neglect of his family, with their confequent difrespect towards him; and, above all, his life of habitual difobedience towards God, and the ftill more daring outrages against God's holy laws, of which, in every act of drunkenness he rifks the commiffion; we can conceive him to poffefs neither joy, nor peace, nor fatisfaction. Nor is it uncommon to find that habits of drinking to excefs, end in a state of continual and univerfal fottifhnefs, from which a releafe can fcarcely be expected, except from death alone. If joy exhilarate, the bottle is called in to increase Prov. xxiii. 32. + Ver. 29, 30. See Ifa. v. 11, 12. increase the delight; if forrow deprefs, ftrong drink is reforted to, to drown it in forgetfulness and infenfibility: So that the very mercies and judgments of God, which occafion repentance of many other fins, only tend to rivet the chains of this, and bind them ftill more clofely. And yet, there are hours of recollection and forethought, when man, according to his exalted nature, will look both backward and forward. But, what, in this cafe, does the drunkard behold? A dreary void in the scene of life, diverfified only by frequent paroxisms of intemperance; and, an awful eternity, in which he is affured by the unerring word of God, "neither thieves, nor covetous, "nor drunkards, fhall inherit the kingdom of "God." What then can be fuch a life, but a fucceffion of infenfibility and torment ? 3, I might here, expatiate, at equal length, upon the fufferings of the proud man, whose ruling pa fion affumes ten thousand varying fhapes, and is oppofed by as great a variety in the dictates of felfimportance to other perfons." When pride com"eth (we are informed) then cometh fhaine; but, "with the lowly, there is wifdom. He that humbleth "himself fhall be exalted; but, he that exalteth "himself, fhall be abafed t." And, indeed, there is no paffion, againft which mankind more revolt with one confent, and whofe views they more delight to fruftrate, than haughtiness, arrogance, or felf 1 * Cor. vi. 10. See Gal. v. 21. Prov. xi. 2. xviii. 14. felf-conceit. We are also affured, that " God re. "fifteth the proud, and giveth grace only to the "humble*:" that pride is an offence, of 'all others, the most odious in his eyes: fhutting us out from all the advances towards a holy life; from repentance; from faith, which worketh by love, and from love, which fhews itself in univerfal obedience. It was, probably, the fin by which the angels fell: It was certainly that, which, in a great measure, occafioned the fall of our first parents, and, through them, of all mankind. It unavoidably leads to a ftate of felf-dependence, with the confequent rejection of God. And, what can be the enjoyments, what can be the comforts, what can be the reflections, of fuch a ftate as this? Let the breafts of the proud return an anfwer. We muft, learn of "Chrift, to be meek ❝and lowly in heart, if we would find reft to our fouls." He hath pronounced his bleffing upon "the poor in fpirit; for theirs is the king"dom of heaven +." 66 4. And is ambition more free from disquietude? Are mankind less fond of power, than of self-importance? Do they not dread a fuperior in the one equally as in the other? Will they not be eager to hurl him from his elevation, who is ambitious of rule and command? I fpeak not now of perfons highly exalted above us; but, of those who are raifed a little above our own level, where room is ftill left for competition. And, let it be remembered, * James iv. 6. 1 Pet. V. 5. + Mat. v. 3. |