ceived ideas of supreme wisdom and goodness in the Creator, as the sufferings and afflictions which in the course of providence befal the just? The natural and moral world are, in this respect, counterparts to one another. Both are marked with the same characters, and carry the impress of the same powerful and gracious hand. In both, it is evidently the intention of the first Author not to render every thing level to our capacity; but in the midst of high design and order, to allow certain objects to appear, which contradict the ideas we have formed, and mock our vain researches. Now, if we are obliged to admit that the order and beauty of the natural world sufficiently prove it to be the work of a wise Creator, notwithstanding the seeming deformities which it exhibits; are we ་་་་ ་ཅ Inst to be applied not only for silencing tics, but for comforting the pious. N let them be dejected by the darl which now covers the ways of the mighty. If he withdraw himself their view, it is not because he ne them; but because they are incapal comprehending his designs; becau were not for their good that all hi signs were revealed to them. perplexing themselves about what scure, let them rest on the clear an thentic discoveries that have been gi the Divine goodness. Let them r those great and signal facts that pr particularly on that illustrious fact, demption of the world by Jesus He that spared not his own Son, bu him up for us all, will assuredly not conceal himself from those who serv the virtuous and the worthy are loved and protected by Heaven: that in due season they shall reap if they faint not; for the care of them is with the Lord, and their reward with the Most High, N 4 SERMON X. On the SLAVERY of VICE. SERMON 2 PETER, ii. 19. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption; for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. BONDAGE and subjection are disagreeable sounds to the ear, disagreeable ideas to the mind. The advocates of vice, taking advantage of those natural impressions, have in every age employed them for discrediting religion. They represent it as the bondage and confinement of the free-born soul of man; as a state of perpetual constraint, formed of education, and the timorous scruples of conscience, men can think and act at pleasure, and give full scope to every wish of the heart. But what if those pretended sons of freedom be themselves held in miserable subjection, and their boasts of liberty be no more than the swelling words of vanity? The Apostle asserts in the Text that, while they promise liberty to others, they are the servants, or slaves of corruption, overcome and brought into bondage by it. This assertion of the Apostle I propose to illustrate. I shall endeavour to make it appear, that no true liberty can arise from vice; that bad men undergo the worst servitude; and that no one is free, but he who is virtuous and good. Ir is necessary to begin with removing false ideas of liberty, and shewing in what it |