much to know. But it is of eternal conséquence, that the character, which

you possess in your own eyes, be formed upon that which you

bear in the sight of God. In order to try it by this great standard, you must lay aside, as much as possible, all partiality to yourselves; and in the season of retirement, explore your heart with such accurate scrutiny, as may bring your hidden defects to light.

Inquire, for this purpose, whether you be not conscious, that the fair opinion which the world entertains of you, is founded on their partial knowledge both of your abilities and your virtues ? Would

you

be willing that all your actions should be publicly canvassed ? Could you bear to have your thoughts laid open

? Are there no parts of your would be uneasy if an enemy could discover ? In what light, then, must these appear to God? When you have kept free of vice, has

, your innocence proceeded from purity of principle, or from worldly motives ? Rise there no envy or malignity within

you
when

you compare your own condition with that of others? Have you been as solicitous to regulate your heart, as to preserve your manners from reproach ? Professing yourselves to be Christians, has the spirit of Christ appeared in your conduct ? Declaring that you

life which you

hope for immortality, has that hope surmounted undue attachments to the present life?

Such investigation as this, seriously pursued, might produce to every man many discoveries of himself; discoveries not pleasing perhaps to vanity, but salutary and useful. For he can be only a flatterer, and no true friend to himself, who aims not at knowing his own defects as well as virtues. By imposing on the world, he may carry on some plan of fancied profit; but by imposing on his heart, what can he propose to gain ? He feedeth on ashes : A deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, is there not a lie in my right hand ? *

Thus I have set before you some of those great objects which ought to employ your meditation in religious retirement. I have endeavoured to introduce you into a proper

intercourse with your heart, concerning God, the world, and your own character. Let this intercourse terminate in fixing the principles

future conduct. Let it serve to introduce consistency into your life. Nothing can be more wavering and disjointed, than the be

of your

haviour of those who are wholly men of the world, and have never been inured to commune with themselves. Dissipation is a more frequent cause of their ruin, than determined impiety. It is not so much because they have adopted bad principles, as because they have never attended to principles of any kind, that their lives are so full of incoherence and disorder.-You hover on the borders of sin and duty. One day you read the Scriptures, you hear religious discourses, and form good resolutions. Next day you plunge into the world, and forget the serious impression, as if it had never been made. The impression is again renewed, and again effaced; and in this circle your life revolves. Is such conduct worthy of creatures endowed with intelligent powers ? Shall the close of life overtake

you, before

you

have determined how to live ? Shall the day never come, that is to find you steady in your views, decided in your plans, and engaged in a course of action which your mind approves ? If you wish that day ever to arrive, retirement and meditation must first bring you home to yourselves, from the dissipation in which you are now scattered ; must teach you to fix such aims, and to lay down such rules of conduct as are suitable to ra

;

VOL. I.

tional and immortal beings. Then will your character become uniform and respectable. Then you may hope that your life will proceed in such a train as shall prepare you, when it is finished, for joining the society of more exalted spirits.

SERMON X.

ON DEVOTION.

Acts, x. 2

Cornelius A devout man.

That religion is essential to the welfare of man, can be proved by the most convincing arguments.

But these, how demonstrative soever, are insufficient to support its authority over human conduct. For arguments may cor nce the understanding, when they cannot conquer the passions. Irresistible they seem in the calm hours of retreat ; but in the season of action, they often vanish into smoke. There are other and more powerful springs, which influence the great movements of the human framę. In order to operate with suc