and, if we keep this in view, our example will have all the value which sincerity and piety can give it.

My Christian hearers, let us not forget that our character is utterly defective and incomplete without piety. The distinguishing service, which Christianity has done for the world, is, to bring us to the knowledge, love, and imitation of the true God. We talk, indeed, of the morality of the New Testament, we commend its virtuous precepts. But, if we search the records of the heathen world, we shall find many great and good men, who have made extraordinary advances in all that is virtuous, in justice, temperance, and beneficence; but the best and wisest of them made no approaches towards the piety of the gospel. Let us not forget, then, that, as far as we are deficient in this blessed temper of devotion, so far do we fall short of the spirit of Christianity, the glory and distinction of a Christian.

If there was ever a person on earth, who, in consequence of the perfection of every other virtue, might plead an exemption from this of piety, it was Jesus Christ. But in him this principle was the very origin and substance of all heart, every act

his excellences. Every movement of his of his life, was to please God. It was this which gave purity, fortitude, cheerfulness, consistency to everything in his character. He honored and worshipped his heavenly Father. He loved him, and delighted to hold constant communion with the Father of his spirit. If, then, we possessed this principle, how easy and delightful would be our duty! We should, from a principle of gratitude, observe the ordinances of the gospel, and find happiness in all the exercises of a holy and merciful religion. God would be in all our thoughts, and whatsoever we did, we should "do all in the name of the Lord Jesus."

SERMON XIII.

PSALM IV. 6.

THERE BE MANY THAT SAY, WHO WILL SHOW

US ANY GOOD?

It is a melancholy consideration, that this has been the common inquiry of men ever since the world was made, and that so few of them seem to have attained to anything like permanent happiness. How few are there in the world, who, if you ask them the plain and simple question, Are you happy? would answer, spontaneously, that they were! How busy are men in the pursuit of this common good! How numerous and opposite are the courses which they take! How frequent and miserable are the countenances of the discontented! Philosophers have been speculating, in all ages, upon the supreme good; men have been making every imaginable variety of experiment ; teachers have given innumerable lessons upon this most difficult, yet most simple, of arts; in fine, God has, more than once, interposed to assist us in our progress, and offers us every encouragement to the attainment of this great end; and yet how unsatisfied are we, how grossly have we been disappointed in the past, how painfully solicitous are we for the future!

It shall be my present object, to inquire, why there is not more happiness among mankind; and, in order to this, I

shall endeavor to lay open some of the most common mistakes upon the subject.

The first mistake, which is too common, especially among those who have experienced many trials and difficulties in life, is, that happiness is to be found in rest. Ask those, who are so busy in the active pursuits of life, to what they look forward with such ardent expectations, and they will tell you that they are toiling for repose. They look with envy upon the condition of that man who, in the language of the world, has nothing to do but enjoy himself. They look upon exertion as a species of servitude, as if he were the only independent man, who is reposing upon his laurels or his gains. But, as has been pointedly observed, that man is most restless who is most at rest. Nothing is so hard as the pillow of perpetual indolence; nothing so oppressive as the stagnant, unelastic air of entire inactivity. The truth is, that the mind, which is not constantly directed to something exterior, preys upon itself. The bedridden intellect pines away in atrophy and the everlasting uneasiness of sloth. Most of those, who have nothing to do, commonly do nothing, or do wrong; and it is necessary to have advanced much further than most of us have, in the work of our intellectual perfection, to be able to relinquish, without great misery, the career of active exertion.

A second mistake upon the subject of happiness is, that it is to be found in prosperity. The truth is, that, of the objects of human acquisition, very few are, beyond a certain limit, even the means of happiness. We are perpetually making this mistake in respect to riches, and confounding two things completely distinct; that is, property and happiness. Ask those, I pray you, who have accumulated

the most enormous fortunes, whether they have ever yet been able to increase their possessions faster than their wants. It is, indeed, a trite maxim, that "a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth;" yet, common as it is, it would seem as if it were a doubtful truth, which remains to be established. For, when we look at those above us, and find that they are able to supply those wants to which we, in our actual situation, are most sensible, it is natural to conclude that they are happy; because we should be happy, if we could remove, as they can, our most pressing needs. We do not consider, that, the higher we ascend, and the wider we can see, the more we desire; and it is often true, that, the more extensive our horizon, the more barren appears the soil immediately around us. These are all common truths; but, trite as they are, allow me to repeat, that he, who can command everything, will soon find that he must want something, he knows not what, which he cannot command. It is true, the rich man can enjoy more; but, on the other hand, he can endure less. He now dares to envy the man whom he once only looked up to with hopeless admiration. He finds that the pleasures, which he once enjoyed with exquisite satisfaction, have now strangely lost all their relish, and that there is not so much happiness in possession as there was in expectation. There is a strange charm in the idea of property. We think the enjoyment of any good is infinitely heightened by the consciousness that it is our own. These little words exercise a powerful spell over our judgments. And yet how many thousands are there, who. as soon as they are able to say of anything, in truth, " This is mine," lose, at once, all their interest in it, and strangely neglect sources of enjoyment, which, when they possessed them not, they thought inexhaustible !

A third mistake on this subject, not less unfortunate than either of the preceding, consists in supposing that happiness is to be found in perpetual excitement. Hence thousands always confound pleasure with mirth, and think nothing tolerable which is not exquisite. Others think nothing pleasant which is not riotous, nothing interesting which is not boisterous, nothing satisfactory which is not intoxicating. It is this mistake which leads so many through the ever shifting varieties of dissipation, when what ought to be only an occasional recreation is made necessary to common comfort, and all satisfaction is lost in the wearisome chase after novelty.

Others, from the same diseased fancy, cannot confine themselves to a single spot. They rove continually after new objects of imagination, taste, and knowledge. They cannot endure home-born pleasures, and every-day enjoyments. Everything little seems to them insignificant, everything permanent seems to them tedious. All these mistaken pursuers of good are, sooner or later, the prey of excessive ennui. Having been always gay, they are never contented; always delighted, they are never tranquil. Having been happy only in the excitement of society, they are miserable when alone. Old age proves to such beings, if they ever reach it, a most oppressive condition. Deluded as they have been with the notion, that happiness consists in perpetual excitement, in great events, strong feelings, continual novelties, and vivid pleasures, they sink into dejection, indolence, melancholy, and become weary of life before it is time for them to leave the scene of human action and enjoyment.

A fourth mistake in relation to happiness is, that we make our provision exclusively for the present world. We