must in itself be good; and therefore that not only benevolence and charity, but that even cheerfulness is a religious duty. Yet cheerfulness does not consist in an affected smile of self-complacence, in an assumed serenity and gentleness of deportment, nor in ostentatious but spurious humility. It will manifest itself in all the intelligible and practicable duties of life; in acts of neighbourly kindness, in compassion for human failings and human sufferings; in candid interpretations both of words and actions, and in a sincere disposition to please and to be pleased with all around us. It is an ingredient, or rather it is the result of that universal benevolence which is inculcated by the practice and precepts of our Saviour; it resembles that emanation of divine love which was manifested by the Deity in the creation, and is yet more eminently displayed in the preservation of all his works, and in the redemption of mankind. It is our duty to believe, but it is yet more our duty to act. For in the language of Scripture, as well as in the view of common sense,

sense, faith without works is dead. The mere assent to the truth, or zeal for the propagation of the Gospel History cannot save us, unless we live in obedience to the Gospel commands. And those commands are full of the purest and most general benevolence, unrestrained by limitations of place or persons. Every system of philosophy which is built upon the real constitution of human nature and upon the actual situation of moral agents, carries with it a strong claim to our attention. Every Religion professing to come from Heaven is so far accompanied with credibility, as it tends to restrain the selfish and malignant affections, to diffuse a spirit of calm content through the sorrows of life, and to exhibit the joys of it as instances of goodness in the Supreme Being, which warrant our trust in him, and demand our gratitude to him. But this praise is pre-eminently due to the Christian revelation; the whole scheme of it is adapted to the general circumstances of all mankind, and to the usages of the world we live in; and tends to the exaltation of our nature

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nature, by preparing us for another state through the exercise of all those virtues which can enlarge and adorn the soul. But if we are to begin here, if the moral culture of our minds is to be progressive, if we are now to acquire, and by continual exercise to strengthen those habits, which will be perfected hereafter, what has dark and self-tormenting melancholy, or acrimonious censoriousness, or austere intolerance, to do with our preparation for Heaven? Surely, considered as obstacles to the various, and high and growing improvements of which we are now capable, and to the moral discipline by which we are gradually prepared for a future and a better world, they are to be discouraged upon the same principle, though I do not say in the same degree, with which we are accustomed to condemn the very meanest of our selfish, and the most odious of our dissocial affections.

To conclude. We are men, and must

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live among men, and must make and claim merciful allowances for the errors of fallible and peccable beings, and for that renitency

of

of our nature against coercion, which, if well disciplined and well directed, is in fact the origin of all liberty. Let us then, by our temperate use of all that boundless store of blessings which is provided for us, prove ourselves to be worthy of that provision. Not burying our talent in a napkin, not morosely refusing to participate in the enjoyments, and contribute to the improvement, or even to the harmless mirth and innocent amusements of society; but while we contemplate the goodness of God, in a world adapted not merely to the necessities, but to the comforts, conveniencies and enjoyments of the creatures he has placed in it, let us wisely use those blessings for the happiness of others and ourselves, and let us be duly thankful that we have not only the means of such enjoyments, but the desire of them and the relish for them, implanted in

our nature.

That which God hath cleansed, let us not call common or unclean. Any undue abridgment of our liberty in these things is but a snare to us, multiplying indeed our restraints, but not advancing our general improvement in virtue, nor even securing our innocence

innocence in seasons of real temptation to real evil. We have no more warrant from nature or revealed religion to become selftormentors, than we have to become selfmurderers; nor can we infringe upon the freedom of others, or our own, in matters of indifference, without departing from that true knowledge of the Christian dispensation which must ever produce Christian liberty.

Encouraged therefore by the promise of the great Author of our faith, let us devoutly and unfeignedly pray, that, guided by the light of the Gospel, and strengthened by the aid of the Spirit, we may be enabled to know the truth, and that the truth thus known,. may make us free, from every yoke that is not easy, and every burthen that is not light; from the bondage of superstitious. ceremonies and fanatical illusions; and from the tyranny of all those wayward affections. and unruly appetites which produce uncharitableness in our tempers, and ungodliness, in our lives.