feareth always, in the word of God is pronounced happy (j): the man who, becaufe he feareth always the corruption of his own heart and the deceitfulness of fin, fcrutinifes his motives, his tempers, his actions, his objects is fufpicious of being biaffed in his judgement of right and wrong by prepossesfions, by inclination, by cuftom, by intereft, by a defire to please men, by erroneous expectations of forwarding the glory of God: and being forewarned by the remembrance of paft incautioufnefs, of past mistakes, of past tranfgreffions, proceeds not with careless precipitation, decides not according to first appearances, but ftrictly examines his purposes on every fide, weighs them in the balance of the fanctuary, measures them by the standard of righteousness, notes every defect, every aberration; and changes his plans and defifts from his undertakings, when he can no longer lay his hand on his bofom, and affirm according to the complete import of the apoftolical injunction; "In my mind, O Lord, I am fully perfuaded "of their rectitude (k)." Such, in proportion to the degree of knowledge attained by a convert just emerging from idolatry, was the fpirit of Naaman. Thou, who haft

(j) Prov. xxviii. 14.

(k) Rom. xiv. 5.

been

been nurfed up from thy cradle in the arms of Christianity! Is not fuch thy fpirit? Then shall this Syrian rife up in the day of judgement, and fhall condemn thee. They shall come from the Eaft and from the Weft, and from the North and from the South, and shall fit down in the kingdom of God. But the children of the kingdom fhall be caft into outer darknefs (1). There are those, faith the Scripture, whofe confciences are evil (m). There are thofe, whose confciences are defiled (n). There are thofe, whose consciences are feared with a bot iron (o). What is the first step towards a confcience that is evil, a confcience that is defiled, a confcience that is feared? A carelefs confcience. If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments (p). If thou wilt keep the commandments, exercise thyself to have always a confcience void of offence (q). Exercife thy conscience in a fcrupulous investigation of duty; train it to a quick perception and a lively abhorrence of guilt; if thou wouldeft walk in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless (r).

(1) Matt. viii. 11. Luke, xiii, 29. (n) Tit. i. 15. (0) 1 Tim. iv. 2. (9) Acts, xxiv, 16.

(m) Hebr. x. 22.

(p) Matt. xix. 17.

(r) Luke, i. 6.

SERMON XII.

On habitual Remembrance of God.

PSALM xvi. 8.

I have fet the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right Hand, I fhall not be moved.

SUCCESS is not the reward of inconftant

aims and defultory efforts. When the mind is divided, we lofe fight of our object. When exertion is interrupted, we recede from it. It is the part of wisdom to felect from the various objects presented to her choice that which is the most worthy of regard; to hold it ftedfaftly in view; to cherish the impreffion of its excellence; to facrifice to it all inferior gratifications; to pursue it with firmnefs, with ardour, with unabating perfever

ance.

eyes

In the paffage of holy writ which has been recited, the Pfalmift directs your thoughts to the greatest of all beings, the fource of all happiness. By the weight of his own example, by the refult of his own experience, he admonishes you to an habitual remembrance of God. Of the prophetic import of the paffage; of its ultimate and its most important reference to that defcendent of David, who alone among all the generations of men kept completely and invariably before his the presence of his Almighty Father; I fpeak not now. Contemplate the words in their primary acceptation. Contemplate them as defcriptive of that predominant defire of the heart of David, which he fervently expreffes in almost every pfalm: a defire which, notwithstanding occafional infirmities and one moft fignal fcene of tranfgreffion impartially recorded in the fcriptures, is proved by the extraordinary commendations beftowed upon him in the facred writings to have brought forth, through the influence of divine grace, the fruits of faith and holiness in his general conduct, and deep felf-abhorrence and genuine repentance for the guilt into which he was betrayed. What was that defire? To fet the Lord his God always before him. What was his recompence? That God was on his

right hand as his guardian and friend: that God gave him full affurance that he should not be moved.

I. Let us, in the first place, enquire what it is to fet God always before us.

Represent to yourself the proceedings of men, who have propofed to themselves as their main purfuit the poffeffion of fome worldly attainment. Observe in what manner they fet their object, be it what it may, always before their eyes. Contemplate the votary of science. Behold him abforbed in laborious researches: in the investigation of causes and effects; in the construction of theories, and the explanation of the phenomena of nature. Behold him day after day bending all the powers of his mind to the invention and application of mechanism; to the arrangement and fuperintendence of experiments; to the developement and illustration of philofophical truth. At home and abroad; in cities and in the fields; in folitude and in fociety; behold him fteadily bearing in mind the object, to which he has dedicated his life. Survey the votary of ambition. Behold every nerve, every faculty, upon the stretch to fupplant to undermine or to furpafs his rivals, and to attain the dizzy