C

is infinite in goodness, and resistless in power, who hath promised to "make all things work together for good to those who love him "," diffuses that comfort and peace through the soul which passeth understanding. The "commandments" of him whom we are bound to serve as our Creator and our Sovereign, "are not grievous ;" and while the practice of them exalts our nature, they become the source of pleasures which are pure and permanent. The testimony of a good conscience, humble hope in the mercy of God, through the all-sufficient merits of an Almighty Mediator, the prospect of that endless and exalted felicity which awaits the righteous in that state of perfection and purity for which they are destined, are sources of enjoyment pure and unchangeable, as the holy and eternal Being from whom they proceed, and who hath assured them to us.

In all the characters, then, in which we contemplate man-as endowed with perception, and with active and intellectual powers, as a social and as a religious being-we find that his bountiful Creator hath made full provision for his enjoyment, even in the present life. The world is not destitute of sources of happiness. It is "full of the goodness of the Lord "."

But it is a fallen world, and all its pleasures are mingled with alloy. Greatly, indeed, would

Rom. viii. 28,

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1 John v. 3.

d Pt. xxxiii. 5.

we err in our estimate of human life, if we should contemplate only the enjoyments, numerous and exalted as they are, with which it abounds, and neglected to take into the account the disquiet, the disappointment, and the sorrow, with which these enjoyments are alloyed. Alas! daily experience may satisfy us, that though man is surrounded with many comforts and pleasures, yet so numerous and severe are the sorrows also which assail him, that viewing them alone, of his state in this world it may be affirmed in the pathetic language of the pious sufferers of old," man is born to trouble",""few and evil are his days'." Range through the whole circle of his enjoyments-alloy tarnishes them all.

His senses, inlets as they are of pleasure, become also frequently the instruments of pain; and through them are admitted those temptations which often prove fatal to our virtue and our peace. The body in which they reside, subject to decay, to disease, to final dissolution, proves always a source of anxiety, often of anguish.

The activity to which the law of his nature prompts man, confers indeed enjoyment; but it is not unmingled with pain. The very exertion, which in a degree refreshes our powers, gradually wears them away, and brings with it infirmity and corroding care. The fatigues of in

And

dustry often overbalance its pleasures. there is no object of pursuit, however laudable, which can be attained without painful exertion, or preserved, or enjoyed, without anxious attention.

Nor do intellectual pursuits yield unmingled pleasure. Truth is the exalted object which alone can afford pure enjoyment to the mind. But it is so mixed with error, that the separation requires that long and laborious application which, in a degree, wearies and distresses us. When we are most successful in the acquisition of knowledge; our capacities, and our sources of intellectual pleasure are enlarged, but so proportionably are our desires. After all our labour and exertions, we find that we have advanced but a small distance in that course of science which stretches out before us-and we descend into that grave where "there is no knowledge, no labor, no device"."

In regard to his social relations, from which man derives so many refined enjoyments, he has still to lament that a large portion of anxiety and sorrow mingles with them. Sometimes fell disease interrupts and blasts the pleasures of social intercourse. Misapprehension and suspicion, intrude their hateful influence, and mar or diminish the joys of friendship and relative affection. And

Ecclesiastes ix. 10.

who but those that experience them, can tell the pangs which rend the soul, when those dear to us suffer the pains of sickness, fall under the stroke of calamity, or sink in the agonies of death! Alas! there is no source of human enjoyment without its bitter alloy.

But even did unmingled pleasure flow from them, they all want one essential constituent of complete happiness, permanency in possession. Need I dwell on the precarious tenure by which the rich man holds his wealth? The elements of Heaven may blast it; the perfidy of man may wrest it from him; and that Providence whose resistless hand can frustrate the plans of the highest human sagacity, may see fit to give it to another. How uncertain that honor which is dependent on the caprice of the tyrant, or the favour of the unconstant multitude; and which, even most deeply seated in the fear or the affection of mankind, will in a moment vanish before the breath of the Eternal, when he resolves to "bring down the mighty from their seat." How deep and irreparable the ravages which Death makes, in the scenes of friendship and affection!..

From these worldly joys, mingled with so much bitterness and sorrow, the pious spirit turns to the consolations of religion. But even these are alloyed by the frailties and sins of the world. "Perfect peace, indeed, would they have who love

the law of God"," if this love were always sincere and supreme. Full and uninterrupted would be the joys arising from trust in God, from faith in the mercy of the Saviour, and from the blissful hope of an immortal existence, were this trust, this faith and this hope, never weakened by the frailties and sins of our fallen nature. But alas! "there is no man that liveth and sinneth noti." And hence, even the exalted joys that fill the bosom of the righteous, are often interrupted and contaminated by those imperfections and sins, from which we shall never be exempt, until the period when "our corruptible shall put on incorruption, and our mortal immortality *."

k

My brethren-what then is the estimate which we should form of human life? It is a state in which sorrow is mingled with joy; in which, though "man is born to trouble '," and his days are few and evil "," he is still cheered by many

ments.

This state of mingled joy and sorrow is best suited to the character and destiny of man, and proves the wisdom and goodness of that Almighty Being, whose providence has ordained it. We are destined, by our gracious Maker, not merely to pass a few short years in this transitory life, but to enter on the perfection of our nature, in an