you seek.

The sea saith, it is not in me; and the earth saith, it is not in me. Silver and gold are to no purpose weighed for the price of it. The decree of the Almighty hath past, and cannot be reversed, that man should find his true contentment, under every condition, only in a good conscience and a well regulated mind, in a holy life, and the hope of heaven.- -You call yourself a Christian. Does not that name import that you consider yourself as a pilgrim and a passenger on earth ; related in your expectations and hopes to a better world? Are you not ashamed to betray by your discontent, a spirit so inconsistent with such hopes and expectations, and, at the time when you profess to be looking towards the end of your journey, to shew so much uneasiness about all the little circumstances of

accommodation by the way ?_ Live by faith, my brethren, and you will live above this world and its discouragements. Dwell with God, and with things divine and immortal, and you shall dwell with true wisdom. You will find nothing so great in worldly events, as either to elate or deject you. Resting upon a principle superior to the world, you will possess your spirits in peace, and will learn that great lesson of heavenly philosophy, in whatever state you are, therewith to be

content.

SERMON VIII.

ON DRAWING NEAR TO GOD.

(Preached at the Celebration of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper.)

PSALM 1xxiii. 28.

It is good for me to draw near to God.

In this psalm the pious author describes himself as suffering a great conflict within his mind. His observation of the course of Providence, did not present to him such an order of things as was to have been expected from the justice and goodness of Heaven. The wicked appeared flourishing and triumphant, while the worthy were destitute and oppressed, and much disorder and darkness seemed to prevail in the course of human affairs. Hence his mind fluctuated for a while

amidst doubts and fears. His trust in the divine administration was even so far shaken as to create a suspicion that in vain he had cleansed his heart, and washed his hands in innocency: till at last he went into the sanctuary of God, and was there taught to view the state of human things in a juster and truer light. He then saw the vanity of that earthly prosperity which bad men appear to enjoy; and the happy issue of all things at the last to the pious and good. He saw the divine presence ever surrounding them, and though with invisible guidance, yet with unerring hand, bringing them in the end to glory. His mind returned to tranquillity; and, struck with compunction for his past errors, he rose into those high and memorable expressions of devotion, which we find in the verses preceding the text. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none on earth that I desire besides thee. My flesh and my heart faileth; but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. His fixed principle and resolution, upon the whole, he declares in the words of the text: It is good for me to draw near to God; words which will immediately occur to you as particularly suited to the solemn service in

which we are to be engaged this day. In discoursing from them, I shall endeavour to shew what is implied in drawing near to God; and what reason we have to agree with the Psalmist in judging this to be good for us.

To draw near to God, is an expression of awful and mysterious import; in explaining which, we have much reason to be sober and modest, and to guard, with care, against every enthusiastic excess; remembering always, that, rise as high as we can, an immeasurable and infinite distance must ever remain between us and the Supreme Being. There are two senses in which we may be said to draw near, in such a degree as mortality admits, to God: either by the general course of a pious and virtuous life; or in solemn acts of immediate devotion.

I. By the practice of holiness and virtue throughout the general tenor of life, we may be said to draw near to God; for it is such an approach as we can make to the resemblance of his moral perfections. After the image

of God, man was created. That image was defaced by our sin and apostacy. By a return to God and our duty, that image, through the intervention of our Saviour, is renewed

upon the soul; man is said to be regenerated or born again, and is, in some degree, restored to that connexion with God which blessed his primæval state. He who lives in the exercise of good affections, and in the regular discharge of the offices of virtue and piety, maintains, as far as his infirmity allows, conformity with the nature of that perfect Being, whose benevolence, whose purity and rectitude are conspicuous, both in his works and his ways. Worldly and corrupt men, on the contrary, estrange themselves from all that is divine. They degrade their nature by unworthy pursuits, and are perpetually sinking in the scale of being. By sensuality they descend to the rank of the brute creation; by malignity, envy, and other bad passions, they connect themselves with devils and infernal spirits. Hence they are said in Scripture to be alienated from the life of God; to be without God in the world. Though, in one sense, God is ever near them, as he surrounds and encompasses them on all hands; yet, in a spiritual sense, they are farther removed from him than any distance of space can separate bodies from one another.-Whereas a virtuous man, whose pleasure it is to do good, and his study to preserve himself upright and pure, is in the course of constant approach