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XVI.

no more than what good men have often SERMON attained, and have testified of it; that their delight was in the law of God; that his statutes were sweet to their taste; that they had taken them as an heritage for ever, for they were the rejoicing of their heart. I delight to do thy will, O my God; thy law is within my heart *.-According to the proficiency which men have made in virtue, will be the degree of satisfaction which they receive from the performance of it; but where no pleasures or satisfactions of this kind are known, men have much ground to distrust their pretensions to godliness or christianity.

It is therefore of high importance, that all proper means be employed to form our internal taste to a proper relish for this joy of the Lord. For it is not to be dis sembled, that much is against us in our endeavours to have our disposition formed for relishing virtuous pleasures. We breathe in this world a sort of vitiated air, very unfriendly to the health and soundness of all our moral feelings. From our earliest, youth we are bred up in admiration of the

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XVI.

SERMON external advantages of fortune; and are accustomed to hear them extolled as the only real and substantial goods. We must therefore begin by studying to to correct these false ideas, and persuading ourselves that there are other things besides riches, honours, and sensual pleasures, that are good for man; that there are joys of a spiritual and intellectual nature, which directly affect the mind and heart, and which confer a satisfaction both more refined and more lasting than any worldly circumstances can confer. In order to have a fair trial of the value and effect of those spiritual enjoyments, we must forbear pollu ing ourselves with gross and guilty p ́easures; we must even refrain from indulging worldly pleasures that appear innocent, in a profuse and intemperate degree, lest they sensualize and debase our feelings. By preserving a wise and manly temperance in lower pleasures and pursuits, we will then allow those of a higher kind to occupy their proper place; and shall be in a situation fairly to compare the pure sensations of pleasure which arise from the consciousness of discharging our duty, with

the

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the transient and turbid gratifications of SERMON sin and the world. To such endeavours of our own, for rectifying and improving our taste of pleasure, let us join frequent and fervent prayer to God, that he may enlighten and reform our hearts; and by his spirit, communicate that joy to our souls, which descends from him, and which he has annexed to every part of religion and virtue as the strength of the righteous.

SERMON XVII.

On the Folly of the Wisdom of the World,

SERMON

XVII.

I CORINTH. iii, 19.

The wisdom of this world is foolishness with

THE

God.

HE judgment which we form of ourselves, often differs widely from that which is formed of us by God, whose judgment alone is always conformable to the truth, In our opinion of the abilities which we imagine ourselves to possess, there is always much self-flattery; and in the happiness which we expect to enjoy in this world, there is always much deceit, As there is a worldly happiness, which God perceives to be no other than concealed misery; as there is a worldly honour,

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which in his estimation is reproach; so, as SERMON the text informs us, there is a wisdom of this world, which is foolishness with God. Assuredly there is nothing in which it imports us more that our judgment should agree with the truth, than in what relates to wisdom. It is the qualification upon which every man is inclined to value himself, more than on any other. They who can with patience suffer imputations on other parts of their character, are ready to lose their temper, and to feel sore and hurt when they are attacked for deficiency in prudence and judgment. Wisdom is justly considered as the guide of conduct. any capital errour shall take place respecting it; if one shall mistake that for wisdom which at bottom is mere folly; such a mistake will pervert the first principles of conduct, and be perpetually misleading a man through the whole of life.-As the text plainly intimates that this mistake does often take place in the world, and as it materially concerns us all to be on our guard against so great a danger, I shall endeavour to shew, first, what the nature and spirit of that wisdom of the world is, A 2 4 which

If

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