SERM. II. ward, finds within a frightful Void of fos lid Happiness, without any Poffibility in itself of filling it up? Indeed, in a Circle of gay Follies, or in a Multiplicity of Purfuits, when a Succeffion of different Objects is continually ftriking upon the Mind, the Capacity of the Soul is taken up, and it forgets that inward Poverty and Indigence which nothing can effectually relieve but the unfearchable Riches of the Love of God: But when we step aside from the Noife and beaten Tracks of Life, into Solitude and Retirement; we foon perceive, that we are, without fome Business to engage, or fome Recreation to divert our Attention, an infupportable Burthen to our felves. You fancy the Man, whofe daily Labour ferves for little elfe but to get his daily Bread, and whofe daily Bread just refreshes and ftrengthens him to undergo his daily Labour, to be a very miferable Object; and perhaps he is fo. make him more miferable? Give him a Fortune, which shall fet him at Reft from his Labours, and leave him nothing at all to do: And then the Wearifomnefs, which refulted from a continual Drudgery, will be nothing comparable to another kind of

Would you

Wearifomnefs, far more irkfome the be SERM. II. ing weary of himself. Obferve great Numbers of the Opulent and the Great: What can be oftner from Home than their Perfons? Their Thoughts, which are continually from Home, ever wandering abroad, and returning unfatisfied. None is more miferable, than a Man diftracted with Variety of Bufinefs; except he who has no Business, no Amusement at all. Diverfions and Paftimes, properly fo called, (for they anfwer no other End, but to pass away our Time) may have the Effect of Opiates, to begét a fhort Oblivion of our Cares and ourfelves; But the only Cordial to invigorate our Spirits, and to give us an exquifite Relish and Enjoyment of this Life, is the well-grounded Hope of a better, through the Merits of Jefus Christ.

If then any one fhould afk, Who will fhew us any Good? Who will point out the Way to Felicity to us? We must answer, in the Pfalmift's Words, Lord, lift Thou up the Light of thy Countenance upon us: For thou art our Happiness, who alone canft give a Stability to our moral Pleasures, and fecure us from natural Evil, or fupport us under it. God has ftiled himself Light:

And

SERM. II. And as the whole material Creation would

be involved in one horrid and uncomfortable Gloom, if Light did not enliven it with its Smiles, and beautify it with a rich Variety of Colours; fo would the spiritual Creation live in an eternal Blackness of Darkness, did not God lift up the Light of his Countenance upon it, brightening it with the Beams of his Truth, and chearing it with the Influences of his Favour. Earthly Objects may indeed fwell and puff up the Mind with unfubftantial Bliss: But nothing can fill up every Void in the Soul, and fatisfy the whole Compass of our Defires with the Fulnefs of folid and unmingled Happiness, but that fupreme Good, that infinite Being, who is above All, and through All, and in us All.

Such Truths as these we are too apt to overlook in the Day of Profperity; and therefore,

IIdly, Adverfity has its peculiar Advan tages, to bring us to a juft Sense of God, and our Duty to Him.

For, ift, Adverfity will make us, however unwilling, reflect and defcend into ourfelves.

When

When we enjoy one uninterrupted Flow SERM. II. of worldly Blifs, when we fail along a fmooth and unruffled Surface with easy and gentle Gales; Reafon, our Pilot which should fit vigilant at the Helm, is too often lulled into a fatal Security. But Adverfity roufes the Mind from its Indolence, puts us upon thinking closely, and turning our Thoughts every Way. Thofe, who have met with no Misfortunes to mortify that Pride of Heart, which is the Growth of Profperity, fay to themselves: Come on, let us enjoy the good Things that are prefent; let us fill ourselves with coftly Wine and Ointments, and let no Flower of the Spring pafs by us; let us crown ourselves with Rofe Buds, before they be withered. Thus the glittering Scenes of Life beget a thousand gay Ideas, a fwarm of fantastic Images, which, like Infects, wanton and flutter in the warm Sunshine of Profperity; but difappear, die, and are no more upon the first Inclemency of the Season.

It is amazing, that Men, in the Fulness of Health and Plenty, when every Thing fmiles around them, fhould fhut out the Confideration of that Being, to whom they owe the Fulness of their Health and Plen

ty:

SERM. II. ty; like Groves in all the Freshness of

their Verdure, with all their Leaves thick upon them, fhutting out the Beams of that Sun, to which they are indebted for their chearful Verdure: Yet fo it is. For what have the Majority of the Wealthy, the Mighty, and the Great, been doing in all Ages? Why juft what they did in the Days of Noah: They did eat, they drank; they bought, they fold; they planted, they builded; that is, the Diverfions and Bufinefs of this Life engroffed their Attention ; till the Day that Noah entered into the Ark, and the Flood came and destroyed them All. Juft fo Men do now, till Sickness confines them to their Bed, or fome dire Misfortune checks their Career. Which makes Jehofophat's Example more remarkable: When God had established the Kingdom in his Hand, and he had Riches and Honour in Abundance; bis Heart was lift up, not with Pride and Infolence, but IN THE WAYS OF THE LORD.

How thoughtless, how unreflecting upon their past Conduct were Jofeph's Brethern, till Jofeph's hard Usage gave them a Compunction of Mind, and a deep Senfe of their former Sins? And they faid one to another: