Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain : for the Lord will not hold him guiltless, that taketh his name in By faith, Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises, offered up his only begotten Son 504 SERMON I. PROV. ix. 10. -The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. We all naturally desire happiness: we all know, that obtaining it greatly depends on a wise choice of our conduct in life: and yet very few examine, with any care, what conduct is likeliest to procure us the felicity that we seek. The livelier part of the world, hurried along by a giddy tumult of passions and fancies, venture, with a most intrepid gaiety of heart, on whatever looks pleasing to them: and are in much too great haste for present gratification, ever to stay and once think what may be the consequences, either to others, or even to themselves. The good-natured and flexible are easily drawn to follow the more active and enterprising of their acquaintance; and the thoughtless and indolent find it unspeakably the least trouble to let themselves be borne along by the tide of custom and fashion, just as it flows and ebbs by turns. Yet surely reason doth not make part of our nature for no purpose: nor experience discover any thing more plainly, than the numberless miseries that proceed from going on thus at all adventures. Those, therefore, who are a little more considerate, take a different course: yet often scarce a better, and sometimes a worse. They despise the weakness of being caught with every bait of present pleasure, or abandoning their lives to the direction of mere chance; and follow, with great attention, art and industry, what the world calls their interest. But this being their only view, the disappointed are totally miserable and, more or less, all are disappointed; the far greatest part, very grievously. And the small remainder, who seem to attain their wishes, betray, under the fairest show of outward prosperity, evident tokens, that they have very little inward enjoyment to compensate for the many and long anxieties that usually precede. Few things come up, even at first, to what they promised: and such as do, fall below it very soon; leaving the mind, at best, languid and unsatisfied. But if such persons have taken, as they commonly do take, forbidden ways, amongst others, to their ends; then additional uneasinesses crowd in upon them: painful reflections on their past behaviour: solicitous apprehensions of what may follow, both here and hereafter. For there is deeply rooted in the heart of man an inbred sense of right and wrong; which, however heedlessly overlooked, or studiously suppressed by the gay or the busy part of the world, will, from time to time, make them both feel, that it hath the justest authority to govern all that we do, as well as power to reward with the truest consolation, and punish with the acutest remorse. Others, therefore, see the absolute necessity of bringing virtue and duty into the account, when they deliberate concerning the behaviour that leads to happiness. And were the regard, which they pay to these, universal and uniform, their happiness would be as complete as human nature and circum stances permit. But too often they, who practise conscientiously some duties, with strange inconsistency utterly despise others. And, which is stranger yet, many, who profess the most general concern for moral obligations, quite forget the first and strongest of them all, the reverence due to Him who made us. The ties which unite them to their fellow-creatures, they readily acknowledge: but unaccountably slight their absolute dependance on their Creator, and the consequent veneration, which they owe to that Being, of whom, and for whom, and to whom are all things*. Now if any dispositions are good, religious ones are such. They proceed from the same principle, with the very best of others: the exercise of them is the noblest exertion of that principle; and yet some affect to set up virtue in opposition to piety; and would be thought desirous to serve the former, by depreciating the latter. Some again, who are more upon their guard, yet explain themselves freely, on occasion, to allow nothing further than this; that religion may be of use to keep the bulk of mankind in order: not reflecting, that the upper part have still greater need of its restraints, than the lower; and that whenever it comes to be spoken of, as only an instrument of policy, it will be no longer so much as that. But lighter minds run wilder lengths by far: and absolutely indifferent what harm may come of it, perpetually treat all sacred subjects, as if freedom of thought about them consisted in pouring the utmost contempt upon them that was possible. Yet perhaps very few, if any, of these, would they consult their hearts honestly, do so much as imagine they have any reason to doubt, but a world, so visi |