SERMON XIX.

Promife of Strength and Peace.

PSALM xxix. 11. The Lord will give Strength unto his People: the Lord will bless his People with Peace.

SERMON XX.

Chrift's Second Coming.

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MALACHI, iii. 2. But who may abide the Day of his Coming? And who shall stand, when He appeareth.

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SERMON I.

The Foolish Bargain.

MATTHEW, xvi. 26.

What is a man profited, if he fall gain the whole world and lose his own foul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his foul!

NO perfon can hear these questions without understanding them. Their meaning is plain. They fpeak for themselves, and carry with them their own anfwer. Our blessed LORD, in asking them, clearly intended to lay down this aweful and interesting truth; That the man, who for the fake of worldly happiness, however great, fhall lofe his foul, will make a most foolish bargain, and in the end will bitterly repent what he

has done.'

This truth I fhall endeavour to explain and prove.

In judging of a bargain, whether it be good or bad, two particulars must be taken into account, the thing bought, and the price

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given for it. These must be compared to gether, for it is the proportion, which they bear in value to each other, that fhews what the bargain is. If the thing bought be clearly worth far less than what is given for it, we pronounce the bargain to be bad. Now in the bargain of which we speak, the thing bought is Worldly Happiness: the price given for it, is the Soul. What proportion do these things bear in value to each other? To answer this question, we must enquire into their separate value, fo as to fee what each of them is really worth.

I. Worldly happiness is that happiness, which is to be found in the purfuit, or the enjoyment of worldly things: that happiness, which fprings from the gratification of our fenfual, our ambitious, or our covetous defires. And certainly we muft allow, that taken by itself, this happiness is confiderable. A man doubtlefs feels no fmall fatisfaction and delight, in gaining honours and riches, in exercifing power, in indulging his lufts and appetites. It is not by under-rating worldly happinefs and by reprefenting it as lefs valuable than it really is, that we fhall endeavour to prove our point. We will give to it all the advantage, which its warmest friends can defire. We will allow their enjoy. ments to be as great as they are faid to be.

We will go even farther. We will take no notice of all thofe interruptions and difappointments, to which, from a thousand caufes, worldly happiness is liable. We will fuppofe, that it is entirely free from these things; that the body is never tortured with pain; that the mind is never wrung with grief; that every thing goes on fmoothly; that every with is gratified, every defire accomplished, every hope ful filled. This indeed is admitting a great deal but not more than our Saviour himfelf feems to have admitted for the time; when he fpeaks of a man's gaining the whole world; which we may fairly interpret to mean, his gaining as much happinefs, as the world can poffibly beftow.

But after all these allowances in favour of worldly happiness, there is one thing to be mentioned on the opposite fide. There is one weight to be thrown into the oppofite fcale, which takes not a little from its worth, and which therefore, in enquiring into its real value, must not be passed over. It is this all worldly happinefs must come to an end. "The things which are feen are temporal." Worldly things are but for a time, for a feafon. They are in their nature perishable, and cannot laft for ever. "The fafhion of this world paffeth away.

Let a man's enjoyment then in the world be as great and lafting, as on the largest fuppofition they can poffibly be, ftill a time must come, when they will cease. There is a day, beyond which they cannot laft. When that day comes, either he will be taken from his enjoyments, or they will

be taken from him. Either he will be ftript of them altogether, or he will lofe the power of ufing them, or he will be removed to a place, whither he cannot carry them; and where the having formerly had them will be of no advantage, nor the recollection of it yield any fatiffaction. From this view we may form fome judgement of the real value of worldly happiness.

II. As to the Worth of the Soul.

The Worth of the Soul will in fome degree appear from this confideration, that it is the most excellent part of man. It is that part of him, which thinks and wills; that part of him, which governs and directs the body. The body can do nothing without the foul. It is the foul which moves the body, and tells it where to go, and what to do. It is the foul, which hopes and fears; which grieves and rejoices; which defires, and hates, and loves. If the foul be taken away, the body be