that of self-examination, which implies a careful regulation of our lives by the rules of the Gospel; for to what purpose is our conduct to be examined, but that it may be amended where it appears erroneous and defective? The duty of examination therefore is only mentioned, and repentance and reformation are supposed, with great reason, inseparable from it; for nothing is more evident, than that we are to inquire into the state of our souls, as into affairs of less importance, with a view to avoid danger or to secure happiness. When we inquire, with regard to our faith, whether it be sufficiently vigorous or powerful, whether it regularly influences our conduct, restrains our passions, and moderates our desires; what is intended by this duty, but that if we find ourselves Christians only in name, if we discover that the example of our divine Master has little force upon our constant conversation, and that God is seldom in our thoughts, except in the solemn acts of stated worship, we must then endeavour to invigorate our faith by returning fre quently to meditate upon the object of it, our creation, our redemption, the means of grace, and the hope of glory; and to enlighten our understandings, and awaken our affections, by the perusal of writings of piety, and, above all, of the holy Scriptures?

If any man, in his examination of his life, discovers that he has been guilty of fraud, extortion, or injury to his neighbour, he is to make reparation to his utmost power. If he finds malice or hatred lurking in his mind, he must expel them by a strong resolution never to comply with their motions, or suffer them to break out in any real act of

revenge. If he observes that he is often betrayed, by passions or appetites, into unlawful methods of gratifying them, he must resolve to restrain them for the future, by watching and fasting, by a steady temperance and perpetual vigilance.

But let him beware of vain confidence in his own firmness, and implore, by fervent and sincere prayer, the cooperation of God's grace with his endeavours; for by grace alone can we hope to resist the nuniberless temptations that perpetually surround us; by grace only can we reject the solicitations of pleasure, repress the motions of anger, and turn away from the allurements of ambition. And this grace, when sincerely implored, is always granted in a degree sufficient for our salvation; and it ought, therefore, to be one of the first parts of our preparation for the sacrament, to press for that grace without which our examination itself will be useless, because without it no pious resolution can be formed, nor any virtue be practised.

As, therefore, it is only by an habitual and unrepented unworthiness that damnation is incurred, let no man be harassed with despondency for any past irreverence or coldness! As the sacrament was instituted for one of the means of grace, let no one who sincerely desires the salvation of his own soul neglect to receive it; and as eternal punishment is denounced by the apostle against all those who receive it unworthily, let no man approach the table of the Lord without repentance of his former sins, steadfast purposes of a new life, and full confidence in his merits whose death is represented by it.

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SERMON XXIII.

(Preached on the 30th of January.)

JAMES, CHAP. III. VERSE 16.

Where envying and strife is, there is confusion.

THAT the life of man is unhappy, that his days are not only few but evil, that he is surrounded by dangers, distracted by uncertainties, and oppressed by calamities, requires no proof. This is a truth which every man confesses, or which he that denies it, denies against conviction. Accordingly, we find the miseries of our present state lamented by writers of every class, from the inspired teachers of religion, who admonish us of our frailty and infelicity, that they may incite us to labour after a better state, where there is fulness of joy, and pleasures for evermore," to the vainest and loosest author, whose design is to teach methods, not of improving, but of wasting time, aud whose doctrine St. Paul, speaking in a borrowed character, has well expressed in one short sentence, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die."

When such is the condition of beings not brute and savage, but endowed with reason and united in society, who would not expect that they should join in a perpetual confederacy against the certain or fortuitous troubles to which they are exposed? that they should universally cooperate in the pro

portion of universal felicity? that every man should easily discover that his own happiness is connected with that of every other man? that thousands and millions should continue together as partakers of one common nature? and that every eye should be vigilant, and every hand active, for the confirmation of ease and the prevention of misfortune.

This expectation might be formed by speculative wisdom, but experience will soon dissipate the pleasing illusion. A slight survey of life will show that, instead of hoping to be happy in the general felicity, every man pursues a private and independent interest, proposes to himself some peculiar convenience, and prizes it more, as it is less attainable by others.

When the ties of society are thus broken, and the general, good of mankind is subdivided into the separate advantages of individuals, it must necessarily happen, that many will desire when few can possess, and consequently, that some will be fortunate by the disappointment or defeat of others; and, since no man suffers disappointment without pain, that one must become miserable by another's happiness.

This is however the natural condition of human life. As it is not possible for a being, necessitous and insufficient as man, to act wholly without regard to his interest, so it is difficult for him to place his interest at such a distance from him as to act with constant and uniform diligence, in hopes only of happiness flowing back upon him in its circulation through a whole community; to seek his own good, only by seeking the good of all others, of many whom he cannot know, and of many whom he can.

not love. Such a diffusion of interest, such sublimation of self-love, is to all difficult, because it so places the end at a great distance from the endeavour it is to many impossible, because to many the end, thus removed, will be out of sight. And so great are the numbers of those whose views either nature has bounded, or corruption has contracted, that whoever labours only for the public will soon be left to labour alone, and driven from his attention to the universe, which his single care will very little benefit, to the inspection of his own business, and the prosecution of his private wishes. Every man has, in the present state of things, wants which cannot wait for public plenty, and vexations which must be quieted before the days of universal peace: and no man can live only for others, unless he could persuade others to live only for him.

The misery of the world, therefore, so far as it arises from the inequality of conditions, is incurable. There are desires which almost all feel, but which all cannot gratify. Every man may without a crime study his own happiness, if he be careful not to impede, by design, the happiness of others. In the race of life some must gain the prize, and others must lose it; but the prize is honestly gained by him who outruns his competitor, without endeavouring to overthrow him.

In the prosecution of private interest, which Providence has either ordained or permitted, there must necessarily be some kind of strife. Where blessings are thrown before us, as the reward of industry, there must be a constant struggle of emulation. But this strife would be without confusion,