Lord." After David had spent a day on a very public, solemn, and joyful occasion, "he returned to bless his household," and discharge the indispensable duty of family religion. The queen of Sheba admired the sitting of Solomon's servants, and the religious order of his whole family. But, alas, how are the times and opinions of men changed! Do not governors, magistrates, and those in lower grades of office, deem it beneath them to profess and practice religion? Can they reconcile it to the revealed will of God, or to their own consciences, that they think it beneath them to do what is the whole duty, the whole excellence, and the whole happiness of man? It is a signal mark of folly to neglect, despise, and reproach religion; and Solomon has reminded those who are guilty of this folly, what will be the consequence of it: "Shame shall be the portion of fools." The higher men rise in wealth, power, and influence, if they despise and neglect to profess and practice vital piety, the lower they will eventually sink in guilt, in shame, and in everlasting contempt. God declares in the most unqualified manner, "Them that honor me, I will honor; and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed."

3. If religion be the only source of pure and permanent happiness; then those who are destitute of it, are to be pitied, rather than to be envied. Men have often formed a very false and foolish opinion of the prosperity of the wicked. They have often thought, and sometimes said, that God treats his enemies better than his friends, because he gives them the largest portion of worldly honor, power, and affluence. Even good men are too apt to run into this egregious error. It seems, that Job in his troubles was guilty of it. He asks, “Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power? Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them. They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance. They take timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ. Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us: for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have if we pray unto him?" These were his murmuring thoughts, but he was convinced of his folly, when he reflected, "that the wicked are reserved to the day of destruction; they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath." David admonishes men against indulging vain, false, foolish thoughts respecting the delusive appearance of the wicked. "Fret not thyself because of evil-doers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they

shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb." But though he saw and condemned this folly in others; yet he afterwards acknowledges that he fell into it himself. "Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart. But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped. For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no bands in their death; but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men. Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment. Their eyes stand out with fatness; they have more than heart could wish. They are corrupt, they speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth. They say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the Most High? Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches. Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning. If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children. When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places; thou castedst them down into destruction." Job and David were not the only men, nor the only good men, that have envied the prosperity of the wicked, and complained of God for his apparent partiality towards them. Thousands in every age have been guilty of the same hard thoughts of God, and of the same false, foolish, and painful feelings towards the unsatisfactory and destructive prosperity of the wicked. Solomon drew up a more just conclusion concerning the present enjoyments and future prospects of the ungodly. He pronounced them all "vanity of vanities, vanity of vanities, and vexation of spirit ;" and laid it down as an everlasting truth, that to fear God and keep his commandments is the whole duty of man, and the whole source of pure, perfect, and everlasting happiness. Good men have abundant reason to be satisfied and possess their souls in peace, when they reflect, that God has given them his special grace, and made them heirs to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved for them in heaven.

4. It appears from the nature and tendency of religion, that a religious life is the happiest life that men can live in this world. It is the most reasonable life. To fear God and keep

his commandments is a reasonable service, just such a service as God may justly require of men, whom he has made capable of knowing, loving, and serving him. It is the most useful life they can live. It is living for God, and laying up durable riches and righteousness, and preparing themselves for a future and better state, which is unspeakably more useful, than to lay up treasures on earth where moth and rust corrupt, and thieves break through and steal. A religious life carries its own reward with it. "A good man is satisfied from himself." He lives in the fear and love of God. He casts his cares and burdens on his arm. He tastes his goodness in all the blessings he enjoys. He reflects on the past with pleasure, and anticipates the future with hope. He runs in the ways of God's commandments with delight, and finds great satisfaction in the testimony of his conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity he has his conversation in the world. Though he may meet with many troubles and afflictions, yet he believes all these things will work together for his good, which gives him that peace which the world cannot give, nor take away. "They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth forever. As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth, even forever." Wisdom's ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." This appears not only from the nature and tendency of religion, but from the fair and full experience of some of the greatest and best of men that have ever lived in the world. They have told us, that they found their highest happiness in living a holy, devout, religious life. Is not the testimony of Enoch, of Abraham, of Moses, of Joshua, of Solomon, of Job and Daniel, worthy of entire credit, in respect to the superior gain of godliness? Were any men more competent to determine whether a religious, or irreligious life is the most happy? Can the testimony of Hume, Voltaire, and the whole host of Infidels, refute or invalidate the united testimony of the patriarchs, prophets, and apostles in favor of religion, as the highest source of pure and permanent happiness, in this life and in the life to come? Be ye then "followers of them, who through faith and patience inherit the promises." Hence,

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5. It is very unwise, as well as sinful, and dangerous for any to neglect any longer, to fear God and keep his commandments. It is the reigning folly of the day, to pursue lying vanities that cannot profit, and to neglect the one thing needful. Atheists and Infidels cannot be said to neglect religion; they deny it and despise it. But there are multitudes, who

neglect to fear God and keep his commandments at present, who soberly intend to become pious before they leave the world and go into eternity. They are striving to rise higher in wealth, in reputation, and worldly peace and prosperity, before they renounce those dear objects, and live holy and devoted lives, in which they can now see no good. But if it be the nature and tendency of religion to produce pure and permanent happiness, and if the wisest and best men have found a religious life to be the only happy life; then it must be very unwise to postpone religion and neglect to fear God and keep his commandments. Solomon found by experience, "that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness." It is extreme folly to live in disobedience to God, to reason, and to conscience. "The way of transgressors is hard." They can enjoy no solid peace so long as their hearts are at variance with the dictates of their understanding and all their rational pow. ers. Their selfish and inconsistent desires and pursuits create a continual conflict between their hearts, the dictates of reason, and the reproaches of conscience. "They are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." Sin and misery are inseparably connected. A rational and immortal creature, who acts contrary to his rational powers and eternal interests, sins against his own soul and destroys himself. Hence divine wisdom says, "All they that hate me, love death." The longer men live in the love of the world and the things of the world, the more they become the servants of sin and the enemies of righteousness. The neglect of religion glues their hearts to the world, sears their consciences, tightens the cords of iniquity, which bind them over to destruction. It is the grossest folly in them to wait for a more convenient season to become religious and happy. Hear then the expostulations of wisdom. "Wisdom crieth without: she uttereth her voice in the streets; she crieth in the chief places of concourse, in the openings of the gates, in the city she uttereth her words, saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit upon you. Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies, and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. Length of days is in her right hand and in her left hand riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all

her paths are peace." The earlier any become religious, the earlier they become safe, and happy, and useful. As soon as they find the treasure hid in the field, and the pearl of great price, they become rich indeed. By renouncing the world as the source of happiness, they renounce nothing but sin, and vanity, and vexation of spirit; but by fearing, loving, and serving God, and taking him for their portion, they secure a source of pure, perfect, and everlasting happiness. This is agreeable to the language of Solomon, and of one who was greater than Solomon. "What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"

Finally, this subject exhibits a bright and glorious prospect to those who fear God and keep his commandments, and act agreeably to the dignity of their nature and the chief end of their existence. They were formed to know, to love, to serve, and to enjoy God, and they shall know, and love, and serve, and enjoy God to all eternity, which is the whole duty, the chief end, and supreme felicity of man. They are continually growing in knowledge and in grace, and approaching nearer and nearer to the perfection of their nature, to the perfection of angels, and to the perfection of Him, who is God over all, blessed forevermore. But how gloomy is the prospect of them who know not, fear not, love not, and enjoy not God. They are at present, "wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." They belittle, degrade, and wrong their own souls. They are vile, unprofitable, and worthless creatures. They are what Christ calls the chaff and the tares, which he will throw away or destroy as that which is worthless and vile. If you should live many days, and rejoice in them all, yet remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. once more, the conclusion of the whole matter. and keep his commandment; for this is the whole For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil."

Hear, then, "Fear God duty of man.