the pure heart, the good conscience, and faith unfeigned, forms the end of the commandment. Let us ever keep in view those essential parts of a virtuous character, and preserve them in their proper union. Thus shall our religion rise into a regular and well-proportioned edifice, where each part gives firmness and support to another. If any one of those material parts be wanting in the structure; if, out of our system of charity, either purity, or justice, or faith, be left, there will be cracks and flaws in the building, which prepares its ruin.

This is indeed one of the greatest and most frequent errors of men, in their moral conduct. They take hold of virtue by pieces and corners only. Few are so depraved as to be without all sense of duty, and all regard to it. To some moral qualities, which appear to them amiable or estimable, almost all men lay claims; and on these they rest their worth in their own estimation. But these scattered pieces of virtue, not uniting into one whole, nor forming a consistent character, have no powerful influence on their general habits

SERM.

II.

SERM. of life.

II.

From various unguarded quarters they lie open to temptation. Their lives are full of contradiction, and perpetually fluctuate between good and evil. Virtue can neither rise to its native dignity, nor attain its proper rewards, until all its chief parts be joined together in our character, and exert an equal authority in regulating our conduct.

SERMON III.

On our LIVES BEING in the HAND of

God.

[Preached at the Beginning of a New Year-January 6th, 1793.

PSALM XXXI. 15.

My times are in thy hand.—

HE sun that rolls over our heads, the SERM.

THE

food that we receive, the rest that we enjoy, daily admonish us of a superior power, on whom the inhabitants of the earth depends for light, life, and subsistence. But as long as all things proceed in their ordinary course; when day returns after day with perfect similarity: when our life seems stationary, and nothing

III.

III.

We

SERM, Occurs to warn us of any approaching change, the religious sentiments of dependence are apt to be forgotten. The great revolutions of time, when they come round in their stated order, have a tendency to force some impressions of piety, even on the most unthinking minds. They both mark our existence on earth to be advancing towards its close, and exhibit our condition as continually changing; while each returning year brings along with it new events, and at the same time carries us forwards to the conclusion of all. cannot, on such occasions, avoid perceiving, that there is a Supreme Being, who holds in his hands the line of our existence, and measures out to each of us our allotted portion of that line. Beyond a certain limit, it may be cut asunder by an invisible hand, which is stretched forth over all the inhabitants of the world. Then naturally arises the ejaculation of the text, My times, O God, are in thy hand. My fate depends on thee. The duration of my life, and all the events which in future days are to fill it, are entirely at thy disposal.Let us now, when we have just seen one

year

III.

year close, and another begin, meditate SERM. seriously on this sentiment. Let us consider what is implied in our times being in the hand of God; and to what improvement this meditation leads.

THE text evidently implies, first, that our times are not in our own hand; that, as our continuance in life depends not on ourselves, so the events which are to happen while life remains, are unknown to us, and not under our own direction. Of this we may behold many a proof, when we look back on the transactions of the year which is just finished. Recollection will readily present to us a busy period, filled up with a mixture of business and amusement, of anxieties and care, of joys and sorrows. We have talked, perhaps, and acted much. We have formed many a plan; in public or in private life, we have been engaged in a variety of pursuits. Let me now ask, how small a portion of all that has happened could have been foreseen, or foretold by us? How many things have occured, of which we had no expectation; some, perhaps, that have succeeded beyond

our