there is not one in this affembly to whom my text is not addressed in one view or another. And therefore, without queftioning the propriety of the description, let us go on, as was proposed,

Secondly, To confider the counsel or advice which the wife man hath given us : "Go to the ant, thou fluggard; confider "her ways, and be wife: which having no ❝ guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the fummer, and gathereth her "food in the harvest."

He directs us to a creature, indeed, of the most diminutive fize and appearance, but whofe fagacity and unremitting activity ftrike the eye of every beholder. The ant instructeth us, not by speech, but by actions: and therefore we are called upon

to confider her ways;" how the is employed, and for what ends fhe is active: not merely that we may gratify our curiofity, or even extend our knowledge of the natural world; but that we may become wifer and better. The wifdom we learn from the ant, is the wifdom of living well :

the

the wisdom of acting fuitably to our fuperior nature, and our glorious hopes.

There are three very important leffons which we learn from the conduct of the ant. The

it is, a forefight and fagacity in making provifion for the time to come. The ant gathereth more than fhe hath present occa fion for; and in the fummer and harvest lays up a ftore for the approaching winter. Thus fhe arms herself againit the rigours of the inclement feafon; and whilft the grafhoppers, that fung and fported in the fummer and harvest; nay, whilst many creatures of larger fize and greater strength, perish for want of food; fhe lives on the fruits of her industry, and reaps the reward of her care and providence. O that this wisdom were more common among men! and that we could be perfuaded, while the season of action lafts, to "lay up in ftore for ourselves

a good foundation against the time to << come, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when we fhall fay we "have no pleasure in them." How dreary

muft the winter of life be, when the pre

VOL. III.

K

vious

vious seasons have been paffed in floth, in idlenefs, or in folly; when the body languishes under poverty and wretchedness ; or when the mind, unfurnished with knowledge, and virtue, and faith, and devotion, fojourns in a crazy tabernacle, tottering to the duft?A

2d leffon to be learned from the conduct of the ant, is activity and diligence. The ant never intermits her labours as long as the feafon lafts. In fummer, when the weather is hotteft, at fultry noon as well as in the cool of the morning and of the evening, this bufy creature is continually in motion, either feeking her food abroad, or difpofing it in her cells at home. Nay, her labours end not with the day, but, as naturalifts have obferved, fhe often takes the benefit of the moon, and plies her work with a surprising alacrity. Happy were it for man, that he as faithfully employed that precious time which is given him, either to render himself ufeful in this world, or to prepare for eternity. Then would he not be seen encroaching on the day by floth,

nor

nor turning it into night, by intemperance

and riot.-The

3d leffon which we learn from the conduct of the ant, is fagacity in making use of the proper feafon for activity. Opportunity is the flower of time; or it is the most precious part of it, which if once loft may never return. This the ant knoweth how to feize with admirable skill." She goeth forth in quest of food when it can be had with ease and certainty: She employs her labour at the time when she knows that it will be effectual. Unlike to man, whose folly prompts him to neglect the feafon in which his talents might be usefully employ ed, till he hath loft it for ever; and who fpends on trifles the day of his merciful vifitation, till the things which belong to his peace are for ever hid from his eyes.

All this forefight, diligence, and fagacity, the ant employs by an inftinct of nature, untutored, and unawed. She hath neither guide, overfeer, nor judge: There is none to go before and mark out her tafk; none to fuperintend and prompt her to her la bour; none to require an account of her K 2 industry,

industry, or to punish her either for her neglect or miscarriages. This circumstance: the wife man mentions with a peculiar emphafis, on purpose to draw the fluggard's attention to it. For furely nothing can be fuggefted of greater force and efficacy to roufe him from his lethargy, and to convince him that his floth is not only criminal, but without excufe.

The ant hath no guide; but we, my brethren, have many guides. "There is a

spirit in man, and the infpiration of the "Almighty giveth them understanding.” Our Maker hath endued us with reasonable fouls, capable of difcerning betwixt good and evil. He hath favoured us with a complete revelation of his will, and hath fhowed us "what is good, and what the Lord

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our God requireth of us."-" The law of "the Lord is perfect, converting the foul; "the teftimony of the Lord is fure, making "wife the fimple." He hath fent his Son into the world, to thow us the path of life, not only by his doctrine, but by his example too. And he offers us his Spirit, to lead us into all truth, to open our eyes, and to

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