ishness,' says the wise man, is sin' this enlarged on.

Were this matter less evident; yet, if we be sincere in the pursuit of duty, it is obviously wise to resist the adversaries of virtue, on their first appearance, &c. by which we shall have the advantage of repelling the enemies of our peace, before they obtain firm hold of our affections; and of beginning the conquest of the passions, while the temptations of the world are yet distant.

This self-government is not only the firmest security against vice, but the best assistance to our progress in virtue for the mind, thus exercised, is always on its guard against danger, and always ready to aim at new acquirements: this enlarged on.

If it be objected, that the duty recommended cannot be performed; that evil thoughts will intrude into the heart, though every pass be guarded; it may be answered, that there is no duty of life, which is not impossible, in the same sense, and perhaps in the same degree: this topic enlarged on. Perhaps it may be pleaded, that such numberless restrictions reduce the condition of life to an anxious state of laborious and unceasing servitude. Now, even supposing this representation of our misery to be just, we cannot extract from it any consoling inference the law may be severe, but still it is the undoubted measure of our duty, &c. But the whole matter of the plea rests on a false foundation: the performance of an obligation may be difficult, but cannot be disgraceful; nor can its difficulty be compared with the voluntary hardships which superstition has submitted to, and enthusiasm often surmounted; nor has it ever been shown, that they have consulted their ease and happiness, who have rashly exchanged the stern discipline of virtue for the wild license of vice, &c.

The first difficulties in religion, and they are usually the causes of all the rest, arise, not so much from our inability to perform its higher duties, as our propensity to slight its less important directions; and it is the peculiar praise of the Christian Lawgiver, that he has adapted his precepts to this circum

stance of our nature, &c. Among the many precepts of revelation, which are directed to facilitate our moral attainments, perhaps the most powerful is that under consideration its excellence still farther pointed out: the general exaggeration of its difficulty: the absolute pleasure which attends our obedience to it.

But were the difficulties attending the moral government of the heart more numerous and formidable than we are weak enough to imagine them, still it is our reasonable duty; and we want not motives to encourage us. It will greatly facilitate our progress in the active parts of Christian piety, and will increase the measure of excellence attainable by us: these topics enlarged on. Here then is an object worthy of our ambition; without which, the virtuous efforts of the best disposition will be often desultory and precarious. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways:' this enlarged on. Our obligation here is not a speculative refinement: the voice of the gospel itself exacts it: this shown. The great and proper province of external action is to approve the strength and rectitude of our inward principles to our own judgment, and to realise and exemplify our virtues for the esteem and imitation of others: this enlarged on. This is the test, by which we ought to examine ourselves, and by which alone our characters can be fixed in the judgment of men; a tribunal, which may be often. deceived, but which no sensible man ever despised.

But there is another tribunal, at which we must all one day stand, the decisions of which are followed by more awful consequences, and directed by severer maxims. 'God seeth not as man seeth,' &c. : this topic enlarged on to the end.

DISCOURSE XI.

ON THE GOVERNMENT OF THE THOUGHTS.

PROVERBS, CHAP. IV.-VERSE 23.

Keep thine heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.

It is the business and the pride of a being distinguished by the gift of reason to cultivate with care the intellectual powers of his mind, and to strengthen those superior faculties, which are at once the highest mark of his natural excellence and the principal ingredient of his more refined enjoyments.

Were the same being endowed also with a moral nature, the improvement of the heart would present to his exertions a still more important object, which, if it were not imposed by the necessity of duty, should be embraced with the ardor of ambition. The interval between reason and instinct may not always be very conspicuous: but reason directed and dignified by virtue is indisputably the most exalted perfection of terrestrial natures, and the single source, from which they derive their real happiness. It is indeed the only principle of human conduct, which is attended with effects in any degree constant and valuable; not confined to trivial gratifications, or exhausted in vehement and interrupted gusts of pleasure; but such as will be uniformly felt and acknowleged in every stage of our existence, will strengthen the hand of industry, raise the dejection of misfortune, and brighten the triumphs of success.

Many of our pursuits receive their color and character from

external causes; and the circumstances in which they are undertaken, the manner in which they are conducted, the event with which they are followed, or even the accidental defect or excellence of some other attainment with which they happen to be compared, may render them the objects of admiration or contempt, of applause or reproach; but the cultivation of our moral principle, being the performance of a duty, which has its end and foundation in our very nature, will always maintain its intrinsic worth; and every change of outward situation or circumstance will but serve to display some new or greater instance of its various and extensive efficacy. It is a pursuit too, in which sincerity is constantly followed by success; and in which, whatever ridicule may be artfully thrown on the singularity of our first attempts, success will however ultimately vindicate our choice, and, in reward of our persevering endeavors, will secure to us the most valuable of earthly blessings, the approbation of God, the favor of good men, and the respect of all men.

The moral improvement of the heart then is not to be consi dered as a matter of education merely, but as our own best and most important concern; not as interesting the anxious bosom, of a parent only, but as the very end of our being, and the great and only real business of our whole lives.

It will indeed demand our constant and undivided attention, whether we be pressing forward with eager steps to the higher and more noble attainments, or be indolently contented to preserve those advantages which we may have already acquired. For the principles of virtue, though fixed in our minds with the utmost care, and settled on the firmest grounds, are still liable to many dangers, to be rendered useless by sloth, to be corrupted and depraved by vice: if they do not direct, they will inevitably follow the general current of our actions; and how beautiful soever they may seem in theory, their vigor and permanence are wholly derived from the prudent and unbending firmness, with which they are applied in the daily events of common life.

We see then how greatly the qualities of the heart are dependent on our external conduct: and so far as they are thus dependent, the danger, to which they are first exposed, and

which therefore must demand our particular attention, arises from the careless commission of small faults, and the weak indulgence of vicious thoughts. Habits of this kind, harmless and insignificant as they may now appear, will hereafter exercise our utmost strength. Trivial errors naturally swell and ripen into sins; and they become from this very circumstance the more frequently and certainly fatal, because their growth is too gradual to awaken the sense of present danger, or evince the necessity of immediate resistance. Reason also, which blushes at our crimes, is often tempted to overlook, or even vindicate our follies; not considering that the same dexterity, which covers a small offence, will extenuate a greater; and the virtuous reluctance, which is often opposed, will in time be subdued. The principles of goodness can in no instance be counteracted with impunity: the least violence will disorder and interrupt their gentle influence, and the slightest stain is sufficient to discolor the fountain of all human excellence.

The moral habits of man will also lose much of their strength and gracefulness, not only if he despise the seemingly minute effects of unimportant actions, but if he omit or mismanage the direction of his most secret thoughts. This is a point of serious moment, whether we consider the advantages of attention to it, or the hazard and guilt of neglect. The thought of foolishness is sin.** The mind is polluted by the ideas which it admits and indulges; and with respect to the degree of the offence, the actual perpetration may possibly make less difference than we are sometimes apt to imagine: for if in the one case we are to add the mischief done to mankind, in the other we may observe, that this mischief may have been prevented by no higher and no better motive than the selfish apprehension of worldly disgrace or punishment.

Were this matter less evident, yet if we be sincere in the pursuit of duty, it is obviously our wisdom to resist the adversaries of virtue on their first appearance, while their impressions are yet weak and transient, strengthened by no mean compliances, and supported by no favored party within our own breasts.

* Prov. xxiv. 9.