idle ambition of vain applause. The Christian minister, who knows the worth of the pure and sanctifying truths of the Gospel, will feel that he is entrusted with the word of God which liveth and abideth forever,' that word, which is the spirit of knowledge to the ignorant, the spirit of truth to those who are perplexed with doubts and difficulties, and the spirit of holiness to those who are polluted with sin. He will seek mainly to administer the influences, by which religion becomes a regenerating power, which, when grief chills the heart, come to warm and expand it, when darkness overclouds the mind, come to shed abroad the dayspring from on high, and when the world is desolate and barren, are seen pointing out to the eye of faith a bright and beautiful path through the wilderness to the Paradise of God.

SERMON XII.

BY REV. JAMES FLINT, D. D. SALEM.

HAPPINESS AT HOME. A THANKSGIVING SERMON.

PSALM CXXII. 7. PEACE BE WITHIN THY WALLS.

It is a great folly or mistake of mankind, that they let their happiness depend on things remote and foreign from their persons,-foreign from the spot they occupy, in which the real goods or ills of life must chiefly centre. They are vainly prone to diffuse themselves, if I may so express it, over an extended surface,-to feel or fancy themselves interested, in what perhaps in no wise pertains to them,-to rejoice or grieve at events and circumstances, which cannot affect either their persons, their friends, their interests or any of the essential and enduring sources of their happiness. It is folly to suspend our happiness upon the doings of distant nations, the public debates, the contests of parties, or the final enactments of government in our own. Our solicitude about these things, over which we have just about the same control, that we have over the tides and the weather, is certainly to very little purpose, and in general is but a useless vanity and selfinflicted vexation of spirit.

'How small of all that human hearts endure,

That part, which laws or kings can cause or cure.
Still to ourselves in every place consigned,

Our own felicity we make or find;

With secret course, which no loud storms annoy,
Glides the smooth current of domestic joy.'

Not, indeed, that I would discourage, or be thought to undervalue a generous sympathy for the oppressed or suffering of all nations; and far less would I wish to repress those patriotic feelings, which should be always alive and awake in the citizen, when the liberty, honor or common weal of his country is in jeopardy from any quarter. My meaning is, that it is unwise to be so deeply interested in affairs that we cannot regulate, or so occupied with things abroad, remote or above us, with future and contingent events, or so eager in the pursuit of what is not essential to our happiness, as to overlook, or forget, or disqualify ourselves for enjoying, those numerous private and invaluable blessings, which are more immediately within our reach; such as the obvious and perennial satisfactions and cordial comforts, which all may find, if they will, within the precincts of their own dwelling.

And here, again, it is our folly or misfortune to disregard or underrate our truest goods and most essential means of happiness. Naturally aspiring and proud, and ungrateful for the common bounties and blessings of Providence, we covet for ourselves great things, and scheme and toil after the glare of wealth and the means of ostentation and display, while the simple and innocent satisfactions of nature, because cheap and within the reach of all, are neglected or despised. We accustom ourselves to look at the deceitful show of life,—

the external glitter, the dazzling mockery of great riches and grandeur, without considering how little these things in themselves can contribute to the real enjoyment of their possessors. We are apt to fancy, that there can be nothing wanting to complete the happiness of those, who live in palaces, who are clothed in fine raiment, and fare sumptuously every day, while we pity the inhabitant of the plain and humble dwelling, that betokens the absence of every thing like fashion, superfluous wealth, elegant leisure and the vain show of pride, from which, more probably than from the princely mansion, every day ascends that incense sweet,' that reaches heaven, the incense of peaceful, contented and grateful minds.

Thankful witnesses and partakers of the prosperous condition of the Commonwealth and the nation,-having honestly discharged our duty, as free men in the exercise of our elective franchise, by committing the administration of our public affairs to the willing hands, that are always so ready to bear this onerous burden for the love of us the people, a propitious season also having ripened for us a bountiful harvest,-let us, leaving things remote and beyond our control, and passing by those elevated, cold and steril regions, where pride, and fashion, and rivalry, and perpetually new and everincreasing artificial wants have taken up their fixed and settled abode, let us search for happiness and motives of thankfulness in scenes more familiar, and of nearer interest and more homefelt concern to every one of us, -I mean in our own habitations. Let us look within the precincts of those dwellings, in which competence generally, and poverty rarely has found a place. And

for my brethren and companions' sake in the circle where my friends dwell, and where is the house of my God, I will now say, 'peace be within thy walls."

What is it, that constitutes all, or well nigh all of earthly happiness, for which it is worth while for man to live? The sum of human bliss, of real heartfelt enjoyment is small, we know, at the best. It is not good for us to build tabernacles of rest in a strange country, which we must so soon leave, or to feel ourselves settled and at home in houses of clay; and therefore it is, that happiness is a tender and frail plant, of difficult culture, and easily blighted in this world, and can bloom and bear immortal fruit only in milder skies and brighter plains beyond the grave. Nevertheless, there is enjoyment even here, of a kind and degree, suited to cheer and gladden us, as we pass along through time,-to animate and refresh the soul with foretastes of that joyful and enduring rest, which remaineth for the people of God.'-What is this enjoyment, and where is it to be found? It is not in abundance of wealth, or eminence of station. Place and power and fame, as the possessors know, confer it not. Is it in chariots and horses, and equipage, and splendor and a palace, and luxurious viands, and couches of ivory, and the sound of the viol and the harp? No, -said he who had tried them all,-who had palaces and a crown, and vineyards and much gold, and manservants and maidservants, and after the licentious customs of the age, a multitude of wives and concubines, singing men and singing women, and all the delights of the sons of men. But no, said he; I have tried all;— 'it is all vanity and vexation of spirit.'-It is not in any