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every false way?" Are tions; and do you derive from them motives to vigilance and prayer; or are you fatisfied and careless under them? Do you " love your brother alfo ?" Do you regard all your fellow-creatures and fellow chriftians? And as you have opportunity, do you do good anto all men ; especially unto "those who are of the " household of faith?" Does this principle actuate you to afford them relief, to bear their burdens, to feek their welfare, and ferve them at the expense of felf-denial?

If this be not your condition, it is well to know it; and it will be your mercy to lay it to heart. For your cafe, though bad, is not desperate. If you are now fenfible of your fin, and really defirous of con

verfion, he calls, he encourages you. * Wash ye, "make ye clean, put away the evil of your doings "from before mine eyes; cease to do evil: learn to "do well: feek judgment, relieve the oppreffed, judge "the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, "and let us reason together, faith the Lord: though

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your fins be as scarlet, they fhall be white as fnow; "though they be red like crimson, they fhall be as "wool. Let the wicked forfake his way, and the un" righteous man his thoughts: and let him return un"to the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him ; "and to our God for he will abundantly pardon." And what he requires, he also beftows. Read his promises in connection with his commands. While the one determines your work, the other infures your ability for the performance of it. Befeech Him to create in you a clean heart, and to renew a right fpir

it within you. Depend upon his grace, which will be "fufficient for you ;" and "being made free from σε fin, and become fervants to God, you will have your "fruit unto holinefs, and the end everlasting life. For "the wages of fin is death; but the gift of God is "eternal life through Jefus Christ our Lord." Amen.

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SERMON XIX.

DOMESTIC HAPPINESS.

PSALM CXviii. 15.

The voice of rejoicing is in the tabernacles of the righteous.

NOTHING can more usefully en

gage our attention than Human Nature and Human Life. The proper study of mankind is Man. His origin and his end; the structure of his body and the powers of his mind; his fituation and his connections; are all capable of yielding us boundlefs and edifying inftruction.

In obferving mankind, the private and familiar views of their character are by far the most curious, interesting, and profitable. The greater part of our history is compofed of minute and common incidents ; and little and ordinary things ferve more to discover a man, and conduce more to render him useful than fplendid and rare occurrences. Abroad a man apAbroad

pears cautious; at home he is unreferved. he is artificial; at home he is real. Abroad he is useful; at home he is neceffary; and of this we may be fully affured, that a man is in truth what he is in

his own family, whether vicious or virtuous, tyrannical or mild, miserable or happy.

My Brethren, we are going to enter one of those houses, of which David fpeaks; a tabernacle " filled "with the voice of rejoicing." Domeftic Felicity is our present subject. Let us confider two things; the IMPORTANCE, and the SOURCE of this happiness. I. WHAT MAY BE SAID IN COMMENDATION OF IT. II. WHAT WILL BE NECESSARY TO THE POSSESSION OF IT. O Thou, who haft faid, "It is not good "for man to be alone," "God of the families of all "the earth," may thy fecret be upon our tabernacles; under the influence of thy Providence and Grace may we derive from our unions all the bleffedness they are capable of affording; and to this end guide and fanctify our meditations.

PART I. One of the most agreeable fcenes we can ever furvey upon earth, is a peaceful and happy family; where friendship comes in to draw more closely the bonds of nature; where the individuals resemble the human body, and if one member fuffer, all the members fuffer with it, and if one member be honoured, all the members rejoice; where every care is divided, every forrow diminished, every joy redoubled, by discovery, by fympathy, by communion; where mutual confidence prevails, and advice, confolation, and fuccour are reciprocally given and received. To fuch a fight God himself calls our attention ; "Behold how good and pleasant a thing it is for "brethren to dwell together in unity!" Some things are good but not pleasant, and fome things are pleaf

ant but not good. Here both are combined, and the effect is fragrant as the facred perfume, and reviving as the influences of Heaven. "It is like the precious "ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the "beard, even Aaron's beard; that went down to the "fkirts of his garments; as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that defcended upon the mountains of "Zion for there the Lord commanded his bleffing,

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even life for evermore." Let us eftablish the IMPORTANCE Of Domestic Happiness, by taking fome particular views of its connections and influence.

And, First, We may confider it in reference to our AVOCATIONS and CARES. Thefe are numerous and diverfified, and demand relaxation and relief. Who could endure perpetual drudgery and fatigue? and, Oh, what fo refreshing, fo foothing, fo fatisfying as the placid joys of home!

See the traveller. Does duty call him for a feafon to leave his beloved circle? The image of his earthly happiness continues vividly in his remembrance; it quickens him to diligence; it cheers him under difficulties; it makes him hail the hour which fees his purpose accomplished, and his face turned towards home; it communes with him as he journeys; and he hears the promise which caufes him to hope, "Thou fhalt know alfo that thy tabernacle fhall be in peace; and thou shalt vifit thy habitation and not "fin." Oh, the joyful re-union of a divided family; the pleasures of renewed interview and converfation after days of absence!

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Behold the man of fcience. He drops the labour and painfulness of refearch, clofes his volume, fmooths

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