smoothness and seeming peace. But let the sob and serious hour come, which, sooner or later, m

and the man be left alone to his own reflections; are the come to all; let the amusements of life be withdraw power of truth will soon prove too strong for all angrul hi

is opposed to it, and pierce into his heart.

voice of nature, of conscience, and of God, will yo

itself be heard within him. He will feel that he
wretch. He will become despicable in his own
He will become sensible that all good men
reason to hate him, and that the just Ge
of the world has reason to punish him. Cons
bringing to remembrance all his secret crim
hold them up to his view with this fearful ins
written upon them, God will bring every w
judgment. - Hence the haggard look, and
less couch, days never free from bitterness, a
given up to remorse.

This remorse will prey the deeper on the heart, if it shall happen, as it sometimes there was a period in his life when he was man; when, having been educated by v rents in sober and religious principles, an yet uncorrupted by the world, he passe without reproach or blame. The recollect he then felt, compared with the state in has now brought himself by forfeited i honour, will wring his heart with sad r "Once I knew what it was to enjoy all "of innocence, and to take pleasure in "of heaven, when my hands were unst "mind was pure. Then I was ever c "and free. Heaven and earth seemed "me, My nights were peaceful, and

abhorred of all evils, to death by their own hand, in order to seek relief from a life too embittered to be endured, Far from each of us be such desperate calamities! But, if it be the certain tendency of those wounds of the heart, to introduce the greatest disquietude and misery into the life of man, then, from what has been said, let us be taught,

In the first place, to give the most serious and vigilant attention to the government of our hearts. It may be thought by some, that the formidable representation I have given of the miserable effects of a wounded spirit, attaches only to them who have gone to the utmost lengths in folly or passion; but that, by some more temperate regulation of conduct, indulgence may be given, without harm, to the free gratification of certain favourite desires. Be assured, my brethren, that, under ideas of this kind, there lies much self-deception. Supposing it in your power to stop at some given point without rushing into the greatest disorders, still you would suffer from the licence you had taken to drop the government of your hearts. The lesser criminal never escapes without his share of punishment. In proportion to the quantity you have drunk out of the poisoned cup of pleasure, you will feel your inward health and soundness impaired; or, to follow the metaphor of the text, not by a deep wound only, but by every slighter hurt given to the heart, you will suffer in that peace and tranquillity which makes the comfort of life.

But besides this consideration, strict attention is the more requisite to the government of the heart, as the first introduction to those disorders which spread their consequences so deep and wide, is for the most

part gradual and insensible, and made by latent steps. Did all the evil clearly show itself at the beginning, the danger would be less. But we are imperceptibly betrayed, and from one incautious attachment drawn on to another, till the government of our hearts be at last utterly lost; and wounds inflicted there, which are not to be healed without much shame, penitence, and remorse. How much does this call for the attention of youth in particular; whose raw and unexperienced minds are so apt to be caught by every new and enticing object that is held forth to their passions? How much does it concern them to beware of the commencements of evil, and to listen to the admonitions of the grave and the wise, who have gone through those dangerous paths on which they are beginning to enter? Let them never give up their hearts profusely to any attachment, without the countenance of reason and religion. Let them shut their ears to the seductions of folly and vice, and look with wary eye to those rocks on which so many others have split. Nor is it only to youth that this admonition belongs. To the levities and passions of youth succeed the more sober follies of advancing years; which, under a graver appearance, are no less liable to seize and wound the heart. From the first to the last of man's abode on earth, the discipline is perpetually requisite of keeping the heart with all diligence; guarding it from whatever would annoy its healthy and sound estate; as out of the heart are the issues either of Life or Death.

In the second place, it clearly appears, from what has been said, how much reason we all have to join prayer to the Almighty God, in addition to our own

endeavours of guarding and governing our spirits; beseeching Him who made the heart, and who knows all its errors and wanderings, to aid and prosper us by his grace in this difficult undertaking. Well must he who knows any thing of himself at all, know how greatly divine assistance is needed here, and how little we can depend upon ourselves without it. For deceitful, as well as desperately wicked, are our hearts; and after all our pretences to ability and wisdom, how often, by the seductions of folly, and of passion, have the wise, the learned, and the admired, been shamefully carried away. Most earnestly to be desired is that blessing promised in the Gospel, of a new heart and a new spirit, which shall render us superior to the attacks of vanity and vice. Who can understand his errors; Cleanse me, O God, from secret faults: Create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me. That which I see not, teach thou me; and lead me in the way everlasting.

In the last place, all that has been said on the subject tends to impress us with a sense of this awful truth, that the Great God hath already begun to punish bad men for their sins and vices. You see his hand clearly marked in all that they are made to suffer by the Wounded Spirit. You see that he has not delayed all retribution to another world, but hath in this world begun to act as a Governor and a Judge; showing, by an established order of things, that while he loves the righteous, he hateth all the workers of iniquity. With a wisdom peculiar to himself, he hath made the punishments due to sinners to arise directly from their own behaviour, and to be inflicted by their own hands. He hath no occasion