SERMON for nought; that he has neglected the part V. assigned to him; has contemned the laws

of Heaven; has degraded his own nature; and instead of being useful, having been hurtful and pernicious to those among whom he lived, is about to leave a detestable memory behind him.-What account shall he give of himself to his Maker? Self-condemned, polluted by so many crimes, how can he expect to find mercy in his sight?-Hence, an overwhelmed and dejected mind; hence, dismal forebodings of punishment; hence, that wounded spirit, which, when it is deeply pierced, becomes the sorest of all human evils, and has sometimes rendered existence a burden which could not be endured.

Such distresses as these, arising from moral internal causes, may be made light of by the giddy and the vain; and represented as confined to a few persons only of distempered imagination, But to those whose professions give them occasion to see men under various circumstances of affliction, they are known to be far from being unfrequent in the world; and, on many more oscasions than is commonly imagined,

During the

V.

nagined, to throw over the human mind SERMON the blackest gloom of which it is susceptible. Religious feelings, be assured, have a deep root in the nature of man. They form a part of the human constitution. They are interwoven with many of those fears and hopes which actuate us in the changing situations of fortune. gay and active periods of life, be smothered; but with most are smothered rather than totally obliterated: And if any crisis of our condition shall awaken, and bring them forth, in their full force, upon a conscious guilty heart, woe to the man, who, in some disconsolate season, is doomed to suffer their extreme vengeance!

they may men, they

BUT, while under such distresses of the mind, not a few may be said to labour and to be heavy laden, greater still is the multitude of those who, from natural external causes, from the calamities and evils of life, undergo much suffering and misery. The life of man is not indeed wholly composed of misery, It admits of many pleasing scenes. On the whole,

G 4

there

SERMON there is reason to believe that it affords

V.

more joy than grief. At the same time, the unfortunate, as I before observed, form always a numerous class of mankind; and it may be said with truth, that sore travel is ordained for the sons of men. Though the burden is not equally laid on all; some there always are, on whom it falls with oppressive weight.-Unexpected disappointments have crushed their hopes, and blasted the plans which they had formed for comfort in the world. The world had, perhaps, smiled. upon them once, only to give them a sharper feeling of its miseries at the last. Struggling with poverty, unable to support their families whom they see languishing around them, they, at the same time, are obliged, by their situation in society, to conceal their necessities; and, under the forced appearance of cheerfulness, to hide from the world a broken heart. They are stung, perhaps, by the unkindness of friends; cast off by those in whom they had trusted; or torn by untimely death from real friends, in connection with whom they might have flourished and

to

been

V.

been happy; at the same time borne down, SERMON it may be, with the infirmities of a sickly body, and left to drag a painful life without assistance or relief.-How many sad scenes of this nature, on which it were painful to. insist, does the world afford?

When we turn to those who are accounted prosperous men, we shall always find many sorrows mingled with their pleasures; many hours of care and vexation, wherein they acknowledge themselves classed with those who labour and

are heavy laden. In entering into some gay festive assembly, we behold affected cheerfulness displayed on every countenance; and might fancy that we had arrived at the temple of unmixed pleasure, and gladness of heart. Yet, even there, could we look into the bosoms of these

would

we

apparently happy persons, how often find them inwardly preyed upon by some tormenting suspicions, some anxious fears, some secret griefs, which either they dare not disclose to the world, or from which, if disclosed, they can look for no relief; in short, amidst that great company of pilgrims, who

SERMON who are journeying through life, many V. there are whose journey lies through a

valley of tears; and many to whom that valley is only cheered by transient glimpses of joy.

To these classes of mankind is addressed the invitation of the text. To them it is in a particular manner addressed; overlooking the giddy and dissipated multitude. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden. Not as if our Saviour were always ready to accept that sort of piety which is merely the consequence of distress; or made all those welcome, who are driven by nothing but fear or danger to have recourse to him. His words are to be understood as intimating, that the heart which is humbled and softened by affliction, is the object of his compassionate regard; that he will not reject us merely because we have been cast off by the world; but that, if with proper dispositions and sentiments we apply to him in the evil day, we shall be sure of meeting with a gracious reception. It now remains to show, what that reception is which we may

look