obedience. We may take up a profession of religion ; but instability will mark our every step. To rely on God uni- formly, and to " follow him fully," are far too high attainments for the natural man. Let me then entreat you to seek of God a new heart, and to pray that he would " renew a right spirit within you." Then may you hope to be " steadfast, and im- moveable, and always abounding in the work of the Lord :" and then shall you be fixed " as pillars in the temple of your God, that shall go no more out for everr."]
r Rev. hi. 12.
Jam. i. 9, 10. Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted : but the rich, in that he is made loiv : because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.
RELIGION certainly appears in some respects adverse to the happiness of men, inasmuch as it inculcates the daily practice of humiliation and con- trition, mortification and self-denial. The injunction to cut off a right hand and pluck out a right eye, cannot, it might be thought, conduce to our comfort in this world, whatever it might do with respect to the world to come. But, if Christianity deprive us of some carnal joys (I should rather say, limit and refine them), it affords abundant ground for joy of a more exalted kind. It does not merely concede as a privilege, but prescribes as a duty, that we should "rejoice evermore." To persons of every description is this direction addressed in the words before us ; and the reasons upon which it is founded are de- clared. In conformity with the Apostle's views, we shall shew,
I. The effects of religion upon the different orders of society —
We shall notice them, 1. Upon the poor —
[These are represented as " exalted" by Christianity. Not that they are raised out of their proper sphere, or have