that thou wilt do unto the children of Ifrael. Their strong holds wilt thou fet on fire, and their young men wilt thou flay with the fword, and will dafh their children, and rip up their women with child. And Hazael faid, But what, is thy fervant a dog, that be should do this great thing? And Elifba anfwered, The Lord bath On the Benefits to be derived from ECCLESIASTES, vii. 2, 3, 4. It is bet- ter to go to the boufe of mourning, than to go to the house of feafting; for that is the end of all men, and the living will lay it to his heart. Sor- row is better than laughter; for by the fadness of the countenance the heart is made better. The heart of the wife I. RELIGION, like every regular and SERM. well connected fyftem, is compofsed of a variety of parts; each of which poffeffes its feparate importance, and contributes to the perfection of the whole. Some graces are effential to it; fuch as faith and repentance, the love of God, and the love of our neighbour; which for that reaVOL. II. fon, B SERM fon, must be often inculcated on men. I. There are other difpofitions and habits which though they hold not fo high a rank, yet are neceffary to the introduction and support of the former; and therefore, in religious exhortations thefe alfo jufily claim a place. Of this nature is that regard to order, method, and regularity which the apoftle enjoins us in the text to carry through the whole of life. Whether you confider it as, in itself a moral duty, or not, yet I hope foon to convince you that it is effential to the proper discharge of almost all duties, and merits upon that account a greater degree of attention than is commonly paid to it in a religious view. If you look abroad into the world, you may be fatisfied, at the first glance, that a vicious and libertine life is always a life of confufion. Thence it is natural to infer that order is friendly to religion. As the neglect of it coincides with vice, fo the prefervation of it muft affift virtue. By the appointment of providence, it is indispensably requifite to worldly profperity. Thence |