en life, so certain as men pursue such a wretched course. And that the opposite course of conduct shall not only communicate happiness, but protract life, so certain as they engage in it.

Here then, my young friends, you may readily perceive how God punishes vice and rewards virtue. He does not do it by any abstract law, or arbitrary mode of procedure, but he has in infinite wisdom interwoven the whole in the very constitution of our natures, so that the wicked cannot go unpunished, nor the righteous unrewarded. To teach, that man can indulge in vice, and yet escape its punishment by future repentance, is not only dangerous to the morals of society, but is a direct impeachment of the divine administration, as it must in such case, be defective. And to teach, that men may live righteously and godly and yet go unrewarded, is equally dangerous to the morals of the community, as it is but discouraging them from engaging in a virtuous course of conduct. Το teach, that men are to be rewarded in a future world for their goodness here, is but in substance saying that virtue is attended with mental misery, and so far as it fails of rewarding its possessor here, the balance is to be made up hereafter. And to teach, that men are to be punished in a future state for their badness here, is but in substance saying, that vice is attended with some

mental joys, and so far as it fails of punishing its possessor here, the balance is to be made up hereafter.

It is readily granted, that the righteous may suffer. But we ought ever to make a plain distinction between afflictions and punishments, for the Bible does this. It is impossible, in the nature of things, that punishment can exist except in connexion with guilt. Paul and Silas were cast into prison and fastened in the stocks, on account of their religion. But nothing could disturb their mental peace, their heaven-born psalms, and lifted

repose. They joyfully sung

up their voices in prayer to God in the calm enjoyment of a pure, unsullied conscience. They suffered afflictions that were, under the government of God, to work out for their good. There were no doubt others in that prison justly suffering for their crimes. To them it was punishment. Hence we see the distinction between them. The Scriptures say, "Great peace have they that love thy law; and nothing shall offend them." "There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked;" and he who says there is, contradicts Jehovah.

If you would, my young friends, avoid punishment, avoid sin. If you would be happy, and enjoy a long and tranquil life, follow carefully the directions of our text; for rest assured, that a

contrary course of conduct will not only involve you in misery and wretchedness, but bring you to a premature grave. Let us then take warning, Let us

and not become our own executioners. make the most of life we may, and not turn our present existence, which is one of heaven's choicest blessings, into a curse. Let us do good in our day and generation, and render ourselves blessings to mankind, by living soberly, righteously, and peaceably in the world. Let us do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God; "visit the widow and the fatherless in their affliction, and keep ourselves unspotted from the world."

SERMON XXI.

GOD'S GOVERNMENT RECOGNISED.

"And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field; and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will." DANIEL IV. 32.

THAT reason, as well as revelation, teaches an overruling providence, very few deny. There must exist in nature an omnipotent and benevolent Being to keep all her works in harmony; to touch all, even the most secret and subtile springs of the vast machinery of the universe; to regulate seedtime and harvest, summer and winter, day and night; and to throw the enrapturing charms of countless variety not only over the landscape, but over all that we behold in the heavens above, or in the earth beneath. Globes roll in the paths assigned them, and by some unseen hand are wisely kept from interfering in their orbits, and disturbing each other's motions.

These facts de

monstrate the existence of an omniscient, omnipotent, and Benevolent Being; and every event, transpiring in the government of the world, proclaims an omnipresent Jehovah.

He not only works in the majesty of the lightning, and in the grandeur of the storm, regulating

and directing the whole in its sublime career, but he notices the fall of a sparrow, and numbers the

very hairs of our head. Events, the most trivial in their nature, are the objects of his notice, as well as those of the most momentous character. Were not this the case, universal disorder and ruin would soon find their way into his works, break the chain of events, and reduce all, that we now admire, from its present harmony and glory, down to its original confusion and chaos. This conclusion is unavoidable, because some of the greatest events that have transpired in the world, owe their existence to something of a very trivial nature.

If God did not, in the general government of the world, direct also small events, then he could not be the author of those great events which flow from them. On this principle there might transpire countless events of the greatest magnitude without the direction and superintendence of Deity. The admission of this is but practical Atheism. It is acknowledging a God in words, but in works denying him. It alike makes chance the governor of the world to those who acknowledge such a God, as to those who wholly deny his existence.

In our text a presiding Deity is solemnly recognised by the prophet Daniel, and his supremacy over the affairs of men is throughout the whole