SERMON I.

INQUIRY AFTER HAPPINESS.

PSALM IV. 6.

There be many that fay, Who will fhew us any good?-Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.

THE

'HE great purfuit of man is after happi nefs; it is the first and strongest defire of his nature;-in every stage of his life he fearches for it as for hid treasure ;-courts it under a thousand different fhapes, and, though perpetually difappointed,-ftill perfifts, runs after, and enquires for it afrefh,afks every paffenger who comes in his way, Who will fhew him any good?-who will affift him in the attainment of it, or direct him to the difcovery of this great end of all his wifhes?

He is told by one, to fearch for it among the more gay and ufeful pleasures of life, in fcenes of mirth and fprightlinefs, where Happiness ever prefides, and is ever to be known by the joy and laughter which he will at once fee painted in her looks.

A fecond, with a graver afpect, points out to the costly dwellings which pride and extravagance have erected;-tells the enquirer that the object he is in fearch of inhabits there;-that Happiness lives only in company with the great, in the midst of much

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pomp and outward state;-that he will easily find her out by the coat of many colours fhe has on, and the great luxury and expence of equipage and furniture with which the always fits furrounded.

The mifer bleffes God!-wonders how any one would miflead, and wilfully put him upon fo wrong a fcent,-convinces him that happiness and extravagance never inhabited under the fame roof;—that, if he would not be difappointed in his fearch, he muft look into the plain and thrifty dwelling of the prudent man, who knows and understands the worth of money, and cautiously lays it up against an evil hour: that it is not the proftitution of wealth upon the paffions, or the parting with it at all, that conftitutes happinefs; but that it is the keeping it together, and the having and holding it faft to him and his heirs for ever, which are the chief attributes that form this great idol of human worship, to which fo much incenfe is offered up every day.

The epicure, though he eafily rectifies fo grofs a miftake, yet, at the fame time, he plunges him, if poffible, into a greater; for, hearing the object of his purfuit to be happiness, and knowing of no other happinefs than what is feated immediately in his fenfes, he fends the enquirer there, tells him 'tis in vain to fearch elsewhere for it than where Nature herfelf has placed it,-in the indulgence and gratification of the appetites, which are given us for that end: and, in a

word,

word, if he will not take his opinion in the matter, he may truft the word of a much wifer man, who has affured us, That there is nothing better in this world, than that a man fhould eat and drink, and rejoice in his works, and make his foul enjoy good in his labour; for that is his portion.

To refcue him from this brutal experiment, Ambition takes him by the hand, and carries him into the world,--fhews him all the kingdoms of the earth and the glory of them, points out the many ways of advancing his fortune, and raifing himself to honour;-lays before his eyes all the charms and bewitching temptations of power, and afks if there can be any happiness in this world like that of being careffed, courted, flattered, and followed?

To close all, the philofopher meets him buftling in the full career of this purfuit,-ftops him, tells him, if he is in fearch of happiness, he is far gone out of his way: that this deity has long been banished from noife and tumults, where there was no reft found for her, and was fled into folitude far from all commerce of the world; and, in a word, if he would find her, he must leave this bufy and intriguing fcene, and go back to that peaceful fcene of retirement and books, from which he at firft fet out.

In this circle too often does man run, tries all experiments, and generally fits down weary and diffatisfied with them all at laft,→ in utter despair of ever accomplishing what

he wants, nor knowing what to truft to after fo many disappointments, or where to lay the fault, whether in the incapacity of his own nature, or the infufficiency of the enjoyments themselves.

In this uncertain and perplex'd ftate,without knowledge which way to turn or where to betake ourfelves for refuge,-fo often abused and deceived by the many who pretend thus to fhew us any good,-Lord! fays the Pfalmift, lift up the light of thy countenance upon us! Send us fome rays of thy grace and heavenly wifdom, in this benighted fearch after happinefs, to direct us fafely to it! O God! let us not wander for ever without a guide, in this dark region, in endless purfuit of our mistaken good, but enlighten our eyes that we fleep not in death;-open to them the comforts of thy holy word and religion;—lift up the light of thy countenance upon us, and make us know the joy and fatisfaction of living in the true faith and fear of thee, which only can carry us to this haven of reft where we would be,-that fure haven, where true joys are to be found, which will at length not only anfwer all our expectations, but fatisfy the moft unbounded of our withes for ever and ever.

The words thus opened, naturally reduce the remaining part of the difcourfe under two heads.-The firft part of the verfe,—“ There "be many that fay, Who will fhew us any good?"-To make fome reflections upon the infufficiency of moft of our enjoyments

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towards the attainment of happiness, upon fome of the most received plans on which 'tis generally fought.

The examination of which will lead us up to the fource and true fecret of all happiness, fuggefted to us in the latter part of the verfe; "Lord! lift thou up the light of thy coun"tenance upon us,"-that there can be no real happiness without religion and virtue, and the affiftance of God's grace and Holy Spirit to direct our lives in the true pursuit of it.

Let us enquire into the difappointments of human happiness, on fome of the most received plans on which 'tis generally fought for and expected by the bulk of mankind.

There is hardly any fubject more exhausted, or which, at one time or other, has afforded more matter for argument and declamation than this one, of the infufficiency of our enjoyments. Scarce a reformed fenfualift, from Solomon down to our own days, who has not in fome fits of repentance or difappointment uttered fome sharp reflection upon the emptinefs of human pleasure, and of the vanity of vanities which difcovers itself in all the purfuits of mortal man.—But the mischief has been, that, though fo many good things have been faid, they have generally had the fate to be confidered either as the overflowings of difguft from fated appetites, which could no longer relifh the pleasures of life; or, as the declamatory opinions of reclufe and splenetic men, who had never tafted them at all, and, confequently, were thought no judges of the

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