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healed, and are presented with the prospect of another world where every present inequality will be rectified, where virtue and goodness will be rewarded, and where vice will finally be punished, we exclaim in the words of the poet

“Religion! Providence! an after-state !
"Here is firm footing! here is solid rock!
"This can support us; all is sea besides."-

I résume my unfinished argument in the preceding meditation, to point out the inefficacy of moral virtue independent of religion; or rather to shew how the principles of morality may be exalted, improved, and perfected, by the will of God revealed in the gospel of Christ.

If we consider the motives on which moral virtues may be, and often are, performed, we shall find that they frequently differ essentially from that immutable love of goodness so strongly recommended in the writings, as well as conduct of the first followers of the gospel. These virtues, no doubt, are implanted in the heart of man

by

by the finger of his Creator; but that corruption, which we cannot but acknowledge, and that fall from original righteousness which is but too manifest in the habits of the world, so far deface their natural beauty as to render some other means necessary to establish and restore them. Every virtue almost may be practised in its turn, (there is no contradiction in the assertion) without making the person who performs it virtuous. Opportunity, constitution, and a variety of other circumstances will conduce to promote, or prevent, the execution of many moral virtues.

A man refrains from the indulgence of his appetites for the sake of his health, which he considers as the first object of his life. The end he looks for, he obtains. The strength of his body is equal to his exertions. He undertakes and accomplishes laborious enterprizes; he acquires wealth and honour; and becomes the admiration of his neighbours. His nerves are well, strung; and from an active youth, he passes on to an old age of vigour. If this life were the whole of this man's existence he would deserve commend

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ation.

ation. His motive is worldly, and so is his reward. The great object of another is convenience and reputation. Virtues, and no common ones, appear here also to support his plan. He is diligent in his calling, and just in his dealings. Unwearied attention marks all his steps. "He rises early and late takes "rest," while any great design to aggrandize his projects remains unaccomplished. The world admire those virtues in him which they behold, and as they cannot penetrate beneath the surface of the heart, they know not that his plans are likewise worldly. And it is well they do not, for such melancholy discoveries afford too frequently the first rudiments of a suspicious character; a character that neither brings happiness to itself, nor distributes it among its fellow creatures.

These observations might be pursued, perhaps, through all the catalogue of human, virtues. It is the motive which ennobles the action. If that has no respect to the recompense of reward, to the animating prospect of a future life, we act upon no fixed principle, and are as liable to commit crimes of the blackest die, where our interest is concerned,

concerned, as to promote those mutual advantages among men, without which society would totter upon a loose foundation.

But when we add religion to our morality, then our security becomes strong indeed. We are not left to stumble upon the dark mountains in search of a guide; nor to retire to some solitary cave and wait for the inspiration of an ideal goddess; but we have a rule brought home to our bosoms, and calculated to direct us in the most active situations of life. We have a Saviour, mild and benevolent, offered to our view, whose coming has established all the revelations which preceded him, and authenticated every prophecy concerning himself; and whose precepts and example have given us an unerring direction how to conduct ourselves in this world, that we may not cut off all expectation of the other.

Even in this illustrious example we find the motive of obedience eminently displayed. Though distinguished in the highest degree in all that he did or suffered for mankind, yet as Jesus condescended to take our nature and propitiate our offences in the form of

man,

man, the motives, as well as the feelings of man, are attributed to him: for the joy that was set before him, for the sake of that reward which was promised to so transcendant an instance of condescension and suffering, he endured the cross, despising the shame.

When these considerations are placed before us, it will be evident that our motives. are defective, if we esteem virtue as its own reward. To give it the true taste of goodness, we must join it with religion, who

in her left hand holds out this world, and

"in her right the next." To practise virtue under this description, is to unite the advantages which this world affords, with those supreme delights which the next alone can offer. This is indeed self-interest in her fairest garb; and the happiness which we experience from the exercise of religious virtue, will only be exceeded by those celes țial enjoyments which are adapted by a kind Creator to the situation of man, improved by his admission into the company of angels.

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