best for us. He can make the earth fruitful, the feafons good, and the feas yield their ftore; and he can put a stop to thefe bleffings, when we abuse them, when we fet our hearts upon them, when we fall into a worldly temper, and forget that God by whom we live, and from whom we hope for better things hereafter.

In all our worldly business, therefore, let us ever remember, that we have another life to provide for as well as this; and to fet it home upon our hearts, let us alfo remember the words of our Saviour on another occasion: What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lofe his own foul?

We learn from our Lord himself, that the moft lawful business may hinder our falvation, and fhut us out of heaven. When, for inftance, we prefer worldly business to the care of the foul; then the most lawful employment becomes a fin, and a fnare, and a curfe. We are affured from his own mouth, that the care of oxen, of the farm, and of the family, when they hinder men from ferving and obeying this call, will as furely fhut them out of heaven, as the most notorious crimes.

On the other hand, there is a way by which all the actions of our lives may become acceptable to God. When, for instance, they are done in obedience to him; when we pray him to direct and to blefs us in all our ways;

VOL. II.

Mark viij. 36.

I

when

when we have an eye to his commands in all we undertake; when we own his hand in all we do; and give him thanks for every blefsing we receive.

In fhort; whoever expects one day to hear thofe joyful words, Well done, good and faithful fervant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord, must be fure to have his master's will always in his mind, and an eye to the account he is to give of all his actions. This will hinder us from following our own corrupt inclinations; from being too eagerly bent upon worldly goods; from following the way of a wicked world in getting them right or wrong; from spending them upon our lufts; and from forgetting the Lord that made us.

If

To conclude the whole. If people fret when they are difappointed, it is because they do not firmly believe that God ordereth all things for the best. If men are eagerly defirous of the good things of this world, it is because they have not fixed this truth in their hearts, that this life is only a paffage to another, to a much better or a much worse. Chriftians are over-glad when the world favours them, it is a fure fign that they know not the dangers they are exposed to by having the defires of their hearts granted. And laftly, if people make an ill use of God's favours, then they are no longer favours, but fnares and temptations, and to be dreaded, rather than enjoyed.

And

And the conclufion will be, that no man ever was or ever will be happy, who goes out of the way of his duty to increase his fubstance; or who will not be perfuaded, that God's Providence is our best inheritance.

Grant, O God! that we may fo pass the waves of this troublesome world, that we may at last come to the land of everlafting life, through Jefus Christ our Lord.

To whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be all honour, adoration, and praife, world without end. Amen.

THE PERPLEXITY AND DANGER OF THE
DOUBLE-MINDED.

A

JAMES i. 8.

A DOUBLE-MINDED MAN IS UNSTABLE IN ALL

HIS WAYS.a

Double-minded man; that is, a man who has two minds or wills, one for God, and another for the world; a mind or defire to go to heaven, and yet a great defire for every fatisfaction this life can afford; fuch a man is unftable-[that is, doubtful, perplexed, unfettled in all his ways, or all his life long.

Now, does any body doubt that this is not the character of most men; and, perhaps, of very many who are looked upon to be very good Chriftians, and in the fure way to heaven?

I appeal to the confciences of all that hear me, if this has not been their cafe, if it be not fo now? Whether their hearts are not frequently divided betwixt the love of virtue and the pleasures of fenfe? Whether they are not one while under the power of religion, and another under the dominion of fin?

* See Matth, vi. 24. James iv. 4. Heb. x. 23. 1 John ii. 24.

He