to have deluded a credulous world by fpecious appearances, or to have gained a good name, whilst we have deferved an evil one;-the ap. plaufe of millions will then be ufelefs, unless our own hearts bear teftimony to it: this, and this only, can bring a man peace at the last; and thus only the fun of innocence can gild the evening of our days.-Let thofe therefore, above all, who are fo nearly approaching towards their latter end, most frequently contemplate and feriously prepare for it; for death is an awful and tremendous vifitor: to youth, to manhood, and to age, the hour must be dreadful, and the trial must be fevere; from the richest to the pooreft, from the greatest to the leaft, from him that fitteth on a throne of glory, to him that is humbled in earth and afhes. Nothing can reconcile us to a parting with this life, but a firm, unalterable belief in, and thorough conviction of another; a humble reliance on the goodness and power of our Creator, and on the tender mercies of our Saviour and Redeemer:-thus fhall we be enabled to pafs through life with inward peace and tranquility; thus fhall we every day become fitter for the laft hour, expecting it without terror, and meeting it with courage and refolution; thus, and thus only, fhall we be enabled to die the death of the righteous, and our latter end fhall be like his.

THE NEW
NEW YEAR.

ΟΝ ΤΗ Ε

SERMON

XXIII.

EZEKIEL XVIII. 31.

Caft away from you all your tranfgreffions, and make you a new heart, and a new Jpirit.

T. hath long fince been obferved by one of our beft writers, that "men are always praying for and defiring long life, and yet abfurdly, at the fame time, wifhing away the particular parts of it;" imploring the Almighty to extend their days, and yet lamenting the weight and tedioufnefs of those which are already given them. The time paft, and the . time to come, engrofs all our thoughts and affections, and the only time which we can make ufe of, the time prefent, is utterly neglected by us: in the mean while, thofe hours which we pafs over unobferved and unimproved, feem as it were to refent our contempt of them; feal away infenfibly from us, and only by their lofs convince us of their value.

The hour, indeed is fo like unto the hour, the day unto the day, and the year unto the year, that we are betrayed by the refemblance to each other, and almost mistake them for the fame.

But though the inactive and unthinking part of mankind are borne thus down the ftream of

time

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time without life or motion, the mind which is more awake, the understanding which is more enlightened, will roufe itfelf from this deftructive lethargy, from a serious reflection on the fhortnefs of human life, will be animated and encouraged in fearch of those duties that are required, and those virtues which are to be practifed in it, will mark the days as they roll on, though ever fo fwiftly, will obferve the hours as they glide by, and endeavour to draw fuch inftruction from the years that are paft, as may ferve to regulate and improve it in thofe which are to come.

This day, my brethren, completes our little annual circle, and to-morrow brings with it a new year. On this occafion almost every man tacitly flatters himself with the hopes of fome additional happiness: the rich promises to himfelf more riches, the ambitious man anticipates his growth of power, and the libertine extends in thought his range of fenfual grati. fications. This year, fays the difappointed man, fhall recompenfe all my loffes; this year, fays the wretched, fhall redrefs all my woes: but who is it that fays to himself, this year I will be an honefter and more confcientious man, a more fincere friend, and a more pious Christian : this year I will caft I will caft away from me all from me all my tranfgreffions, and make me a new heart, and a new fpirit.

We think every year of growing greater, richer, happier; every thing, in fhort, but better than we are at prefent. Every man dreams of added pleasure, but every man doth not confider the true method of obtaining it. We

propose

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propofe being more happy, but forget that if we expect it, we should be more virtuous alfo ; and that if we hope for greater bleffings from the Almighty, we fhould above all things ftudy to deferve them.

To this end therefore, and on this occafion, it may not be improper to confider human life only as a longer, and that a very little longer year; and try if we cannot, from the vifible analogy and resemblance between them, draw forth fome useful and profitable inftruction.

Permit me then to lead you through the short feafons of his traníitory being; to point out to you the beauties and defects of each; and, as we pafs along, to gather from every one of them fuch moral conclufions as may be ferviceable to us in our future conduct.

And firft, then, let us caft our eyes towards the Spring of life, that fweet and delightful feafon; that feafon which, when prefent, we ali tafte with rapture, and when paft look back upon with regret: when the mind, like the face of nature, is covered with fmiles; when every faculty is awake, every object beautiful, and every enjoyment new; when pleasure is not interrupted by fear, nor pain anticipated by reflection; when dangers are never seen before they opprefs, nor evils lamented before they are felt.

At this feafon the buds of our underftanding begin to fhoot forth, and the bloffoms of knowledge to appear: the profpect opens gra. dually on the mind, without fatiguing it; and

whilft the novelty amufes the acquifition inftructs us.

The paffions are indulged without guilt, and fubdued without reluctance: there are no cares to difquiet the fpirit, no remorfe to corrode the heart: it is, in fhort, one pleafing and uninterrupted scene of joy, peace, innocence, and ferenity.

Such is the lovely and delightful portion of our earlier years: the firft path of life which we tread in feems as it were ftrewed with flowers and enriched with perfumes on every fide: but, alas! as we advance in it, briars and thorns interrupt, labyrinths perplex, rocks and precipices affright us, and few, very few, arrive with any tolerable degree of pleafure or fatisfaction at the end of their journey.

At

For, pass but a few rolling years, and behold to the Spring of infancy fucceeds the hot Summer of youth, that dangerous, delufive, and important period, which is appointed by our Almighty Creator to determine the colour of our future life, all the joy or forrow, the happinefs and mifery, which are to come. this season the great and arduous task is to be performed: the fpirit is to be informed, the heart is to be inftructed; and if at this time they could be always formed, and always inftructed aright, we need not then have fo many grating hours of reflection and repentance; we need not wifh for a new heart, and a new spirit within us.

But the light of youth is too dazzling for our eyes, the fweets are too inviting to our

appetite:

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