or worldly possessions, answer important wants, or serve us to good ends. I mean this: that the world is not a foundation on which we can stand, and be safe through all periods and changes that its gifts or rewards are not those that support us best through the toils and trials of life. And hence I wish to re-affirm what the Saviour asserts, and what, through his ministers he has been asserting for ages, that a sure and fixed position, within the spiritual realm of the Almighty, is our only safety, our only support. The poorest man, the weakest man, the most needy man as to the worldly things here, is richer, stronger, more free from want, than the man of wealth and power who does not occupy a place in this dominion; for here in this spiritual realm, the follower of the Saviour, whatever may he his outward condition, though his temporal circumstances may be the meanest, is endowed with a power by which he multiplies the favors he receives, and adds to their worth as possessions and blessings.

This is what is implied, I think, in the Saviour's words: "Take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, what shall we drink? or, wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." I do not understand him as declaring, that, literally, or according to the primary and natural import of these words, this will be the result, in every case of such obedience

to God, but that every man who becomes a citizen in the kingdom of heaven, who attains the righteousness of the everlasting Father, becomes conscious of a proprietorship in the world, in a higher sense, and can turn the least amount of earthly good, to the highest and best account.

In this way, the sick man becomes richer; and the poor man, richer than the richest. In this way, the weak become strong; the feeble and depressed, healthy and content; the lowly, lofty; the sad, cheerful and serene. So there is the force of the highest philosophy and reason in the words: "Take therefore no thought" no over-anxious, no fearful, painful thought-"for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."

While the man of Christian views and Christian life, is not less likely to be prosperous in his worldly calling, or in his secular affairs, than his neighbor or brother who pays no regard to the commands of God, it is within his power to draw from the worldfrom even the possessions, which, by human law, are secured to others, a kind of wealth, that is far more valuable than that which the owners themselves claim and hold in them.

And this is the kind of wealth which every man should seek in all his walks, in all his labors. The primary object of every man should be, to attain the highest spiritual condition; for if such a condition be attained, the best part of the world, and of life will be owned and employed. But even if the Christian

should make it his great aim to win, in a Christian cause, outward or worldly prospects, he would immediately cease to be a Christian; and, though he should gain the whole world, he would lose his own soulthe wealth and joy of his spiritual life. The moment a Christian transfers his chief interest from the moral to the natural side of the universe, that moment he sinks to a lower plane of life and activity, to the sphere of worldly selfishness and pleasure, and even the earth, the sea, and the sky, and the organizations of political, social, domestic, and religious life, withhold from him their noblest, richest, and most beautiful favors or enjoyments.

The man who is truly a Christian, reposing in the idea of God's universal, impartial, and eternal providence, is not only able to turn the concerns and gifts of this world to the best account, for himself and his friends, but he is also able so to take the trials and afflictions of life as to grow better, stronger, and happier under them-so to interpret the severest providential afflictions, the darkest providential lessons, as to see that they are sent for a wise and beneficent purpose. Most men look upon the blessings and joys which we are here permitted to call our own for a little while, as the children, roaming in the fields, view the blossoms of spring. When they lose these blessings and joys, they foresee no good to come after them, just as these children, when the blossoms fall from the trees, in their blindness foresee nothing of the fruit to follow the flowers. Whereas, the Christian understands the meaning of life's losses and disappoint

ments. Standing in the light of God's providence, he looks forward to the grand and glorious end, to which the world is being led by God's disciplinary hand, just as when he beholds the falling flowers giving place to sour or bitter fruit, he looks forward to the golden Autumnal day, when the orchards shall bend under their burden of wealth-when the trees shall glow with their ripe and beautiful globes and clusters, and yield to their owners a bountiful harvest. Thus, the sum of our lesson, is Trust. Let us not be faithless, but believing. Let our confidence be strong in God, that he is good unto all, that he openeth his hand to satisfy the wants of every living thing, and that, by all his dealings of justice and mercy, he is leading his children to a termination in holiness and peace.

DISCOURSE XVIII.

CHEERFUL VIEW OF LIFE.

JOB VII. 16.

I WOULD NOT LIVE ALWAY.

These words often drop from the lips of a class of unhappy persons. Their moods of thought and feeling are such, that they are always ready to utter them. They are tired, they say, of the world. It is a scene of failures and disappointments. The course of life is a course of troubles, sorrows, and tears. Having been a few or many times baffled or thwarted in their schemes, they have fallen into discontent; and so they try to appear to themselves, and to their friends and associates, in an eminently religious frame of mind, by affirming, with sighs and tears, that this world is all a fleeting show, stocked with illusions and deceptions, and that nothing would please them so much as to be permitted to leave it. They imagine that they can only be cheated by the world's smiles, and usually close their lamentations with the sad remark, that none of us can find any thing substantial till we cross the Jordan of death.

To one whose mind is in a condition of health, this strange impression of, and antipathy to, the world, is