whatsoever things are of good report;"--these he practices, and these he promotes, as occasions arise, and opportunities are afforded. As life advances, his happiness and his usefulness increase with his years. "His leaf shall not wither." Divine grace still causes him to flourish and abound. His life is hid with Christ in God. His Saviour not only died for him, but is the daily food and sustenance of his soul. While, therefore, nature is tending to decay, grace still thrives; it waxes stronger and stronger. The inward man is renewed day by day. He still brings forth fruit in old age. "The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." "And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." The hand of the Lord is with him; and that which he does, the Lord makes it to prosper. All events and circumstances are overruled for his advantage. -All things work together for his good. God approves him. His fellow-creatures are benefitted by him. He exhibits the fruits of his religion; and he enjoys the comforts of his religion. "The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keeps his heart and mind, through Christ Jesus."

And, when this world shall have passed away, and the day of final retribution is come, and the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory, and all nations are gathered before him ;-the man who is here called "blessed,” “stands in the

judgment." He is found "in the congregation of the righteous." He is amongst those who are on the right hand of the Judge, and hear him say, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." "For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous." God beheld, discerned, approved his holy and useful course, and will now reward him openly.

Such is the present and future blessedness of the man whose character is described in the text. It is further heightened by a contrast with the character and end of the ungodly. "They are like the chaff which the wind driveth away." The ungodly are compared to the withered refuse of the threshing floor. Their character is valueless, and their life unprofitable. Whatever they might have been in the estimation of themselves, or in that of their fellow-mortals; nevertheless, in the judgment of him who is a God of knowledge, and by whom actions are weighed, they are as lightly regarded as the dry and empty husks which are abandoned by the winnower as too worthless for his care, and are scattered by the winds. And when the last and decisive day shall arrive, their wretched and hopeless condition will fully appear. "The ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. They will then be dismayed and confounded ;convicted of their own consciences;-condemned out of their own mouth, and by their own hearts.

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And the way of the ungodly shall perish." Theirs will be the doom of the "unprofitable" and of "the wicked servant;"-outer darknessthe vengeance of eternal fire-weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth-all that is included in that most fearful expression, "the damnation of hell;" He will gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

Now, my dear Brethren, in which of these lots do you desire to stand, through life, and in the end of your days? Are there any here present, in whose esteem, the holy, useful course which I have described is not true blessedness;-who have no heart for such happiness, and deliberately reject it;—who will have the pleasures of sin, whatever may follow them;-who will walk after the imagination of their own hearts, whatever may be the end thereof. If such there be-to you, indeed, the argument of this Sermon will be addressed in vain. You are not likely to be deterred from sin, by the fear of missing a happiness which you wilfully cast away. You are not likely to be allured from the path and practices of the wicked, by the contemplation of a blessedness, for which you have no inclination or desire.

Before I proceed, however, I would leave a word with such persons. There is a message of God to you, and it is this;-"Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee

in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the sight of thine eyes; but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment." "The triumphing of the wicked is short. Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue; though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth: yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him. The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him. This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God."

But, I trust that I am not now addressing such reckless and stout-hearted sinners; but that, on the contrary, the blessedness which I have described has commended itself both to your understandings and to your hearts. I trust that you are prepared to say;- "Let me but live in the favour of God, and under his care and blessing;let my earthly course be an habitual progress in holiness and usefulness; let me be "a tree of righteousness," "the planting of the Lord," ever-flourishing and ever fruitful; abounding in the work of the Lord,-serving my generation according to his will;-and rejoicing in the hope that I shall "stand in the judgment" with those whom God approves, and will exalt to honour, and crown with immortal glory; and this is true happiness in my esteem. Whatever others may

choose, let this happiness be mine! Who are the persons to whom it belongs? What is their character; and by what way and means have they attained to such a state of blessedness ?"

Now the way to be happy, pointed out in the text, is not that which the carnal mind and corrupt heart of the natural man would suggest ;it is not that which mankind are in general pursuing; it is not according to the course of this world. But let us not reject it on these grounds. All the ways to happiness of man's devising, even when tried under every possible advantage, have proved in the end nothing but vanity and vexation of spirit. Let us then turn for direction to the unerring Word of God, which was written to show unto us the means of present happiness, and the way of final salvation.

And this is the second particular which I proposed to consider :-The character of the persons to whom the blessedness spoken of in the text belongs.

But here, I would observe, that in order to have before our minds the entire portrait of a true servant of God, we must bring together the several features which are scattered through the sacred volume. Such persons are sometimes described by one essential part of their character, and sometimes by another. Every description, however, implies and includes, though it does not expressly declare, the whole; because the new mind and