the eyes of men, which can escape the notice of their heavenly Father: though justice is not, cannot be, done to their characters here; though sometimes the greatest injustice and injury and wrong; yet shall they be triumphantly and gloriously vindicated at the last: though they be on earth forsaken or oppressed, though they bear the burden of private affliction or public scorn, in a "world which is not worthy of them," they shall be visited and acknowledged and received at the last; shall lift up their heads with honour and with joy, and be admitted into a kingdom, which is more than worthy of all their faith and all their constancy; the Redeemer has marked them for His own; He will single them out, on the last day, from the crowd of countless multitudes, as objects of his compassion and favour; will take them into the arms of His mercy, and so "they shall be for ever with the Lord."* * Thess. iv. 17. SERMON XVII. GOD MADE MAN UPRIGHT; MAN MAKES HIMSELF MISERABLE. ECCLES. vii. 29. Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions. IN this remarkable book, Solomon discusses the various earthly means employed by the human race, for the attainment of happiness; and he decides upon the utter insufficiency of them all. Nor is he to be regarded as making the enquiry from mere matter of speculation, but as declaring to the world the result of his own experience, as well as the counsels of the Most High. Exalted to the very summit of worldly prosperity and greatness, and learned in all the arts and sciences, he possessed advantages, in the pursuit of happiness, far beyond the common lot of mortality; if it were to be found upon earth, he would have been sure, in himself or some of his favoured dependents, to have made the discovery. But he declares, by many remarkable repetitions, his utter inability so to do; he gives up the matter as hopeless and impossible; “all, (even the fairest and the best of human schemes,) is vanity and vexation of spirit;"" that which is crooked cannot be made straight, and that which is wanting cannot be numbered."* And this conclusion corresponds with the experience of mankind in every age: happiness has always been their object; philosophers have laid down rules for its acquirement, and every variety of expedient has been tried; but all in vain; there is no permanent pleasure or satisfaction upon earth: independently of the crosses and vexations from without, by * Eccl. i. 14, 15. which it is so continually disturbed, there is something in the constitution of man, in the present state of his mind and heart and affections, by which the attainment of happiness, from temporal means alone, is positively forbidden. The royal preacher, thus convinced of this truth, turns his thoughts to a solution of the case, and sums up his observations, on the conduct and condition of man, in the words of the text. Instead of arraigning, like some bold and impious cavillers of our day, the wisdom or goodness of the Creator in the introduction of evil into the world, he gives the true account of the matter; and lays the blame where alone it is due, upon the disobedience and degeneracy of man. And in so doing, he bears testimony to the truth of one of the most important communications made to us in the revealed word ofGod-the original innocence and the fall of our first parents. This fact has been daringly called in question by certain professed believers of divine revelation, by some who boast them MAN MAKES HIMSELF MISERABLE. selves peculiarly entitled to the christian name. Anxious to exalt the moral excellency of human nature, and to disprove the doctrine and necessity of the atonement, through the prevailing efficacy of the Saviour's incarnation and sufferings, such vain disputers absolutely deny, in the very face of God's word, that any such total and dreadful change has ever taken place in the state of mankind; they contend, that our understandings and affections are now the same, as when we came originally from the hands of our Creator. It appears, however, that the wisest of men took a different view of this momentous subject; that he received the Mosaic account, recorded in the opening of the book of Genesis, according to its plain and natural interpretation; and he has delivered to us his judgment, by the inspiration of that Holy Spirit, under whose guidance it was impossible for him to err. Solomon introduces his declaration upon this point in a very awakening manner; in a manner frequent with the inspired E e |