nakedness of man, is a true description of the natural, but does not apply to the moral, history of man; and the great moral object of the text is to lead us, from a consideration of the perishable nature of alloutward possessions, the partial and uncertain gifts of fortune, to a contemplation of the only true riches. While it does not induce us to underrate the real, though transient utility of the comforts and luxuries of life, it would not have us overlook or forget the difference between that which can last but for a time, and that which, by our own exertion, may be made to endure for ever. When we gaze with admiration, perhaps with envy, on the purple and fine linen which clothe the rich man, on the house of marble which shelters him, on the train of servants that wait his bidding, and the circle of admirers that study his pleasure, it is well for us to be reminded, that, for all these things, the rich man has no more security than the poor man has for his rags and his hovel.

But the rich fountains of truth, and love, and virtue, are within us, and spring forth unbidden, as soon as the weight of selfishness that conceals them is removed. These sources of inward felicity are perennial, flowing on undiminished through all the seasons of our earthly existence, and springing up into everlasting life. I would not forego the enjoyment of the flowers because it decays as they decay. But then it is true of every plant of earthly joy, that the longer it has lived, so much the sooner it must fade and die; and the older it grows, the more imperfect are its blossoms and its fruits, and the less

will it bear transplanting into another soil. But with those plants which spring and grow in the garden of life within us, it is not so. The more they grow, the deeper and wider they spread their roots and their branches, so much the brighter their blossoms and sweeter their fruits; so much the better are they fitted to be transplanted to a soil where they may grow and blossom, and bear fruits for ever. Consult your own experience, watch the growth of your knowledge, your affections, your character, and promise of everlasting life. The more we enrich our minds with knowledge, so much the more intense and insatiable grows our desire to enlarge our acquaintance with the boundless manifestations of infinite Wisdom; and we feel convinced, if there be any evidence of providential design in the nature of things, that He, who implanted in us this ever-growing desire after truth, must have made provision for it beyond the scanty sustenance it may draw from the earth. And thus, the more faithfully and tenderly we cultivate our affections, so much the stronger and wider do they grow, going forth continually in search of new objects of love, while holding faster and faster that which our hearts have already found; and thus with the increase of our affections our faith increases, so that these friendships, for which we are able to lay down our lives, and this spirit of love within us, that would hold God and the world in its embrace, are too strong for the bonds of death to contain them. And when you watch the growth of the character of men, you find that the increase of information and right reasoning on

other subjects, and in the exercise of other occupations, whatever they be, is doing more for the promotion and expansion of rational religion, than all the direct efforts of its professors. I hold, then, that a rational enjoyment of our present existence, and a proper estimate of all the comforts and refinements of civilized life, is by no means inconsistent with that religious consideration of the transient nature of all earthly possessions, which is placed before us by our text. But the grave thought, that, as we brought nothing into this world, we shall carry nothing out, this solemn memento, is well fitted to check and expose that eager and reckless pursuit of pleasure, or of gain, which seems to consider the whole business of life to consist in answering the questions, what shall we eat and what shall we drink, and wherewithal shall we be clothed. It bids us stand still and consider, whether this life has not a meaning besides and beyond the acquisition and accumulation of treasures, of which nothing is certain but this, that we shall carry out nothing. It leads us to reflect upon this restless desire within us for pursuits and enterprises far greater than any that were ever contemplated by the boldest and most far-sighted speculator in earthly riches. It must awake, in the most narrow-minded worldling, a suspicion, that his reason was given him not merely to serve him as a delicate vane to indicate the slightest changes in the opinion of the world, that may affect his standing in society; that his affections crave something better than the mere shadow of love and friendship; and that his

moral powers, the capacity of forming his own character, were certainly not intrusted to him for producing the most perfect counterfeit of virtue.

It is evident, from all these considerations, that the true object of our text is to lead us to the truth proclaimed by our Saviour;

(6

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal."

If rightly understood, the consideration of the perishable nature of all earthly possessions will not diminish, but increase the enjoyment of these transient favors of Providence, because it frees the mind, that has learned to depend upon higher goods, from that painful anxiety, which blends with the possession of things which we believe indispensable to our peace and happiness. It should make us more willing either to part with them, for the benefit of our fellow-men, or to leave them behind as the garments of our childhood, when the time comes for us to be clothed upon with strength, and for this mortal to put on immortality.

SERMON XIII.

MATTHEW IV. 1.

"Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted."

THE subject, on which I wish to address you, my Christian friends, is the temptation of Jesus Christ in the wilderness. I do not intend, however, to make this event in the life of our Saviour, the subject of controversy, which loves to gather its thunder-clouds around this high point of theology. Persuaded as I am of the usefulness of controversy, for clearing the spiritual atmosphere from the unwholesome influence of presumption and prejudice, I do not believe, that the seeds of truth and love in the heart can be made to grow by the bright flashes of controversial theology, but by the clear and gentle rays of moral instruction and spiritual influences. With regard to the temptation of Christ, it is certainly true, that the discussions of theologians, about the form or personality of the tempter and the metaphysical nature of the tempted Saviour, have impaired the moral efficacy, because they have obscured the moral meaning, of the story.

It is related in the Gospel of Matthew, that Jesus,