lying, profanity, obscenity and excessive drinking. Your character is ruined in the estimation of all wise and christian persons. You are instrumental in seducing the promising youth from the paths of virtue and honest industry. You are accessary to the destruction of his moral principles, his brightest prospects for this world, and his best hopes for another. With all this accumulated load of guilt on your head, how can you enjoy a moment's real happiness? It is impossible. You cannot ask the blessing of your Father upon your undertaking. In your own soul you know it is a wicked and ruinous occupation. You can never look back with satisfaction either upon your gains or losses. You can never think of your habits and practices without severe compunctions of conscience. You fear sickness and death and futurity. All this is the natural consequence of your iniquity; the divine punishment for your disobedience of the laws of your Creator. And can these consequences cease with the death of the body? Will you take delight in heaven in contemplating your wretched and depraved existence on earth? Will not the industrious and virtuous laborer who has done good to others find himself qualified for pure and holy pleasures? I put these questions to your common sense.

3. In the third place, you were made to love your neighbor as you love yourself. If this affection exists. in your bosom it will manifest itself in your feelings, dispositions, conversation and conduct. How then would you discover your friendship for yourself? Would you endeavor to waste your property, injure your influence, and destroy your character? These are acts of the insane and wicked who hate their own existence. Suppose then you disregard this law of your nature; suppose you really hate your brother; the fruits of your enmity will appear in your behaviour. You will

feel uneasy and restless whenever his name passes through your memory. You will be watching for opportunities to diminish his wealth or popularity or respect. You will throw out hints, insinuations and even direct charges respecting his purity or innocence or honesty or integrity. You will rejoice to hear of his misfortunes and his ill success in the business of life. In short your hatred will fill your bosom with more or less wretchedness. And besides this your fellow men will lose their respect for your character. They will receive your statements with caution. They will feel less kindly towards you, and be less ready to aid you in even your good undertakings. They will pity and in some instances despise you. All this and much more is the natural consequence of your wickedness; and all this I consider the divine punishment of your disobedience.

own.

Now suppose you should strictly observe this divine command. You would regard your neighbor as a child of your Father; equally dear by nature to your common parent, and entitled to equal rights and privileges and hopes. You would feel that your own happiness depended in no small degree on his mental, moral and temporal prosperity. You would accordingly regard his feelings, his property, his character, as sacred as your You would endeavor in every possible way to advance his best welfare. And what would follow? You would feel at ease in your own mind. You would derive improvement and enjoyment from your friendship. You would realize that you had one on whom you could depend in every situation. You would view your intercourse towards him with satisfaction. All this and much more would be the natural consequence of your affection; the divine reward of your obedience. And must not these consequences extend beyond the grave? Will

you not renew your intimacy with the virtuous brother? Will not a recollection of your past kindness and love increase your celestial joys? Will you not be better prepared for the felicity of a heavenly existence? On the contrary, can you ever look with approbation upon your hatred and enmities? Will it afford you pleasure to remember your unchristian feelings and your infernal dispositions? I see no way in which you can ever become so perfect as not to loathe all ill will and revenge. I have given you a few specimens of the duties which we owe to our fellow men. Similar remarks might be made respecting the remainder did my limits permit. Sufficient however have been mentioned for all present purposes.

3. The duties which you owe to your heavenly Father are now to be considered. You were created to believe in one impartial parent; to love him with supreme affection; to worship him in spirit and truth; to confide in his goodness with implicit confidence; to remember his manifold blessings with lively gratitude; to submit to his various dispensations with cheerfulness, and to render unreserved obedience to his beneficial commands. If you comply with these requisitions of your nature, you secure the happiness for which you were created, and glorify your Maker by living in all things as he intended.

In the first place, you were made to believe in the existence of One all-perfect Father. Many of your fellow men have not this belief. Some few in christian lands profess to have no faith in a Supreme Being. They have made themselves atheists either by false reasoning or depraved living. Their minds are in a state of confusion. They cannot give vent to the natural devotion of the human heart. All the works of creation are in disorder. They have no support in trials. They have no consolations in afflictions. They have no friend

in danger, no hope in the grave, no Father in heaven. How deplorable their condition. There are others in heathen countries who believe in many gods. They worship idols of their own making or creation or deification. Some they flatter and some they fear; some they despise and some they imitate; and nothing but wretchedness is the natural result of their erroneous belief. There are others again who believe in the One true God, but have no correct views of his real character. They ascribe to him actions which would disgrace a human parent. They consider him as both partial and revengeful. They fear he will not deal so well with his own children as they should did they possess his power. And for these and other reasons they suffer many hours of anxiety and misery. In all these cases the unhappiness and degradation are the natural consequences of unbelief or misbelief; the divine punishment for their disobedience to the laws of their mental constitution.

Now if you believe the representations of your Savior respecting your heavenly Father, you will entertain correct notions of his character and perfections and government. You will regard him as a self-existent creator, preserver and benefactor. You will view him as the merciful parent of his human family. You believe that he loves all his children with an infinite affection; that he overrules the events of this world in wisdom and benevolence; and that he never afflicts in anger or wrath or resentment. You believe that he sent his well beloved son to be the Savior of the world. It gives you delight to meditate upon his unbounded benevolence. So long as you render him gratitude, affection and obedience you preserve an unfailing confidence in his unchangeable love. In hours of sickness and death you know that your friend and Father will be with you

All this and much

for your support and consolation. more is the natural consequence of your correct faith on this subject; the divine reward of your obedience to the laws of your intellectual and moral nature. And what can prevent these consequences from extending to another life? So far indeed as unbelief or misbelief are necessary no one can suffer the compunctions of conscience on their account either here or in the world to come. So far as any one has neglected or abused the light and evidence granted for his guidance, so far he must feel guilty and condemn his own wickedness. And so far as the true belief has aided any one in securing the happiness of this life and preparing for heaven, so far he carries the reward of his obedience in his own soul. Enough however has been said to illustrate this

particular.

In the second place, you were made to love your heavenly Father supremely. Affections for this purpose have been implanted in your bosom. Motives to its cultivation are multiplied. You are free to conform to this law of your nature or to disregard its directions. Suppose you should neglect to cultivate the required affection. You would give your thoughts to earthly concerns. You would find the pleasures of this world transient and unsatisfactory. You would feel an aching void in your heart which no temporal blessings can ever supply. You would become uneasy, restless, discontented. You are not prepared for the changes and trials of life, and their occurrence brings dismay and anguish. All this and much more is the natural consequence of your neglect and ingratitude; the divine punishment of your disobedience.

But suppose you should endeavor to comply with the divine injunction. You will carefully study the works of your Father so as to have the evidence of his infinite