is fairly implied, therefore, that the Ungodly man turns both the good and evil of life to his own destruction.

Let us first see him in prosperous circumstances, with the cup of plenty in his hand. Here he appears in a very unfavourable light. Prosperity hardens him. It supplies nourishment to all his bad passions. His unfeeling heart is never touched with the wants of others. All is centered in himself. If he has been, by the favour of Providence, successful in any trade or profession, it is then his language at least his sentiment-that he has made himself happy-let others take the same means if they will.-If they have been less prudent, or less industrious, than he has been, let them suffer for their folly. In short, from looking up to no cause above him; but thinking himself the source of all his enjoyments, he begins to fancy himself superior to others, and of course holds others in contempt. He becomes arrogant, proud, and assuming: and his features are commonly marked with what the Psalmist so expressively calls the scornful reproof of the wealthy.

In his gratifications, perhaps, the Ungodly man takes the road of pleasure. Then all is riot and

excess;

excess; religion, conscience, decency, are no limits to him.-Ruin often succeeds.

But perhaps he drinks the cup of prosperity more cautiously. He has the foresight to provide against the ruin, which destroys the thoughtless profligate, and to act under the influence of worldly wisdom. Then we see him enjoying his prosperity in a different way. Instead of squandering his wealth, he hoards it. Every increase of his fortune, increases also his desires. The same hardness of heart, which the other shewed in providing for his pleasures, he shews in raising an estate. Conscience and religion are equally the scorn of both.

The prosperity of the Ungodly man takes commonly one or the other of these courses; the blessings of the Lord's cup he turns to his own destruction.

As he is ill qualified to receive good from the Lord, let us now see whether he is better qualified to receive evil; for, as we observed, the cup of the Lord is full-mixed. Evil, in some shape, will sooner or later certainly overtake him. When the weight of misfortune, or the distress of sickness, or the infirmities of age come upon him, then the dregs of the Lord's cup become a bitter portion to him. Like a froward

Every thing

child he knows not what he wants. distresses, nothing can please him. He never feels the joys of religion-the satisfaction of a good conscience, or the tranquillity of a peaceful mind, which alone can sooth the anxiety of misfortune, or ease the bed of sickness. Now he suffers that keen distress, which he never pitied in others—that want of assistance himself, which he never administered to them.

Thus wretched in himself, you see him in a still more disagreeable light when he mixes with others. See him when you will, he is either finding fault, or making complaint. But follow him home, and you will there find his ill-humours breaking out with double force. Miserable are all, who are thus unhappily connected with him.Instead of the mild, sweet smile of suffering piety, the softened look of tenderness, with which every offer to do him service should be received; he spurns the band that sooths him. The kindest offers to serve him, are received like injuries. The tenderness of relations, the consolation of friends, instead of asswaging his ill-humours, serve only to excite them. Peevish and fretful, he distributes his own sufferings in large proportions upon his servants, dependants, and near connections.

VOL. I.

P

And

And yet though you would imagine he was wholly out of love with life, and wished for nothing more, than to leave it with disgust, you are mistaken. He seems fonder of it, at least more loth to leave it, than the man who enjoys it most. His attachment to the expiring moments of life, is most happily expressed in the text; he not only drinks the dregs of the cup; but he keeps them to his mouth as long as he can-he sucks them out.-The most horrible sight which the world can furnish, is that of a wicked wretch on the edge of eternity; when all hope of life is over, and he has just sensibility enough to see before him the gulph of despair.Let us turn aside from a spectacle, which makes the blood run cold; and see as we proposed thirdly, how the Godly man drinks of the Lord's cup.

As the ungodly man drinks the dregs, the finer parts of the liquor are of course the portion of the Godly man. In the first place he expects to find a degree of bitterness in his cup. He sees the propriety of it, and fully acknowledges the great usefulness of this mixture of good and evil. If the potion were perfectly palatable, he fears he might drink to excess. If all things

went

went smooth and easy with him-if, in the current of life, no rubs, no stoppages, no difficulties ever occurred, what would be the consequence? He might be secure in the midst of danger. Though mortal, he might never think of mortality. The difficulties of life-the frequent checks he meets with, are what put him continually on his guard. Disappointment corrects his passions; and shews him that he is not to imagine he must have things here as he pleases; but must expect his portion of evil. He takes the world therefore for what it is, and does not fix his happiness upon it.

All this in the sincerity of his heart, he acknowledges, and approves; and thus far even his reason carries him. But when he opens the word of God, he finds the various dispensations of heaven placed in a still juster light. He finds this world represented in the gospel as a state of trial, preparatory to future happiness; and the good and evil of life, as the means of this trial; contributing equally to exercise and prove his religion.

Many are the virtues which prosperity gives him room to exercise; and which he could not exercise amidst the evils of life; and many are the virtues, which are the attendants of affliction; and