In the sixth place.—Religion is eminently the "one thing needful" in adversity. There is, perhaps, nothing which mankind, the bad as well as the good, more generally admit, than this: and many a self-deluded sinner has vainly sought refuge under adversity in that "one thing needful," which, while prosperity shone bright upon him, he has trampled under foot. Religion it is, and religion alone, that teaches complaining man at once the nature, the origin, and the design of his afflictions: that consoles him under them; that fortifies him to endure them; that enables him to improve them, that converts them into springs of never-failing peace, and joy, and glory,

In the seventh and last place.-Religion is the "one thing needful" in a sense far more important than any that have been hitherto exhibited: for it is religion alone that conducts to the everlasting life of the world to come. The present

state is not conclusive of our being. When this "world and the works that are therein shall be burnt up;" when "the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll;" when "the elements shall melt with fervent heat;" man shall still exist; man shall exist forever; the inheritor of celestial glory, or the hopeless victim of his unrepented crimes. Often is this awful truth proclaimed in your ears; but, O my God! how little is it regarded! Man shall exist forever, the inheritor of celestial glory, or the hopeless victim of his unrepented crimes. This truth will force itself upon the mind at the approach of death. What shall console the dying man? The evils of life have many opiates, some more, some less effectual. Parental protection, filial duty, connubial love, these may soothe while the pulse beats animation; but whatwhat shall console the dying man? Nothing but religion. She tells the good man to look back without regret, and forward without fear. She tells him that as the life which he has been enabled, through divine grace, to live, is undeniably the best qualification and the surest preparation for the heavenly blessedness, so it cannot fail to meet the accep

tance of that righteous Lord who loveth righteousness, and whose countenance beholdeth the upright.

And, now, let such as are conscious of possessing this one needful thing, religion, felicitate themselves, and be grateful to God.

Let them felicitate themselves. Let them rejoice that while the many around them are perpetually agitating the idle and fruitless inquiry, "who will show us any good?" they have obtained that "one thing which is needful," and which alone is indispensably needful to the happiness both of the present and the future. The unity and simplicity of that which is the great object of their cares and their desires, facilitates the gratification of these desires, the recompense of those cares. Pursuit here, is liable to but little interruption, and to no substantial discouragement. Success is certain. Persons under the influence of religious principle, are sure of acquiring what they have chiefly in view, the favour of heaven. They are firmly persuaded that nothing can more effectually propitiate the divine Being, than the sincere and uniform devotion of the mind and heart to him. And what happiness on earth can rival that which results from the consciousness that the most important of all acquisitions is assuredly in our possession? Nothing short of this, deserves the name of happiness. Men of the world have no certainty like this on which to repose themselves. Thick clouds of doubt rest upon their brightest prospects. Their best laid schemes are so often frustrated, that the fear of future disappointment is unconquerably hostile to their tranquillity.

Let the soul conscious of possessing religion, be grateful to God: grateful for the word of his grace and truth, by which we are taught the nature and properties, the origin and end, the effects and consequences of religion. Grateful for those effusions of his enlightening and sanctifying energy upon our faculties, to which we are indebted for the existence and operations of religion. Pure and undefiled

religion before God, even the Father, his own most holy word hath delineated so luminously and impressively, that he who runs may read and understand it. From this source of heavenly knowledge we learn that religion is at once the image of God impressed and drawn upon the inward man, and the life of God exhibited in the outward deportment; that it derives its being from God, and issues in the manifestation of his glory; that it beatifies the present state, and secures a crown of honour and immortality beyond the grave; that it is within the reach of all whose hearts are inclined to pursue it; that all who seek it shall find it, and with it everlasting life, and that all who despise or neglect it shall lose their own souls. And while the divine word communicates the knowledge so necessary to the improvement of the soul, the divine spirit, the author as well of moral as of natural good, who at first caused the light to shine out of darkness, irradiates the holy page, opens the intellectual eye, and capacitates fallen man to receive and profit by the instruction that leads to heaven. The virtues which distinguish, characterize, and adorn the Christian life, “are the fruits of the spirit"* of God; and but for his beneficent power, would have no real or practical existence. O! never let the incense of gratitude cease to arise to God, our Father, our Teacher, Comforter, and Guide.

Religion being thus a matter of unspeakable moment, why should we not all view it in its true light, and pay it a corresponding deference? Surely, if there is any one thing essential to human happiness, so much so, that without it every human being cannot but be miserable; and that, at all times, in all places; under all circumstances, modes, and successive states of being; if there is any one thing exclusively vested with the power to bless prosperity, to sooth affliction, to disarm death, to render immortality glorious; surely, every wise and provident man will think it incumbent on him to labour indefatigably for the attainment of

Gal. v. 22.

this one thing. But it has been shewn that religion is this one thing; "the one thing needful," and exclusively needful for all these purposes. Let us lose no time, then, in cultivating its principles and acquiring its habits. Let us devote ourselves to it in defiance of every obstacle. Let us devote ourselves to it with all possible diligence and assiduity.

Let us devote ourselves to it in defiance of every obstacle. If we believe that any temporal acquisition, whatever it may be, is necessary to our repose or our enjoyment, there are no obstacles, ordinarily speaking, of such magnitude as to deter us from the pursuit of it: there are even no comforts and conveniencies, however highly valued under other circumstances, which we will not resign for the attainment of it. The avaricious man places his supreme delight in a multitude of possessions; and, to secure this object, tired nature must forego her rest, and the cravings of appetite be disregarded. The man of pleasure, infatuated fool, encounters, in one guilty intrigue, perplexities, embarrassments, and dangers, for which Mohammed's paradise could not compensate. But, while vice, in some one or other of her thousand varying shapes, has power too easily and too effectually to bind us to her service, the "one thing needful" solicits us in vain. This, is frequently sacrificed to the merest trifle of opposition: too seldom is it allowed to surmount the most inconsiderable impediment. But let us be persuaded to consider, "that there is not the same necessity for indulging our animal part, that there is for saving our immortal souls; for living in pleasure a few days, as for being happy forever."* Let us remember that religion is emphatically the "one thing needful," and abjure whatever interferes with it, and set at defiance whatever militates against it. Let us estimate it as that pearl of great price which invites us to sell all that we have and buy it. Between the solicitations of religion and the allurements of the world, let us not hesitate or balance for an instant. If sinners en

• Grove, vol. v. page 254.

tice, let us not consent: if they insult, let us not regard: if they threaten, let us not fear. Let us turn a deaf ear to the importunity of temptation; renounce the tyranny of passion; obey the call of celestial wisdom; and, convinced of the indispensableness of a religious temper, and a religious deportment, let us pray that God would be pleased to fortify us in this conviction, and form us by his grace to a life corresponding with it.

7

The arguments that should induce us to embrace religion at the first as the "one thing needful," powerfully persuade us to persevere in the holy and happy course, when we have entered upon it. Let us therefore, devote ourselves to religion with all possible diligence and assiduity.

If "it is good," as the apostle says, "to be zealously affected always in a good thing," how, I would ask, ought we to be affected towards the very best thing? a thing which originates and terminates in the infinite God?

Where shall a

Religion is no matter on which to trifle. man reflect and be serious, if not here, where the everlasting life of his soul is at stake? Indifference, luke-warmness, sluggishness, on a point like this, are worthy a severer animadversion than any words of mine can inflict.

To embrace religion, and perseveringly to cultivate religion, it is imperiously necessary that we refrain from all excessive solicitude respecting things temporal. Recollect the mild rebuke of our Saviour in the context to his too anxious friend: "Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things; but one thing is needful." Much as he loved this affectionate and hospitable friend, or rather, in consequence of the esteem which he had for her, he could not avoid administering a gentle reproof to her misplaced carefulness, her improvident attention to what was earthly and perishing, to the neglect of what was spiritual and eternal. It is to be regretted that there are too many who resemble Martha, in this particular, even among those who are acquainted with something more than the mere form of