of life, but afford no permanent illumination; and though the heart be elated at times with pleasurable emotions, in the glow of sentiment, or the gratification of passion, these are but occasional and evanescent ardours, which soon subside into other frames of painful excitement, or joyless vacuity.

The insufficiency of external objects to furnish the soul with rational fruition "or exercise, is demonstrated in the disappointment of those who have made the acquisition of those objects the chief study of their lives. Were they ever content? Has success ever satisfied, or any amount of accumulation seemed enough? From the experience of what is past, we may certainly conclude, that having been at one source of worldliness to-day, they will to-morrow flee from it to another, and yet another, in restless dissatisfaction-without peace-without patience and, as the Psalmist describes the generation who followed vanity in his timewith this inquiry perpetually on their lips, -"Who will show us any good?" Tell us where some new pleasure flows, and where some fresh enjoyment awaits us; for we have tasted all within our reach, and are weary of all, and have found no good in

any of them!This universal disappointment, moralists have often noticed and exposed, but could not always explain the cause of failure.

To explain it, we turn to those dissatisfied mortals, and ask, Have ye sought God in those expedients of happiness hitherto pursued? Did ye follow those objects, and repair to these places, to discover, feel, and enjoy more of God in them? Alas! the serious thought of God's holy presence would have cast over the scenes of gaiety the gloom of sadness, or kindled up the alarms of fear. How, then, can external objects satisfy without God, when all blessedness must emanate from Him as its eternal centre, and when without Him, all is vanity and pain? There is not happiness in heaven without God, and can there be upon earth, in the midst of innumerable evils? To imagine it, were a miserable and guilty illusion.

But let us suppose some combination of earthly things so favourable, that we really feel ourselves placed, as it were, in a circle of enjoyment, with every want supplied, and every deficiency excluded. Let us contemplate for a moment some prosperous worldling so situated, that on reckoning up

the essentials of happiness, nothing appears lacking; and, if his circle of enjoyment is not of great compass, it seems to himself competent and complete. We cast an exploring look upon the scene, and perceive nothing of God there. We marvel that a creature should be happy without God; but he tells us that he sees nothing wanting! This may be his language to-day, but when he shall go to reckoning up his felicities tomorrow, what breaches may be found? Here, some beloved friend is gone; and what a void is left! Yonder, some great adversity has broken through, and made an opening for a thousand cares that were hitherto without access, to enter, and to distress him! Or, other things continuing as they were, perhaps himself is changed; his tastes, opinions, and views of men and things, have undergone alteration, and what once charmed him, has lost its power even to please! Or, perhaps, some malady has seized him, and will not let him taste of his ample means of pleasure; and while he languishes in pain, conscience awakens with many a charge as to the past, and many an apprehension of things to come. He cannot live, and he fears to die !

This is a true representation of the in

adequacy of things earthly to be our happiness. They are too fluctuating to be built on with assurance. They want stability, and leave those who rely on them, in a little while, destitute, and spoiled of peace. The Christian has something more solid and unchanging on which his soul reposes. He does not refuse temporal benefits as evil, or perilous, when they come from God. On the contrary, he is thankful for plenteous supplies, and rejoices to depend on his heavenly Father for the riches of his liberality in this respect; and in the enjoyment of his Maker's beneficence, he gratefully owns his happiness enlarged. Yet though his happiness may derive accessions of comfort from the blessings of a prosperous condition, it can exist without them, and that largely, as we see illustrated by the sentiment of Habakkuk in the text.

That prophet had been commissioned both to reprove the people for national sins, and to denounce national judgments soon to overtake them, because they would not repent. He set before them an invasion of the Chaldeans, terrible for their numbers and cruelty; and then described the spoiling of their country, which would ensue. At the foresight of which desolations, he

himself trembled, and looked where he might rest in the day of trouble. Nor was he long in suspense; for though God, in his holy displeasure, should blast the fruits of the vineyard, and the productions of the field, and though the sword of violence should smite, and the hand of rapine plunder the fold and the stalls; " yet," saith he, "I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation!"

1

And let none imagine that these sentiments were peculiar to Habakkuk, or may be entertained only by an eminent few among the saints; by prophets, apostles, or men favoured with special distinctions from above; for there is not a reconciled sinner at this day upon earth, who, in the exercise of faith, love, and hope, may not, and will not cherish and express sentiments essentially similar. And if so, it must needs be confessed, that they have a source of happiness more excellent and enduring than any which worldly minds have ever known; nor will this be denied when we state, in full harmony with his own word, that the Lord himself is the happiness of his people. "I will rejoice!" says the prophet. What! with foreseen calamities, and national ruin full before him? Yes;