be answered, Because I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Ifrael. Their ftrong holds wilt thou fet on fire, and their young men wilt thou lay with the fword, and wilt dafh their children, and rip up their faid, But what, is thy fervant a dog, that he fhould do this great thing? On the Benefits to be derived from ECCLESIASTES, vii. 2, 3, 4. It is bet- ter to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feafting; for that is the end of all men, and the living will lay it to his heart. Sor- row is better than laughter; for by On the divine Government of the PSALM lxxvi. 10. Surely the wrath On the Importance of Religious Knowledge to Mankind. ISAIAH, xi. 9. They fhall not hurt nor deftroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth fhall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the fea. 427 SER SERMON I. On the IMPORTANCE of ORDER in R I CORINTH. xiv. 40. Let all things be done-in order. ELIGION, like every regular and SER M. well-connected fyftem, is compo fed of a variety of parts; each of which poffeffes its separate importance, and contributes to the perfection of the whole. Some graces are effential to it; fuch as faith and repentance, the love of God, and the love of our neighbour; which, for that reaVOL. II. B fon, I. I. SERM. fon, must be often inculcated on men. There are other difpofitions and habits, which, though they hold not fo high a rank, yet are neceffary to the introduction and support of the former; and therefore, in religious exhortations, these also justly claim a place. Of this nature is that regard to order, method, and regularity, which the apostle enjoins us in the text to carry thro❜ the whole of life. Whether you confider it as, in itself, a moral duty, or not, yet I hope foon to convince you that it is effential to the proper discharge of almost all duties, and merits, upon that account, a greater degree of attention than is commonly paid to it in a religious view. If you look abroad into the world, you may be fatisfied, at the firft glance, that a vicious and libertine life is always a life of confufion. Thence it is natural to infer, that order is friendly to religion. As the neglect of it coincides with vice, fo the preservation of it must affift virtue. By the appointment of Providence, it is indifpenfably requifite to worldly profperity. Thence |