where he shall be rewarded with eternal happiness, and admitted to it by this gracious approbation of his Redeemer and his Judge, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." SERMON II. Prov. xiv. 14. THE GOOD MAN SHALL BE SATISFIED FROM HIMSELF. HUMAN wisdom seems to concur with divine in acknowledging the truth of this assertion, having given us a common proverb, similar to this of the text, "That Virtue is its own reward." And, indeed, if a very high degree of internal satisfaction did not result from the practice of moral duties, the state of good men in this life would be far from eligible: placed, as we are, in a world where the success of our actions is seldom certain, and sometimes seemingly fortuitous, if no pleasure arose from the actual energy (as we may call it) of virtue, it is to be feared the distant hopes of future recompense would scarce counterbalance the present pangs of disappointment and distress. Thus much is certain, that mankind would lose one cogent motive to goodness, and that which, perhaps, of all others, operates most powerfully on ingenuous and noble dispositions. We see, therefore, it has pleased the mercy of the Almighty graciously to annex a kind of innate principle of delight and satisfaction to every virtuous and moral action, and to every vicious one the contrary sensation of abhorrence and disgust: so that as the good man is satisfied from himself, the bad man is dissatisfied from himself; as Virtue is its own reward, so is Vice its own punishment; and this independently of contingencies, independently of the good or bad success with which the event of their several actions is attended. But it may be observed upon this subject, that as there is a possibility of carrying some sorts of virtue to an excess, so it is still more possible to carry the self-approbation which results from them to even a culpable extreme. It is possible, nay it very frequently happens, that actions, but moderately virtuous, produce in the agent an immoderate degree of complacency and selfesteem. Hence arise pride, vanity, contempt of others, inordinate self-love, and a train of such like vices, which more than eclipse the original virtues from which they sprung. Two sects of antient philosophers, the Stoies amongst the Greeks, and the Pharisees amongst the Jews, afford us pregnant instances of the truth of this assertion; who, though both of them zealous in the practice of virtue, though the one placed happiness in absolute rectitude of |