will
increase our condemnation.

Whatever may be our situation here--whether we have kind and faithful
friends, or are left desolate, or are surrounded with enemies; whether
we have joys or sorrows, we need the divine influence to enable us to
make a good improvement, and to render them the occasion of good. We
need divine aid and influence, no less in prosperity than in
adversity. Whatever, therefore, may be our situation and
circumstances, sensible of our weakness and blindness, let us return
to God as our rest, _trust in him, and continue in supplications and
prayers night and day_; and his grace will be sufficient for us; for
he hath said to none "seek ye my face in vain."

* * * * * *

SERMON XXV.

The Good Man Useful In Life and Happy in Death.

Psalm xxxvii. 37.

"Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: For the end of that man
is peace." *

* Preached at the funeral of Asa Witter, Esq. Oct. 9th, 1792.

The subject of this psalm is the way and end of the righteous and the
wicked. It is designed to calm the minds of good people when tried
with adversity, and to reconcile them to the divine administration in
the unequal distributions of Providence, and the apparent disregard of
character, in those distributions. With these views, the writer, after
glancing at the lives of saints and sinners, calls our attention to
their end, noting the manner of their exit out of life.

The text relates to the righteous. In discoursing upon it, _We shall
consider the excellence of their characters, and their peaceful end;
and add a few reflections_.

I. We _are to consider the excellence of their characters. Mark the
perfect man and behold the upright_.--

The _perfect man_.--This may seem a strange representation of an
imperfect creature--a creature which viewed in the glass of the divine
law appears deformed, and tried by the perfect rule must be condemned
--a creature whose best services can find acceptance with God, only on
the plan of grace! For such is man since the apostasy--such the
saints feel and confess themselves. But however strange the
representation, it is drawn by the pen of inspiration, and applied
tothe saints.

Perfection is sometimes attributed to particular saints. "Noah was a
just man and _perfect_ in his generation." Similar is the description
given of Job. "There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job:
And that man was perfect and upright."

In the text, the term p