326 SERMON PREACHED ON THE ISLAND. 
man of our counsel. 7 In all conditions of life, 
in prosperity or adversity, in sickness or health, 
in all places and at all times, the Bible, if referred 
to with a single eye and a prayerful disposition, 
will prove ' a lamp to our feet and a light to our 
paths.' 
" Such considerations as these ought to stimu- 
late us in our inquiries after happiness, even if 
it ended with this life. But if we believe that 
our time of sojourning here is merely proba- 
tionary, and to be viewed only as an introduc- 
tion to another and eternal state, yet that our 
everlasting happiness or misery depends entirely 
upon the use we make of the very short period 
allotted to us in the flesh, then are we not inex- 
cusable, if we neglect those means which God, 
of his infinite mercy and goodness, has been 
pleased to put within our reach? — the only 
means which, by the Divine blessing, can make 
us wise unto salvation. For ' faith,' we are as- 
sured, ' cometh by hearing, and hearing by the 
word of God.' Open the Bible, and you can 
scarcely look upon a page that does not inform 
you of our wretched state by nature, and by 
actual transgression. It asserts that 'by one 
man's transgression many were made sinners ; ' 
that ' the heart of man is deceitful above all 
things, and desperately wicked;' and it declares 
in unequivocal language, 'The soul that sinneth, 
it shall die.' Dreadful as this view of the subject 
may appear, — and dreadful it really is to the 
impenitent offender, — yet, blessed be God! 
wherever in his holy word He has pronounced 
a curse against sin, an offer of pardon to the 
