While pursuing the various occupations to which our inclination, or
fancy may lead, we are too apt to lose sight of that Being who holds
our destinies in his hand; and more particularly so in seasons of
prosperity, when blest with health and other sublunary enjoyments.
Strange as it may seem, yet it is substantially true, that in
proportion as man is successful in the accomplishment of his plans, he
becomes arrogant and haughty in his feelings, and instead of
acknowledging his dependence on God, and feeling the bursts of
gratitude for the favors and enjoyments heaven scatters in his path,
he loses sight of the benign hand that blesses him, and, like the
proud Assyrian monarch, ascribes all his prosperity to his own plans,
and to the effect of his own peculiar management. He surveys the lands
he has purchased, the beautiful buildings he has erected, the wealth
he has accumulated, and in view of these achievements of his hand, as
he is floating on the full tide of prosperity, he is ready to breathe
out in exultation,--"is not this great Babylon which I have built for
the house of my kingdom, by the might of my power and for the honor of
my majesty."

When success becomes common, man forgets his dependence on Him who
rules in the armies of heaven, and over the affairs of men. It is our
duty as intelligent creatures to exercise our reason in viewing things
as they really are. He, who will not do this, but goes through life
thoughtless, so far resigns the man, and assumes the brute. Even some,
who bear the christian name, proclaim against reason, call her carnal,
and prostrate her as it were at the shrine of enthusiasm. They lean
upon certain frames and feelings of the animal nature. They are so far
driven from men. I say it is our duty as rational intelligences to
hold our station in the scale of being, and to exercise our reason in
viewing things as they are. We ought candidly and solemnly to weigh