s they journey onward to eternity through
this gloomy valley; and what is to comfort them but _religion_?

"The consolations of religion are neither few nor small; they arise
in part from those things which we have already mentioned in this
chapter; _i.e._ from the exercise of the understanding on the
revealed truths of God's word, from the impulses of the spiritual
life within us, and from a reflection upon our spiritual privileges;
but there are some others, which, though partially implied in these
things, deserve a special enumeration and distinct consideration.

"_A good conscience_, which the wise man says is a perpetual feast,
sustains a high place amongst the comforts of genuine piety. It is
unquestionably true, that a man's happiness is in the keeping of his
conscience; all the sources of his felicity are under the command of
this faculty. 'A wounded spirit who can bear?' A troubled conscience
converts a paradise into a hell, for it is the flame of hell kindled
on earth; but a quiet conscience would illuminate the horrors of the
deepest dungeon with the beams of heavenly day; the former has often
rendered men like tormented fiends amidst an elysium of delights,
while the latter has taught the songs of cherubim to martyrs in the
prison or the flames.

"In addition to this, religion comforts the mind, with the assurance
of an all-wise, all-pervading Providence, so minute in its
superintendence and control, that not a sparrow falls to the ground
without the knowledge of our heavenly Father: a superintendence
which is excluded from no point of space, no moment of time, and
overlooks not the meanest creature in existence. Nor is this all;
for the Word of God assures the believer that 'all things work
together for good to them that love God, who are the called
according to his purpose.' Nothing that imagination could conceive,
is more truly consolatory than this, to be assured that all things,
however painful at the time, not excepting the failure of our
favorite schemes, the disappointment of our fondest hopes, the loss
of our dearest comforts, shall be overruled by infinite wisdom for
the promotion of our ultimate good. This is a spring of comfort
whose waters never fail.

"Religion consoles also by making manifest some of the benefits of
affliction, even at the time it is endured. It crucifies the world,
mortifies sin, quickens prayer, extracts the balmy sweets of the
promises, endears the Saviour; and, to cro