the opinions and rights of others, will endear you to all, and not only foster in your bosom the seeds of peace and contentment, but will conduct you in the surest path to wealth and honor.  The mental powers of the soul are all that exalt our capacity for happiness above a brutal creation.  And if our chief happiness lies in gold, which can only minister to our animal wants, then the brutes can vie with us in all the solid enjoyments of life.  In fact, they can go beyond us.  They graze the turf, and drink the unmingled stream free from anxiety and care.  While man, the lord of this lower creation, has to toil and gain the same enjoyments by the sweat of his brow.

But what a groveling thought to bring our exalted natures and capacities for happiness down to a level with theirs!  On this principle, he who is the most wealthy is the most happy.  Virtue is but a name, and all the exalted principles of noble and godlike action are but the reveries of fancy, and to practice them is but a visionary dream.  No, my friends, wealth supplies our animal wants, and if virtue be wanting, it leaves our minds in wretched starvation and our brightest joys in night!  Happiness is equally attainable by the rich and the poor.  It consists in a union of heart among mankind, in a union of action in the pursuit of virtue, and in the kindlier feelings of our nature.  In fine, it consists in a willing obedience to the exhortations of our text:  “Be of the same mind one towards another.  Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate.”

To each of these exhortations, we will give a candid and solemn consideration.  In this sermon, we will attend to the exhortation—­“Be of the same mind one towards another.”  By this, we are not to understand that men are to be of one heart and mind in pursuing the same occupation or profession in life, but of one mind in endeavoring to promote each other’s happiness in every condition in which they may be placed—­of one mind in the practice of christian duty, and in the exercise of charity.  Selfishness produces many jarring interests among mankind, bursts the bands of brotherhood asunder, and weakens the strength of that nation, society or family among which it exists, and in proportion to the opposition it produces among its individual members.  “United, we stand, divided we fall,” is a maxim full of wisdom, and is not only applicable to nations, but to communities, societies, and even to families.

A family in discord is a sight over which angels might weep, but when united in one heart and mind, it is a picture over which heaven smiles.  The fond and doating father, the tender and affectionate mother, and obedient children, all united in peace and harmony, present to the mind those pleasing conceptions of the reconciled family immortal, that cause us to feel all the burning emotions of which the heart is susceptible.  In such society as this, are enjoyed the happiest moments of our existence—­moments unmingled