The sermons of Mr. Yorick / a new edition

THE

O F

Mr. Y O R I C K.

VOL. III.

A NEW EDITION.

. , ..

LONDON:

Printed for W. STRAHAN; and T. CADELL,
in the Strand. 1779-

29912

3?/4

CONTENTS

OF THE

THIRD VOLUME.

SERMON I.

The Character of Shimei.

SERMON II.

The Cafe of Hezekiah and the Mef-
fengers. Preached at Paris.

SERMON III.

The Levite and his Concubine.

SERMON IV.

Felix's Behaviour towards Paul ex-
amined.

CONTENTS.

SERMON V.

The Prodigal Son.

SERMON VI.

National Mercies confi lered. On the
Inauguration of his prefent Ma-
jefty.

SERMON VII.

The Hiftory of Jacob confidered.

SERMON I.

The Charader of SHI ME I.

2 SAMUEL xix. 21. iftPart.

But AUjhai Jaidy Shall not Shimei be
to death for this?

I

• *W~T nas not a good afpeft •

This is the fecond time Abi-
Jhai has propofed Shimefs
deftruflion-, once in the 1 6th chapter,
on a fudden tranfport of indignation,
when Shimei curfed David. — " Why
" jhould this dead dog, cried Abijhai^
" curfe my lord the king ? let me go over,
" I fray thee, and cut off his head."
This had fomething at leaft of
VOL. III. B

2 SERMON I.

gallantry in it; for in doing it, he
hazarded his own, and befides the
offender was not otherwife to be come
at: the fecond time, is in the text;
when the offender was abfolutely in
their power — -when the blood was
cool; and the fuppliant was holding
up his hands for mercy.

— -Shall not Sfrimei, anfwered Abi-
Ihai, be put to death for this? So un-
relenting a purfuit looks lefs like juf-
tice than revenge, which is fo cow-
ardly a paffion, that it renders Abifhai's
firft inflance almoft inconfiftent with
the fecond. 1 fhall not endeavour to
reconcile them"; but confine the dif-
courfe fimply to Shimei; and make
fuch reflections upon his character as
may be of ufe to fociety.

SERMON I. 3

Upon the news of his fon Abfalom's
confpiracy, David had fled from Je-
rufalem, and from his own houfe, for
fafety : the reprefentation given of the
manner of it, is truly affefting ; •
never was a fcene of forrow fo full of
diftrefs!

The king fled with all his houfehold
to fave himfelf from the Cword of the
man helovtd: he fled with all the marks
of humble forrow — " with his head co-
ver* d, and barefoot-,'9 and as he went by
the afcent of mount Olivet, the facred
hiftorianfay^he we£E*— fome gladfome
fcenes, perhaps, which there had pafs'd

foine hours of feftivity he had

fliared with Abfalom in better days,

prdTed tenderly upon nature, he

wept at this fad viciflitude of things :
B 2

4 SERMON J.

— and all the people that were with
him, fmitten with his affliction, co-
ver* d each man bis head — weeping as
he went up.

It was on this occafion, when Da-
vid had got to Bahurim, that Shimei
the fon of Gera, as we read in the
5th verfe, came out: — was it with the
choiceft oils he could gather from
mountOlivetjtopourinto his wounds?
—Times and troubles had not done
enough; and thou cameft out, Shimei,
to add thy portion

" And as he came, he cur fed David,
and threw ft ones and caft duft at him -,
and thus faid Shimei, when he cur fed:
Go to, thou man of Belial— thou haft
fought blood, — and behold thou zncaugbt
in thy own mifchief-, for now hath the

SERMON I. 5

Lord returned upon thee all the blood
of Saul and his boufe"

There is no fmall degree of mali-
cious craft in fixing upon a feafon to
give a mark of enmity and ill-will :
a word, — a look, which at one time
would make no impreffion — at an-
other time wounds the heart; and like
a Ihaft flying with the wind, pierces
deep, which, with its own natural
force, would fcarce have reached the
object aimed at.

This feemed to have been Shimei's
hopes: but excefs of malice makes
men too quickfighted even for their
own purpofe. Could Shimei poffibly
have waited for the ebb of David's
pafiions, and till the firft great con-
flict within him had been over — then

B 3

6 S E R M ONI.

the reproach of being guilty of Saul's
blood muft have hurt him— his heart
was poflefTed with other feelings — it
bled for the deadly fting which Ab-
falom had given him — he felt not
the indignity of a ftranger — '* Behold
my fon Abfalom^ who came out of wy
bowels, feeketh my life — how much more
may Shimei do it? — let him alone-, it
may be the Lord may look upon my afflic-
tion, and requite me good for this evil"

An injury unanfwered in courfe
grows weary of itfelf, and dies away
in a voluntary remorfe. ,

In bad difpofitions capable of no

reftraint but fear it has a different

effect the filent digeftion of one

wrong provokes a fecond, — He pnr-
fues him with the fame invective ;
as David and his men went by the

SERMON I. 7

way, Shimei went along on the bill's
fide over agairift him -, and curfed as he
went, and caft duft at him.

The infolence of bafe minds in fuc-
cefs is boundlefs; and would fcarce ad-
mit of a comparifon, drd not they
themfelves furnifh us with one in the
degrees of their abje<5lion when evil re-
turns upon them — the fame poor heart
which excites ungenerous tempers to
triumph over a fallen ad verfary, in fome
inftancesfeems to exalt them abovethe
point of courage, finks them in others

even below cowardice. Not unlike

fome little particles of matter ftruclc
off from the furface of the dirt by fun-
ftnne — dance and fport there whilft it
lafts — but the moment 'tis withdrawn
•—they fall down — for duft they are—

B4

8 SERMON I.

and unto duft they wiU return—
whilft firmer and largerbodies preferve
the ftations which nature has afiigned
them, fubjecled to laws which no
change of weather can alter.

This laft did not feem to be Shi-
mei's cafe ; in all David's profperity,
there is no mention made of him —
he thruft himfelf forward into the
circle, and poffibly was number'd
amongft friends and well -withers.

When thefcene changes, and David's
troubles force him to leave his houfe
in defpair — Shimei is the firft man we
hear of, who comes out againft him.

The wheel turns round once more;
Abfalom is caft down, and David re-
turns in peace — Shimei fuits his be-
haviour to the occafion, and is the firft

SERMON I. 9

man alfo whohaftes to greet him
and had the wheel turn'd round a hun-
dred times, Shimei, I dare fay, in every
period of its rotation, would have been
uppermoft.

O Shimei! would to heaven when
thou waft (lain, that all thy family had
been (lain with thee; and not one of
thy refemblance left! but ye have mul-
tiplied exceedingly and replenifhed the

earth; and if I prophecy rightly •'

ye will in the endfubdue it.

There is not a character in the world
which has fo bad an infiuence upon
the affairs of it, as this of Shimei;
whilft power mms with honeft checks,
and the evils of life with honeft re-
fuge, the world will never be undone:
but thou, Shimei, haft fapp'd it at both

io SERMON I.

extremes j for thou corrupteft pro-
fperity — and 'tis thou who haft broken
the heart of poverty; and fo long as
worthlefs fpirits can be ambitious ones,
'tis a character we {hall never want.

O! it infefts the court the camp

— the cabinet — it infcfts the church —
go where you will in every quar-
ter, in every profeffion, you fee a Shi-
mei following the wheels of the for-
tunate through thick mire end clay.
— Hafle, Shimei! — hafte; or thou

wilt be undone for ever Shimei

girdeth up his loins and fpeedejh after
him — behold the hand which governs
every thing, — takes the wheels from
off his chariot, fo that he who driveth,
driveth on heavily — Shimei doubles
his fpeed — but 'tis the contrary wayj

SERMON I. n

he flies like the wind over a Tandy de-
fert, and the place thereof lhall know

it no more flay, Shimei! 'tis your

patron your friend yourbene-

factor;— 'tis the man who has raifed

you from the dunghill 'tis all one

to Shimei : Shimei is the barometer of
every man's fortune; marks the rife
and fall of it, with all the variations
from fcorching hot to freezing cold
upon his countenance, that the fimile

will admit of. Is a cloud upon thy

affairs? — fee — it hangs over Shimei's

brow Haft thou been fpoken for to

the king or the captain of the hoft

without fuccefs? look not into the

court kalendar the vacancy is fill'd

up in Shimei's face — Art thou in debt?
— though not to Shimei — no matter

12 SERMON I.

the worft officer of the law (hall

not be more infolent.

What then, Shimei, is the guilt of
poverty fo black — is it of fo general a
concern, that thou and all thy family
muft rife up as one man to reproach

it? when it loft every thing — did

it lofe the right to pity too? or did
he who maketh poor as well as maketh
rich, drip it of its natural powers to
mollify the hearts and fupple the tem-
per of your race? — Truft me, ye have
much to anfwer for-, it is this treat-
ment which it has ever met with from
fpirits like yours, which has gradually
taught the world to look upon it as
the greateft of evils, and fhun it as

the worft difgrace and what is it,

I befeech you what is it that man

SERMON I; 13

will not do, to keep clear of fo fore
an imputation and puniftiment ? — is it
not to fly from this, that he rlfes
early — late takes reft ; and eats the bread
of carefulnefs? that he plots, con-
trives— fwears — lies — (huffles — puts

on all fhapes — tries all garments .

wears them, with this, or that fide

outward juft as it favours his

cfcape.

They who have confidered our na-
ture, affirm, that fhame and difgrace
are twoof the moft infupportable evils
of human life: the courage and fpirits
of many have mattered other misfor-
tunes, and borne themfelves up againft
them-, but the wifeft and bed of fouls
have not been a match for thefe-, and
we have many a tragical inftance on

H SERMON I.

record, what greater evils have been
run into, merely to avoid this one.

Without this tax of infamy, pover-
ty, with all the burdens it lays upon
our flefli — fo long as if is virtuous,
could never break the fpirits of a man;
all its hunger, and pain, and naked-
nefs, are nothing to it, they have fome
counterpoifeof good; and befides they
are direcled by providence, and muft
befubmittedto: butthofeareaffiiclions
not from the hand of GOD or nature — »
"for they do come forth of the DUST,
and moil properly may be faid tcfpring
out of the GROUND, and this is the rea-
fon they lay fuch ftrefs upon our
patience, — and in the end, create fuch
a diftruft of the world, as makes us
look up — and pray, Let me fall into

SERMON I. 15

thy hands i O God! but let me not fall
into the hands of men"

Agreeable to this was the advice of
Eliphas to Job in the day of his dif-

trefs; "acquaint thyfelf^ faid he,

NOW with God:" — indeed his poverty
feemed to have left him no other: the
fwords of the Sabeans had frightened

them away all but a few friends;

and of what kind they were, the very

proverb, of Job's comforters fays

enough.

It is an inftance which gives one
greatconcern for human nature, "That
a man, who always wept for him who

was in trouble-* who never J aw any

$erijh for want of clothing-, — who never
Buffered the firanger to lodge in the
Jtreet, but opened his door to the tr&vel-

6

16 SERMON I.

ler-," that a man of fo good a cha-
racter,— " that he never caufed the eyes
cf the widow to /<z:7, — or bad eaten his
morfel by himfelf alone, and the father -
lefs had not eaten thereof-" — that fitch
a man, the moment he fell into po-
verty, mould have occafion to cry out
for quarter, — Plave mercy upon me, O
my friends ! for the hand of God has
touched me.—— Gentlenefs and huma-
nity (one would think) would melt
the hardeft heart and charm the fierceft
fpirit; bind up the moft violent hand,
and ftill the moft abufive tongue : —
but the experiment failed in aftronger
inftance of him, whofe meat and drink
it was to do us good; and in purfuit
of which, whofe whole life was a con-
tinued fcene of kindnefsandof infults,

SERMON t 1?

for which we muft go back to the
fame explanation with which we fet
out, — and that is, the fcandal of po-
verty.——

"fbis fellow i we know not whence

fa is" was the popular cry of one

part; and with thofe who feemed to
know better, the quere did not leflen
the difgrace: — Is not this the carpen-
ter, the fon of Mary! — of Mary; —
great GOD of Ifrael! What! — of the
meaneft of thy people! (for be had not
regarded the low eftate of his hand-
maiden)—and of the pooreft! too (for
fhe had not a lamb to offer, but was
purified as Mofes directed in fuch a
cafe, by the oblation of a turtle

dove.)

That the SAVIOUR of their nation
could be poor, and not have where to
VOL, III. C

18 SERMON I.

lay his head, — was acrime never to be
forgiven: and though the purity of
his doctrine, and the works which he
had done in its fupport, were ftronger
arguments on its fide, than his humi-
liation could be againft it, yet the

offence ftill remained ; — they looked
for the redemption o'f Ifrael; but they
would have it only in thofe dreams
of power which filled their imagina-
tion. •

Ye who weigh the worth of all
things only in the goldfmith's ba-
lance!— was this religion for you? —
a religion whofe appearance was not
great and fplendid, — but looked thin
and meagre, and whofe principles and
promifes mewed more like the curfes

of the law, than its blelfings: for

8

SERMON I, 19

they called for fufferingss and pro-
mifed little but perfecutions.

In truth, it is not eafy for tribulation
or diftrefs, for nakednefs or famine, to
make many converts out ofpride; or
reconcile a worldly heart to the fcorn
and reproaches, which were fure to be
the portion of every one who believed
a myftery fo difcredited by the world,
and fo unpalatable to all its paflions
and pieafures.

But to bring this fermon to its pro-
per conclufion.

If Aftrea or Juftice never finally
took her leave of the world, till the
day that poverty firft became ridicu-
lous, it is matter of confolation, that
the GOD of Juftice is ever over us; —
that whatever outrages the lownefs of

C 2

20 SERMON I.

our condition may be expofed to, from
a mean and undifcerning world,
that we walk in the prefence of the
greateft and moft generous of Beings,
who is infinitely removed from cruelty
and ftraitnefs of mind, and all thofe
little and illiberal pafiions, with which
we hourly infult each other.

The worft part of mankind are
not always to be conquered — but if

they are 'tis by the imitation of

thefe qualities which muft do it : —

'tis true — as I've fhewn they may

fail; but flill all is not loft, for if

we conquer not the world in the
/very attempts to do it, we mail at
leaft conquer ourfelves, and lay the
foundation of our peace (where it
ought to be) within our own hearts.

SERMON H.

The Cafe of Hezekiah and the
Meflengers.

[Preached before his Excellency the Earl of
HERTFORD, at Paris, 1763.]

2 KINGS xx. 15.

And hefaid, What have they feen in thine
houfe? and Hezekiah anfivered, All
the things that are in my houfe have
they feen ; there is nothing amongft
all my treafures that I have notjhewn
them.

— - \ ND where was the harm,

•** you'll fay, in all this ?
" An eaftern prince, the fon of Ba-
ladine, had fent mefTengers with pre-

22 SERMON IT.

fents as far as from Babylon, to con-
gratulate Hezekiah upon the recovery
from his ficknefs •, and Hezekiah, who
was a good prince, acted confidently
with himfelf: be received and enter-
tained the men^ and hearkened unto them,
and before he fent them away, he
courteoufly mewed them all that was
worth a Granger's curiofity in his
hqufe and his kingdom, -and in
•this, feemed only to have difcharged
himfelf of vyhat urbanity or the eti-
quette of courts might require. Not-
withftanding this, in the verfe which
immediately follows the text, we find
he had done amifs; and as a punifh-
ment for it, that all his riches, which
his forefathers had laid up in flore
unto that day, were threatened to b.e

SERMON II. 23

carried away in triumph to Babylon,
the very place from whence the
mefiengers had come.

A hard return! and what his beha-
viour does not feem to have deferved.
To fet this matter in a clear light, it
\vill be necefiary to enlarge upon the

whole (lory the reflections which

will arife out of it, as we go along,

may help us at lead, I hope they

will be of ufe on their own account.

After the miraculous defeat of the
Afiyrians, we read in the beginning of
this chapter, that Hezekiah was fick
even unto death; and that GOD fends
the prophet Jfaiah, with the unwel-
come meflage, that he Jhould fet his
hcufe in order, for that he Jhould diet
and not live.

24 SERMON II.

There are many inftances of men,
who have received fuch news with the
greateft eafe of mind, and even enter-
tained the thoughts of it with fmiles
upon, their countenances, — and this,
either from ftrength of fpirits and the
natural cheerfulnefs of their temper, —
or that they knew the world, — and
cared not for it, or expected a bet-
ter—»-yet thoufands of good men,
with all the helps of philofophy, and
againft all theaffurancesof awell-fpent
life, that the change muft be to their
account, — upon the approach of death
have flill lean'd towards this world,
and wanted fpirits and refolution to
bear the fhock of a feparation from it
for ever.

This, in fome meafure, feemed to
have been Hezekiah's cafej for thq'

SERMON IT. 25

he had walked before God in truth,
and with a perfect heart, and had done
that which was good in his fight,
yet" we find that the hafty fummons

afflicted him greatly; that upon

the delivery of the meflage he wept
fore; that he turned his face to-
wards the wall, perhaps for the

greater fecrecy of his devotion, and
that, by withdrawing himfelf thus from
all external objects, he might offer up
his prayer unto his GOD, with greater
and more fervent attention.

— And he pray'd, and faid, O

LORD! I befeech thee remember—
O Hezekiah ! How couldft thou fear
that God had forgotten thee ? or,
How couldft thou doubt of his re-
membrance of thy integrity, when

26 SERMON II.

he calFd thee to receive its recom-
pence ?

But here it appears of what mate-

\ rials man is made: he purfues happi-

j nejs_- — and yet is fo content with

I mifery, that he would wander for ever

/ in this dark vale of it, and fay,

, " // is- good^ Lord! to be here, and
" to build tabernacles of reft-," and fo
long as we are clothed with flelh, and
nature fras fo great a (hare within
us, it is no wonder if that part claims
its right, and pleads for the fweetnefs
of life, notwhhftanding all its care
and difappointments.

This natural weaknefs, no doubt,
had its weight in Hezekiah's earneft
prayer for life: and yet from the fuc-
cefs it met with, and the immediate

SERMON II. 27

change of God's purpofe thereupon,
it is hard to imagine, but that it muft
have been accompanied with fome me-
ritorious and more generous motive;
and if we fuppofe, as fome have done,
that he turned his face towards the
wall, becaufe that part of his cham-
ber looked towards the temple, the
care of whofe prefervation lay next his
heart, we may confidently enough
give this fcnfe to his prayer.

" O God ! remember how I have

" walked before thee in truth;

" how much I have done to refcue
" thy religion from error and falfe-

" hood; thou knoweft that the

" eyes of the world are fixed upon me,
" as one that hath forfaken their ido-
" latry, and reftored thy worship; —

18 SERMON II.
" thatlfland in the midft of a crooked
" and corrupt generation, which looks
" thro' all my actions, and watches
" all events which happen to me: if
" now they fhall fee me fnatched
" away in the midft of my days and
" fervice, How will thy great name
" fufFer in my extinction ! Will not
" the heathen fay, This it is to fervc

" the GOD of Ifrael! How faith-

" fully did Hezekiah walk before
" him! — What enemies did he bring
" upon himfelf, in too warmly pro-
" moting his worfhip! and now when
" the hour of ficknefs and diftrefs
" came upon him, and he moft wanted
" the aid of his God: — behold how
" he was forfaken !"

SERMON II. 29

It is not unreasonable to afcribe
fome fuch pious and more difmterefted
motive to Hezekiah's defire of life,
from the iflue and fuccefs of his prayer :

• for it came to fafs, before Ifaiab

had gone out into the middle court, that
the 'word of the Lord came to him, fay-
ing, I'urn again and tellHezekiah Ibave
heard his prayer, I have feen his tears-,
and behold I will heal him.

It was upon this occafion, as we read
in the i2th verfe of this chapter, that
Baradock-baladan, fon of Baladine
king of Babylon, fent letters and a
prefent unto Hezekiah: he had heard
the fame of his ficknefs and recovery;
for as the Chaldeans were great fearch-
ers into the fecrets of nature, efpeciail y

3o SERMON II.
into the motions of the celeftial bo-
dies, in all probability they had taken
notice, at that diftance> of the ftrange
appearance of the fhadbw's returning
ten degrees backwards upon their dials,
and had inquired and learned upon
what account, and in whofe favour
fuch a fign was given; fo that this
aftronomical miracle, befides the po-
litical motive which it would fuggeft'
of courting fuch a favourite of hea-
ven, had been fufficient by itfelf to
have led a curious people as far as
Jerufalem, that they might fee the
man for whofe fake the fun had fof-
fook his courfe.

And here we fee how hard it is to
ftand the mock of profperity, and

SERMON II. 31

how much truer a proof we give of
our flrength in that extreme of life,
than in the other.

In all the trials of adverfity, we find
that Hezekiah behaved well, — no-
thing unmanned him : when befieged
by the Afiyrian hoft, which fhut him
up in Jerufalem, and threatened his
deftru&ion, — lie ftood unlhaken, and
depended upon GOD'S fuccour.
When cad down upon his bed of
ficknefs, and threaten'd with death,
he meekly turned his face towards the
wall, wept and pray'd, and de-
pended upon GOD'S mercy: — but no
fooner does profperity return upon
him, and the mefiengers from a far
country come to pay the flattering ho-
mage due to his greatnefs, and the

32 SERMON IL
extraordinary felicity of his life, bift
he turns giddy, and finks under the
weight of his good fortune, and with
a tranfport unbecoming a wife man
upon it, — 'tis faid, he hearken'd unto
the men, and fhew'd them all the
houfe of his precious things, the fil-
ver and the gold, the fpices and the
precious ointments, and all the houfe
of his armoor, and all that was found
in histreafures; that there was nothing
in his houfe, nor in his dominions, that
Hezekiah fhew'd them not: for tho'
it is not exprefsly faid here (tho' it is
in the parallel paflage in Chronicles) —
nor is he charged by the prophet that
he did this out of vanity and a weak

tranfport of oflentation; yet as we

are-fure GOD could not be offended
2

SkRMON Hi 33

but where there was a real crime, we
might reafonably conclude that this
was his, and that he who fearches into
the heart of man, beheld that his was
corrupted with the bleflings he had
given him, and that it was juft to
make what was the occafion of his
pride, become the inftrument of his
punifhment, by decreeing, that all the
riches he had laid up in (lore until
that day, mould be carried away in
triumph to Babylon, the very place
from whence the meflengers had come
who had been eye-witnefles of his
folly.

" O Hezekiah! How couldft thou
" provoke God to bring this judg-
" ment upon thee ? How could thy

VOL. III. D

34 SERMON II.

" fpirit, all-meek and gentle as it was,
« have ever fallen into this fnare ?
« Were thy treafures rich as the earth
" — What! was thy heart fo vain as
" to be lifted up therewith? Was not
" all that was valuable in the world—
** nay, was not heaven itfelf almoft
*fc at thy command whilft thou waft
" humble? and, How was it, that thou
" couldft barter away all this, for
" what was lighter than a bubble, and
*6 defecrate an action fo full of cour-
" tefy and kindnefsas thine appeared
*' to be, by fuffering it to take its
" rife from fo polluted a fountain ?"

There is fcarce any thing which the
heart more unwillingly bears, than an
analyfis of this kind.

SERMON II. 35
We are a ftrange compound j and
fomething foreign from what charity
would fufpect, fo eternally tvvifts itfelf
into what we do, that not only in mo-
mentous concerns, where intereft lifts
under it all the powers of difguife, —
but.even in the moft indifferent of
our actions, — not worth a fallacy '
by force of habit, we continue it: fo

that whatever a man is about, ob-

ferve him, he ftands arm'd infide

and out with two motives; an often-
fible one for the world,— —and an-
other which he referves for his own
private ufe-, — this, you may fay, the
world has no concern with: it might
have been fo ; but by obtruding the
wrong motive upon the world, and
dealing from it a character, inftead of
D 2

36 SERMON II.

winning one; -we give it a right,

and a temptation along with it, to in-
quire into the affair.

The motives of the one for doing
it, are often little better than theothers
for deferving it. Let us fee if fome
focial virtue may not be extracted
from the errors of both the one and
the other.

VANITY bids all her fons to be ge-
nerous and brave, and her daugh-
ters to be chafte and courteous. — — •
But why do we want her inftructions?

• Afk the comedian who is taught

a part he feels not—-
Is it that the principles of religion
want ftrength, or that the real paffion
for what is good and worthy will not
carry us high enough ?— -God ! thou

SERMON II. 37

knoweft they carry us too high

we want not to be- — but tofeem — .

Look out of your door,— take no-
tice of that man: fee what difquieting,
intriguing, and (hifting, he is content
to go through, merely to be thought
a man of plain-dealing: — three grains
of honefty would fave him all this trou-
ble alas! he has them not. — —

Behold a fecond, under a mow of
piety hiding the impunities of a de-
bauched life: he is juft entering

the houfe of God: would he was

more pure — or lefs pious: — but then
he could not gain his point.

Obferve a third going on almoft in
the fame track, with what an in-
flexible fanctity of deportment he fuf-.
D 3

38 SERMON II.

tains himfelf as he advances: — every'

line in his face writes abftinence;

every ftride looks lilce a check upon
his defires: fee, I befeech you, how he
is cloak'd up with fermons, prayers,
and facraments; and fo bemuffled
with the externals of religion, that he
has not a hand to fpare for a worldly
purpofe; — he has armour at leaft —
Why does he put it on ? Is there no
fervins; GOD without all this ? Mud

+*->

the garb of religion be extended fq
wide to the danger of its rending ?—
Yes truly, or it will not hide the fe-
cret and, What is that?

-That the faint has no religion

at all.

— But here comes GENEROSITY 5'
giving not to a decayed artifl— < —

SERMCTN II. 39

but to the arts and fciences themfelves.
— See, — he builds not a chamber in the
watt apart for the prophet \ but whole
fchools and colleges for thofe who
come after. LORD! how they will

magnify his name ! 'tis in capitals

already; the firft — the higheft, in the
gilded rent-roll of every hofpital and

afylum

One honeft tear (bed in private I ^ "
over the unfortunate, is worth it all.

"What a problematic fet of creatures
does fimulation make us ! Who would
divine, that all that anxiety and con-
cern, fo vifible in the airs of one half of
that great affembly, mould arife from
nothing elfe, but that the other half
of it may think them to be men of
confequence, penetration, parts, and
D4

40 SERMON II.

conduct? — What a noife amongft the
claimants about it? Behold Humility,

out of mere pride, and honefty,

almoft out of knavery: Cbaftity^

never once in harm's way, — and cou-
rage, like a Spanifli foldier upon an
Italian ftage — a bladder full of wind. — -

Hark ! that, the found of that

trumpet, let not my foldier run,

——'tis fome good Chriftian giving
/ alms. O, PITY, thou gentleft of hu-
man paffions ! foft and tender are thy
notes, and ill accord they with fo loud
an inftrument.

Thus fomething jars, and will-for
ever jar in thefe cafes : impofture is
all diflbnance, let what matter foever
of it undertake the part; let him har-
monize and modulate it as he may,

SERMON II. 41

one tone will contradict another ;,and
whilft we have ears to hear, we fhall
diftinguifh it: 'tis truth only which is
confident and ever in harmony with
itfelf: it fits upon our lips, like the
natural notes of fome melodies, ready
to drop out, whether we will or no ;
- — —it racks no invention to let our-
felves alone, and needs fear no cri-
tick, to have the fame excellency in
the heart which appe.ars.-in the action.

It is a pleafingallufionthe fcripture
makes ufe of in calling us fometimes
a houfe, and fometimes a temple, ac-
cording to the more or lefs exalted
qualities of the fpiritual gueft which is
lodged within us: whether this is the
precife ground of the diftinction, I will
not affirm: but thus much may be

42 SERMON II.

faid, that, if we are to be temples,
'tis truth and finglenefs of heart which
muft make the dedication: 'tis this
which muft firft diftinguifh them from
the unhallowed pile, where dirty tricks
and impofitions are praftifed by the
hoft upon the traveller, who tarries but
for a moment, and returns not again.
"VVe all take notice, how clofe and
referved people are ; but we do not
take notice, at the fame time, that
every one may have fomething to con-
ceal, as well as ourfelves; and that
we are only marking the diftances,
and taking themeafurescf felf-defence
from each other, in the very inftances
we complain of: this is fo true, that
there is fcarce any character fo rare,
as a man of real open and generous

SERMON IT. 43

integrity, who carries his heart in

his hand, who fays the thing he

thinks, and does the thing he pre-
tends. Tho' no one can difl;ke the
charadler, — yet, Difcretion generally
fhakes her head, — and the world foon
lets him into the reafcn.

" 0 that I had in tie wildernefs a
" lodging of wayfaring men ! that I
" might leave fuch a people* and go
" from them" Where is the man \
of a nice fenfe of truth and itrong i
feelings, from whom the duplicity ofy
the world has not at one time or other
wrung the fame wifh ; and where lies
the wildernefs to which fome one has
not fled, from the fame melancholy
impjulfe?

Thus much for thofe' who give oo-
cafion to be thought ill of; let us

44 SERMON II.

fay a word or two unto thofe who
take it.

But to avoid all common-place -
cant as much as I can on this head,
— —I will forbear to fay, becaufe Z

do not think it, that 'tis a breach

ofChriflian charity to think or fpeak
evil of our neighbour, &c.

We cannot avoid it: -our opi-
nions muft follow the evidence; and
we are perpetually in fuch engage-
ments and fituations, that 'tis our du-
ties to fpeak what our opinions are —
but GOD forbid that this ever mould
be done, but from its beft motive —
the fenfe of what is due to virtue,
governed by difcretion and the utmoft
fellow feeling: were we to go on other-
wife, beginning with the great broad

SERMON II. 45

cloak of hypocrify, and fo down
through all its little trimmings and
facings, tearing away without mercy

all that look'd feemly, we fhould

leave but a tatter*d world of it.

But I confine what I have to fay to
a character lefs equivocal, and which
takes up too much room in the world:
it is that of thofe, who from a gene-
ral diftruft of all that looks difin-
terefled, finding nothing to blame in
an action, and perhaps much to ad-
mire in it, — immediately fall foul
upon its motives: Does Job ferve God
for nought? What a vile infinuation!
Befides, the queflion was not, whe-
ther Job was a rich man or a poor
man? — but, whether he was a man of
integrity or no? and the appearances

46 ' SERMON II.

were ftrong on his fide: indeed it
might have been otherwife; it was
poflible Job might be infmcere, and
the devil took the advantage of the
die for it.

It is a bad pi&ure, and done by a
terrible matter, and yet we are always
copying it. Does a man from real
convi&ion of heart forfake his vices?

the pofition is not to be allowed,

r no ; his vices have forfaken him.

Does a pure virgin fear Goo and

fay her prayers? fhe is in her

climaclerick.

Does humanity clothe and educate

the unknown orphan?- Poverty!

thou haft no genealogies : See! is

he not the father of the child ? Thus
do we rob heroes of the beft part of

SERMON II. 47

their glory — their virtue. Take away
the motive of the act, you take away
all that is worth having in it; — wreft
it to ungenerous ends, you load the
virtuous man who did it with infa-
my;— undo it all — I befeech you :

give him baek his honour, reftore

the jewel you have taken from him —
replace him in the eye of the world —

it is too late.

It is painful to utter the reproaches

which mould come in here. 1 will

truft them with yourfelves: in coming
from that quarter, they will more na-
turally produce fuch fruits as will not

fet your teeth on edge for they

will be the fruits of love and good-
will, to the praife of GOD and the hap-
pinefs of the world, which I wilh.

4

SERMON III.

The LEVITE and his CONCUBINE.

JUDGES xix. i, 2$ 3.

And it came to pafs in thofe days> when

there was no king in Ifrael, that there

was a certain Levitefojourning on the

fide of mount Ephraimy who took unto

him a concubine.

CONCUBINE! — but

the text accounts for it,
for in thofe days there was no king in If-
rael, and the Levite, you will fay,
like every other man in it, did what

was right in his own eyes, and fo,

you may add, did his concubine too —
VOL. III. E

5o SERMON III.

for Jhe played tie whore againft him,
and went away. >

• Then fliame and grief go with

her, and wherever fhe feeks a fhelter,
may the hand of juftice fhut the door
againft her.

Not fo ; for (he went unto her fa-
ther's houfe in Bethlehem-judah, and
was with him four whole months.

Blefied interval for meditation

upon the ficklenefs and vanity of this
world and its pleasures ! I fee the
holy man upon his knees,— with
hands comprefied to his bofom, and
with uplifted eyes, thanking heaven,
that the object which had fo long
fhared his affections, was fled. — —

The text gives a different picture
of his fituation -, for be arofs and went

SERMON III. 51

after her to fpeak friendly to her, and to
bring her back again, having his fer-
want with him, and a couple of affes ;
andjhe brought him unto her father's
houfe •, and when the father of the dam-
felfaw him, he rejoiced to meet him. —

—A moft fentimental group! \
you'll fay : and fo it is, my good com-
mentator, the world talks of every
thing : give but the outlines of a fto-

ry, let Spleen or Prudery fnatchthe

pencil, and they will finifh it with fo
many hard ftrokes, and with fo dirty
a colouring, that Candour and Courtefy
will fit in torture as they look at it.—
Gentle and virtuous fpirits! ye who
know not what it is to be rigid in-
terpreters, but of your own failings,
• "to you I addrefs myfelf, the un-
E 2

52 . SERMON HI.

hired acivocates for the conduct of
the mifguided — —Whence is it, that
the world is not more jealous of
your office? How often mud ye re-
peat it, " That fuch a one's doing fo
or fo" — is not fufficient evidence by
itfelf to overthrow the accufed ? That
our actions ftand furrounded with a
thoufand circumftances which do not
prefent themfelves at firft fight; — that
the firft fprings and motives which
impell'd the unfortunate, lie deeper

ft ill; and, that of the millions

which every hour are arraign'd, thou-
fands of them may have err'd merely
from tfye bead, and been actually out-
witted into evil; and even when from

the heart, that the difficulties and

temptations under which they acted,

SERMON III; 53

the force of the pafiions, -the

fuitablenefs of the object, and the
many ftruggles of virtue before me

fell, may be fo many appeals

from juftice to the judgment-feat of ''
pity.

Here then let us flop a moment,
and give the Itory of the Levite and
his Concubine a fecond hearing : like
all others, much of it depends upon
the telling-, and as the Scripture has
left us no kind of comment upon it,
'tis a ftory on which the heart cannot
be at a lofs for what to fay, or the

imagination for what to fuppofe

the danger is, humanity may fay too
much. ,

And it came to pafs in thofe days,
when there was no king in Ifrael, that

54 SERMON III.

a certain Levite fojourning on the Jide
of mount Ephraim, took unto himfelf a
Concubine. •

O Abraham, thou father of the

faithful ! if this was wrong, Why

didft thou fet fo enfnaring an example
before the eyes of thy tdefcendants ?
and, Why did the GOD of Abraham,
the GOD of Ifaac and Jacob, blefs fo
often the feed of fuch intercourfes,
and promife to multiply and make
princes come out of them ?

GOD can difpenfe with his own
laws ; and accordingly we find the
holieft of the patriarchs, and others
in Scripture whofe hearts cleaved mod
unto GOD, accommodating themfelves
as well as they could to the difpen-
fation : that Abraham had Hagar 5—

SERMON III. 55

that Jacob, befides his two wives,
Rachael and Leah, took alfo unto
him Zilpah and Bilhah, from .whom
many of the tribes defcended: — that
David had feven wives and ten con-
cubines;— Rehoboam, fixty; and

that, in whatever cafes it became re-
proachable, it feemed not fo much
the thing itfelf, as the abufe of it,
which made it fo : this was remark-
able in that of Solomon, whofe ex-
cefs became an infult upon the privi-
leges of mankind ; for by the fame
plan of luxury, which made it ne-
ceflary to have forty thoufand flails
of horfes, — he had unfortunately mif-
calculated his other wants, and fo had
feven hundred wives, and three hun-
dred concubines.

E4

56 SERMON III.

Wife deluded man ! was it not

that thou madeft fome amends for
thy bad practice, by thy good preach-
ing, what had become of thee!

three hundred but -let us turn

alide, I befeech you, from fo fad 3
ft umbling- block.

The Levite had but one. The
Hebrew word imports a woman a
concubine, or a wife a concubine, to
diftinguifh her from the more infa-
mous fpecies, who came under the
roofs of the licentious without prin-
ciple. - Our annotators tell us, that in
Jewifh ceconomickS) thefe differ'd little
from the wife, except in fome out-
ward ceremonies and ftipulations, but
agreed with her in all the true eflences
of marriage, and gave themfelves up

SERMON III. 57

to the hufband (for fo he is call'd)
with faith plighted, with fentimehtSj
and with affeftion.

Such a one the Levite wanted to
fhare his fblitude, and fill up that
uncomfortable blank in the heart in
fuch a fituation; for notwithftanding
all we meet with in books, in many
of which, no doubt, there are a good
many handfome things faid upon the
fweets of retirement, &c. ... yet ftill
" // is not good for man to be alone :"
nor can all which the cold-hearted pe-
dant duns our ears with upon the
fubjec"b, ever give one anfwer of fatif-
fadion to the mind; in the midft of
the loudeft vauntings of philofophy,
Nature will have her yearnings for fo-
ciety and friendfhip-, —-a good heart

58 SERMON III.

wants fome object to be kind to

and the beft parts of our blood, and
the pureft of our fpirits, fuffer moft
under the deftitution.

Let the torpid Monk feek heaven

comfortlefs and alone. GOD fpeed

him! For my own part, I fear, I
fhould never fo find the way: let me

be wife and religious but let me

be MAN : wherever thy Providence
places me, or whatever be the road I

take to get to thee give me fome

companion in my journey, be it only
to remark to, How our madows
lengthen as the fun goes down ;— —
to whom I may fay, How frem is the
face of nature! How fweet the flowers
of the field ! How delicious are thefe
fruits!

SERMON III. 59

Alas! with bicter herbs, like his
pafibver, did the Levite eat them :
for as they thus walked the path of
life together, — fhe wantonly turn'4
afide unto another, and fled from
him.

It is the mild and quiet 1ialf of the
world, who are generally outraged
and borne down by the other half of
it : but in this they have the advan-
tage j whatever be the fenfe of their
wrongs, that pride ftandsnot fo watch-
ful a centinel over their forgivenefs,
as it does in the breads of the fierce
and froward : we mould all of us, I
believe, be more forgiving than we
are, would the world but give us
leave ; but it is apt to interpofe its ill
offices in remifllons, efpecially of this

60 SERMON III.

kind: the truth is, it has its laws,1 to
\Xwhich the heart is not always a party-,
and a6ls fo like an unfeeling engine
in all cafes without diftinftion, that
it requires all the firmnefs of the moft
fettled humanity to bear up againfl it.

, Many a bitter conflict would the
Levite have to fuftain with himfelf —

his Concubine and the fentiments

of his tribe, upon the wrong done

him: -much matter for pleading

• — and many an embarraffing account
on all fides: in a period of four whole
months, every pafilon would take its
empire by turns ; and in the ebbs and
flows of the lefs unfriendly ones,
v' PITY would find fome moments td
be heard- — -RELIGION herfelf would
not be filent,— — CHARITY would

SERMON III. 61

have much to fay,— and thus attun'd,
every object he beheld on the borders

of mount Ephraim, every grot

and grove he pafs'd by, would folicit
the recollection of former kindnefs*
and awaken an advocate in her behalf
more powerful than them all.

<c I grant 1 grant it all," — he

would cry,- — " 'tis foul! 'tis faith-

« lefs! but, Why is the door of;

" mercy to be (hut for eyer againft it ?
" and, Why is it to be the only fad
" crime that the injured may not re-
" mit, or reafon or imagination pafs

4C over without a fear? Is it the

" blackeft? In what catalogue of hu-
*' man offences is it fo marked? or,
" Is it, that of all others 'tis a blow
" mod grievous to be endured ?— —

62 SERMON III.

" the heart cries out, It is fo : but let
" me aik my own, What" pafTions are
" they which give edge and force to
" this weapon which has ftruck me ?
" and, Whether it is not my own
" pride, as much as my virtues, which
" at this moment excite the greateft
" part of that intolerable anguifh
" in the wound which I am laying
" to her charge? But, merciful hea-
" ven ! was it otherwife, why is an
" unhappy creature of thine to be
" perfecuted by me with fo much
" cruel revenge and rancorous defpite
" as my firft tranfport called for?

" Have faults no extenuations?

" Makes it nothing, that when the
" trefpafs was committed, me forfook
" the partner of her guilt, and fled
3

SERMON III. 63

" directly to her father's houfe ? And
" is there no difference betwixt one
" propenfely going out of the road
" and continuing there, thro* depra-

" vity of will and a haplefs wan-

" derer ftraying by delufion, and wa-
<c rily treading back her fteps ?
" Sweet is the look of forrow for an
" offence, in a heart determined ne-

" ver to commit it more! Upon

" that altar only could I offer up my
" wrongs. Cruel is the punimment
" which an ingenuous mind will take
" upon itfelf, from the remorfe of fo

" hard a trefpafs againft me, and

" if that will not balance the account,

" • juft GOD! let me forgive the

" reft. Mercy well becomes the heart

" of all thy creatures, but moft

" of thy fervant, a Levite, who of-

64 SERMON III.

*' fers up To many daily facrifices to
" thee, for the tranfgreffions of thy
" people. •

— " But to little purpofe, he would
" add, have I ferved at thy altar,

I" where my bufmefs was to fue for
mercy, had I not learn'd to prac-
« tife it."

Peace and happinefs reft upon the
head and heart of every man who can
thus think!

So be arafe, and went after her, to
f peak friendly to her — in the original —

" to fpeak to her heart;". to ap*

ply to their former endearments, — and
to afk, How (he could be fo unkind
to him, and fo very unkind to her-

SERMON III. 6$

< Even the upbraidings of the

quiet and relenting are fweet: not
like the ftrivings of the fierce and in-
exorable, who bite and devour all who
have thwarted them in their way;—
, but they are calm and courteous, like
the fpirit which watches over their
character : How cou'd fuch a temper
woo the damfel, and not bring her
back ? or, How could the father of
the damfel, in fuch a fcene, have a
heart open to any imprefiions but

thofe mentioned in the text; — -

That when he faw him he rejoiced to

meet him ; urged his ftay from day

to day, with that moft irrefiftible of
all invitations, — u Comfort thy hearfy
and tarry all night , and let thine heart
be merry."

VOL. III. F I

66 SERMON III.

If Mercy and Truth thus met to-
gether in fettling this account, Love
would furely be of the party : great —
great is its power in cementing what
has been broken, and wiping out
wrongs even from the memory itfelf :

and fo it was for the Levite arofe

up, and with him his Concubine and
his fervant, and they departed.

It ferves no purpofe to-purfue the
flory further ; the cataftrophe is hor-
rid, and would lead us beyond the
particular purpofe for which I have
enlarged upon thus much of it, — and
that is, to difcredit rafli judgment,
and illuftrate, from the manner of
conducting this drama, the courtefy
which the dramatis perfon* of every
other piece may have a right to. Al-

SERMON III. 67
moft one half of our time is fpent in
telling and hearing evil of one another
— fome unfortunate knight is always
upon the ftage — —and every hour
brings forth fomething flrange and
terrible to fill up our difcourfe and
our aftonifhment, <e How people can
be fo foolim!"— and 'tis well if the
compliment ends there ; fo that there
is not a focial virtue for which there
is fo conftant a demand,-^-or, confe-
quently, fo well worth cultivating, as
that which oppofes this unfriendly
current — -many and rapid are the
fprings which feed it, and various and
fudden, GOD knows, are the gufts
which render it unfafc to us in this
fliort paflage of our life : let us make
the difcourfe as ferviceable as we can,
F 2

68 SERMON III.

by tracing fome of the moft remark-
able of them up to their fource.

And, firft, there is one miferable in-
let to this evil, and which, by the way,
if fpeculation is fuppofed to precede
practice, may have been derived, for
aught I know, from fome of our bu-
fieft inquirers after nature, — and that
is, when with more zeal than know-
ledge we account for phenomena, be-
fore we are fare of their exiftence.—
// is not the manner of the Romans to
condemn any man to death (much lefs

to be martyr'd), faid Feftus; and

doth our law judge any man before it
hear him^ and know what he doth ;
cried Nicodemusj and he that anpwer-
etby or determineth, a matter before he
has heard itt - • it is folly and ajhame
4

III. 69

unto him. We are generally in fuch
a hafte to make our own decrees, that
we pafs over the juftice of thefe,
and then the fcene is fo changed by it,
that Vis our folly only which is real,
and that of the accufed, which is
imaginary: through too much preci-
pitancy it will happen fo ; and then
the jeft is fpoil'd, — or we have criti-
cifed our own ihadow.

A fecond way is, when the procefs
goes on more orderly, and we begin

with getting information, but do

it from thofe fufpected evidences,
againft which our SAVIOUR warns us,
when he bids us " not to judge at- '

cording to appearance:" in truth,

'tis behind thefe that mod of the
things which blind human judgment

F 3

70 SERMON III.

lie concealed, and, on the con-
trary, there are many things which

appear to be, which are not :— —

Cbrifl came eating and drinking- — be-
hold a wine -bibber ! he fat with tin-
ners——-!^ was their friend: in

many cafes of which kind, Truth, like
a modeft matron, fcorns art — and dif-
dains to prefs herfelf forwards into

the circle to be feen : ground fuf-

ficient for Suffidon to draw up the
libel, for Malice to give the tor-
ture,— or ra(h Judgment to ftart up and
pals a final fentence.

A third way is, when the fads
which denote mifconduc"b are lefs dif-
putable, but are commented upon with
ai^afperity of cenfure, which a hu-
mane or a gracious temper would

SERMON III. 71
fpare: an abhorrence againft what is
criminal, is fo fair a plea for this, and
looks fo like virtue in the face, that in
a fermon againft rafh judgment, h
would be unfeafonable to call it in
quertion,— and yet, I declare, in the
fulled torrent of exclamations which
the guilty can deferve, that the fimple
apoftrophe, " who made me to differ ?
why was not I an example?" would
touch my heart more, and give me a
better earneft of the commentators, —
than the mod corrofive period you
could add. The punifhment of the
unhappy, I fear, is enough without
it and were it not, 'tis pite-
ous, the tongue of a Chriftian, whofe
religion is all candour and courtefy,
mould be made the executioner. We

72 SERMON III.
find in the difcourfe between Abra-
ham and the rich man, tho' the one
was in heaven, and the other in hell,
yet ftill the patriarch treated him with
mild language : — Son! — Son, remember
thatthouintby lifetime, &c. &c. — and
in the difpute about the body of Mofes,
between the Archangel and the devil
(himfelf), St. Jude tells us, he durft
not bring a railing accufation againft
him-, — 'twas unworthy his high cha-
racter, and, indeed, might have

been impolitick too; for if he had
(as one of our divines notes upon the
paflage), the devil had been too hard

for him at railing, 'twas his own

weapon, and the bafeft fpirits, af-
ter his example, are the moft expert

at it.

SERMON III. 73

This leads me to the obfervation of
a fourth cruel inlet to this evil, and
that is, the define of being thought
men of wit and parts, and the vain
expectation of coming honeftly by the
title, by fhrewd and farcaftit reflec-
tions upon whatever is done in the
world. This is fetting up trade upon
the broken flock of other people's
failings, — perhaps their misfortunes :

fo, much good may't do them

with what honour they can get, — —
the furtheft extent of which, I thinki
is, to be praifed, as we do fome fauces,
with tears in our eyes: It is a commerce
moft illiberal j and as it requires no
vail capital, too many embark in it,
and fo long as there are bad paffions to
be gratified, — and bad heads to judge,

74 SERMON IIL

with fuch it may pafs for wit,oratleaft,
like fome vile relation, whom all the
family is afliamed of, claim kindred
with it, even in better companies.
Whatever be the degree of its affinity,
it has helped to give wit a bad name,
as if the main eflence of it was fatire :
certainly there is a difference between
Eitternefs and Saltnefs, — that is, •
between the malignity and the fefti-

vity of wit, the one is a mere

quicknefsofapprehenfion, void of hu-
manity,— and is a talent of the devil-,
the other comes down from the Father
of Spirits, fo pure and abftracted from
perfons,that willingly it hurts no man;
or if it touches upon an indecorum,
'tis with that dexterity of true gg?
nius, which enables him rather to

SERMON III. 75
give a new colour to the abfurdity,

and let it pals. He may fmile at

the fhape of the obelilk raifed to ano-
ther's fame, but the malignant

wit will level it at once with the
ground, and build his own upon the
ruins of it.

What then, ye raflj cenfurers of the
World ! Have ye no manfions for your
credit, but thoje from whence ye have
extruded the right owners ? Are there
no regions for you to fhine in, that
ye defcend for it into the low caverns
of abufe and crimination ? Have ye

no feats but thofe of the fcornful

to fit down in ? If Honour has miftook
his road, or the Virtues^ in their ex-
ceffes, have approached too near the
confines of VICE, are they therefore

76 SERMON III.

to be caft down the precipice? Muft
BEAUTY for ever be trampled upon

in the dirt for one one falfe flep?

And fhall no one virtue or good qua-
lity, out of the thoufand the fair pe-
nitent may have left, fhall not

one of them be fuffered to Hand by
her ? . Juft GOD of Heaven and
Earth!

•But thou art merciful, loving,
and righteous, and looked down with
pity upon thefe wrongs thy fervants
do unto each other : pardon us, we
befeech thee, for them, and all our
tranfgreflions ; let it not be remem-
ber'd, that we were brethren of the
fame flefli, the fame feelings and in-
firmities.— O my GOD ! write it not
down in thy book, that thou madeft

SERMON III. 77

us merciful after thy own image;

that thou haft given us a religion fo
courteous,— fo goodtemper'd,— —
that every precept of it carries a balm
along with it to heal the forenefs of }
our natures, and fweeten our fpirits,
that we might live with fuch kind in-
tercourfe in this world, as will fit us
to exift together in a better.

SERMON IV.

FELIX'S Behaviour towards PAUL,
examined.

ACTS xxiv. 26.

He hoped alfo^ thai money Jhould have
been given him of Paul, that he might
loofe him.

NOBLE object to take up
the confideration of the Ro-
man governor !

" He hoped, that money Jhould
kave been given him /"——For w*hat
end? to enable him to judge betwixt
right and wrong!' -and. From
•whence was it to be wrung? from
the poor fcrip of a difeiple of the
carpenter's fon, who left nothing to

2

80 SERMON IV. .

his followers but poverty and fuf-

ferings.

And was this Felix! the great,

the noble Felix! Felix the happy!

the gallant Felix, who kept Dru-

filla! Could he do this? bafe

/ paflion! What canft thou not make
( us do ?

Let us confider the whole tranfao
tion.

Paul, in the beginning of this chap-
ter, had been accufed before Felix,

by TertulluSjKfcf very grievous crimes,

> ji?

— — of being a peftilent fellow a

mover of feditions, and a profaner

of the temple, &c. To which ac-

cufacions, the apoftle haying liberty
from Felix to reply, he makes his
defence from the loth to the 22d

SERMON IV. 81

verfe to this purport. He fhews him,
firft, that the whole charge was defti-
tutc of all proof; which he openly
challenges them to produce againtb

him, if they had it; that, on the

contrary, he was fo far from being
the man Tertullus had reprefented,
that the very principles of the re-
ligion with which he then flood

charged, and which they called

Herefy, led him to be the moft unex-
ceptionable in his condufr, by the
continual exercife which it demanded
of him, of having a confcience void
of offence at all times, both towards
GOD and man; that confiftently with
this, his adverfaries had neither found
him in the temple difputing with any
man, neither raifing up the people,
VOL. III. G

82 SERMON IV.

neither in the fynagogue, or in the

city, for this he appeals to them-

felves : that it was but twelve days

fince he came up to Jerufalem for to

worfhip: that, during that time,

when he purified in the temple, he
did it as became him, without noife,
without tumult: this he calls upon the
Jews who came from Afia, and were
eye-witneffes of his behaviour, to at-

teft; and, in a word, he urges the

whole defence before Felix in fo ftrono-

o

a manner, and with fuch plain and
natural arguments of his innocence,
as to leave no colour for his adverfa-
ries to reply.

•

There was, however, flill one ad-

verfary in this court, tho* filent,

yet not fatisfkd. — -••

SERiMON IV. 83

— Spare thy eloquence, Tertullus I

roll up the charge: a more notable

orator than thyfelf is rifen up, 'tis

AVARICE, and that too in the moft
fatal place for the prifoner it could

have taken pofleflion of, 'tis in the

heart of the man who judges him.

If Felix believed Paul innocent, and
a<5led accordingly, — (that is) releafed

him without reward, this fubtile

advocate told him he would lofe one
of the profits of his employment —
and if he acknowledged the faith of
CHRIST, which Paul occafionally ex-
plained in his defence, it told him,

he might lofe the employment itfelf ;
fo that notwithftanding the cha-
racter of the apoftle appeared (as it
was) moft fpotlefs, and the faith he
G 2

84 SERMON IV.

profeffed fo very clear, that as he
urged it, the heart gave its consent,
— yet, at the fame time, the paffions
rebell'd, and fo ftrong an intereft was
formed thereby, againft the firft im-
preffions in favour of the man and
his caufe, that both were difmifTed ;
the one to a more convenient
hearing, which never came •, the other
to the hardfhips of a prifon for two

whole years, hoping, as the text

informs us, that money fhould have
been given him j and even at the lad,
when he left the province, willing to
do the Jews a pleafure, — that is, — to
ferve his intereft in another fhape, with
all the conviction upon his mind, that
he had done nothing worthy of bonds,
he, neverthelefs, left the holy man
5

SERMON IV. 85

bound, and configned over to the
hopelefs profpect of ending his days in
the fame ftate of confinement in which
he had ungeneroufly left him.

One would imagine, as covetouf-
nefs is a vice not naturally cruel in it-
felf, that there muft certainly have
been a mixture of other motives in
the governor's breaft, to account for
a proceeding fo contrary to humanity
and his own conviction ; and could it
be of ufe to raife conjectures upon it,
there feems but too probable grounds
for fuch a fuppofuion. It feems that
Drufilla, whofe curiofity,upon a double
account, had led her to hear Paul, —
(for fhe was a daughter of Abraham
as well as of Eve) was a cha-
racter which might have figured very
well even in our own times; for, as

86* SERMON IV.

Jofephus tells us, (he had left the
Jew her hufband, and without any
pretence in their law to juftify a di-
vorce, had given herfelf up without
ceremony to Felix; for which caufe,
though fhe is here called his wife, (he
was, in reafon and juftice, the wife of
\ another man, — and confequently lived
I in an open ftate of adultery. So that
when Paul, in explaining the faith of
CHRIST, took occafion to argue uport

the morality of the gofpel, and

urged the eternal laws of juftice^ —
thejjncJTan^eable obligations tojem-
perance, of which chaflity^w^sabr-aflch,

it was fcarce poflible to frame

his difcourfe fo (had he wifhed to
temporize), but that either her intereft
or her love mud have taken offence ;

SERMON IV. 87

and though we do not read, like Felix,
that (he trembled at the account, 'tis
yet natural to imagine (he was affect-
ed with other pafiions, of which the

apoftle might feel the effects and

'twas well he fuffered no more, if two
fuch violent enemies as luftand avarice
were combined againft him.

But this by the way,— -for as the
text feems only to acknowledge one
of thefe motives, it is not our bufmefs
to affign the other.

It is obfervable, that this fame
apoftle, fpeaking, in hisepiftle to Ti-
mothy, of the ill effects of this fame
ruling paffion, affirms, that it is the l-**
root of all evil; and I make no doubt
but the remembrance of his own fuf-
ferings had no fmall (hare in the fe*
G4

88 SERMON IV.

verity of the reflexion. Infinite

are the examples, where the love of
money is only afubordinate and mini-
flerial pafilon, exercifed for the fup-
port of fome other vices ; and 'tis ge-
nerally found, when there is either
ambition, prodigality, or luft, to be
fed by it, that it then rages with the
leaft mercy and difcretion ; in which
afes, flric~lly fpeaking, it is not the
root of other evils, — but other evils
are the root of it.

This forces me to recal what I have
faid upon covetoufnefs, as a vice not
naturally cruel: it is not apt to re-
prefent itfelf to our imaginations, at
firft fight, under that idea; we confi-
der it only as a mean, worthlefs turn of
mind, incapable of judging or doing

SERMON IV. 89

what is right: but as it is a vice which
does not always fet up for itfelf, — to
know truly what it is in this refpect,
we muft know what matters it ferves ;
they are many, and of various

cads and humours, and each one

lends it fomething of its own cotn-
plexional tint and character.

This, I fuppofe, may be the caufe
that there is a greater and more whim-
fical myftery in the love of money,
than in the darkeft and moft nonfen-
fical problem that ever was pored on.

Even at the beft, and when the
paffion feems to feek nothing more

than its own amufement, there is

little very little, I fear, to be faid

for its humanity. It may be a

fport to the mifer, — —but confider,

9<* SERMON IV.

— - — it muft be death and deftru&ion-
to others The moment this for-
did humour begins to govern — —
farewell all honeft and natural affec-
tion ! farewell all he owes to parents,

to children, to friends! how faft

the obligations vanim! fee he is

now ftripped of all feelings whatever:

• the fhrill cry of juftice,- and

the low lamentation of humble di-
ftrefs, are notes equally beyond his
compafs. — —Eternal GOD! fee! — he
pafies by one whom thou haft juft
bruifed, without one penfive reflec-
tion: he enters the cabin of the

widow whofe hufband and child thou

haft taken to thyfelf, exadls the

bond, without a figh ! — Heaven ! if I
am to be tempted, let it be by

SERMON IV, 91
by feme

generous and manly vice: — if I muft
fall, let it be by fome paffion which
thou haft planted in my nature which,
(hall not harden my heart, but leave
me room at lad to retreat and come
back to thee.

It would be eafy here to add the
common arguments which reafon of-
fers againft this vice; but they are fa
well underftood, both in matter and-
form, -- it is needlefs.

I might cite to you what .Seneca-
fays upon it — —but the misfortune is,
that at the fame time he was writing
againft riches, he was enjoying a great,
eftate, and ufing every means to make
that eftate ftill greater.

With infinite pleafure might a
preacher enrich his difcourfe in this,

92 SERMON IV.

place, by weaving into it all the fmart
things which ancient or modern wits
have faid upon the love of money :
— he might inform you,

" That Poverty wants fome-

" thing that covetoufnefs want-

" eth all."

" That a mifer can only be faid to
" have riches, as a fick man has a
" fever, which holds and tyrannizes
" over the man, not he over it."

*' That covetoufnefs is the fhirt of
" the foul,- — the lafl vice it parts
" with."

" That nature is content with few
" things, or that nature is never
" fatisfied at all, &c."

The reflection of our SAVIOUR,
That the life of man confifteth not in the
abundance of the things which he

SERMON IV. 93

~ fpeaks more to the heart, —
and the fingle hint of the Camel, and
what a very narrow paflage he has to

go, has more coercion in it, than

all the fee-faws of philofophy.

I fhall endeavour therefore to draw
fuch other reflections from this piece
of facred hiftory, as are. applicable to

human life, and more likely to be

of ufe.

There is nothing generally in which
our happinefs and honour are more
nearly concerned, than in forming true
notions both of men and things; for
in proportion as we think rightly of
them, we approve ourfelves to the
world, — and as we govern ourfelves
by fuch judgments, fo we fecure our
peace and well- being in palling through

94 SERMON IV.
it : the falfe fteps and mifcarriages in
life, Hilling from a defe<5t in this ca-
pital point, are fo many and fatal,
that there can be nothing more in-
ftructive than an enquiry into the
caufes of this perverfion, which often
appears fo very grofs in us, that were
you to take a view of the world,
fee what notions it entertains, and by
what confiderations it is governed,—
you would fay of the miftakes of hu-
man judgment, what the prophet does
of the folly of human actions, ---
" tflat we were wife to do evil, hit
** to judge rightly ) had no underftand-

«

That in many dark and abftracted
queftions of mere fpeculation, 'we
fhould err — — is not ftrange: we live
6

SERMON IV. 95

among myfteries and riddles, and
almoft every thing which comes in
our way, in one light or other, may
be faid to baffle our underftandings,

yet feldom, fo as to miftake in,

extremities, and take one contrary for
another; — 'tis very rare, for inftance*
that we take the virtue of a plant to
be hot, when it is extremely cold,- —
or, that we try the experiment of opi-
um to keep us waking : — —yet, this
we are continually attempting in the
conduct of life, as well as in the
great ends and meafures of it. That
fuch wrong determinations in us do
not arife from any defect of judgment
inevitably mifleading us — would re-
flect dishonour upon GOD; as if he
had made and fent men into the world-

96 SERMON IV.
on purpofe to play the fool. His all*
bountiful hand made his judgment,
like his heart, upright; and the in-
ftances of his fagacity, in other things,
' abundantly confirm it : we are led
therefore in courfe to a fuppofition,
that, in allinconfiftent inftances, there
is a^j^ej^bia^Jbjpebowj3iLJ)ther,
hung upon the mind, which turns it
afide from reafon and truth.

What this is, if we do not care to
fearch for it in ourfelves, we fhall
find it regiftered in this tranfa&ion of
Felix: and we may depend that in
all wrong judgments whatever, in fuch
plain cafes as this, that the fame ex-
planation muft be given of it, which

is given in the text, namely, that

it is fome felfilh confideration—

SERMON IV. 97

fome fecret dirty engagement with
fome little appetite, which does us fo
much difhonour.

The judgments of the more difin-
tereftecTancl impartial of us, receive
no fmall tihfture from our affections:
We generally confult them in all
doubtful pointSj and it happens well
if the matter in queftion is not almoft
fettled before the arbitrator is called
into the debate *— but in the more
flagrant inftances, where the paflions
govern the whole man, *tis melan-
choly to fee the office to which reafpnJ
the great ^pfwogative of his nature,
isjtduced; ferving the lower appe-
tites in the diftioneft drudgery of find-
ing out arguments tojuftify the pre-
fent puffuit.

VOL. III. H

98 SERMON IV.

To judge rightly of our own worth,
we mould retire a little from the

world to fee all its pleafures and

pains too, in their proper fize and di-

menfions-, this, no doubt, was the

reafon, St. Paul, when he intended to
convert Felix, began his difcourfe
upon the day of judgment, on pur-
pofe to take the heart off from this
world and its pleafures, which dif-
honour the underftanding fo as to turn
the wifeft of men into fools and chil-
dren.

If you enlarge your obfervations
upon this plan, you will find where
the evil lies which has fupportedthofe
defperate opinions, which have fo long
divided the Chriftian world— and
are likely to divide it for ever.

2

SERMON IV. 99

Confider popery well ; you will be
convinced, that the trueft definition

which can be given of it, is, That

it is a pecuniary fyftem, well con-
trived to operate upon men's pafiions
and weaknefs, whilft their pockets are
o'picking : run through all the points
of difference between us, — and when
you fee, that in every one of them,
they ferve the fame end which Felix
had in view, either of money or
power; there is little room left to
doubt whence the cloud arifes which
is fpread over the underftanding.
. If this reafoning is conclufive with
regard to thofe who merely differ

from us in religion, let us try if

it will not hold good with regard to

thofe who have none at all, — or ra-

H 2

ioo SERMON IV.

ther, who affeft to treat all perfuafions
of it, with ridicule alike. Thanks
to good fenfe, good manners, and a
more enlarged knowledge, this hu-
mour is going down, and feems to
be fettling at prefent, chiefly amongft
the inferior claffes of people——
where it is likely to reft: as for the
ioweft ranks, though they are apt
enough to follow the modes of their
betters, yet are not likely to be ftruck '
with this one, of making merry with
that which is their confolation j they
are too ferious a fet of poor people
ever heartily to enter into it.—

There is enough, however, of it in
the world to fay, that this all facred
fyftem, which holds the world in har-
mony and peace, is too often the firft
8

SERMON IV. joi
object that the giddy and inconfide-
rate make choice of to try the temper
of their wits upon. Now, of the
numbers who make this experiment,
— do you believe that one in a thou-

fand does it from conviction, or

from arguments which a courfe of

ftudy, much cool reafoning,-^— —

and a fober inquiry into antiquity,
and the true merits of the queftion,

has furnifh'd him with ? The years

and way of life of the mod forward
of thefe, lead us to a different expla-
nation.

Religion, which lays fo many re-
ftraints upon us, is a troublefome
companion to thofe who will lay no

reftramts upon themfelves; and

for this reafon there is nothing more

102 SERMON IV.

common to be obferved, than that
the little arguments and cavils, which
fuch men have gathered up againft it,
in the early part of their lives, — how
considerable foever they may have ap-
peared, when viewed through their
pafiions and prejudices, which give an

unnatural turn to all objects, yet,

when the edge of appetite has been
worn down, and the heat of the pur-

fuit pretty well over, and reafon

and judgment have got pofiefilon of
their empire «

They feldom fail of bringing

the loft ftieep back to his fold.

May Goobringus all there. Amen.

SERMON V.

The PRODIGAL SON.

LUKE xv. 13:

And not many days after ^ the younger fon
gathered all he had together , and took
his journey into a far country*—*

I KNOW not whether the remark
is to our honour or otherwife, that
leffonsofwifdom have never fuch power
over us, as when they are wrought
into the heart, through the ground-
work of a ftory which engages the
paflions : Is it that we are like iron,
and muft firft be heated before we can
be wrought upon? or, Is the heart
fo in love with deceit, that where a
true report will not reach it, we mud

H4

104 SERMON V,

cheat it with a fable, in order to come
at truth ?

Whether this parable of the prodi-
gal (for fo it is ufually called) is

really fuch, or built upon fome ftory
known at that time in Jerufalem, is
not much to the purpofe; it is given
us to enlarge upon, and turn to the
beft moral account we can.

<«-A certain man, fays our SAVIOUR,
" had two fons, and the younger of
" them faid to his father, Give me
" the portion of goods which falls
" to me: and he divided unto them
" his fubftance. And not many days
" after, the younger fon gathered all
" together, and took his journey into
" a far country, and there wafted his
* ' fubftance with riotous living."

SERMON V. 105

The account is fhort: the intereft-
ing and pathetic paflages with which
fuch a tranfadion would be neceflarily
connected, are left to be fupplied by

the heart: thetfory is filent

but nature is not: much kind ad-
vice, and many a tender expoftulation,
would fall from the father's lips, no
doubt, upon this occafiori.

He would difluade his fon from the
folly of fo rafti an enterprife, by {hew-
ing him the dangers of the journey,

the inexperience of his age,— -

the hazards his life, his fortune, his
virtue would run, without a guide,
without a friend: he would tell him
of the many fnares and temptations
which he had to avoid, or encounter
at every flep, the pleafures which

io6 SERMON V.

would folicit him in every luxurious
court, — the little knowledge he could
gain — except that of evil : he would
fpcak of the feduftions of women, —

their charms their poifons:—

what haplefs indulgences he might
give way to, when far from reftraint,
and the check of giving his father
pain.

The difluafive would but inflame
his define. .

He gathers all together. •

I fee the picture of his de-
parture— the camels and afTes loaden
with his fubftance, detached on one
fide of the piece, and already on their

way: the prodigal fon Handing

on the fore- ground with a forced fe-
datenefs, itruggling againft the flut-

SERMON V. 107

tcring movement of joy, upon his

deliverance from reftraint : the

elder brother holding his hand, as if

unwilling to let it go: the father

fad moment! with a firm look,

covering a prophetic fentiment, " that
all would not go well with his child,"
— approaching to embrace him, and
bid him adieu. — —Poor inconfiderate
youth! from whofe arms art thou
flying? From what a (belter art thou
going forth into the ftorm ? Art thou
•weary of a father's affection, of a
father's care ? or, Hoped thou to find
a warmer intereft, a truer counfellor,
or a kinder friend in a land of ftran-
gers, where youth is made a prey,
and fo many thoufands are confede-
rated to deceive them, and live by
their fpoils ?

io8 SERMON V.

We will feck no farther than this
idea, for the extravagancies by which
the prodigal fon added one unhappy
example to the number: his fortune

wafted the followers of it fled in

courfe, the wants of nature re-
main, the hand of GOD gone forth

againft him, " for when be had

f'pent all) a mighty famine arofe in thai
country" — Heaven! have pity upon
the youth, for he is in hunger and

diftrefs ftray'd out of the reach

of at parent, who counts every hour

of his abfence with anguifh, cut

off from all his tender offices, by his
folly, — and from relief and charity
from others, by the calamity of the
times.

SERMON V. 109

Nothing fo powerfully calls home
the mind as diftrefs : the tenfe fibre

then relaxes, the foul retires to

itfelf, fits penfive and fufceptible

of right imprefiions : if we have a
friend, 'tis then we think of him j if
a benefactor, at that moment all his

kindnefies prefs upon our mind.

Gracious and bountiful GOD! Is ic
not for this that they who in their
profperity forget thee, do yet re-
member and return to thee in the
hour of their forfow ? When our heart
is in heavinefs, upon whom can we
think but thee, who knoweft our ne-
ceflities afar off, — puttefl all our tears
in thy bottle,— — feeft every careful
thought,-— heareft every figh and me-
lancholy groan we utter?-*—

no SERMON V.

Strange! — that we mould only begin
to think of GOD with comfort, — when
with joy and comfort we can think of
nothing elfe.

Man furely is a compound of rid-
dles and contradictions : by the law of
his nature he. avoids pain, and yet
unlefs he fuffers in the fejh, he will not
ceafe from fin* though it is fure to
bring pain and mifery upon his head
for ever.

Whilft all went pleafurably on with
the prodigal, we hear not one word
concerning his father — —no pang of
remorfe for the fufferings in which he
had left him, or refolution of return-
ing, to make up the account of -his
folly: his firft hour of diftrefs feem'd

SERMON V. in

to be his firft hour of wifdom :-

When he came to himfelf, he faid, How
many hired fervants of my father have
bread enough and to /pare, whilft I
perijh! — —

Of all the terrors of nature, that
of one day or another dying by hun-
ger, is the greateft, and it is wifely
vrove into our frame to awaken man
to induftry, and call forth his talents;
and though we feem to go on care-
lefsly, fporting with it as we do with

other terrors, yet he that fees this

enemy fairly, and in his moft frightful
fhape, will need no long remonftrance
to make him turn out of the way to
avoid him.

It was the cafe of the prodigal—
he arofe to go to his father.

SERMON V.

Alas! How fhall he tell his

ftory ? Ye who have trod this roundj
tell me in what words he fhall giv6
in to his father, the fad Items of his
extravagance and folly?

— - The feafts and banquets which
he gave to whole cities in the eaft,— »

the cofts of Afiatick rarities, and

of Afiatick cooks to drefs them,—. — •
the expences of tinging men and fing^
ing women,— the flute, the harp,
the fackbut, and of all kinds of mu-
fick — the drefs of the Perfian courts*
how magnificent! their flaves how

numerous! their chariots* their

horfes, their palaces, their furniture,
what immenfe fums they had de-
voured ! -— ^what expectations from

SERMON V.

flrangers of condition! what exactions!

How fhair the youth make his fa-
ther comprehend, that he was cheated
at Damafcus by one of the bed men in
the world; — that he had lent a part of
his fubftance to a friend at Nineveh j
who had fled off with it to the Ganges ;
— that a whore of Babylon had fwal-
lowed his beft pearl, and anointed the
\vholecity with the balm of Gilead; —
that he had been fold by a man of ho-
nour for twenty fhekels of filver, to a
worker in graven images; — .-that
the images he had purchafed had pro-
fited him nothing;— that they could
not be tranfported acrofs the wildcr-
nefs, and had been burnt with fire at
Shufan ; — that the * apes and pea-
* Vide 2 Chronicles 5x. 21.

VOL. III. I

u4 SERMON V.

cocks, which he had fent for from
Tharfis, lay dead upon his hands j and
that the mummies had not been dead
long enough, which had been brought
him out of Egypt:— that all had
gone wrong fince the day he forfook
his father's houfe.

Leave the ftory, *-it will be

told more concifely. When he was

yet afar off, bis father faw himy -

Compafiion told it in three words—
he fell upon his neck and tiffed him.

Great is the power of eloquence;
but never is it fo great as when it
pleads along with nature, and the cul-
prit is a child ftrayed from his duty,
and returned to it again with tears:
Cafuifts may fettle the point as they
will : But what could a parent fee

I

SERMON V. it5

more in the account, than the natural
one, of an ingenuous heart too open
for the world, — fmitten with ftrong
fenfations of pleafures, and fuffered to
fally forth unarm'd into the midft of
enemies ftronger than himfelf ?

Generofity forrows as much for the
overmatched, as Pity herfelf does.

The idea of a fon fo ruin'd, would
double the father's carefles : every ef-
fufion of his tendernefs would add
bitternefs to his fon's remorfe.
" Gracious Heaven! what a father
have I rendered miferable !"

And Toe faid, I have finned again/I
Heaven, and in thy fight, and am no
more worthy to lie called thy fon.

But the father faid^ Bring forth the
bejl robe.'*

I 2

n6 SERMON V.

O ye affections! How fondly do
you play at crofs-purpofes with each

other! 'Tis the natural dialogue

of true tranfport: joy is not niethodi-
cal; and where an offender, beloved,

overcharges itfelf in the offence,

words are too cold; and a conciliated
heart replies by tokens of efteem.

And he faid unto his fervants, Bring
forth the beft robe, and put it on him: and
put a ring on his hand, and Jhoes on his
feet, and bring Uther the fatted calfy
and let us eat and drink and be merry.

When the affections fo kindly break
loofe, Joy is another name for Re-
ligion.

We look up as we tafte it: the^cojd
.Stoick without, when he hears the
dancing and the mufick, may afk

SERMON V. 117

fullenly (with the elder brother),
What it means ? and refufe to enter :
but the humane and compaffionate all
fly impetuoufly to the banquet, given
for a fon who was dead and is alive
again — who was loft and is found.
Gentle Ipirits light up the pavilion
with a facred fire; and parental love
and filial piety lead in the mafic with

riot and wild feftivity! Was it

not for this that GOD gave man mu-
fick to ftrike upon the kindly paf-
fions-, that nature taught the feet to
dance to its movements, and, as chief
governefs of the feaft, poured forth
wine into the goblet, to crown it with
gladnefs ?

The intention of this parable is fo
clear from the occafion of it, that it

13

ii8 SERMON V.
will not be necefiary to perplex it
with any tedious explanation : it was
defigned by way of indirect remon-
ftrance to the Scribes and Pharifees,
who animadverted upon • our SAVI-
OUR'S conduct, for entering fo freely
into conferences with fmners, in or-
der to reclaim them. To that end,
he propofes the parable of the fhep-
herd, who left his ninety and nine
fheep that were fafe in the fold, to go
and feek for one Iheep that was gone
aftray, — telling them in other places,
that they who were whole wanted
not a phyfician, — but they that were
fick: and here, to carry on the fame
leflbn, and to prove how acceptable
fuch a recovery was to GOD, he
relates this account of the prodi-

SERMON V. 119

gal fon and his welcome recep-
tion.

I know not whether it would be
a fubjcct of much edification to con-
vince you here, that our SAVIOUR,
by the prodigal fon, particularly
pointed at thofe who were finners of
the Gentiles^ and were recovered by
divine Grace to repentance j — —and
that by the elder brother, he intended
as manifeftly the more froward of the
Jews, who en vied their converfion,and
thought it a kind of wrong to their
primogeniture, in being made fellow-
.heirs withthemofth,epromifesof GOD.

Thefe ufes have been fo ably fet
forth, in fo many good fermons upon
the prodigal fqn, that I (hall turn afide
from them at prefent, and content

14

120 SERMON V.

myfelf with fome reflections upon that

fatal pafiion which led him, and

fo many thoufands after the example,

to gather all he had together, and take
his journey Into a far country.

The love of variety, or curiofity of
feeing new things, which is the fame,

or arteaft a fitter paflion to it,

feems wove into the frame of every
fon and daughter of Adam ; we ufu-
ally fpeak of it as one of nature's le-
vities, tho* planted within us for the
folid purpofes of carrying forwards
the mind to frefh inquiry and know-
ledge: ftrip us of it, the mind (I
fear) would doze for ever over the
prefent age-, and we mould all of us
reft at eafe with fuch objects as pre-
fented themfelves in the parifh or

SERMON V. 121
province where we firft drew our
breath.

It is to this fpur which is ever in
our fides, that we owe the impatience
of this defire for travelling : the

paflion is no way bad, but as

others are, -in its mifmanage-

ment or excefs ; order it rightly,

the advantages are worth the purfuit;

the chief of which are to learn

the languages, the laws and cuftoms,
and underftand the government and
intereft of other nations, to ac-
quire an urbanity and confidence of
behaviour, and fit the mind more
eafily for converfation and difcourfe

to take us out of the company

of our aunts and grandmothers, and
from the track of nurfery miftakes i

122 SERMON V.

and by (hewing us new objects, or

old ones in new lights, to reform our

judgments by tafting perpetually

the varieties of nature, to know what

is good by obferving the addrefs

and arts of men, to conceive what

is fincere^— and by feeing the differ'

ence of fo many various humours and

manners, to look into ourfelves

and form our own.

This is fome part of the cargo we
might return with; but the impulfe
of feeing new fights, augmented with
that of getting clear from all leflbns
both of wisdom and reproof at home

carries our youth too early out,

to turn this venture to much account;
on the contrary, if the fcene painted
of the prodigal in his travels, looks

SERMON V. 123

more like a copy than an original, — .
will it not be well if fuch an adven-
turer, with fo unpromifing a fetting
q^jt, — without carter— without com-

pafs, be not caft away for ever,—

and may he not be faid to efcape well
• • if he returns to his country, only
as naked as he firft left it ?

But you will fend an able pilot with
your fon a fcholar. •

If wifdom can fpeak in no other
language but Greek or Latin, — • — you

do well or if mathematioks will

make a man a gentleman, or .na-
tural philofophy but teach him to

make a bow, he may be of fome

fervice in introducing your fon into
good focieties, and fupporting him in
them when he has done— — • but the

124 SERMON V.
upfhot will be generally this, that in
the mcft preflmg occafions of addrefs
if he is a mere man of reading,
the unhappy youth will have the tutor
to carry, — and not the tutor to carry
him.

But you will avoid this extreme; he
fliall be efcorted by one who knows
the world, not merely from books —

but from his own experience: a

man who has been employed on fuch
fervices, and thrice made the tour of
Europe^ with fuccefs.

That is, without breaking his

own, or his pupil's neck: for if

he is fuch as my eyes have feen !
fome broken Swifs valet de chamlre^-^
fome general undertaker, who will
perform the journey in fo many months

SERMON V. 125
" IF GOD PERMIT," — much know-
ledge will not accrue; fome pro-
fit at leaft, — ne will learn the amount
to a halfpenny, of every ftage from
Calais to Rome; he will be car-
ried to the beft inns, inftructed

where there is the beft wine, and fup
a livre cheaper, than if the youth had
been left to make the tour and the
bargain himfelf. — Look at our go-
vernor! I befeech you: fee, he is

an inch taller, as he relates the ad-
vantages.

And here endeth his pride-^

his knowledge, and his ufe.

But when your fon gets abroad, he
will be taken out of his hand, by his
fociety with men of rank and letters,

126 SERMON V.

with whom he will pafs the greateft

part of his time.

Let me obferve, in the firft place,
—that company which is really good,
is very rare,— and very my: butyou
have furmounted this difficulty, and
procured him the beft letters of re-
commendation to the moft eminent
and refpeclable in every capital.

And I anfwer, that he will obtain
all by them, which courtefy ftrictly
ftands obliged to pay on fuch occa-
fions, — but no more.

There is nothing in which we are
fo much deceived, as in the advan-
tages propofed from our connexions
and difcourfe with the literati, &c. in
foreign parts; efpecially if the expe-

SERMON V. 127

rimentis made before we are matured
By years or ftudy.

Conversation is a traffick; and if
you enter into it, without fome flock 1
of knowledge, to balance the ao''
count perpetually betwixt you, — the
trade drops at once: and this is the

reafon, however it may be boafted

to the contrary, why travellers have
fo little (efpecially good) converfation

•with natives, owing to their fuf-

picion, — or perhaps conviction, that
there is nothing to be extracted from
the converfation of young itinerants,
worth the trouble of their bad lan-
guage, or the interruption of their

vifits.

The pain on thefe occafions is ufu-
ally reciprocal i the confequence of

ift8 SERMON V;

which is, that the difappointed youth
feeks an eafier fociety; and as bad
company is always ready — and ever
lying in wait, — the career is foon fi-
nimed; and the poor prodigal returns
the fame object of pity, with the pro-
digal in the gofpel.

SERMON VI.

National Mercies confidered.

[On the Inauguration of his prefent Majefly.]

DEUTERONOMY, vi. 20, 21.

An d when thy fon ajketh thee in time to
come, faying, What mean the tefti-
monies, andtheftatutes, and the judg-
ments, which the Lord our God hath
commanded you? then thou Jhalt fay
unto thy fon, We were Pharaoh's
londfmen in Egypt, and the Lord
brought us out of Egypt with a mighty
hand.

THESE are the words which
Mofcs left as a (landing an-
fwer for the children of Ifrael to give
their pofterity, who in time to come
VOL. III. K

SERMON VI.

might become ignorant, or unmindful
of the many and great mercies, which
GOD had vouchfafed to their forefa-
thers: all which had terminated in
that one of their deliverance out of
bondage.

Though they were directed to fpeak
in this manner, each man to his fon,
yet one cannot fuppofe, that the direc-
tion mould be neceflary for the next
generation, — for the children of thofe
who had been eye witnefles of GOD'S
Providences: it does not feem likely
that any of them mould arrive to that
age of reafoning, which would put
them upon afking the fuppofed quef-
tion, and not be, long before-hand,
inftruded in the anfwer. Every pa-
rent would tell his child the hardmips

SERMON VI. 131

of his captivity, and the amazing par-
ticulars of his deliverance: the (lory
was fo uncommon, fo full of won-
der, and withal, the recital of it

would ever be a matter of fuch tranf-
port, it could not pofllbly be kept a

fecret: the piety and gratitude of

one generation, would anticipate the
curiofity of another; — their fons would
learn the flory with their language.

This probably might be the cafe
with the firft or fecond race of people,
but in procefs of time, things might
take a different turn : a long and un-
difturbed pofieflion of their liberties,
might blunt the fenfe of thofe provi-
dences of GOD, which had procured
them, and fet the remembrance of all
his mercies at too great a diftance
K 2

i32 SERMON VI.

from their hearts. After they had
for fome years been eafed of every real
burden, an excefs of freedom might
make them reftlefs under every ima-
ginary one, and amongft others that
of their religion; from thence they
might fee occafion to inquire into
the foundation and fitnefs of its ce-
remonies, its flatutes, and its judg-
ments.

They might afk, What meant fo
many commands in matters which to
them appeared indifferent in their own
natures? What policy in ordaining
them? and, What obligation could
there lay on reafonable creatures, to
comply with a multitude of fuch un-
accountable injunctions, fo unworthy
the wifdom of God ?

5

SERMON VI. 133

Hereafter, poffibly, they might go
further lengths; and though their na-
tural bent was generally towards fu-
perilition, yet fome adventurers, as is
ever the cafe, might fleer for the
oppofite coaft, and as they advanced
might difcover that all religions, of
what denominations or complexions
foever, were alike. That the Reli-
gion of their own country in particular,
was a contrivance of the Priefts and
LeviteSj — a phantom dreffed out in
a terrifying garb of their own making,

to keep weak minds in fear: that

its rites and ceremonies, and number-
lefs injunctions, were fo many diffe-
rent wheels in the fame political en-
gine, put in, no doubt, to amufe the
ignorant, and keep them in fuch a

134 SERMON VI.

ftate of darknefs, as clerical juggling
requires.

That as for the moral part of it,
though it was unexceptionable in itfelf,

yet it was a piece of intelligence

they did not Hand in want of; men
had natural reafon always to have

found it out, and wifdom to

have praftifed it, without Mofes's
afli (lance.

Nay, poflibly, in procefs of time,
they might arrive at greater improve-
ments in religious controverfy •

when they had given their fyftem of
infidelity all. the ftrength it could ad-
mit of from reafon, they might be-
gin to embellifh it with fome more
fprightly conceits and turns of ridi-
cule.

SERMON VI. 1 315

Some wanton Ifraelite,when he had
eaten and was full, might give free
fcope and indulgence to this talent ;
as arguments and fober reafoning
fail'd, he might turn the edge of his
wit againft types and fymbois, and
treat all the myfteries of his religion,
and every thing that could be faid
upon fo ferious a fubject, with raillery
and mirth: he might give vent to a
world of pleafantry upon many facred
pafTages of his law : he might banter
the golden calf, or the brazen ferpent,

with greatcourage, and confound

himfelf in the diflincYions of clean and
unclean beads, by thedefperate fallies
of his wit againft them.

Hecould but poffibly take one ftep
further: when the land which flowed
K 4

136 SERMON VI.

with milk and honey, had quite worn
out the impreffions of his yoke, and
bleflings began to multiply upon his
hands, he might draw this curious
conclufion, that there was no Being
who was the author and beftower of

them, but that it was their own

arm, and the mightinefs of Ifraelitifh
ftrength, which had put them, and
kept them, in pofieflion of fo much
happinefs.— i

O Mofes ! How would thy meek and
patient fpirit have been put to the tor-
ture by fuch a return ! If a propenfity
towards fuperftition in the Ifraelites,
did once betray thee into an excefs
of anger, that thou threweft the two
tables out of thy hands, which GOD
had wrote, and carelefsly hazarded'ft

SERMON VI. 137

the whole treafure of the world,

with what indignation and honeft an-

0

guirti wonldft thou have heard the
fcoffings of thofe who denied the hand
which brought them forth, and faid,
Who is GOD, that we fhould obey his
voice? With what force and vivacity
wouldft thou have reproached them
with the hiftory of their own nation :
that if too free an enjoyment of
GOD'S bleffings, had made them for-
get to look backwards, it was ne-

cefTary to remind them, that their fore-
fathers were Pharaoh's bondfmen in E-
gypt, without profpect of deliverance j
that the chains of their captivity had
been fixed and rivetted by a fucceffion
of four hundred and thirty years,
.without the interruption of one drug-

138 SERMON VI.

gle for their liberty : that after the
expiration of that hopelefs period,
when no natural means favoured the
event, they were fnatched, almofl
againft their own wills, out of the
hands of their oppreffbrs, and led
through an ocean of dangers, to the
pofleffion of a land of plenty : that
this change in their affairs was not
the produce of chance or fortune,—
or was it projected or executed by any
achievement or plan of human de-
vice, which might foon again be de-
feated by fuperior flrength or policy
from without, or from force or ac-
cidents from within, from change of
circumftances, humours, and paffions
of men, all which generally had a
fway in the rife and fall of kingdoms,

SERMON VI. 139

but that all was brought about
by the power and goodnefs of GOD,
who faw and pitied the afflictions of a
diftreffed people, and by a chain of
great and mighty deliverances, fet
them free from the yoke of oppref-
fion.

That fince that miraculous efcape,
a feries offucceflesnotto be accounted
for by fecond caufes, and the natural
courfe of events, had demonftrated
not only GOD'S providence in gene-
ral, but his particular providence and

attachment to them that nations

greater and mightier than they, were
driven out before them, and their lands
given to them for an everlafting pof-
feflion.—

j4o SERMON VI.

This was what they mould teach
their children, and their children's chil-
dren after them. Happy genera-
tions, for whom fo joyful a leflbn was
prepared! happy indeed! had ye at
all times known to have made the ufe
of it, which Mofes continually ex-
horted, of drawing nigh unto God

with all your hearts, who had been fo
nigh unto you.

And here let us drop the argument,
as it refpects the Jews, and for a mo-
ment turn it towards ourfelves: the
prefent occafion, and the recolledion
which is natural upon it, of the many
other parts of this complicated blef-
fing vouchfafed to us, fince we be-
came a nation, making it hard to de-
fid from fuch an application. '

SERMON VI. 141

I begin with the firft in order of
time, as well as the greateft of national
deliverances, — our deliverance from
darknefs and idolatry, by the convey-
ance of the light which Chriflianity
brought with it into Britain, fo early
as in the life-time of the apoftlesthem-
felves, — or at furtheft,not many years
after their death.

Though this might feem a blefling
conveyed and offered to us in common
with other parts of the world, yet
when you reflect upon this as a remote
corner of the earth in refpect of Ju-

dea, its fituation and inacceflible-

nefs as an ifland, — the little that was
then known of navigation, or car-
ried on of commerce, the large

tract of land which to this day re-

142 SERMON VI.
mains unhallowed with the name of
CHRIST, and almoft in the neigh-
bourhood of where the firft glad tid-
ings of him were founded One

cannot but adore the goodnefsof GOD,
and remark a more particular provi-
dence in its conveyance and eftablifh-
ment here, than amongft other na-
tions upon the continent, where,

though the oppofitions from error and
prejudice were equal, it had not thefe
natural impediments to encounter.

Hiftorians and ftatefmen, who ge-
nerally fearch every where for the
caufes of events, but in the pleafure
of Him who difpofes of them, may
make different reflections upon this.
They may confider it as a matter in-
cidental, brought to pafs by the for-

SERMON VI. 143

tuitous ambition, fuccefs and fettle-
mentof the Romans here; it appear-
ing, that in Claudius's reign, when
Chriftianity began to get footing in
Rome, that near eighty thonfand of
that city and people were fixed in this
ifland: as this made a free communi-
cation betwixt the two places, the way
for the gofpel was in courfe open,
and its tranfition from the one to
the other, natural and eafy to be ac-
counted for, and yet,neverthelefs,

providential. God often fuffers us to
purfue the devices of our hearts,
whilft he turns the courfe of them,
like the rivers of waters, to bountiful
purpofes. Thus, he might make that
purfuit of glory inherent in the Ro-
mans, the engine to advance his own,

144 SERMON VI.

and eftablifli it here: he might make
the wickednefs of the earth to work
his own righteoufnefs,byfurTering them
to wander a while beyond their proper
bounds, till his purpofes were fulfilled,
and then put his hook into their nojlrih,
and lead thofe wild beafts of prey
back again into their own land.

Next to this bleffing of the light of
the gofpel, we muft not forget that
by which it was preferved from the
danger of being totally fmothered and
extinguimed, by that vaft fwarm of
barbarous nations, which came down
upon us from the north, and Ihook
the world like a tempeft ; changing
names and cuftoms, and language and
government, and almoft the very face
of nature, wherever they fixed. That

SERMON VI. 145

our religion fhould be preferved at all,
when every thing elfe feemed to pe-
rilh, which was capable of change,—
or, that it fhould not be hurt under
that mighty weight of ruins, beyond
the recovery of its former beauty

and ftrength, the whole can be

afcribed to no caufe fo likely as this,
That the fame power of GOD which
fent it forth, was prefent to fupport it
when the whole frame of other
things give way.

Next in degree to this mercy of
preferving Chriftianity from an utter
extinction— — we mud reckon that
of being enabled to preferve, and free
it from corruptions, which the ruft of

time, the abufes of men, and the

natural tendency of all things to de-

VOL. III. L

i46 SERMON VI.

generacy, which are trufted to them,
had from time to time introduced into it.
Since the day in which this refor-
mation was began, by how many
ftrange and critical turns has it been
perfected and handed down, if not

entirely without fpot or wrinkle, at

leaft, without great blotches or marks
of anility !

Even the blow which was fuffered
to fall upon it mortly after, in that
period where our hiftory looks fo un-
like herfelf, ftain'd, Mary, by thee,

and disfigured with blood: can

one reflect upon it, without adoring
the Providence of GOD, which fo fpee-
dily fnatchedthe fword of perfecution
out of her hand, — making her reign,
as fhort as it was mercilefs ?

SERMON VI. 147

If GOD then made us, as he did
the Ifraelites, fuck honey out of the
rock, and oil out of the flinty rock,
how much more fignal was his mercy
in giving them to us without money,
without price, in thofe good days
which followed, when a long and a
wife reign was as neceflary to build up
our church, as a fhort one was before
to fave it from ruins!

The blefilng was necefiary, —

and it was granted.

— GOD having multiplied the years
of that renowned princefs to an uncom-
mon number, giving her time, as well
as a heart, to fix a wavering perfe-
cuted people, and fettle them upon
fuch foundation as muft make them

happy j the touchftone, by which

L 2

i48 SERMON VI.

they are to be tried, whom GOD has
entrufted with the care of kingdoms.

Blefled be thy glorious name for
ever and ever, in making that teft fo
much eafier for the Britim, than other
princes of the earth ; whofe fubjecls,
whatever other changes they have felt,
have feldom happened upon that of
changing their mifery, and, it is to be
feared, are never likely, fo long as they
are kept fo ftrongly bound in chains
of darknefs, — and chains of power.

From both thefe kinds of evils, which
are almoft naturally connected toge-

• D

ther, How providential was our efcape
in the fucceeding reign, when all the
choice blood was befpoke, and prepa-
rations made to offer it up at one
facrifice!

SERMON VI. 149

I would not intermix the horrors of
that black-projected feftival, with the
glories of this: or name the forrows
of the next reign, which ended in the
fubverfion of our conflitution, was it
not necefTary to purfue the thread of
our deliverances through thofe times,
and remark how nigh GOD'S Provi-
dence was to us in them both, by pro-
tecting us from the one, in as fignal a
manner as he reftored us from the
other.

Indeed the latter of them might
have been a joylefs matter of remem-
brance to us at this day, had it not
been confirmed a bleffing by a fuc-
ceeding efcape, which fealed and con-
veyed it fafe down to us: whether it
was to correct an undue fenfe of for-
L3

150 SERMON VI.

mer blefiings, — or to teach us to re-
flect upon the number and value of
them, by threatening us with the de-
privation of them, — we were fufferecl,
however, to approach the edge of a
precipice, where, if GOD had not
raifed up a deliverer to lead us back,

all had been loft : the arts of

Jefuitry had decoyed us forwards, or
if that had failed, we had been pum'd
down by open force, and our deftruc-
tion had been inevitable.

The good confluences of that de-
liverance are fuch, that it feemed as
if GOD had fuffered our waters, like
thofe of Bethefda, to be troubled, to
make them afterwards more healing to
us-, fmce to the account of that day's
bleffing, we charge the enjoyment of

SERMON VI. 151

every thing fince, worth a free man's
Jiving for, the revival qf our li-
berty, our religion; the juft rights of

our kings, and the juft rights of

our people, and along with all,

that happy proyifion for their conti-
nuance, for which we are returning
thanks to GOD this day.

Let us do it, I befeech you, in the
way which becomes wife men, by pur-
fuing the intentions of his bleflings,
and making a better ufe of them than
our forefathers, who fometimes feem'd
to grow weary of their own happi-

nefs: let us rather thank GOD for

the good land which he has given us;

and when we begin to profper in it,

and have built goodly houfes, and

L 4

I52 SERMON VI.

dwelt therein, and when our filver

and our gold is multiplied, and all
that we have is multiplied, let the in-
flances of our^virtue and benevolence
be multiplied with them, that the
great and mighty GOD, who is right-
eous in all his ways, and holy in all his
works, may, in the laft day of ac-
counting with us, judge us worthy of
the mercies we have received.

Iii vain are days fet apart to cele-
brate fuccefsful occurrences, unlefs
they influence a nation's morals :•
a finful people can never be grateful

to GOD, nor can they, properly

Ijpeaking, be loyal to their prince-, —
they cannot be grateful to the one,-^-
becaufe they live not under a fenfe of

SERMON VI. 153

his mercies, nor can they be loyal

to the other, becaufe they difengage
the Providence of GOD from taking

his part, and then giving a heart

to his adverfaries to be intractable. —

And therefore, what was faid by

fome one, That every fin was a trea-

fon againft the foul, may be applied

here, That every wicked man is

a traitor to his king and his country.
, And, whatever ftatefmen may write of
the caufes of the rife and fall of na-
tions ; — for the contrary reafons, a
good man will ever be found to be the
beft patriot and the beft fubject: and
though an individual may fay, What
can my righteoufnefs profit a nation
of men? it may be anfwered, That if
it mould fail of a blefiing here,—

I54 SERMON VI.

it will have one advantage at lead,
which is this,

It will fave thy own foul; which
may GOD grant. Amen.

S E R iM O N VII.

The Hiftory of JACOB confidered.

GENESIS xlvii. 9.

And Jacob faid unto Pharaoh? the days
of the years of my pilgrimage are an
hundred and thirty years: few and
evil have the days of the years of my
life been.

THERE is not a man in hiflory,
whom I pity more than the man

who made this reply, not becaufe

his days were fhort, but that they

were long enough to have crowded
into them, fo much evil as we find.

Of all the patriarchs, he was the
moft unhappy : for, 'bating the feven

156 SERMON VII.

years he ferved Laban for Rachael,
" 'which feemed to him but a few days^

for the love he had to her" ftrike

thofe out of the number, all his

other days were forrow, and that,
not from his faults, but from the am-
bition, the violences, and evil paffions
of others. A large portion of what
man is born to, comes, you'll fay,
from the fame quarter: 'tis true; but
Hill, in fome men's lives, there feems

a contexture of mifery, one evil

fo rifes out of another, that the whole
plan and execution of the piece has
fo very melancholy an air, that a good-
natured man Qiall not be able to look
upon it, but with, tears on his cheeks.
I pity this patriarch dill the more,
becaufe from his firft fetting out in

SERMON VII. 157

life, he had been led into an expecta-
tion of fuch different fcenes : he was
told, by Ifaac his father, that Godjhou'd
blefs him 'with the dew of heaven^ and
the fatnefs of the earth^ and with •plenty

of corn and wine -, that people were

to ferve him^ and nations to bow down

to him ; that he Jhculd be lord over

his brethren-, that bleffed was every

one that bleffed him^ and curfed was
every one who curfed him.

The fimplicity of youth takes pro-
mifes of happinefs in the fulled latitude,
and as thefe were moreover con-
firmed to him by the GOD of his fa-
thers, on his way to Padan-aran,

it would leave no diftruft of their ac-

complifliment upon his mind ;

every fair and flattering objeft before
8

158 SERMON VII.

him, which wore the face of joy, he
would regard as a portion of his blef-

fing; he would purfue it, he

would grafp a fhadow.

This, by the way, makes it necef-
fary to fuppofe, that the bleflings
which were conveyed, had a view to
bleflings not altogether fuch as a car-
nal mind would expeft ; but that they
were in a great meafure fpiritual, and
fuch as the prophetic foul of Ifaac had
principally before him, in the com-
prehenfive idea of their future and
happy eftablifhment, when they were
no longer to be ftrangers and pil-
grims upon earth ; for in fact, in the
Uriel: and literal fenfe of his father's

grant, Jacob enjoyed it not; and

was fo far from being a happy man,

SERMON VII. 159
that in the moft interesting pafiages
Of his life, he met with nothing but
difappointments and grievous afflic-
tions.

Let us accompany him from the
firft treacherous hour of a mother's
ambition j in confequence of which,
he is driven forth from his country,
and the protection of his houfe, to
feek protection and an eftabliftiment

in the houfe of Laban his kinfman.

•

In what manner this anfwered his
expectations, we find from his own
pathetickremonftranceto Laban, when
he had purfued him feven days jour-
ney, and overtook him on mount

Gilead. 1 fee him in the door of

the tent, with the calm courage which

160 SERMON VII.
innocence gives the opprefled, thus
remonftratingto his father-in-law upon
the cruelty of his treatment.

Ihefe twenty years that I lave been

with thee thy ewes have not caft

their young, and the rams of thy flock,
have I not eaten. That which was
torn of beafts, I brought not unto thee,
I bare the lofs of it \ what was
ftolen by day, or Jtolen by night, of my
hands didft thou require it. Thus I
was: in the day the draught confumed
me, and the fr oft by night, and myjleep
departed from my eyes. Thus have I

been twenty years in thy houfe: /_

ferved thee fourteen years for thy two
daughters, and fix years for thy cattle ;.
and thou haft changed my wages ten
times.

SERMON VII.

Scarce had he recovered from thefe
evils, when the ill conduct and vices
of his children wound his foul to
death.—- — Ruben proves inctftuous,

Judah adulterous, — his daughter

Dinah isdifhonoured, Simeon and

Levi diihonour themfclves by treach-
ery,——two of his grandchildren are
ftricken with fudden death, — Rachael
his beloved wife perifhes, and in cir-
cumftances which embitter'd his lofs,
• his fon Jofeph, a moft promi-
fing youth, is torn from him, by the
envy of his brethren ; and, to clofe all,
himfelf driven by famine in his old
age to die amongft the Egyptians, a
people who held it an abomination
to eat bread with him. Unhappy
patriarch! well might he fay,

VOL. III. M

SERMON VII.

few and evil had been his days: the
anfwer, indeed, was extended beyond
the monarch's inquiry, which was

fimply his age ; but how could he

look back upon the days of his pil-
grimage, without thinking of the for-
TOWS which thofe days had brought
along with them? all that was more
in the anfwer than in the demand,
was the overflowings of a heart ready
to bleed afrefh at the recollection of
what had befallen.

Unwillingly does the mind digeft
the 'evils prepared for it by others; —
for thofe we prepare ourfelves, — we
eat but the fruit which we have planted
and watered: — a mattered fortune—
a mattered frame, fo we have but the
fatisfaftion of mattering them our-

3£RMON Vlt 163
fclves, pafs naturally enough into the
habit, and by the eafe with which they
are both done, they fave the fpefta-
tor a world of pity : but for thofe like
Jacob's, brought upon him by the
hands from which he looked for all
his comforts, the avarice of a pa-
rent, the unkindnefs of a relation,

— — the ingratitude of a child, • •

they are evils which leave a fear;

betides, as they hang over the heads
of all, and therefore may fall upon

any; every looker-on has an inte-

reft in the tragedy ; but then we

are apt to intereft ourfelves no other-
wife, than merely as the incidents
themfelves ftrike our paflions, with*
out carrying the lefTon further:
in a word— we realize nothing :— —
M2

i $4 SERMON VII.

we figh — we wipe away the tear,—
and there ends the ftory of mifery,
and the moral with it.

Let us try to do better with this.
To begin, with the bad bias which
gave the whole turn to the patriarch's
life, — —parental partiality or pa-
rental injuftice, it matters not by

what title it ftands diftinguilhed

'tis that, by which Rebekah planted
a dagger in Efau's breaft; and an
eternal terror with it, in her own, left
me mould live to be deprived of them
both in one day, — —and truft me,
dear Chriftians, wherever that equal
balance of kindnefs and love, which
children look up to you for as their
natural right, is no longer maintained
• — there will daggers ever be planted ;

SERMON VII. 165

ibefonjh&ll literally be fet at variance
againft bis father, and the daughter
againfl her mother ; and the daughter-in-
law againft her mother-in-law, — and a
man's foes Jb all be they of his own boufe-
hold.

It was an excellent ordinance, as
well of domeftic policy, as of equity,
which Mofes gave upon this head, in
the 2 1 ft of Deuteronomy.

If a man have two wives, one be-
loved and one bated, and they have born
him children, both the beloved and the
hated, and if the firft born fon be hers that
was bated, then it /hall be, when he maketh
his fons to inherit that which he hath,
that he may not make the fon of the be-
loved, firft born, before the fon of the
bated, which is indeed the firft born, —
M 3

i 66 SERMON VII.

but bejhall acknowledge the fon of tfa
bated fcr firft born, by giving him a
double portion of all that he hath. The

evil was well fenced againft for 'tis

>ne of thofe which fleals in upon the
heart with the affections, and courts
the parent under .fo fweet a form,
that thoufands have been betrayed by
the very virtues which fhould have
preferved them. Nature tells the pa-
rent, there can be no error on the fide

of affection ; but we forget, when

Nature pleads for one, (he pleads for
every child alike,— - — and, Why is
not her voice to be heard? Solomon
fays, Oppreffion will make a wife man

mad. What will it do] then to a

tender and ingenuous heart, which feels
jtfelf neglected, too full of reve*

SERMON VII. 167

rence for the author of its wrongs to

complain? fee, it fits down in

filence, robbed by difcouragements,
of all its natural powers to pleafe,—
born to fee others loaded with carefles

in fome uncheary corner it nou-

rilhes its difcontent, and with a .

weight upon its fpirits, which its
little ftock of fortitude is not able to

withltand, it droops, and pines

away. Sad Victim of Caprice!

We are unavoidably led here into a
reflection upon Jacob's conduct in re-
gard to his fon Jofeph, which no way
correfponded with the leffon of wif- ,
dom, which the miferies of his own
family might have taught him : furely
his eyes had feen forrow fufficient on
that fcore, to have taken warning:
M 4

i68 SERMON VII.

and yet we find, that he fell into the
fame fnare of partiality to that child
in his old age, which his mother Re-

bekah had ihewn to him, in hers,

for Ifrael loved Jofeph more than all his
children ; becaufe he was the fan of his
old age^ and he made him a coat of many
colours. > O Ifrael! where was that
prophetic fpirit which darted itfelf
into future times, and told each tribe

what was to be its fate ? Where

was it fled, that it could not aid thee
to look fo little a way forwards, as to
behold this coat of many colours, ftained
with blood? Why were the tender
emotions of a parent's anguifh hid

from thy eyes ? and, Why is every

thing? but that it pleafes heaven

to give us no more light in our way,

SERMON VII. 169

than will leave virtue in pofieflion of
its recompence.

Grant me, gracious GOD ! to

go cheerfully on, the road which thou

haft marked out; 1 wifli it neither

more wide or more fmooth: con-
tinue the light of this dim taper thou

haft put into my hands: 1 will

kneel upon the ground feven times a
day, to feek the beft track I can with
it — —and having done that, I will
truft myfelf and the iflue of my jour-
ney to thee, who art the fountain of
joy and will fing fongs of com-
fort as I go along.

Let us proceed to the fecond great

occurrence in the patriarch's life. •

The impofition of a wife upon him,
which he neither bargain'd for or

SERMON VII.

loved. And it came to pafs in the

morning, behold it was Leah ! and he
faid unto Laban, What is this that thou
haft done unto me ? Did Inotferve thee
for Racbael ? Wherefore then haft thou
beguiled me !

This indeed is out of the fyflem of

all conjugal impofitions now, but

the moral of it is ftill good ; and the
abufe with the fame complaint of Ja-
cob's upon it, will ever be repeated,
fo long as art and artifice are Ib bufy
as they are in thefe affairs.

Liften, I pray you, to the flories
of the difappointed in marriage:
colled all their complaints : — —hear
their mutual reproaches •, upon what
fatal hinge do the greateft part of
them turn? — " They were miftaken

SERMON VII. 171

in the perfon." — Some difguife either
of body or mind is feen through in

the firft domeftic fcuffle; fome

fair ornament perhaps the very

one which won the heart the or*

uament of a meek and quiet fpirit, falls

off; // is not the Rachaelfor whom

I have ferved, Why haft thou then

beguiled me ?

Be open be honeft: give your-

felf for what you are; conceal nothing

varniih nothing, and if theie

fair weapons will not do, better

not conquer at all, than conquer for
a day:— —when the night is pafTed,

'twill ever be the fame ftory, And

it came to pafs, beheld it was Leah !

If the heart beguiles itfclf in its
Choice, and imagination will give ex«

172 SERMON VII.

cellencies which are net the portion of

fiefli and blood: when the dream

is over, and we awake in the morn-
ing, it matters little whether 'tis Ra-
chel or Leah, be the object what

it will, as it muft be on the earthly
fide, at leaft, of perfection, — it will
fall fhort of the work of fancy, whole
exiftence is in the clouds.

In fuch cafes of deception, let not
man exclaim as Jacob does in his,—
What is it thou baft done unto me ,?— • —
for 'tis his own doings, and he has
nothing to lay his fault on, but the
heat and poetick indifcretion of his
own paffions.

I know not whether 'tis of any ufe
to take notice of this fingularity in the
patriarch's life, in regard to the wrong

SERMON VII. 173
he received from Laban, which was
the very wrong he had done before to
his father Ifaac, when the infirmities
of old age had difabled him from di-
ftinguifhing one child from another :
Art tkou my very fan Efau ? and he
faid, I am. JTis doubtful whether
Leah's veracity was put to the fame
teft, — but both fuffered from a fimi-
litude of ftratagem ; and 'tis hard to
fay, whether the anguifh, from crofs'd
love, in the bread of one brother,
might not be as fore a pnnimment, as
the difquietudes of crofs'd ambition
and revenge, in the bread of the
other.

I do not fee which way the honour
of Providence is concerned in repay-
ing us exactly in our own coin.

174 SERMON VII.
or, why a man fhould fall into that
very pit (and no other), which he
has graven and digged for another man :
time and chance may bring fuch inci-
dents about, and there wants nothing,
but that Jacob mould have been a bad
man, to have made this a common-
place text for fuch a doclrine.

It is enough for us, that the beft
way to efcape evil, is, in general, not

to commit it ourfelves and that

whenever the paffions of mankind will
order it otherwife, to rob thofe, at
leaft, who love judgment s, of the tri-
umph of finding it out, That our

travail has returned upon our heads> and
cur violent dealings upon our own pates.

I cannot conclude this difcourfe^
without returning firit to the part

SERMON VII. 175
with which it fet out-,— — the patri-
arch's account to the king of Egypt,
ofthefhortnefs and miferyof his days:
»— give me leave to bring this home
to us, by a fingle reflection upon
each.

There is fomething ftrange in it,
that life fhould appear fo (hort in th-e

grofs and yet fo long in the detail.

Mifery may make it fo, you'll fay— •

but we will exclude it,; and ilill

ypu'll find, though we all complain
of the fhortnefs of life, what numbers
there are who feem quite overftocked
with the days and hours of it, and are
continually fending out into the high-
ways and ftreets of the city, to compel
guefts to come in, and take it offtheir /
hands: to do this with ingenuity andy
4

176 SERMON VII.
forecaft, is not one of the leaft arts
and bufmefs of life itfelf; and' they
who cannot fucceed in it, carry as
many marks of diflrefs about them, as
bankruptcy herfelf could wear. Be as
carelefs as we may, we mall not al-
ways have the power, nor fhall

we always be in a temper to let the
account run thus. When the blood
is cool'd, and the fpirits, which have
hurried us on through half our days,
before we have numbered one of them,
are beginning to retire;— then wif-
dom will prefs a moment to be heard,
— afflictions or a bed of ficknefs will

find their hours of perfuafton -»

and mould they fail, — there is fome-

thing yet behind, old age will

overtake us at the laft, and with its

3

SERMON VII. 177

trembling hand hold np the glafs to
us, as it did unto the patriarch.

——Dear inconfiderate Chriftians!
wait not, I .befeech you, till then;—
take a view of your life now;
look back, behold this fair fpace ca-
pable of fuch heavenly improvements
—all fcrawl'dover and defaced with —
— — I want words to fay, with what
— — for I think only of the reflections
with which you are to fupport your-
felves, in the decline of a life fo mi*
ferably caft away, Ihould it happen,
as it often does, that ye have flood
idle unto the eleventh hour, and have
all the work of the day to perform
when night comes on, that no one can
work.

VOL. III. N

178 SERMON VII.

2dly. As to the evil of the days of

the years of our pilgrimage fpe-

culation and fact appear at variance
again. We agree with the patri-
arch, that the life of man is miferable ;
and yet the world looks happy enough
——and every thing tolerably at its
eafe. It muft be noted indeed, that
the patriarch, in this account, fpeaks
merely his prefent feelings, and feems
rather to be giving a hiftory of his
fufferings, than a fyftem of them, in
contradiction to that of the GOD of
Love. Look upon the world he has

given us, -obferve the riches and

plenty which flows in every channel,
not only to fatisfy the defires of the

temperate, ^but of the fanciful and

wanton— —every place is almoft a

2

SERMON VII. 179

paradife, planted when nature was in
her gayeft humour.

Every thing has two views.
Jacob, and Job, and Solomon, gave
one fedlion of the globe, — r-and this

reprefentation another: truth lieth

betwixt — or rather, good and evil are /
mixed up together; which of the two
preponderates, is beyond our inquiry;^

but, I truft — itisthegood:

fir ft, As it renHerTtKe Creator of the
world more dear and venerable to me;
and, fecondly, Becaufe I will not fup-
pofe,-> that a work intended to exalt
his glory, mould (land in want of
apologies.

Whatever is the proportion of mi-
fery in this world, it is certain, that it
can be no duty of religion to increafe
N 2

i8o SERMON VII.

the complaint, or to affect the

praife which the Jefuits* college of
Granado gave of their Sanchez^ — —
That tho' he lived where there was a
very fweet garden, yet was never feen
to touch a flower j and that he would
rather die than eat fait or pepper, or
aught that might give a reliih to his
meat.

I pity the men whofe natural plea-
fures are burdens, and who fly from
joy (as thefe fplenetic and morofe
fouls do), as if it was really an evil in
icfelf.

If there is an evil in this world, 'tis

forrow and heavinefs of heart.

The lofs of goods,— • — of health,

of coronets and mitres, are only evil,
as they occafion forrow;— — take that

SERMON VII. 181

out the reft is fancy, and dwelleth

only in the head of man.

Poor unfortunate creature that he
is! as if the caufes of anguifli in the

heart were not enow but he mult

fill up the meafure with thofe of ca-
price ; and not only walk in a vain

fhadow, but difquiet himfelf in

vain too.

We are a reftlefs fet of beings ; and
as we are likely to continue fo to the

end of the world, the beft we can

do in it, is to make the fame ufe of
this part of our character, which wife
men do of other bad propen Cities — —
when they find they cannot conquer
them they endeavour, at leaft, to,

divert them into good channels.
4

1 82 SERMON VII.

If therefore we muft be a felicitous
race of felf-tormentors, — let us drop
the common objects which make us
fo, — and for GOD'S fake be folicitous
only to live well.

END OF THE THIRD VOLUME.

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