fear, to be said for its humanity.-It may be a sport to the miser, but consider,-it must be death and destruction to others. -The moment this sordid humour begins to govern-farewell all honest and natural affection! farewell, all he owes to parents, to children, to friends!-how fast the obligations vanish! see-he is now stripped of all feelings whatever: the shrill cry of justice and the low lamentation of humble distress, are notes equally beyond his compass.- -Eternal God! see!-he passes by one whom thou hast just bruised, without one pensive reflection :-he enters the cabin of the widow whose husband and child thou hast taken to thyself,-exacts his bond, without a sigh !-Heaven! ií I am to be tempted-let it be by glory,-by ambition, by some generous and manly vice if I must fall, let it be by some passion which thou hast planted in my nature, which shall not harden my heart, but leave me room at last to retreat, and come back to thee! Sermon xix.

HUMILITY.

He that is little in his own eyes, is little too in his desires, and consequently moderate in his pursuit of them: like another man, he may fail in his attempts and lose

the point he aimed at;—but that is all,he loses not himself, he loses not his happiness and peace of mind with it:-even the contentions of the humble man are mild and placid.-Blessed characters! when such a one is thrust back, who does Lot pity him when he falls, who would not stretch out a hand to raise him up? Sermon xxv.

PATIENCE AND CONTENTMENT.

Patience and Contentment,-which, like the treasure hid in the field, for which a man sold all he had to purchase-is of that price that it cannot be had at too great a purchase, since without it the best condition in life cannot make us happy,-and with it, it is impossible we should be miserable even in the worst.

Sermon xv.

HUMILITY CONTRASTED: WITH PRIDE.

When we reflect upon the character of Humility, we are apt to think it stands the most naked and defenceless of all virtues whatever, the least able to support its claims against the insolent antagonist who seems ready to bear him down, and all opposition which such a temper can make.

Now, if we consider him as standing alone, no doubt, in such a case, he will

be overpowered and trampled upon by his opposer ;-but if we consider the meek and lowly man, as he is-fenced and guarded by the love, the friendship, and wishes of all mankind, that the other stands alone, hated, discountenanced, without one true friend or hearty well-wisher on his side:~~when this is balanced, we shall have reason to change our opinion, and be convinced that the humble man, strengthened with such an alliance, is far from being so overmatched as at first sight he may appear :nay, I believe one might venture to go further, and engage for it, that in all such cases where real fortitude and true personal courage were wanted, he is much more likely to give proof of it; and I would sooner look for it in such a temper than in that of his adversary. Pride may make a man violent, but Humility will make him firm and which of the two do you think likely to come off with honour?-he who acts from the changeable impulse of heated blood, and follows the uncertain motions of his pride and fury ;- —or the man who stands cool and collected in himself;-who governs his resentments, instead of being governed by them, and on every occasion acts upon the steady motives of principle and duty?

Sermon xxv.

With regard to the provocations and offences, which are unavoidably happening to a man in his commerce with the world,

-take it as a rule, as a man's pride is, -so is always his displeasure; as the opinion of himself rises,-so does the injury,so does, his resentment: 'tis this which gives edge and force to the instrument which has struck him,—and excites that heat in the wound which renders it incurable.

See how different the case is with the humble man: one half of these painful conflicts he actually escapes; the other part falls lightly on him he provokes no man by contempt; thrusts himself forward as the mark of no man's envy; so that he cuts off the first fretful occasions of the greatest part of these evils; and for those in which the passions of others would involve him, like the humble shrub in the valley, gently gives way, and scarce feels the injury of those stormy encounters which rend the proud cedar, and tear it up by its roots. Sermon xxv.

BEAUTY.

Beauty has so many charms, one knows not how to speak against it; and when it happens that a graceful figure is the habi

tation of a virtuous soul, when the beauty of the face speaks out the modesty and humility of the mind, and the justness of the proportion raises our thoughts up to the heart and wisdom of the great Creator, something may be allowed it, and something to the embellishments which set it off; and yet, when the whole apology is read, it will be found, at last, that Beauty, like Truth, never is so glorious as when it goes the plainest. Sermon xxiv.

WISDOM.

Lessons of wisdom have never such power over us, as when they are wrought into the heart through the ground-work of a story which engages the passions: is it that we are like iron, and must first be heated before we can be wrought upon? or, is the heart so in love with deceit, that where a true report will not reach it, we must cheat it with a fable, in order to come at the truth? Sermon xx.

HUNGER.

Of all the terrors of nature, that of one day or other dying by hunger, is the greatest; and it is wisely wove into our frame to awaken man to industry, and call forth his talents; and though we seem to go on