SERMON which few possess.

XV.

It has dealt more

graciously with us; and made happiness to depend on uprightness of intention, much more than on extent of capacity. For the most part, the first sentiment which strikes a good man, concerning what he ought or ought not to do, is the soundest, and suggests the best and wisest counsel. When he hesitates, and begins to deliberate how far his duty, or his honour, can be reconciled to what seems his interest, he is on the point of deviating into a dangerous path.- -At the same time, it is of great consequence, that he who seeks to surrender his conduct to the direction of integrity, should be well apprized of what true integrity requires. Let him guard against burdening conscience unnecessarily; lest a superstitious regard to trifles lead him to relax in matters of higher obligation. Let him avoid minute scrupulosity, on the one hand. Let him keep at a distance from loose casuistry, on the other. But when he is satisfied that his conscience has been well informed, let him, without wavering, adhere to its dictates in the whole of

XV.

his conduct. This will prove the truest SERMON wisdom both for this world and the next. For he who walketh uprightly, walketh surely. The path of the just is as the shining light : And it shall shine more and more unto the perfect day,

SERMON XVI.

On SUBMISSION to the DIVINE WILL.

SERMON

XVI.

JOB, ii. 10.

-Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?

FEW

EW subjects of religious exhortation are more of general concern, than those which respect the distresses incident to human life. For no society, no family, no person, can expect to be long exempted from them; and when we speak of the prosperous, we can only mean those who are more rarely subject to them than others. Now, under those distresses, religion performs two offices: it teaches us how we ought

to

;

to bear them and it assists us in thus SERMON bearing them. Materials for both are

found in the words of the text, which contain a sentiment so natural and just, as to carry conviction to every reasonable mind. They were the words of Job, at a time when, to his other calamities, this domestick affliction was added, that one who ought to have assuaged and soothed his sorrows provoked his indignation by an impious speech. Thou speakest, Job replies, as one of the foolish women speaketh : What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? Three instructions naturally arise from the text: First, that this life is a mixed state of good and evil Secondly, That both the goods and the evils in it proceed from God And, thirdly, That there are just reasons for our receiving with patience the evils of life, from the same hand which bestows its goods.

I. THIS life is a mixed state of good and evil. This is a matter of fact, which will be denied by none, and on which it is not necessary to bestow much illustra

XVI.

SERMON tion. It is evident to the slightest inspecXVI. tion, that nothing here is unallayed and pure. Every man's state is chequered with alternate griefs and joys, disappointment and success. No condition is altogether stable. the same tenour. The vicissitudes of the world sometimes bring forward the afflicted into more comfortable circumstances; and often trouble the joy of the prosperous. This is the train in which human affairs have ever been found to proceed; and in which we may expect them always to go on.

No life preserves always

But though this be universally admitted in speculation, and often confessed in discourse, the misfortune is, that few think of applying it to their own case. The bulk of mankind discover as much confidence in prosperity, and as much impatience under the least reverse, as if Providence had first given them assurance that their prosperity was never to change, and afterwards had cheated their hopes, Whereas, what reason ought to teach us, is to adjust our mind to the mixed state in which we find ourselves placed; never

to