He shall come into the

the contrast to this. world with the most unpromising appearance,shall set forward without fortune, without friends -without talents to procure him either the one or the other. Nevertheless you will see this clouded prospect brighten up insensibly, unaccountably before him; every thing presented in his way shall turn out beyond his expectations, in spite of that chain of unsurmountable difficulties which first threatened him,-time and chance shall open him a way, a series of successful occurrences shall lead him by the hand to the summit of honour and fortune; and, in a word, without giving him the pains of thinking, or the credit of projecting, it shall place him in a safe possession of all that ambition could wish for.

SERMON VIII.

CONTUMELY.

How many may we observe every day, even of the gentler sex, as well as our own, who, without conviction of doing much wrong, in the midst of a full career of calumny and defamation, rise up 'punctual at the stated hour of prayer, leave the cruel story half untold till they return,-go,— and kneel down before the throne of Heaven, thank God that he had not made them like others, and that his Holy Spirit had enabled them to perform the duties of the day, in so Christian and conscientious a manner.

This delusive itch for slander, too common in

all ranks of people, whether to gratify a little ungenerous resentment; whether oftener out of a principle of levelling, from a narrowness and poverty of soul, ever impatient of merit and superiority in others; whether a mean ambition, or the insatiate lust of being witty, (a talent in which ill-nature and malice are no ingredients); or, lastly, whether from a natural cruelty of disposition, abstracted from all views and considerations of self; to which one, or whether to all jointly; we are indebted for this contagious malady, this much is certain, from whatever seeds it springs, the growth and progress of it are as destructive to, as they are unbecoming a civilized people. To pass a hard and ill-natured reflection upon an undesigning action; to invent, or, which is equally bad, to propagate a vexatious report, without colour and grounds; to plunder an innocent man of his character and good name, a jewel which perhaps he has starved himself to purchase, and probably would hazard his life to secure; to rob him at the same time of his happiness and peace of mind; perhaps his bread, the bread, may be, of a virtuous family; and this, as Solomon says of the madman, who casteth fire-brands, arrows, and death, and saith, Am I not in sport? all this out of wantonness, and oftener from worse motives; the whole appears such a complication of badness, as requires no words or warmth of fancy to aggravate. Pride, treachery, envy, hypocrisy, malice, cruelty, and self-love, may have been said, in one shape or other, to have occasioned all the frauds and mischiefs that ever hap

pened in the world: but the chances against a coincidence of them all in one person are so many, that one would have supposed the character of a common slanderer as rare and difficult a production in nature, as that of a great genius, which seldom happens above once in an age.

SERMON XI.

COVETOUSNESS.

To know truly what it is, we must know what masters it serves ;-they are many, and of various casts and humours,—and each one lends it something of its own complexional tint and character.

This, I suppose, may be the cause that there is a greater and more whimsical mystery in the love of money, than in the darkest and most nonsensical problem that ever was pored on.

Even at the best, and when the passion seems to seek something more than its own amusement,there is little-very little, I fear, to be said for its humanity. It may be a sport to the misér,-but consider, it must be death and destruction to others. The moment this sordid humour begins to govern-farewel all honest and natural affection! farewel, 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! if 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.

CURIOSITY.

THE love of variety, or curiosity of seeing new things, which is the same, or at least a sister passion to it, seems wove into the frame of every son and daughter of Adam; we usually speak of it as one of nature's levities, though planted within us for the solid purposes of carrying forwards the mind to fresh inquiry and knowledge: strip us of it, the mind (I fear) would dose for ever over the present page, and we should all of us rest at ease with such objects as presented themselves in the parish or province where we first drew breath.

:

It is to this spur, which is ever in our sides, that we owe the impatience of this desire for travelling the passion is no way bad, but as others are,- -in its mismanagement or excess ;-order it rightly, the advantages are worth the pursuit ; the chief of which are to learn the languages, the laws and customs, and understand the government and interest of other nations, to acquire an urbanity and confidence of behaviour, and fit the

mind more easily for conversation and discourseto take us out of the company of our aunts and grandmothers, and from the track of nursery mistakes; and by showing us new objects, or old ones in new lights, to reform our judgments-by tasting perpetually the varieties of nature, to know what is good-by observing the address and arts of men, to conceive what is sincere,-and by seeing the difference of so many various humours and manners, to look into ourselves, and form our own.

SERMON XX.

DEATH.

THERE are many instances of men, who have re ceived the news of death with the greatest ease of mind, and even entertained the thoughts of it with smiles upon their countenances; and this,

either from strength of spirits and the natural cheerfulness of their temper, or that they knew the world, and cared not for it-or expected a better yet thousands of good men, with all the helps of philosophy, and against all the assurances of a well-spent life, that the change must be to their account,-upon the approach of death have still leaned towards this world, and wanted spirits and resolution to bear the shock of a separation from it for ever.

SERMON XVIII.