pened; but in such calamities as a man has fallen into through mere misfortune, to be charged upon no fault or indiscretion of himself, there is something then so truly interesting, that at the first sight we generally make them our own, not altogether from a reflection that they might have been or may be so, but oftener from a certain generosity and tenderness of nature which disposes us for compassion, abstracted from all considerations of self: so that without any observable act of the will, we suffer with the unfortunate, and feel a weight upon our spirits we know not why, on seeing the most common instances of their distress. But where the spectacle is uncommonly tragical, and complicated with many circumstances of misery, the mind is then taken captive at once, and were it inclined to it, has no power to make resistance, but surrenders itself toall the tender emotions of pity and deep concern. So that when one considers this friendly part of nature, without looking further, one would think it impossible for man to look upon misery without finding himself in some measure attached to the interest of him who suffers it-I say one would think it impossiblefor there are some tempers-how shall I describe them?-formed either of such impenetrable matter, or wrought up by habitual selfishness to such an utter insensibility of what becomes of the fortunes of their fellow-creatures, as if they were not partakers of the same nature, or had no lot or connection with the species.

SERMON III.

FORBEARANCE IN OPINION.

THERE are numbers of circumstances which attend every action of a man's life, which can never come to the knowledge of the world,-yet ought to be known, and well weighed, before sentence with any justice can be passed upon him. A man may have different views, and a different sense of things from what his judges have; and what he understands and feels, and what passes within him, may be a secret treasured up deeply there for ever.- -A man, through bodily infirmity, or some complexional defect, which perhaps is not in his power to correct, may be subject to inadvertences,—to starts,—and unhappy turns of temper; he may lie open to snares he is not always aware of; or, through ignorance and want of information and proper helps, he may labour in the dark-in all which cases he may do many things which are wrong in themselves, and yet be innocent; at least an object rather to be pitied, than censured with severity and ill-will.These are difficulties which stand in every one's way in the forming a judgment of the characters of others.

SERMON XLIV.

FORGIVENESS.

THE brave only know how to forgive;-it is the most refined and generous pitch of virtue human nature can arrive at.-Cowards have done good

and kind actions,-cowards have even fought, nay sometimes, even conquered; but a coward never forgave. It is not in his nature;-the power of doing it flows only from a strength and greatness of soul, conscious of its own force and security, and above the little temptations of resenting every fruitless attempt to interrupt its happiness.

SERMON XII.

IT is the mild and quiet half of the world, who are generally outraged and borne down by the other half of it; but in this they have the advantage, whatever be the sense of their wrongs, that pride stands not so watchful a sentinel over their forgiveness, as it does in the breasts of the fierce and froward; we should all of us, I believe, be more forgiving than we are, would the world but give us leave; but it is apt to interpose its ill offices in remissions, especially of this kind; the truth is, it has its laws, to which the heart is not always a party; and acts so like an unfeeling engine in all cases without distinction, that it requires all the firmness of the most settled humanity to bear up against it.

SERMON XVIII.

FRAILTY.

THE best of men appear sometimes to be strange compounds of contradictory qualities: and, were the accidental oversights and folly of the wisest man, the failings and imperfections of a religious

man, the hasty acts and passionate words of a meek man; were they to rise up in judgment against them, and an ill-natured judge be suffered to mark in this manner, what has been done amiss --what character so unexceptionable as to be able to stand before him?

SERMON XXXI.

GENEROSITY.

GENEROSITY sorrows as much for the over-matched, as Pity herself does,

SERMON XX.

HAPPINESS.

THE great pursuit of man is after happiness: it is the first and strongest desire of his nature;—in every stage of his life, he searches for it as for hidden treasure; courts it under a thousand different shapes, and though perpetually disappointed, still persists,-runs after and enquires for it afresh-asks every passenger who comes in his way, Who will show him any good? who will assist him in the attainment of it, or direct him to the discovery of this great end of all his wishes?

He is told by one, to search for it among the more gay and youthful pleasures of life, in scenes of mirth and sprightliness, where happiness ever presides, and is ever to be known by the joy and laughter which he will see at once painted in her looks. A second, with a graver aspect, points out

to the costly dwellings which pride and extravagance have erected:-tells the inquirer, that the object he is in search of inhabits there,—that happiness lives only in company with the great, in the midst of much pomp and outward state, that he will easily find her out by the coat of many colours she has on, and the great luxury and expense of equipage and furniture with which she always sits surrounded.

The Miser blesses God!-wonders how any one would mislead and wilfully put him upon so wrong a scent-convinces him that happiness and extravagance never inhabited under the same roof; that if he would not be disappointed in his search, he must look into the plain and thrifty dwellings of the prudent man, who knows and understands the worth of money, and cautiously lays it up against an evil hour: that it is not the prostitution of wealth upon the passions, or the parting with it at all, that constitutes happiness-but that it is the keeping it together, and the having and holding it fast to him and his heirs for ever, which are the chief attributes that form this great idol of human worship, to which so mnch incense is offered up every day.

The Epicure, though he easily rectifies so gross a mistake, yet at the same time he plunges hin, if possible, into a greater; for hearing the object of his pursuit to be happiness, and knowing of no other happiness than what is seated immediately in his senses-he sends the inquirer there; tells him 'tis vain to search elsewhere for it, than where Nature herself has placed it-in the indulgence and gratification of the appetites, which are given

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