Thus it appears, that, by the practice of our duty, even our present state may be made pleasing and desirable; and that if we languish under cala'mities, they are brought upon us, not by the immediate hand of Providence, but by our own folly and disobedience; that happiness will be diffused as virtue prevails; and "that God has done right, but we have done wickedly."

75

SERMON VI.

PROVERBS, CHAP. XII. VERSE 2.

When pride cometh, then cometh shame; but with the lowly is wisdom.

THE writings of Solomon are filled with such observations upon the nature and life of man, as were the result of long experience assisted with every advantage of mind and fortune; an experience that had made him acquainted with the actions, passions, virtues, and vices, of all ranks, ages, and denominations of mankind; and enabled him, with the divine assistance, to leave to succeeding ages a collection of precepts, that, if diligently attended to, will conduct us safe in the paths of life.

Of the ancient sages of the heathen world, so often talked of, and so loudly applauded, there is recorded little more than single maxims, which they comprised in few words, and often inculcated; for these they were honoured by their contemporaries, and still continue reverenced and admired; nor would it either be justice or gratitude to depreciate their characters, since every discoverer or propagator of truth is undoubtedly a benefactor to the world. But surely, if single sentences could procure them the epithet of wise, Solomon may, for this collection of important counsels, justly

terminate, either in recovery or death; and it is always to be remembered, that nothing but wickedness makes death an evil.

Nor are the disquietudes of the mind less frequently excited by ourselves. Pride is the general source of our infelicity. A man that has an high opinion of his own merits, of the extent of his capacity, of the depth of his penetration, and the force of his eloquence, naturally forms schemes of employment and promotion, adequate to those abilities he conceives himself possessed of; he exacts from others the same esteem which he pays to himself, and imagines his deserts disregarded, if they are not rewarded to the extent of his wishes. He claims more than he has a right to hope for, finds his exorbitant demands rejected, retires to obscurity and melancholy, and charges heaven with his disappointments.

Men are very seldom disappointed, except when their desires are immoderate, or when they suffer their passions to overpower their reason, and dwell upon delightful scenes of future honours, power, or riches, till they mistake probabilities for certainties, or wild wishes for rational expectations. If such men, when they awake from these voluntary dreams, find the pleasing phantom vanish away, what can they blame but their own folly?

With no greater reason can we impute to Providence the fears and anxieties that harass and distract us; for they arise from too close an adherence to those things from which we are commanded to disengage our affections. We fail of being happy, because we determine to obtain felicity by means different from those which God hath appointed. We

are forbidden to be too solicitous about future events; and is the Author of that prohibition to be accused, because men make themselves miserable by disregarding it?

Poverty, indeed, is not always the effect of wickeduess; it may often be the consequence of virtue; but it is not certain that poverty is an evil. If we exempt the poor man from all the miseries to which his condition exposes him from the wickedness of others; if we secure him from the cruelty of oppression, and the contumelies of pride; if we suppose him to rate no enjoyment of this life beyond its real and intrinsic value, and to indulge no desire more than reason and religion allow, the inferiority of his station will very little diminish his happiness, and therefore the poverty of the virtuous reflects no reproach upon Providence. But poverty, like many other miseries of life, is often little more than an imaginary calamity. Men often call themselves poor, not because they want necessaries, but because they have not more than they want. This, indeed, is not always the case, nor ought we ever to harden our hearts against the cries of those who implore our assistance, by supposing that they feel less than they express; but let us all relieve the necessitous according to our abilities, and real poverty will soon be banished out of the world.

To these general heads may be reduced almost all the calamities that imbitter the life of man. To enumerate particular evils would be of little use. It is evident that most of our miseries are either imaginary, or the consequences either of our own

faults or the faults of others, and that it is there. fore worthy of inquiry,

Secondly, How far a general piety might exempt any community from those evils.

It is an observation, very frequently made, that there is more tranquillity and satisfaction diffused through the inhabitants of uncultivated and savage countries, than is to be met with in nations filled with wealth and plenty, polished with civility, and governed by laws. It is found happy to be free from contention, though that exemption be obtained by having nothing to contend for; and an equality of condition, though that condition be far from eligible, conduces more to the peace of society than an established and legal subordination, in which every man is perpetually endeavouring to exalt himself to the rank above him, though by degrading others already in possession of it; and every man exerting his efforts to hinder his inferiors from rising to the level with himself. It appears that it is better to have no property, than to be in perpetual apprehensions of fraudulent artifices, or open invasions; and that the security arising from a regular administration of government, is not equal to that which is produced by the absence of ambition, envy, or discontent.

Thus pleasing is the prospect of savage countries, merely from the ignorance of vice, even without the knowledge of virtue; thus happy are they, amidst all the hardships and distresses that attend a state of nature, because they are, in a great measure, free from those which men bring upon one another.