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When we enjoy one uninterrupted Flow SERM. II. of worldly Bliss, when we fail along a fmooth and unruffled Surface with easy and gentle Gales; Reason, our Pilot which should fit vigilant at the Helm, is too often lulled into a fatal Security. But Adversity rouses the Mind from it's Indolence, puts us upon thinking closely, and turning our Thoughts every Way. Those, who have met with no Misfortunes to mortify that Pride of Heart, which is the Growth of Profperity, fay to themselves: Come on, let us enjoy the good Things that are prefent; let us fill ourselves with coftly Wine and Ointments, and let no Flower of the Spring pafs by us; let us crown ourselves with Rofe Buds, before they be withered. Thus the glittering Scenes of Life beget a thousand gay Ideas, a fwarm of fantastic Images, which, like Infects, wanton and flutter in the warm Sunshine of Profperity; but difappear, die, and are no more upon the first Inclemency of the Seafon.

It is amazing, that Men, in the Fulness of Health and Plenty, when every Thing fmiles around them, fhould fhut out the Confideration of that Being, to whom they owe the Fulnefs of their Health and Plen

ty;

SERM. II. ty; like Groves in all the Freshness of their Verdure, with all their Leaves thick upon them, shutting out the Beams of that Sun, to which they are indebted for their chearful Verdure: Yet fo it is. For what have the Majority of the Wealthy, the Mighty, and the Great, been doing in all Ages? Why juft what they did in the Days of Noah: They did eat, they drank; they bought, they fold; they planted, they builded; that is, the Diverfions and Bufinefs of this Life engroffed their Attention; till the Day that Noah entred into the Ark, and the Flood came and destroyed them All. Juft fo Men do now, till Sickness confines them to their Bed, or fome dire Misfortune checks their Career. Which makes Jehoshaphat's Example more remarkable : When God had established the Kingdom in his Hand, and he had Riches and Honour in Abundance; his Heart was lift up, not with Pride and Infolence, but IN THE WAYS OF THE LORD.

How thoughtless, how unreflecting upon their past Conduct were Jofeph's Brethren, till Jofeph's hard Ufage gave them a Compunction of Mind, and a deep Senfe of their former Sins? And they faid one to

another:

another: We are verily guilty concerning S our Brother, in that we faw the Anguifh of his Soul, when he befought us, and we would not hear: Therefore is this Diftrefs come upon us. It is the Remark of the Prophet Amos, that they, who lye upon Beds of Ivory, and fretch themselves upon their Couches, who chaunt to the Sound of the Viol, who invent Inftruments of Mufic, who drink Wine in Bowls, are not grieved for the Affliction of Joseph.

I would by no Means recommend a cenforious, four Severity, which is perhaps as odious in the Sight of God, as a thoughtlefs, fantaftic Levity; and is certainly more incorrigible. For a philofophical, fupercilious Sullennefs, which proceeds from thinking habitually in a wrong Channel, is a Vice feldom amended: Because Thought, which fhould cure the Diftemper, confirms and rivets it. But Faults arifing from Want of Thinking, a collected Way of Thinking for fome Time, will correct and fet right. Now Sickness, Pain and Trouble, the most effectual and perfuafive Teachers, will make a Man feel what he is, a poor helpless Creature; recollect what he has been, and look forward to what he fhall be to all Eternity.

SERM. II.

SERM. II.

Little do they think, who are inured to Eafe and Delicacy, whofe Affluence empowers them to do Good; how how many Thousands are wearing out Life in a fad Variety of Pain; or are dying perhaps of Poverty and a broken Heart; at the fame Inftant that they are expending their Time and Fortune in a Round of Folly, Sin and Vanity, unconscious of each liberal, each tender Sentiment.

But Adversity quickens our Compaffion, corrects that Levity, which is the Inlet to Vice; and begets a fixed Thoughtfulness and Sedateness, the Soil which Virtue loves: It takes off our Infenfibility, breaks the Fierceness of our Nature, and foftens us into Humanity. For when our Hearts are like melting Wax, they are moft ductile, tender, and fufceptive of humane ImpreffiWe are acquainted with Grief; and by feeling Mifery and Pain, we learn to have a Fellow-Feeling for the Calamities. of our Fellow-Creatures.

ons.

2dly, Adverfity puts our Virtue to the Teft, and proves the Sincerity of it.

It is no great Virtue for a Man to be honeft, who poffeffes an ample Fortune; though it would be a very great Crime for

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him not to be fo. For what Temptations SERM. II. can he have to Dishonesty, who has the Discretion to extract and enjoy the Sweets of a great Estate, without damaging or hurting the Flower from which they proceed? But to hold fast to that which is good, in the lowest Ebb of Fortune; to retain our Integrity and intrinfic Worth, when stripped of every Thing that we were worth befides, and furrounded with whatever is grievous, is the ftrongest Evidence that can be given of our Love of Goodness. Thoufands have acted contrary to their Confcience, and, with a Behaviour more pitiable than their Circumstances, crouched beneath the Pressure of hard Fortune, to low and fordid Compliances; who, it is to be charitably hoped, would have ftood upright and unbending without that galling Load upon them.

For how fhall a Man poffefs his Soul in Patience, who has little or nothing befides to poffefs? Now he finds, that a little Merit, with a World of Suppleness, Dexterity and Addrefs, may facilitate his Advancement; but great Merit, and a rigorous, unpliant Adherence to the Rules of Morality, are too often Bars to it: That

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