we drink, but wherewithal shall we be clothed? Who will show us any new good? Who will invent for us a new pleasure? Who will rid us of the irksome task of thinking? Who will snatch us from the horrors of solitude, and the pain of obscurity, and kindly transport us to some busy scene of untried amusement? This disposition for perpetual dissipation, when exhibited in its excess, may be called rather a madness, than a passion. To say, that its unhappy votaries are lovers of pleasure, more than lovers of God, seems to be a description, which falls far short of the extremity of their case. They are lovers of pleasure, which has no definite object; slaves of restive desires which fix on nothing. They exhibit pitiable spectacles of wishes never satisfied. They stand as awful examples of self-anarchy and internal misrule. Their thoughts, their time, and even their passions, are lost in the whirl of endless dissipation.

4. But let us leave these mournful examples of the degradation of our nature, and proceed to the last branch of self-command, which we proposed to consider, the government of the passions. Not to be in a passion, is generally the amount of the notion, which the world entertains of self-command. But, excellent as is this attainment, we conceive, that it embraces but a part only of that extensive rule, which the christian is expected to, maintain over his own spirit. In the broad scheme of gospel ethics, the opposite to anger is meekness; and meekness is no narrow or superficial virtue. It is a grace, which receives little of the applauses of the world; a grace, which Jesus alone inculcated, and which no philosopher of ancient times seems to have understood, or recommended.

The meek man of the gospel is the very reverse of those, who act the most bustling and noisy part on the theatre of human life. He finds himself in a

world, where he will be oftener called to suffer, than to act. He is not ambitious, because he sees little here worth ambition. Humility is the gentle and secret stream, which runs through his life, and waters all his virtues. To the government of the passions, the principal prerequisite is the restriction of the desires; therefore, as he expects little from the world, he will not often quarrel with it for the treatment he receives. In short, the meek man of scripture considers himself placed here, not in a state of enjoyment, but of trial; and to be passionately fond of pleasures, which are insecure, or to be passionately disturbed at injuries, equally transitory, seems to him utterly unworthy of a being, destined soon to leave this scene of rebuffs and disappointments, and capable of existing for ever in a region of immortality and peace. Finding himself, at present, in a state full of jarring elements, and of violent changes, the sunshine, which is frequently interrupted without him, he endeavours to preserve in mild lustre within his own breast. No dark clouds of discontent, no storms and whirlwinds of passion deform the serenity of his mind. Where others are transported, he is calm; where they are restless, he is patient; where they are passionate, rude and unforgiving, he is mild, peaceable, full of mercy and reconciliation. His control of his passions is not so much the result of any present and strong resolution, as of the general temper of his mind. When he is reviled, he reviles not again, because he feels no disposition to revile. When he suffers, he threatens not, because the style of threatening, is, to him, an unknown tongue. He has been accustomed to commit his cause to him, that judgeth righteously. How equable is the career of meekness! How easily sits upon the meek man the government of his passions! How gracefully does he sway his sceptre! He is not in perpetual danger of suffering from excess, he is not obliged unceasing

ly to watch, and curb, and rein in a wild and headstrong spirit; but his course through life is gentle and secure, as it tends to that peaceful bourne, where he will find quietness and assurance for ever.

How unlike this the spirit of the times! How little does this temper consist with a state of passions in constant turmoil, with provocations ever recurring, and quarrels hardly appeared; a state marked with incessant agitation of the spirits, and feverish sensibility to injury or insult! A meek man in this world of our's is hardly acknowledged by his species. For what shall he do in a society, where to kindle with resentment, is spirited and noble; and to retaliate an affront, is the dictate of honour? What shall he do in a world of restless beings, where some are climbing after dangerous power; others labouring for wealth, which never satisfies; others dissolved in pleasure, which gradually destroys? Where shall the meek pupil of Jesus hide, in this bustle of contending passions and unrestrained pursuits? He will find, alas, that this is not the place of his abode. He must live above the world, while he lives in it, that he may breathe a purer and a calmer air. From this elevated retirement, look, christian, with steadfast eye on the author and finisher of your faith. He was not of the world. And why? Not because he was in the form of God; but because he could assume the form of a servant, and wash the feet of his disciples; because he could refuse the offer of royalty, bear indignity without resentment, and become obedient unto death, despising the shame, even of the cross itself. Surely it is little to expect of the servants of such a master, that they should at least be angry and sin not, that they should be slow to speak and slow to wrath, in the midst of a hasty and irritable generation; for he that is slow to anger, is better than the mighty, and he that ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a city.

Thus have we attempted, cursorily, to review four branches of self-government, the control of the thoughts, of the tongue, of the appetites, and of the passions. We have seen, that, when unrestrained, they become the most dangerous of tyrants. We have seen, that their first excesses must be resisted, and even lawful indulgences denied them, if we would escape being brought under their power.

But, we doubt not, it will be said by those, who have never thought of checking a wish, or controlling a passion, which ever arose in their hearts, that the restrictions we impose are too severe; that they cannot be maintained, but with much trouble and self-denial; and that, if strictly enforced, they would subtract too much from the sum of human enjoyment, during the basty term of a frail life. To attempt to prove, after so many instructers, philosophers and divines, that no substantial enjoyment is lost nor the real sum of sublunary happiness diminished, by these salutary restraints, would be tedious, if it were not superfluous; for, to show the misery of unrestrained indulgence, we have only to ask, what can exceed in wretchedness the inquietude of the revengeful, the pains and diseases of the sensualist, the perpetual weariness of the slave of dissipated pleasures, or the gnawing remorse of the man, who has indulged himself in rash and bitter speeches, which he cannot retract?

But let us grant, that self-denial is as painful, as it has been falsely represented. Let us grant, that the government of ourselves is a work, which requires uninterrupted labour and unpleasant attention. Is this uttered as a complaint by one, who, as a follower of Jesus, has virtually professed to deny himself? Are we to profess the most pure and holy religion, which the goodness of God ever granted to mortals, without a single distinguishing mark of our privilege? Shall all the religions, which imposture and superstition have

in every age established, be able to impose penances on their disciple, to encourage mortifications of the flesh, to require sacrifices of pleasure, and even martyrdom of life; and cannot the system of the gospel lay a restraint, which will hold, or obtain the sacrifice of a passion, a lust, or a pleasure, worth retaining? It has been well observed, that, "If christianity requires from its votaries a higher degree of purity, and a stricter command over the passions, than any other religion, it has a right so to do; because it affords proportionably greater helps towards accomplishing that great work, and a proportionably greater prize to recompence the labour. For, however severe this struggle with our appetites may be to us, and severe enough, God knows, it sometimes is, yet it is our comfort, that, if we endure to the end, these light afflictions, which are but for a moment, shall work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."*

This suggests another consideration to enforce our subject. Is it possible, that he can complain of the restraints, which christianity imposes, who has ever heard of the rewards, which it promises? How eloquent, upon this subject, is the apostle of the Gentiles! Know ye not, says he to the Corinthians, in whose sight were annually exhibited the celebrated Isthmian games, know ye not, that they, which run in a race, run all, but one receiveth the prize? Even in these races, every man, that striveth for the mastery, is temperate in all things. Now, they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we, an incorruptible. I, therefore, so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air; but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection, lest that, by any means, when I have

Bp. Porteus, Vol. II. p. 286.