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SERMON XIV.

On the MISFORTUNES of MEN being
chargeable on themselves.

SERMON

XIV.

PROVERBS, xix. 3.

The foolishness of man perverteth his way, and his heart fretteth against the Lord.

OW

How many complaints do we hear

from every quarter, of the misery and distress that fill the world? In these the high and the low, the young and the aged, join; and since the beginning of time, no topic has been more fertile of declamation than the vanity and vexation which man is appointed to suffer. But are we certain that this vexation, and this vanity, is altogether to be ascribed to the appoint

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XIII.

to the malignant and unsocial class, evi- SERMON dently tend to produce vexation and disquiet. Against suffering these to gain possession of the heart, admonition is scarcely necessary. But I must admonish you, that even those which are accounted of innocent nature, and which therefore may lay hold of virtuous minds, if they obtain the entire mastery, are sufficient to overthrow the tranquillity of life. Let every one therefore, who values that tranquillity, study to retain moderation and self-command, even in the midst of passions which have a fair and bland appearance. He will find that the gratification of any one of them, compensates not that perpetual slavery to which it will reduce him, when it becomes inordinate.

I have farther to admonish you, that this self-command is particularly necessary in all that relates to habitual temper. Even where strong passions are out of the question, those slight emotions which ruffle or sour the temper, are sufficient, by their frequent recurrence, to poison all self enjoyment. He, who would possess a tranquil state, must, above all things, culS 2

tivate

SERMON tivate calmness and gentleness of disposi

XII.

tion. He ought especially to cultivate it in that society, whether domestic or social, with which he has most frequent intercourse. We all know, that there are thousands, who in public, and in formal companies, appear to be all gentleness and sweetness, but who, at home, and among their nearest relations, give vent, with freedom, to the most harsh and peevish dispositions. Such persons are not likely to enjoy much real comfort. For it is in the daily and familiar intercourse of life, that temper chiefly exerts its power, either for promoting or for disturbing the tranquillity of our days. On occasions when men come closest together, if, instead of meeting in smooth contact, they rub and grate on one another, the feelings produced on both sides are of the most offensive and displeasing kind. Nothing can be assumed as a more certain axiom, than that he who allows either inordinate passions, or a cross temper, to govern him, must, though he should possess all that flourishing fortune can bestow, be a stranger to tranquillity.

XIV.

appointment of Heaven? Is there no SERMON ground to suspect that man himself is the chief and immediate author of his own sufferings? What the text plainly suggests is, that it is common for men to complain groundlessly of Providence; that they are prone to accuse God for the evils of life, when in reason they ought to accuse themselves; and that after their foolishness hath perverted their way, and made them undergo the consequences of their own misconduct, they impiously fret in heart against the Lord. This is the doctrine which I now propose to illustrate, in order to silence the sceptic, and to check a repining and irreligious spirit. I shall for this end make some observations, first, on the external, and next, upon the internal, condition of man,

and then conclude with such serious and useful improvement as the subject will naturally suggest.

I. LET us consider the external condition of man. We find him placed in a world, where he has by no means the disposal of the events that happen. Calamities sometimes befal the worthiest and the

best,

SERMON best, which it is not in their power to pre

XIV.

vent, and where nothing is left them, but
to acknowledge and to submit to the high
hand of Heaven. For such visitations of
trial, many good and wise reasons can be
assigned, which the present subject leads
me not to discuss.
But though those un-
avoidable calamities make a part, yet they
make not the chief part, of the vexations
and sorrows that distress human life. A
multitude of evils beset us, for the source
of which we must look to another quar-
ter.- No sooner has any thing in the
health, or in the circumstances of men,
gone cross to their wish, than they begin
to talk of the unequal distribution of the
good things of this life; they envy the
condition of others; they repine at their
own lot, and fret against the Ruler of the
world.

Full of these sentiments, one man pines under a broken constitution. But let us ask him, whether we can, fairly and honestly, assign no cause for this but the unknown decree of Heaven. Has he duly valued the blessing of health, and always observed the rules of virtue and so

briety?

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