SERMON ples of evil-doers whom, we
IV. us. By attending to their situation, the

see around

misery, as well as infamy, of guilt is realised, and rendered sensible to our apprehension.

THUS, upon a fair inquiry, you behold how the ways of God may, in this remarkable case, be justified to man. You behold what important ends are advanced, by permitting the tares at present to grow together with the wheat. The intermixture of evil men in human society serves to exercise the suffering graces and virtues of the good; by the diversity of characters among those with whom they have intercourse, it serves to bring forth and improve their active powers and virtues, and to enlarge the circle of useful occupations; it serves to instruct them in the temptations against which they are to guard, to reveal to them all the deformity of vice, and to make its miseries pass conspicuously before their eyes. When we consider them as actors on the theatre of the world, they are thereby improved in the part they

consider SERMON

have to perform. When we
them as spectators of what is passing
on that theatre, their minds are thereby
instructed; their views rectified and en-
larged by the objects that are set before
them.

FROM these important truths, several reflections no less important arise.

We are naturally taught, in the first place, never to be hasty in finding fault with any of the arrangements of Providence. The present permission of moral evil on the earth seemed, on the first view, to furnish a strong objection against either the wisdom or the goodness of the Author of nature. After beholding the useful purposes which are answered by that permission, how cautious should we be in advancing any of our rash speculations against his government and conduct! To our confined and humble station it belongs not to censure, but to submit, trust, and adore; satisfied that the farther we inquire, the rectitude of his ways will appear the more; thankful for the discoyeries of them which have been imparted

to

IV.

IV.

SERMON to us; and persuaded that, where our discoveries fail, it is not because there is no more wisdom or goodness to be seen, but because our present condition allows us not

to see more.

In the second place, let us be taught with what eye we are to look upon those bad men whom we find around us in the world. Not surely with an eye of envy. Whatever prosperity they may seem to enjoy, they are still no more than tares, the weeds of the field; contemptible in the sight of God, tolerated by his providence for a while on account of the righteous, to whose improvement they are rendered subservient. The parable informs us that, in the end, they are to be gathered together and burnt. In this life. only they have their good things. things. But their prosperity is transitory. They are brought into desolation in a moment, and utterly consumed with terrours. As a dream when one awaketh, so, O God, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image*. When we consider their unhappy state, it

Psalm Ixxiii. 19, 20,

becomes

IV.

becomes us to behold them with the eye of SERMON pity. Let us remember that, in the midst of their errours, they are by nature still our brethren. Let us not behave to them in the spirit of bitterness. Insult not their follies. Pride not yourselves on superiour virtue. Remember that, as bad men are mixed with the good, so, in the best men, vices are at present mixed with virtues. Your own character, good as you may esteem it, is not free from every evil taint; and in the characters of those whom you reprobate as vitious, there are always some good qualities mixed with the bad ones. Study, as far as you can, to reclaim and amend them; and if, in any degree, you have been profited by their failings, endeavour, in return, to profit them by good counsel and advice; by advice not administered with officious zeal, or self-conceited superiority, but with the tenderness of compassion and real friendship.

IN the third place, in whatever proportion the admixture of vice may seem to take place in the world, let us never despair

2

IV.

SERMON despair of the prevalence of virtue on the whole. Let us not exaggerate, beyond measure, the quantity of vice that is found in the mixture. It is proper to observe, that in the parable now before us, after the owner of the field had sown his good seed, no reason is given us to think, that the good seed was entirely choked up by tares. On the contrary, we are told that the blade sprung up, and brought forth fruit; and, though the tares also arose, yet, in the end, there was a harvest, when the wheat was reaped and gathered into the barn. In the most corrupted times, God never leayes himself without many witnesses on earth. He is always attentive to the cause of goodness; and frequently supports and advances it by means which we are unable to trace. He nourishes much piety and virtue in hearts that are unknown to us; and beholds repentance ready to spring up among many whom we consider as reprobates.-I know that it has always been common for persons to represent the age in which they live as the worst that ever appeared; and religion and virtue as just on the point of vanishing

4