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VII.

How deeply foever integrity may be plung- SERM. ed by malice, it will emerge, at last, and vindicate the claims which have been unjustly refufed. The wife and virtuous will always duly estimate and revere the man of a character fimilar to their own. His enemies must respect him in their hearts. The generality of mankind will efteem him, in proportion as they acquire the knowledge of his merit. If this, by fome peculiar combination of adverfe circumstances, be not commonly acknowledged, during his life, his departure from the world will render it completely illuftrious. Scarcely has he left this terreftrial abode, when every mouth is open in his praife. Envy feems to repent, and even flander to retract her charge.His light then shines so brightly before men, that they glorify his heavenly Father *. His path, then, rifes to the most glorious day. From this fcene of darknefs, of confufion, and error, and vice, he is tranflated to the regions of light and order, of truth and purity, of holiness and love!

To recapitulate the fimilitude now illuf

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SERM. trated; the rifing fun difpels the lingering VIII. fhades of night,-wades through the mists

that obfcure his dawning light,-fhines, with increasing brightness, as he afcends the sky,-diffuses animating light and genial warmth, and the transporting sense of beauty and grandeur, until he arrives at his meridian height, pours forth the perfect day, -and sheds, over universal nature, the full glory of his effulgence. He then begins to decline, yet displays a milder radiance; and, when he finks in the western ocean, it is only to withdraw his beams for a short period, and to renew his orient course with fresh glory and beneficence.

In like manner, the good man, having the principles of virtue lodged in his foul, and gradually brought forward by divine energy, begins his courfe with difficulty, and amidst obscurity and temptation. His understanding ftill wants that clearnefs of conception, that luminous view of nature and of grace; of his condition, of his duty, and his end, which are neceffary to enable him to pursue the path of religion with cer

*Psalm lvii. 7.

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tain and undeviating fteps. His heart is SERM. not yet wholly fixed*, to obey the law of the Lord. The allurements or the terrors of the world fometimes draw him from the right way, and occafion him many a ftruggle. His courfe is yet unfteady; his habits are unformed. Clouds and darkness feem to furround him. But the feeds of religion remain in his foul, and he cannot ultimately fin, because he is born of God t. Doubts gradually disappear; faith is confirmed; virtuous habits are established.The world lofes its hold, and heaven is more clearly unfolded to him every day. He rifes, at laft, to that fettled temper of virtue and holiness, which makes him a light that shineth in a dark place ‡. His path is marked with charity, dignity, and beneficence, and attracts general affection and refpect. In the evening of life, he declines; but his exertions, though lefs vigorous, are not lefs amiable or useful. He exhibits the milder luftre of piety and virtue, and finks, at last, into the grave, withdrawing from

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*Psalm lvii. 7.

+ 1 John iii. 9.

2 Pet, i. 19.

VIII.

SERM. this world, to shine as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars, for ever and ever, in the regions of confummate felicity! May God grant that fuch may be the course of us all!

Amen.

* Dan. xii. 3.

SERMON

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Be ye wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

THE inftincts, adapted to the various modes SERM.

of animal existence, exhibit, in some instan- 、 ces, fo ftriking a refemblance to the exercise of reason, that they are distinguished by the names of thofe human qualities to which they are fo analogous. So remarkable are thefe characteristical features, in fome animals, that a comparison with them. generally expreffes the highest degrees of fimilar properties in our fpecies.

The

IX.

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