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"concern to disentangle my thoughts from this "world, and fix them upon another another, a " better world besides this !"- This thought opens a new scene of hope and confolation to the unfortunate: and as the perfuafion of a Providence reconciles him to the evils he has fuffered,--this prospect of a future life gives him strength to despise them, and esteem the light afflictions of this life as they are_not worthy to be compared to what is referved for him hereafter.

Things are great or small by comparison-and he who looks no farther than this world, and balances the accounts of his joys and sufferings from that confideration, finds all his forrows enlarged, and at the close of them will be apt to look back, and cast the same sad reflection upon the whole, which the patriarch did to Pharaoh," That " few and evil had been the days of his pilgrim

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age." But let him lift up his eyes towards heaven, and stedfastly behold the life of immortality of a future state, he then wipes away all tears from off his eyes for ever and ever;-like the exiled captive, big with the hopes that he is returning home he feels not the weight of his chains, or counts the days of his captivity; but looks forward with rapture towards the country where his heart is fled before.

These are the aids which religion offers us towards the regulating of our spirit under the evils of life;but, like great cordials, they are seldom used but on great occurrences. In the lesser evils of life we feem to stand unguarded, and our peace and contentment

are overthrown, and our happiness broke in upon by a little impatience of spirit, under the cross and untoward accidents we meet with. These stand unprovided for, and we neglect them as we do the flighter indispositions of the body-which we think not worth treating serioufly-and fo leave them to nature. In good habits of the body, this may do ;and I would gladly believe, there are such good habits of the temper, fuch a complexional ease and health of heart, as may often save the patient much medicine. We are still to confider that however such good frames of mind are got they are. worth preserving by all rules:-Patience and contentment, which, like the treasure hid in the field, for which a man fold all he had to purchase is of that price that it cannot be had at too great a purchase-fince, without it, the best condition in life cannot make us happy, and with it, it is impossible we should be miferable even in the worst.

Give me leave therefore to close this discourse with some reflections upon the subject of a contented mind and the duty in man of regulating his spirit, in our way through life; a subject in every body's mouth-preached upon daily to our friends and kindred-but too oft in such a style, as to convince the party lectured, only of this truth, That we bear the misfortunes of others with excellent tranquillity.

I believe there are thousands so extravagant in their ideas of contentment, as to imagine that it must consist in having every thing in this world turn out the way they wish that they are to fit

down in happiness, and find themselves so at ease in all points, as to defire nothing better and nothing more. I own there are instances of some, who seem to pass through the world as if all their paths had been strewed with rose-buds of delight; but a little experience will convince us 'tis a fatal expectation to go upon. We are born to trouble; and we may depend upon it, whilst we live in this world, we shall have it, though with intermissionsthat is, in whatever state we are, we shall find a mixture of good and evil; and therefore, the true way to contentment, is to know how to receive these certain viciffitudes of life, the returns of good and evil, so as neither to be exalted by the one, or overthrown by the other, but to bear ourselves towards every thing which happens, with such ease and indifference of mind, as to hazard as little as may be. This is the true temperate climate fitted for us by nature, and in which every wife man would wish to live. God knows, we are perpetually straying out of it, and, by giving wings to our imaginations in the transports we dream of, from such or such a situation in life, we are carried away alternately into all the extremes of hot and cold; for which, as we are neither fitted by nature, or prepared by expectation, we feel them with all their violence, and with all their danger too.

GOD, for wife reasons, has made our affairs in this world almost as fickle and capricious as ourselves Pain and pleasure, like light and darkness, fucceed each other; and he that knows how to accommodate himself to the periodical returns, and. can wisely extract the good from the evil knows only how to live ;- this is true contentment, at leaft all that is to be had of it in this world: and for this every man must be indebted, not to his fortune, but to himself. And indeed it would have been strange, if a duty so becoming us as dependent creatures and so neceffary befides to all our wellbeings, had been placed out of the reach of any in some measure to put in practice and for this reafon, there is scarce any lot so low, but there is fomething in it to fatisfy the man whom it has befallen; Provdience having so ordered things, that in every man's cup, how bitter soever, there are some cordial drops some good circumstances, which, if wisely extracted, are sufficient for the purpose he wants them, that is, to make him contented, and if not happy, at least resigned. May God bless all with his Spirit, for the sake of Jesus Chrift! Amen.

SERMON XVI.

The Character of Shimei.

1

2 SAMUEL XIX. 21. 1st Part.

But Abishai said, Shall not Shimei be put to death for this?

-IT has not a good aspect-This is the second time Abishai has proposed Shimei's destruction; once in the 16th chapter, on a sudden transport of indignation, when Shimei cursed David, -" Why should

this dead dog, cried Abishai, curse my lord the king ? " Let me go over, I pray thee, and cut off his head." -This had fomething at least of gallantry in it; for in doing it he hazarded his own; and befides, the offender was not otherwise to be come at: the second time is in the text, when the offender was absolutely in their power-when the blood was cool; and the suppliant was holding up his hands for mercy.

-Shall not Shimei, answered Abishai, be put to death for this? So unrelenting a pursuit looks less like justice than revenge, which is so cowardly a paffion, that it renders Abishai's first instance almost inconsistent with the second. I shall not endeavour to reconcile them; but confine the difcourse simply

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