in them, in such particular constitutions. For when misfortunes or disappointments, though slight and trivial, (and none are without some,) fall in with a temper or disposition inclined to melancholy, they have a much greater force upon them than they would otherwise have; and the effect produced is really owing partly to the outward calamity and partly to the inward disorder; it is the result of both together, both contributing, as it were, their share towards it. In such cases it is not always easy to say which is the principal cause or which the subordinate; for in compounded powers of that kind, it may be difficult to compute their respective forces, or to determine exactly which is the more prevailing. But I have said enough of the causes which lead to dejection of mind, which break or wound the spirit of a man within him.

III.

I now pass on, thirdly, to prescribe some proper remedies or preservatives against it.

It is worth the pains, to keep up our spirits, and to maintain the vigour of our minds, in all cases, if we can. For it is a lamentable thing to be overset with trouble, or to be overwhelmed with grief and despair. It makes life miserable as life can be for the time, and then brings men down to the grave. When the mind is sunk, the spirit wounded, or, as we vulgarly say, the heart broken, life does not hold on much longer; or if it does, it is a burden, and a weary load, worse than death. There is no remedy for it, when the malady seizes us in any deep degree for when the mind itself is seized, a man has no longer any command over his own thoughts; there is no room left for advice or instruction; no handle for reason and counsel to take hold of. This makes me speak rather of preservatives than remedies; supposing the text to mean by a wounded spirit, a spirit quite broken: but if it may be understood of the approaches only, or the intermediate degrees, short of extremities; there may then be some remedies, the same which I also call preservatives,

and am now going to lay down. It must be owned, that natural courage, inborn strength of mind, is one of the best preservatives, or strongest securities against it: but as that is a blessing of nature, and I am only to speak of what may be acquired, I shall pass that over as foreign to this head. My business will be to lay down rules either for preserving that natural courage where it is, or for acquiring an artificial courage, (if I may so call it,) which may answer or more than answer the other.

1. And here undoubtedly the first and principal rule must be, to trust in God, and to live a life conformable to the doctrine of Christ. There is no prescription so infallible, no cordial so comfortable, as this now mentioned. "Come unto me," says our blessed Lord," all ye that "labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest b." There is nothing so fortifies the mind, or so invigorates the spirit, as faith and trust in God, joined with a good life; that we may be able to say with St. Paul, "Herein "do we exercise ourselves, to have always a conscience "void of offence towards God and towards man." This consideration taken together with the comfortable hope and expectation of joys eternal in a life to come; I say, these two, taken together, are sufficient to warm the coldest heart, and to give courage and bravery to every drooping spirit. The strength of these principles has been tried and proved; and it appeared most to advantage in the early ages of the Church, when persons of the most tender age or timorous sex would run to a stake or to a rack, without discovering the least uneasiness in look or gesture; and never fainted in heart, nor became broken in spirit, for any trouble or terror that wit and malice combined could expose them to. Now, if a principle of religion was thus effectual in the very hardest circumstances which human life could fall under, why might not the same principle be of like force in the ordinary and common casualties incident to mortality? If therefore

b Matt. xi. 28.

you are desirous to keep up your spirits, and never to sink under a misfortune; fortify your minds by faith, and by a serious and constant endeavour to please God. This will inspire courage when nothing else will, or when the world itself fails: it will do it at all times, and under all circumstances, even upon the bed of sickness, or at the hour of death; provided only, that you have then your thoughts awake, and that the bodily indisposition does not disorder the freedom of the soul.

2. Next to a thorough sense of religion, I shall mention a second preservative, nearly allied to it, and rather a branch or part of it, than distinct from it; which is, to sit as loose as possible to this world; to wean and disentangle our affections from temporal things: for since it is impossible not to meet with infinite crosses and disappointments here, if we set our hearts on this world; the surest way is, not to expect or desire any great happiness here, but to become more and more indifferent to all worldly enjoyments. If we can be content with a moderate share of temporal prosperity, we shall be the less concerned at disappointments, and, of consequence, the better prepared to meet afflictions, and to bear up under them. These two first rules which I have mentioned both meet together in one rule of St. Paul's, "Set your "affections on things above, not on things on the earth." As to other inferior rules for preserving cheerfulness and vivacity of spirit, such as agreeable company, good books, employment in an honest calling, innocent diversions, and the like; as they are none of them comparable to what I have before named, it may be sufficient barely to have hinted them. I have not mentioned the drinking away cares, as some call it, among the proper expedients; because indeed it is highly improper, and tends to enfeeble both the body and the mind, by vitiating the blood, wasting the spirits, and disordering the nerves: not to mention, that it is expensive and vain, and is an offence against

c Col. iii. 2.

God; and so, in all views, is more likely to wound and break the spirit, than to fortify or strengthen it. Seek not therefore to any of those vain and deceitful expedients, which will by no means answer: but rely upon the true and solid ones before intimated; such as faith, good life, and a good conscience consequent thereupon, together with fixed and constant meditations upon the joys of a life to come: if ye do these things, ye can never fail.

SERMON XIII.

The true Nature of Charity; its Value, Measures, and Proportions stated, from the Gospel Account Widow's Offering.

of the

poor

A Charity Sermon.

MARK Xii. 43, 44.

And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.

THE story of the poor widow, who threw in her two mites as an offering to God's temple, and was applauded for it by our blessed Lord, is related by two of the Evangelists, St. Mark and St. Luke; and it is a thing so well known, that the widow's mite is noted even to a proverb. It was at the time of the Passover, the fourth and last Passover our Lord was at, that he was present at the temple, in one of its courts, called the court of the people, and in that apartment of it which belonged to the women, and for that reason called the court of the women. Here it was that the chest, or the almsbox, stood; and hither the people brought their offerings, either for the use of the temple, or for the relief of the poor: and here it was that the poor widow made her humble offering of two mites, to the value of a farthing, while richer persons gave very considerable sums. "Many that were rich.