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Be moderate in particular in your expectations of earthly felicity; for this world is a scene of trial, and contains sorrow as well as joy.

But give not way to a discontented spirit. Happiness does not universally prevail, but it predominates even on earth. God is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works. There are many pleasures of the senses, of which you may innocently partake; and they are daily and hourly renewed. You have the pleasures of the imagination and understanding, of conversation and friendship, of sympathy and devotion. If you are young, you have indulgent parents to provide for your wants; if in middle life, you have children to delight you: if advanced to old age, you have still your children for your companions, and in addition grandchildren, to excite your fondest affections.

Perhaps however, few of you are as happy, as you might be, because your hearts are not entirely free from the root of bitterness. Let me therefore exhort you to shun contention, and to live peaceably with all men. If you have had enemies, and they repent, forgive them; and even if they do not repent, do not cherish resentment in your heart. You are not obliged to take them to your bosom; but you are not allowed to hate them; and if you are true good for evil.

Christians, you will return

One powerful sentiment, that will check the anger which might otherwise arise in you, is this, that you are mortal. It is vain to feel resentment against a man, who in a few years or months will be consigned with you to the same common dust. In truth the serious reflection on death is a preservative against almost every vice. You will therefore frequently have it in your

minds. It will guard you against the snares of prosperity, and console you under adversity. Though you are rich, and great, and healthy, and popular, and eloquent, and wise, yet when you remember that there will soon. be an end of all your prosperity in the dark and silent grave, you will not be puffed up with conceit. On the other hand, if you are poor, and mean, and sick, and despised, and friendless, and destitute, you will reflect that death is the cure of every evil. It restores your health and youth; it relieves you from every embarrassment; it removes every mortification. It brings you again into the presence of the beloved friends whom you have lost. It seats you in a place of safety, where temptation cannot assault, where care cannot vex you; where there will not be either disease, or pain, or sin, or misery. Be mindful then that you must die. But reflect at the same time that the virtuous and pious only can have hope in death. When Jesus has restored you to life, you will be called before the bar of your judge; where you will have to give an account for every idle and vain word, which you have uttered, for every impious and malignant deed, which you have committed; and if you are found guilty, you will be consigned to a place of wretchedness, from which you cannot expect to be released, till the uttermost farthing is paid, till the infinitely wise and gracious purposes, which God designs in your punishment, are fully accomplished.

In fine, be ever mindful of the end for which you were created, which is the unbounded love of God, and disinterested benevolence to all his rational creatures. The Christian religion has this great object in view; and our Saviour has forcibly expressed it in the following words: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy

heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. This is the perfection and happiness of your nature, a perfection, to which few have yet attained. But do you, my brethren, heroically resolve to aim at this height. As you have received of your instructers, how you ought to walk and please God, abound more and more. Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, press toward the mark, for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Strive continually to excel yourselves and then will that animated happiness, which dwells in aspiring minds, still accompany you, and reward your progress.

This, my brethren, is the sum of what I have spoken to you during the past six months. I confess that it is nothing more than an imperfect sketch of your duty; but happily you have in your hands a discourse, which is able to supply all my deficiencies. This admirable discourse you have often read; but I would request you to read it once more, and to impress its precepts deeply on your hearts. The discourse, to which I refer, is Christ's sermon on the mount. Never man spake like this man. If you sincerely practise what he taught, you will stand like a house, which is built on a rock. Though the rains descend, though the floods come, though the winds blow, yet it will not fall: Temptation will not shake you, affliction will not overwhelm you, death itself will not alarm you; but after this short life is ended, you will be found heirs of glory, heirs of God, and jointheirs with Christ, who will place you with him on his throne, where you will reign with him forever and ever.

S. before Advent.

SERMON XXVI.

DUTIES OF CITIZENS.

PSALMS CXXII, 6.

PRAY FOR THE PEACE OF JERUSALEM: THEY SHALL PROSPER THAT LOVE THEE.

On this day of public thanksgiving and prayer, we are reminded of the relations, in which the citizens of a state stand to each other, and of the duties, to which they are mutually obliged. I beg permission to lay before you a few thoughts on this subject, under the form of observations and inquiries; and I doubt not, that whilst you reject those parts of them, which appear to you erroneous, you will admit the parts, which are manifestly true.

1. The first observation is, that it is the duty of every person in society to love his country. The love of our country implies the obligation to exert all our talents, to establish the peace of the nation, to which we belong. Man owes something to himself, something to his family, something to his fellow citizens, and something to mankind at large. The two former obligations are approved by nature, which justifies every man in loving himself and family; and the latter is enjoined by the Christian religion, which inculcates universal benevolence: but

where these obligations interfere, we must yield our private and domestic interest to the interest of our country, and the interest of a foreign nation to that of our own. The obligation of sacrificing our private good to the good of the public may not be universally conceded; but that it is our duty to prefer our own nation to any other, will generally be allowed. The reason why this should be required of us is obvious: The prosperity of the world at large will be most effectually secured by every one of us promoting, as far as we can do it, the welfare of the nation, of which we are parts. The sphere of each man's agency is necessarily small; and he can seldom extend the effects of his good deeds to any country, except his own. It is our duty then to love our country, to pray for its peace and prosperity, to act with fidelity the part assigned to us for the interest of the community, and to defend its rights and independence against hostile attacks. Is it not my intention to justify the narrow national prejudices, which are not less common here, than in other parts of the world. There may be climes more favored than our own, and people more enlightened, more courteous, and more honest than ourselves: but whilst we are willing to allow this, and every candid man ought to allow it, if it is true, we should still love our country more than any other, as we love our own children in the highest degree, though they may be less accomplished than the children of our neighbors. As however it is the duty of a parent to correct the faults, and to improve the virtues of his children, so ought we to conduct ourselves toward our country: whatever is mean, fraudulent, or vicious, in the principles and habits of our fellow citizens, we should reform as far as we can, by our exhortations, and in particular by our example.

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