Page images
PDF
EPUB

VI.

Think of the sacred name in which you were SERMON baptised. Think of the God whom your fathers honoured and worshipped; of the religion in which they trained you up; of the venerable rites in which they brought you to partake. Their paternal cares have now ceased. They have finished their earthly course; and the time is coming when you must follow them. must follow them. You know that you are not to live always here; and you surely do not believe that your existence is to end with this life. Into what world, then, are you next to go? Whom will you meet with there? Before whose tribunal are you to appear? What account will you be able to give of your present trifling and irregular conduct to Him who made you?-Such thoughts may be treated as unseasonable intrusions. But intrude they sometimes will, whether you make them welcome or not. Better, then, to allow them free reception when they come, and to consider fairly to what they lead. You have seen persons die; at least, you have heard of your friends dying near you. Did it never enter into your minds, to think

13

SERMON think what their last reflections probably were in their concluding moments;

VI.

or

what
your own, in such a situation, would
be? What would be then your hopes and
fears; what part you would then wish to
have acted ; in what light your closing
eyes would then view this life, and this
world.

These are thoughts, my friends, too im-
portant to be always excluded. These are
things too solemn and awful to be trifled
with. They are superior to all the ridicule
of fools. They come home to every man's
bosom; and are entitled to every man's
highest attention. Let us regard them as
becomes reasonable and mortal creatures;
and they will prove effectual antidotes to
the evil communications of petulant scoffers.
When vice or folly arise to tempt us under
flattering forms, let the serious character
which we bear as men comẹ also forward
to view; and let the solemn admonitions,
with which I conclude, sound full in our
ears My son, if sinners entice thee, consent
thou not. Come out from amongst them, and
be separate.
Remember thy Creator in the

days

VI.

days of thy youth. Fear the Lord, and depart SERMON from evil. The way of life is above to the wise; and he that keepeth the commandment, keepeth his own soul*.

* Prov. i. 10. ; 2 Corinth. vi. 17.; Eccles. xii. 1.; Prov. xv. 24.

14

SERMON VII.

On FORTITUde.

SERMON

VIL

[blocks in formation]

Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear.

THIS world is a region of danger, in which perfect safety is possessed by no man, Though we live in times of established tranquillity, when there is no ground to apprehend that an host shall, in the literal sense, encamp against us; yet every man, from one quarter or other, has somewhat to dread. Riches often make to themselves wings, and flee away. The firmest health may in a moment be shaken. The most flourishing family may unexpectedly be scattered. The appearances of our security are frequently deceitful. When

our

VII.

our sky seems more settled and serene, in SERMON some unobserved quarter gathers the little black cloud, in which the tempest ferments, and prepares to discharge itself on our head. Such is the real situation of man in this world; and he who flatters himself with an opposite view of his state, only lives in the paradise of fools.

In this situation, no quality is more requisite than constancy, or fortitude of mind; a quality which the Psalmist appears, from the sentiment in the text, to have possessed in an eminent degree. Fortitude was justly classed, by the ancient philosophers, among the cardinal virtues. It is indeed essential to the support of them all; and it is most necessary to be acquired by every one who wishes to discharge with fidelity the duties of his station. It is the armour of the mind, which will fit him for encountering the trials and surmounting the dangers, that are likely to occur in the course of his life. It may be thought, perhaps, to be a quality, in some measure, constitutional; dependent on firmness of nerves, and strength of spirits. Though, partly, it is so, yet experience shews that it

may

« PreviousContinue »