without conceiving an affront; he can bear to be contradicted without resenting; and as he never loves to give offence to any man, so neither is he presently offended. It is only the more peevish and feeble pieces of human nature, that are ready to take offence at trifles, and many times they make their own foolish jealousies, a sufficient ground for their indignation.

We cannot expect to pass through the world, and find every thing peaceful and pleasant in it. All men will not be of our mind, nor agree to promote our interest. There are savages in this wilderness, which lies in our way to the heavenly Canaan; and we must sometimes hear them roar against us. Di. vine courage will enable us to walk onward without fear, and meekness will teach us to pass by without resenting. We should learn to feel many a spark of angry fire falling upon us from the tongues of others, and yet our hearts should not be like tinder ready to catch the flame, and to return the blaze. The meek Christian, at such a season, possesses his soul in patience, as good David did, whem Shimei sent his malice and his curses after him; the saint at that time was in an humble temper, and said, let Shimei curse. We should not render evil for evil, but according to the sacred direction of scripture, endeavour to overcome evil with good; Row. xii. 21.

Anger is not utterly forbidden to the Christian; yet happy is he that has the least occasion for it. In Eph. iv. 26. the apostle gives us this rule, be ye angry, and sin not. As if he would have said, when the affairs of life seem to require a just resentment and anger, look upon it as a dangerous moment, and watch against a sinful excess. Let us never give a wild loose to our wrath, but always hold the reins of government with a strong hand, lest it break out into forbidden mischief. When we give ourselves leave

to be offended, let the anger appear to be directed against the sin of the offender, if possible, more than against his person.

Let our anger be well-timed, both as to the season and the length of it. The seasons of it should be very uncommon; a Christian should seldom awaken his anger, and the continuance of it must be very short. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath, nor give place to the devil. The long sullen resentment which is practised by some persons, carried on from day to day with a gloomy silence, and now and then venting itself in a spiteful word, or a sly reproach, is by no means becoming the name and spirit of a Christian. This is giving place to the devil, and making room for him to lodge in our hearts. This is as much contrary to meekness, as a short and sudden fury is, and perhaps carries in it a guilt more aggravated in the sight of God.

Yet neither should our anger indulge itself in loud and noisy practices, nor fill the house with a brawling sound. It is better to dwell in a corner of the house-top, than to cohabit in a palace with such a brawling companion of life; Prov. xxi. 9. And the wise man has repeated it again in the twenty-fifth chapter, as a matter worthy of double notice. St. Paul forbids this practice to the Ephesians; let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice; Eph. iv. 31.

Nor should our résentments carry us to any cruel practices. The word of God spends its curses upon such sort of anger, Gen. xlix. 7. Cursed be the wrath of Simeon, for it was fierce, and the anger of Levi, for it was cruel. You know what mischiefs it hurried them into, even to foul treachery and murder, and the destruction of a whole country. The grace of meekness is an enemy to all these practices, and a happy preservative from them.

VOL. ri

5. Patience is a lovely virtue. I am not now speaking of that religious exercise of it, which consists in an humble submission to the providences of God, without repining at his hand, or sending up our murmurs against heaven; but a patient conduct to our fellow creatures is the thing, which I chiefly design here to recommend.

When some persons stand in need of any of the necessaries or conveniences of life; they must be supplied first, they can brook no delay; let all the world stand by waiting till they are served; and their anger is quickly kindled if their affairs are not dispatched in a moment. They make no allowances for the necessities or conveniences of others; nor for the various accidents that attend human life, which may stop the speed of the most diligent servant, and constrain him unwillingly to delay his message or his work. But the patient Christian considers all things; desires but his share of the attendance of his fellow creatures, and waits without clamour till the proper season. He makes wise and kind allowances for every incident of life that may give just occasion to a delay, and gains the love of all that are about him by this most engaging carriage.

How lovely is it to see a teacher waiting upon those that are slow of understanding, and taking due time and pains to make the learner conceive what he means, without upbraiding him with his weakness, or reproaching him with the names of stupid and senseless! This is to imitate God, the God of long suffering and patience, "who giveth wisdom to all that ask, and upbraideth not," James i. 5. The patient man attends and waits upon those that are slow of speech, and hears an argument fully proposed before he makes his reply. This is an honourable and lovely character; but he that answereth a

matter before he heareth it, it is tolly and shame unto him, Prov. xviii. 13. Perhaps he is utterly mistaken in the objection which his friend was going to make, then he is justly put to the blush for his folly and impatience.

The virtue of patience teaches us to be calm and easy toward our fellow creatures, while we sustain sharp and continued afflictions from the hand of God. It is the unhappy conduct of some Christians, that when the great God puts them under any sore trial or chastisement, they are angry with all their friends around them, and scatter abroad their discontents in the family, and many times make them fall heaviest upon their most intimate friends. If one were to search this matter to the bottom, we should find the spring of it is an impatience at the sovereign hand of God; but because their Christianity forbids them to vent their uneasiness at heaven, they divert the stream of their resentment, and make their fellow creatures feel it; so a piece of unripe fruit pressed with a heavy weight from above, scatters its sour juice on every thing that stands near it, and gives a just emblem of the impatient Christian.

But what a lovely sight is it to behold a person burdened with many sorrows, and perhaps his flesh upon him has pain, and anguish, while his soul mourns within him; yet his passions are calm, he possesses his spirit in patience, he takes kindly all the relief that his friends attempt to afford him, nor does he give them any grief or uneasiness but what they feel through the force of mere sympathy and

mpassion? Thus even in the midst of calamities, he knits the hearts of his friends faster to himself, and lays greater obligations upon their love by so lovely and divine a conduct under the weight of his heavy sorrows,

4. Love to mankind in the various branches of it, is a most lovely quality, and well becomes a Christian.

Should I speak of love in the heart, which ever thinks the best concerning others, and wishes and seeks their welfare and happiness; should I speak of it as it works on the tongue, and appears in all friendly language, whether the object be present or afar off: should I describe it as it discovers itself in the hand of assistance and bounty, to relieve the poor and the helpless; each of these would yield sufficient matter for a whole discourse; and this grace would appear lovely in all its forms. It is a pain to my thoughts to omit it here; methinks I can hardly tell how to let it go without large encomiums; nor could I prevail with myself to pass it over now with so brief a mention, if I did not design to employ an hour or two on this subject hereafter.

I

The Second Part of

SERMON V.

PROCEED to shew how the very light of nature recommends every agreeable and obliging character; every lovely quality that is found among mankind; and reason exhorts us to the acquirement and practice of it.

1. Our own interest directs us to it. It is a netural good quality, and a most useful thing to desire the love of others, to seek the favour of our fellow creatures. It is a very lawful ambition to covet the good will of those with whom we converse; and to pursue such practices as may procure us a place in their good opinion and friendship. We who are born