actually degrades him either in the fight of God, or in the eyes of intelligent fpirits, or of wife men: but a low way of thinking, low fentiments, mean be haviour, are really what they are called, and are fo in all stations, and among all claffes of mankind, the foremost as well as the hindmoft.- Power and authority are not real, permanent grandeur: only the wife, beneficial ufe of them is anything real of the kind. Little, contemptibly little is the mightieft tyrant, the most arbitrary defpot, who employs his force to destroy, his authority to oppress. Great, refpectably great is the poor peasant, the day-labourer, who in his narrow circle, and with his limited abilities, does and promotes as much good Wealth and opuand utility, as he poffibly can. lence, magnificence and luxury, in themselves render no man either great or eminent; and poverty and indigence, retiredness and obfcurity, in themselves degrade and difgrace nobody. The narrowest mind and the moft contracted, moft unfeeling heart may be connected with the largest eftate, as well as an afpiring, liberal mind, and a capacious, tender heart Seldom is that which shines with penury and want.

and glitters, which is announced with oftentation and clamour, really grand and excellent. True grandeur and excellence are much oftener seen in privacy and retirement, than on the great theatre of the world, much oftener in the humble retreat of the fage, or in the plain and fimple dwelling of the man of middling station, than in the splendour of

the

the court, or on the throne of the prince. Thus, my pious hearers, thus are we taught by wifdom to think and to judge of that which among men is called high and low, great and little. Thus differs her opinion and her decifion thereupon from the opinion and the decifion of the bulk of mankind. Let us hearken to her voice, and form our judgment upon her's.

All thy grandeur, wisdom calls to man, all thy grandeur, whether phyfical or moral grandeur, is but comparatively fo. Contraft thyself with the plants, with the beasts of the field, with the entirely fenfual and depraved of mankind, and thou must feel thyself far superior to them, must feel thyself endowed with great faculties and privileges. Contrast thyself with beings of a higher order, contrast thyfelf with Jefus, the grand exemplar of all human perfection, and an inward, lively fentiment of feebleness, of defects and failings will humiliate and confound thee. Contraft thyfelf with the deity himself, and everything apparently great and excellent vanishes from thy view, and thou entirely lofest fight of thyfelf with all that thou art and hast.

Boaft not thyself, continues wisdom in her addrefs to man, boast not thyself of thy grandeur or thy eminence, when they are founded merely on accidents and externals; on the privileges of thy birth, of thy form, of thy station, thy office, thy revenues, or on actions that rather attract the eyes of the crowd and excite their acclamations, than diffuse real happiness

around.

around. All this is fpurious, borrowed, tranfitory, falfe greatnefs and eminence, that will not ftand the teft of reafon nor refift the force of time, and are apt to fade and wither away as fuddenly as they fprung up.

Blush not on the other hand, o man, blufh not at thy meannefs, thy limitations, and the obfcurity which furrounds thee if they are merely the confequences of thy parentage, of thy birth, of thy fituation, of thy want of fortune, if they be not the fruits of thy folly or thy criminal conduct. A found understanding, a mind perpetually striving after higher perfection, a generous heart, affectionate towards God and man, confer on thee greater intrinfic, permanent worth, lead thee farther on the fcale of beings, and affign thee a fuperior rank among them, than all other outward distinctions, than crowns and fceptres, placed on the heads and in the hands of fools and profligates. Here may be very often applied the affertion of Jefus in our text: that which is highly esteemed among men, is abomination in the fight of God.

No, to be well-pleafing to God, thy creator and jord, to do his will and to have communion with him, to be wife and good, and truly useful to thy brethren: herein and herein alone feek thy real grandeur and eminence, o man. All outward, fenfual, earthly grandeur and eminence are fooner or later overwhelmed in the night of the grave and oblivion. Where are the great heroes, the great monarchs,

the

the great empires of antiquity? Where is their gran deur and eminence? Thofe lie buried in the dust, these are gone to ruin, and history has scarcely preferved their names. No, only greatnefs of mind, only grandeur of foul abide for ever, and accompany the man who poffeffes them, out of one world into the other, from one stage of his existence to another. After this grandeur, after more eminent wisdom, after more excellent virtue and piety, let us strive, my dear friends, if we would not pursue an empty fhadow and hereafter be afhamed of our childish efforts, but refolve really to become as perfect and as happy as according to our nature and deftination we may become.

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SERMON XLVII.

The religious Behaviour of Mankind in Profperity and in Adverfity.

GOD, to thee belong majefty and power, glory, praise and thanksgiving! All that is in heaven and on earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, thou reigneft over all, thine are riches and honour, on thee alone it depends that any one can be great and mighty. Profperity and adverfity, life and death are in thy hand, and are dispensed by thee according to the laws of confummate wifdom and benignity among all thy creatures. We too, thy children upon earth, can experience neither evil nor good that does not depend on thee, that is not adapted and directed by thee to the fittest purposes. Thou surveyest, thou comprehendeft, and ordereft all our fortunes, and governest them in fuch manner as is moft conducive to our benefit, and to the perfection of the whole, All that comes from thee is bleffing and bounty; alļ has perfection and happiness in view. Oh that we perceived this truth, with conviction perceived it, in profperity as in adverfity, in the afflictions no less than in the fatisfactions of life, and in every fituation behaved confiftently with this knowledge! How humble, how grateful, how beneficent, how moderate, how heavenly-minded fhould we be in profpe