but diveft thyself of anxiety about the iffue. Instead of feeking to order thine own lot, acquiefce in the appointment of Heaven, and follow without hesitation the call of Providence, and of duty. In whatever fituation of life God fhall place thee, look up devoutly to Him for grace and affiftance; and study to act the part affigned thee with a faithful and upright heart. Thus fhalt thou have. peace within thyself, while thy course is going on; and when it draws towards a close, with fatisfaction thou shalt review thy conduct. For, after all the toils and labours of life, and all the vain ftruggles which we maintain for pre-eminence and distinction, we shall find, at the conclufionof the whole scene, that to fear God and keep his commandments is the whole man.

SERM.
XIII.

SERMON

XIII.

On the BENEFITS to be derived from the
HOUSE of MOURNING.

ECCLESIASTES, vii. 2, 3, 4.

It is better to go to the house of mourning,
than to go to the house of feafting; for that
is the end of all men, and the living will
lay it to his heart. Sorrow is better than
laughter; for by the fadness of the coun-
tenance the heart is made better.
heart of the wife is in the boufe of mourn-
ing; but the heart of fools is in the house
of mirth.

MANY

The

ANY of the maxims contained, in this book of Ecclefiaftes will appear ftrange fayings to the men of the world. But when they reflect on the character of

him who delivers them, they cannot but admit that his tenets deferve a ferious and attentive examination. For they are not the doctrines of a pedant, who, from an obfcure retirement, declaims against pleafures which he never knew. They are not the invectives of a difappointed man, who takes revenge upon the world, by fatirising those enjoyments, which he fought in vain to obtain. They are the conclufions of a great and profperous prince who had once given full scope to his defires; who was thoroughly acquainted with life in its moft flattering fcenes; and who now, reviewing all that he had enjoyed, delivers to us the refult of long experience, and tried wisdom. None of his principles feem, at first view, more dubious andexceptionable than those which the text presents. To affert that forrow ist preferable to mirth, and the house of mourning to the boufe of feafting; to advise men to, chufe mortification and fadness when it is in their power to indulge in joy, may appear harsh and unreasonable doctrines. They may, perhaps, be accounted enemies

to

XIII.

SERM. to the innocent enjoyment of life who give countenance to fo fevere a fyftem, and thereby increase the gloom which already fits fufficiently heavy on the condition of man. But let this cenfure be suspended, until we examine with care into the fpirit and meaning of the fentiments here delivered.

It is evident that the wife man does not prefer forrow, upon its own account, to mirth; or represent sadness as a state more eligible than joy. He confiders it in the light of discipline only. He views it with reference to an end. He compares it with certain improvements which he supposes it to produce; when the heart is made better by the fadness of the countenance, and the living to lay to heart what is the end of all men. Now, if great and lafting benefits are found to refult from occafional fadnefs, these, sure, may be capable of giving it the preference to fome fleeting fenfations of joy. The means which he recommends in order to our obtaining those benefits, are to be explained according to the principles of found reason;

XIII.

reafon; and to be understood with thofe SERM. limitations which the eastern ftyle, in delivering moral precepts, frequently requires.' He bids us go to the houfe of mourning; but he does not command us to dwell there. When he prefers forrow to laughter, he is not to be understood as prohibiting all mirth; as requiring us to wear a perpetual cloud on our brow, and to fequeftrate ourselves from every cheerful entertainment of focial life. Such an interpretation would be inconfiftent with many other exhortations in his own writings which recommend temperate and innocent joy. It would not fuit with the proper discharge of the duties which belong to us as members of fociety; and would be most oppofite to the goodness and benignity of our Creator. The true scope of his doctrine in this paffage is, that there is a certain temper and state of heart, which is of far greater confequence to real happinefs than the habitual indulgence of giddy and thoughtless mirth; that for the attainment and cultivation of this temper, frequent returns of grave reflection are necefVOL. II. fary;

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