stituted for some benevolent
end, and that this end, will be brought about in such a manner as to
manifest to all, the divine perfections in the clearest light, and
shed unfading glory on the supreme Majesty of heaven. This faith gives
him confidence in his heavenly Father, and fills his heart with
gratitude and veneration. It leads him to look upon the human family
as his brethren, and to do them good. He seeks their happiness, and
thus chooses and merits a good name.
At peace with all mankind, his mind irradiated with light and enlarged
with the most noble conceptions of the divine character and
government, bout, he at length lies down in peace and composure upon
his dying bed, and gently breathes out--
"Farewell conflicting joys and fears,
Where light and shade alternatedwell;
A brighter, purer scene appears,
Farewell inconstant world, farewell!"
He sweetly sinks to rest, and leaves behind him a good name, that can
never die, and an example, for others to imitate, worth more than
fortunes in gold. His memory shall survive, when the tomb, on which it
is inscribed, shall crumble into ruin, and his example be a light to
future generations.
SERMON XIV
"Be of the same mind one towards another. Mind not high things, but
condescend to men of low estate." Romans xii. 16.
That mysterious and incomprehensible Being, who gave us existence, has
sown in our nature the seeds of mortality. By the irresistible _laws_
of his empire which he has, from the beginning, _established_ for the
regulating of the animal creation, we are soon to be carried to the
silent grave. All, without exception, are formed out of equal clay,
are subject to the same hopes and fears, joys and sorrows while on
earth, and are all destined to the slumbers of death, where we must
exhibit the emblem of perfect equality. Immaterial how far one may
exalt himself above another while passing through this momentary
existence--immaterial how far he may rise above his fellow men in the
scale of intellect and refinement--immaterial how exalted the station
he may have obtained--how brilliant the powers of his imagination may
sparkle, or how soft and sublime his eloquence may flow--immaterial
how nobly soever he may dazzle in the sunny smiles of fortune, or how
secure he may repose in the fond embrace of friends, yet it is a
melancholy truth, that he must, sooner or later, resign the whole, let
go his eager grasp on all those pleasing joys, bid an everlasti
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