$90. The Virtue of Gentleness not to be confounded with artificial and infincere Politeness. Gentleness corrects whatever is offenfive in our manners; and, by a conftant train of humane attentions, studies to alleviate the burden of common mifery, Its office, therefore, is extenfive. It is not, like some other virtues, called forth only on peculiar emergencies: but it is continually in action, when we are engaged in intercourfe with men. It ought to form our addrefs, to regulate our fpeech, and to diffufe itself over our whole behaviour. I muft warn you, however, not to confound this gentle wifdom which is from above, with that artificial courtesy, that ftudied fmoothness of manners, which is learned in the school of the world. Such accomplishments the most frivolous and empty may poffefs. Too often they are employed by the artful, as a fnare: too citen affected by the hard and unfeeling, as a cover to the bafeness of their minds. We cannot, at the fame time, avoid obferving the homage which, even in fuch infances, the world is conftrained to pay to virtue. In order to render fociety agreeable, it is found neceffary to affume fomewhat that may at leaft carry its appearance; Virtue is the univerfal charm; even its fhadow is courted, when the fubfance is wanting: the imitation of its form has been reduced into an art; and, in the commerce of life, the firft fudy of all who would either gain the eleem, or win the hearts of others, is to learn the frech, and to adopt the manners of canduur, gentlenefs, ard humanity; but that gentleness which is the characteristic of a good man, has, like every other virtue, its feat in the heart; and, let me add, nothing except what flows from it, can render even external manners truly pleasing; for no affumed behaviour can at all times hide the real character. In that unaffected civility which fprings from a gentle mind, there is a charm infinitely more powerful than in all the ftudied manners of the most Anited courtier. و Blair. That this gentlenefs on which we now infift, regards only thofe fmaller offices of life, which, in their eyes, are not effential to religion and goodness. Negligent, they confefs, on flight occafions, of the government of their temper, or the regulation of their behaviour, they are attentive, as they pretend, to the great duties of beneficence; and ready, whenever the opportunity prefents, to perform important fervices to their fellow-creatures. But let fuch perfons reflect, that the occafions of performing thofe important good deeds very rarely occur. Perhaps their fituation in life, or the nature of their connections, may, in a great measure, exclude them from fuch opportunities. Great events give scope for great virtues; but the main tenor of human life is compofed of fmall occurrences. Within the round of thefe, lie the materials of the happiness of molt men; the fubjects of their duty, and the trials of their virtue. Virtue must be formed and fupported, not by unfrequent acts, but by daily and repeated exertions. In order to its becoming either vigorous or useful, it must be habitually active; not breaking like the blaze of the comet; but regular forth occafionally with a tranfient luftre, in its returns, like the light of the day; not feafts the fenfe; but, like the ordinary like the aromatic gale, which fometimes breeze, which purifies the air, and renders it healthful. Years may pafs over our heads, without affording any opportunity for acts of high beneficence, or extenfive utility. Whereas, not a day paffes, but in the common tranfactions of life, and especially in the intercourfe of domestic fociety, gentleness finds place for promoting the happiness of others, and for ftrengthening in ourselves, the habit of virus. Nay, by leasonable dif coveries of a humane fpirit, we fometimes contribute more materially to the advancement of happiness, than by action, which are feemingly more important. There are fituations, not a few, in human life, where the encouraging reception, the condefcending behaviour, and the look of fymp.tay, bring greater relief to the heart, than the mot bountiful gift: while, on the other fide, when the hard of liberality is extended to bestow, the want of gentleness is fulh cient to frußrate the intention of the bes refit; we for those whom we meant to § 91. Opportunities for great A of Be-oline; and, by conferring favours with neficence rare, fer Gentlenes continual. But, perhaps, it will be pleaded by fome, of nation and arthre's, reconvert them into injuries. Can any difpofition, tuen be held to poffefs a low place in the fcale of virtue, whofe influence is fo confiderable on the happiness of the world. Gentleness is, in truth, the great avenue to mutual enjoyment. Amidft the ftrife of interfering interefts, it tempers the violence of contention, and keeps alive the feeds of harmony. It foftens animofities, renews endearments, and renders the countenance of a man, a refreshment to a man. Banish gentleness from the earth; fuppofe the world to be filled with none but harfh and contentious fpirits, and what fort of fociety would remain? the folitude of the defart were preferable to it. The conflict of jarring elements in chaos; the cave, where fubterraneous winds contend and roar; the den, where ferpents hifs, and beafts of the foreft howl; would be the only proper reprefentations of fuch affemblies of men,-Strange! that where men have all one common intereft, they fhould fo often abfurdly concur in defeating it! Has not nature already provided a fufficient quantity of unavoidable evils for the ftate of man? As if we did not fuffer enough from the form which beats upon us without, muft we confpire alfo, in those societies where we affemble, in order to find a retreat from that storm, to harafs one another? Blair. $92. Gentleness recommended on Confidera tions of our own Intereft. But if the fenfe of duty, and of common happiness, be infufficient to recommend the virtue of gentleness, then let me defire you to confider your own intereft. Whatever ends a good man can be fuppofed to purfue, gentleness will be found to favour them; it prepoffeffes and wins every heart; it perfuades, when every other argument fails; often difarms the fie.ce, and melts the ftubborn. Whereas, har fhnefs confirms the oppofition it would fubdue; and, of an indifferent perfon, creates an enemy. He who could overlook an injury committed in the collifion of interefts, will long and feverely refent the flights of a contemptuous behaviour. To the man of gentlenefs, the world is generally difpofed to afcribe every other good quality. The higher endowments of the mind we admire at a distance, and when any impropriety of behaviour accompanies them, we admire without love: they are like fome of the diftant ftars, whofe beneficial influence reaches not to us. Whereas, of the in fluence of gentleness, all in fome degree partake, and therefore all love it. The Iman of this character rifes in the world without ftruggle, and flourishes without envy. His misfortunes are univerfally lamented; and his failings are easily forgiven. But whatever may be the effect of this virtue on our external condition, its influence on our internal enjoyment is cer tain and powerful. That inward tranquillity which it promotes, is the firft requifite to every pleasurable feeling. It is the calm and clear atmosphere, the ferenity and funshine of the mind. When benignity and gentleness reign within, we are always leaft in hazard of being ruffled from without; every perfon, and every occurrence, are beheld in the most favourable light. But let fome clouds of disgust and ill-humour gather on the mind, and immediately the fcene changes: Nature feems transformed; and the appearance of all things is blackened to our view. The gentle mind is like the fmooth ftream, which reflects every object in its juft proportion, and in its faireft colours. The violent fpirit, like troubled waters, renders back the images of things distorted and broken; and communicates to them all that disordered motion which arifes folely from its own agitation. Ibid. $93. The Man of gentle Manners is fuperior to frivolous Offences and flight Provocations. As foon may the waves of the fea cease to roll, as provocations to arife from human corruption and frailty. Attacked by great injuries, the man of mild and gentle fpirit will feel what human nature feels; and will defend and refent, as his duty allows him. But to thofe flight provocations, and frivolous offences, which are the most frequent caufes of difquiet, he is happily fuperior. Hence his days flow in a far more placid tenor than thofe of others; exempted from the numberless difcompofures which agitate vulgar minds, infpired with higher fentiments; taught to regard, with indulgent eye, the frailties of men, the omiflions of the careless, the follies of the imprudent, and the levity of the fickle, he retreats into the calmness of his fpirit, as into an undisturbed fanctuary; and quietly allows the usual current of life to hold its course. Ibid. § 94. Pride fills the World with Harness and Severity. Let me advise you to view your charader with an impartial eye; and to learn, from your own failings, to give that indaigence which in your turn you claim. It is pride which fills the world with fo much harshness and feverity. In the fulnels of self-estimation, we forget what we are, we claim attentions to which we are not entitled. We are rigorous to offences, as if we had never offended; unfeeling to distress, as if we knew not what it was to fuffer. From thofe airy regions of pride and folly, let us defcend to our proper level. Let us furvey the natural equality on which Providence has placed man with man, and reflect on the infirmities common to all. If the reflection on natural equality and mutual offences be infufficient to prompt humanity, let us at leaft confider what we are in the fight of God. Have we none of that forbearance to give one another, which we all fo earnestly entreat from Heaven? Can we look for clemency or gentleness from our Judge, when we are fo backward to fhew it to our own brethren ? Blair. $95. Violence and Contention often caufed by Trifles and imaginary Mifchiefs. Accuftom yourselves, alfo, to reflect on the fmall moment of those things which are the ufual incentives to violence and contention. In the ruffled and angry hour, we view every appearance through a falfe medium. The most inconfiderable point of intereft or honour, fwells into a momentous object; and the flighteft attack feems to threaten immediate ruin. But after paffion or pride has fubfided, we look round in vain for the mighty mischiefs we dreaded the fabric, which our disturbed imagination had reared, totally disappears. But though the caufe of contention has dwindled away, its confequences remain. We have alienated a friend; we have embittered an enemy; we have fown the feeds of future fufpicion, malevolence, or duguft-Sufpend your violence, I befeech you, for a moment, when caufes of difcord occur. Anticipate that period of coolness, which, of itself, will foon arrive. Allow yourfelves to think, how little you have any profpect of gaining by fierce contention; but how much of the true happiness of life you are certain of throwing away. Eafily, and from the fmalleft chink, the bitter But gentleness will, moft of all, be promoted by frequent views of those great objects which our holy religion prefents. Let the profpects of immortality fill your minds. Look upon this world as a state of paffage. Confider yourfelves as engaged in the purfuit of higher interefts; as acting now, under the eye of God, an introductory part to a more important scene. Elevated by fuch fentiments, your minds will become calm and fedate. You will look down, as from a fuperior ftation, on the petty disturbances of the world. They are the felfish, the fenfual, and the vain, who are moft fubject to the impotence of paffion. They are linked so closely to the world; by fo many fides they touch every object, and every person around them, that they are perpetually hurt, and perpetually hurting others. But the fpirit of true religion removes us to a proper distance from It leaves us fufficiently connected with the the grating objects of worldly contentions. world, for acting our part in it with propriety; but difengages us from it fo far, as to weaken its power of disturbing our tranquillity. It infpires magnanimity; and magnanimity always breathes gentleness. It leads us to view the follies of men with pity, not with rancour; and to treat, with the mildness of a fuperior nature, what in little minds would call forth all the bitternefs of paffion. Ibid. $97. Gentleness to be affumed, as the Ornament of every Age and Station; but to be diftinguished from polished or affected Manners. Aided by fuch confiderations, let us cultivate that gentle wisdom which is, in so many respects, important both to our duty and our happiness. Let us affume it as the ornament of every age, and of every ftation. Let it temper the petulance of youth, and foften the moroseness of old age. Let it mitigate authority in those who rule, and promote deference among thofe who obey. I conclude with repeating the caution, not to mistake for true gentleness, that flimfy imitation of it, called polished manners, which often, among the the men of theworld, under a smooth appear ance, conceals much afperity. Let yours be native gentleness of heart, flowing from the love of God, and the love of man. Unite this amiable fpirit, with a proper zeal for all that is right, and juft, and true. Let piety be combined in your character with humanity. Let determined integrity dwell in a mild and gentle breaft. A character thus fupported, will command more real refpect than can be procured by the most fhining accomplishments, when fepaBlair. rated from virtue. $98. The Stings of Poverty, Difeafe, and Violence, lefs pungent than thofe of guilty Pafions. Affemble all the evils which poverty, difeafe, or violence can inflict, and their ftings will be found, by far, lefs pungent than thofe which guilty paffions dart into the heart. Amidst the ordinary calamities of the world, the mind can exert its powers, and fuggeft relief: and the mind is properly the man; the fufferer, and his fufferings, can be diftinguished. But thofe diforders of paffion, by feizing directly on the mind, attack human nature in its ftrong hold, and cut off its laft refource. They penetrate to the very feat of fenfation; and convert all the powers of thought into inftruments of torture. Ibid. to be the moft genuine and true.-In a ftate, therefore, where there is neither fo much to be coveted on the one hand, nor to be dreaded on the other, as at firft appears, how fubmiffive ought we to be to the difpofal of Providence! How temperate in our defires and pursuits! How much more attentive to preferve our virtue, and to improve our minds, than to gain the doubtful and equivocal advantages of worldly profperity! Ibid. § 100. The truest Mifery arifes from the Paffions of Man in his prefent fallen and difturbed Condition. From this train of observation, can one avoid reflecting upon the diforder in which human nature plainly appears at prefent to lie? We behold, in Haman, the picture of that mifery, which arifes from evil paflions; of that unhappiness, which is incident to the highest profperity; of that difcontent, which is common to every ftate. Whether we confider him as a bad man, a profperous man, or fimply as a man, in every light we behold reason too weak for paffion. This is the fource of the reigning evil; this is the root of the univerfal difeafe. The ftory of Haman only fhews us, what human nature has too generally appeared to be in every age. Hence, when we read the hiftory of nations, what do we read but the hiftory of the follies and crimes of men? We may dignify those recorded tranfactions, by calling them the intrigues of ftatefmen, and the exploits of conquerors; but they are, in truth, no other than the efforts of difcontent to efcape from its mifery, and the ftruggles of contending paffions among unhappy men. The hiftory of mankind has ever been a continued tragedy; the world, a great theatre, exhibiting the fame repeated fcene, of the follies of men fhooting forth into guilt, and of their paffions fermenting, by a quick procefs, into misery. $99. The Balance of Happiness equal. An extenfive contemplation of human affairs, will lead us to this conclufion, that among the different conditions and ranks of men, the balance of happiness is preferved in a great measure equal; and that the high and the low, the rich and the poor, approach, in point of real enjoyment, much nearer to each other, than is commonly imagined. In the lot of man, mutual compenfations, both of pleasure and of pain, univerfally take place. Providence never intended, that any state here fhould be either completely happy, or entirely miferable. If the feelings of plea- § 101. fure are more numerous, and more lively, in the higher departments of life, such alfo are thofe of pain. If greatnefs flatters our vanity, it multiplies our dangers. If opulence increases our gratifications, it in creafes, in the fame proportion, our defires and demands. If the poor are confined to a more narrow circle, yet within that circle he most of those natural fatisfactions which, after all the refinements of art, are found Ibid. Our Nature to be restored by fing the Affiance of Revelation. But can we believe, that the nature of man came forth in this ftate from the hands of its gracious Creator? Did he frame this world, and ftore it with inhabitants, folely that it might be replenished with crimes and misfortunes!-In the moral, as well as in the natural world, we may plainly difcern the figns of fome violent contufion, which has thattered the ori ginal workmanship of the Almighty. Amidft this wreck of human nature, traces fill remain which indicate its author. Thofe high powers of confcience and reason, that capacity for happiness, that ardour of enterprize, that glow of affection, which often break through the gloom of human vanity and guilt, are like the fcattered columns, the broken arches, and defaced fculptures of fome fallen temple, whole ancient iplendour appears amidst its ruins. So confpicuous in human nature are those characters, both of a high origin and of a degraded state, that, by many religious fects throughout the earth, they have been seen and confeed. A tradition feems to have pervaded almost all nations, that the human race had either, through fome offence, forfeited, or, through fome misfortune, loft, that ftation of primeval honour, which they once poffeffed. But while, from this doarine, ill understood, and involved in many fabulous tales, the nations wandering in Pagan darkness could draw no confencences that were juft; while, totally igorant of the nature of the difeafe, they faght in vain for the remedy; the fame divine revelation, which has informed us in at manner our apoftacy arofe, from the abute of our rational powers, has inftructed us alfo how we may be restored to virtee and to happiness. Let us, therefore, ftudy to improve the affitance which this revelation affords, for the restoration of our nature and the recovery of our felicity. With humble and grateful minds, let us apply to thofe medicinal fprings which it hath opened, for caring the diforders of our hearts and paffons. In this view, let us, with reverence, lock up to that Divine Perfonage, who cefcended into the world, on purpose to be the light and the life of men: who came, in the fulness of grace and truth, to repair the defolations of many generations, to refore order among the works of God, and to raise up a new earth, and new heavens, wherein righteoufnefs thould dwelt for ever. Under his tuition let us put ocriclves; and amidit the ftorms of paffion to which we are here expofed, and the dippery paths which we are left to tread, Lever trult prefumptuoufly to our own underftanding. Thankful that a heavenly condutor vouchfafes his aid, let us earnefly pray, that from him may defcend divine light to guide our iteps, and divine Arength to fortify our minds. Let us pray that his grace may keep us from all intemperate paffions, and mistaken purfuits of pleasure, that whether it shall be his will, to give or to deny us earthly profperity, he may blefs us with a calm, a found, and well-regulated mind; may give us moderation in fuccefs, and fortitude under difappointment; and may enable us fo to take warning from the crimes and miferies of others, as to escape the fnares of guilt. Blair. $102. The Happiness of every Man de pends more upon the State of his own Mind, than upon any external Circumftance whatever. While we thus maintain a due dependence on God, let us also exert ourselves with care, in acting our own part. From the whole of what has been faid, this important inftruction arifes, that the happinefs of every man depends more upon the ftate of his own mind, than upon any one external circumftance; nay, more than upon all external things put together. We have feen, that inordinate paffions are the great difturbers of life; and that unlefs we poffefs a good conscience, and a well-governed mind, difcontent will blaft every enjoyment, and the highest prosperity will prove only difguifed mifery. Fix then this conclufion in your minds, that the deftruction of your virtue is the deftruction of your peace. Keep thy heart with all diligence; govern it with the greatest care; for out of it are the iffues of life. In no ftation, in no period, think yourfelves fecure from the dangers which fpring from your paffions. Every age, and every station, they befet; from youth to grey hairs, and from the peasant to the prince. Ibid. $103. At first fetting out in Life, beware of feducing Appearances. At your first fetting out in life efpecially, when yet unacquainted with the world and its fnares, when every pleasure enchants with its fmile, and every object fhines with the glofs of novelty; beware of the feducing appearances which furround you, and recollect what others have fuffered from the power of headstrong defire. If you allow any paffion, even though it be efteemed innocent, to acquire an abfolute afcendant, your inward peace will be impaired. But if any which has the taint of guilt, take early poffeffion of your mind, you may date from that moment the ruin of your tranquillity.-Nor |