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men heroes, whom a remainder of modefty and religion prevented their putting into the number of their gods, but who for the glory of their exploits were too great to be enrolled among mere men, Let us purify this idea. The man, of whom Solomon speaks, be who ruleth bis spirit, ought not to be confounded with the rest of mankind; he is a man transformed by grace, one, who, to use the language of fcripture, is a partaker of the divine nature. We are going to fpeak of this man, and, we will firft defcribe him, and next fet forth his magnanimity, or,. to keep to the text, we will firft explain what it is to rule the spirit, and, fecondly, we will prove, that be, that ruleth bis spirit, is better than be, that taketh a city. If we proceed further, it will only be to add a few reflections tending to convince you, that you are all called to heroifm ; that there is no middle way in religion; that you must of neceffity, either bear the fhame and infamy of being mean and daftardly fouls, or be. crowned with the glory of heroes.

1. Let us first explain the words of the text,. to rule the spirit. Few words are more equivocal in the facred language than this which our interpreters have rendered spirit. It is put in different places for the thoughts of the mind, the paffions of the heart, the emotions of sense, phantoms of imagination, and illufions of concu piscence. We will not trouble you with grammatical differtations.. In our idiom, to rule, the spirit, (and this is precifely the idea of Solo.. mon) to rule the spirit is never to fuffer onesfelf to be prejudiced by falfe ideas, always to fee things in their true point of view, to regulate our hatred and our love, our defires and our inac-. tivity, exactly according to the knowledge we have obtained after mature deliberation, that ob jects are worthy of our esteem, or deserve our averfion, that they are worth obtaining, or prop er to be neglected.

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But, as this manner of speaking, to rule the. spirit, fuppofes exercife, pains, labors, and refiftance, we ought not to confine ourselves to the general idea which we have given. We confider man in three points of light; in regard to his natural difpofitions; in regard to the objects that furround him; and in regard to the habits which he hath contracted.

1. Confider the natural dispositions of man. Man, as foon as he is in the world, finds him- : self the flave of his heart, instead of being maf ter of it. I mean, that instead of a natural facil ity to admit only what is true, and to love only, what is amiable, he feels, I know not what, iñterior power, which difpofes him to truth and virtue, and conciliates him to vice and faliehood.

I am not going to agitate the famous queftion of free-will, nor to enter the lifts with thofe, who are noted in the church for the herefy of denying the doctrine of human depravity; noro will I repeat all the arguments, good and bad, which are alledged against it. If there be a fub ject, in which we ought to have no implicit faith, either in those who deny, or in those who affirm; if there be a fubject, in the difcuffion of which, they who embrace the fide of error advance? truth, and they who embrace the fide of truth aďa vance falfehoods, this is certainly the subject. But we will not litigate this doctrine. We will: alledge here only one proof of our natural de pravity, that fhall be taken from experience, and, for evidence of this fatal truth, we refer each of you to his own feelings.

Is virtue to be practifed? Who does not feel,, as foon as he is capable of obferving, an inward power of refiftance? By virtue, here I underftand an univerfal difpofition of an intelligent foul to devote itself to order, and to regulate its conduct as order requires. Order demands, that,

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when I fuffer, I fhould fubmit myself to the mighty hand of God, which afflicts me. When I am in profperity, order requires me to acknowl edge the bounty of my benefactor. If I poffefs, talents fuperior to thofe of my neighbor, order requires me to use them for the glory of him from whom I received them. If I am obliged to acknowledge, that my neighbor hath a richer endowment than 1, order requires me to acquiefce with fubmiffion, and to acknowledge with hu mility this difference of endowment ; fhould I revolt with infolence, or difpute through jealousy or felf-love, I fhould act diforderly.

What I affirm of virtue, that it is a general difpofition, that I affirm alfo in regard to an indifpofition to fin. To avoid vice is to defift alike from every thing contrary to order, from flander and anger, from indolence and voluptu oufnefs, and so on.

He, who forms fuch ideas of the obligations. of men, will have too many reafons to acknowl edge, by his own inward feelings and experience,. that we bring into the world with us propenfities hoftile and fatal to fuch obligations. Some of thefe are in the body; others in the mind..

Some are in the body. Who is there, that finds in his fenfes,. that fupplenefs and readiness of compliance with a volition, which is itself di rected by lawe of order? Who does not feel his conftitution rebel against virtue? I am not Speaking now of fuch men as brutally give themfelves up to their fenfes, who confult no other laws than the revolutions of their own minds, and who, having abandoned for many years the government of their fouls to the humors of their bodies, have loft all dominion over their fenfes. I fpeak of fuch as have the most fincere defire to hear and obey the laws of order. How often does a tender and charitable foul find in a body, Lubject to violence and anger, obstacles against

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the exercife of its charity and tenderne fs? How often does a foul, penetrated with respect for the laws of purity, find in a body, rebellious against this virtue, terrible obstacles, to which it is in a manner conftrained to yield?

Disorder is not only in the body; the soul is in the fame condition. Confult yourselves in regard to such virtues, and vices as are, fo to fpeak, altogether fpiritual, and have no relation, or a very diftant one, to matter, and you will find you brought into the world an indifpofition to fome of these virtues, and an inclination to the oppofite vices. For example, avarice is one of thefe fpiritual vices, having only a very diftant relation to matter. I do not mean, that avarice does not incline us toward fenfible objects, I only fay, that it is paffion lefs feated in the material than in the fpiritual part of man.; it rifes rather out of reflections of the mind than out of motions of the body. Yet how many people are born fordid; people always inclined to amafs money, and to whom the bare thought of giving, or parting with any thing, gives pain; people who prove, by the very manner in which they exercife the laws of generofity, that they are naturally inclined to violate them; people who never give except by constraint, who tear away, as it were, what they bestow on the neceffities of the poor; and who never cut off thofe dear parts of themselves without taking the moft affectionate leave of them? Envy and jealousy are difpofitions of the kind, which we call fpirit ual. They have their feat in the foul. There are many perfons, who acknowledge the injustice and baseness of these vices, and who hate them, and who nevertheless are not fufficient masters of themselves to prevent the dominion of them, at leaft to prevent a repetition of them, and not to find fometimes their own mifery in the prof perity of other perfons.

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As we feel in our conftitution obftacles to virtue, and propenfities to vice, fo we perceive alfo inclinations to error, and obftacles to truth. Thefe things are clofely connected; for if we find within us natural obftacles to virtue, we find, for that very reafon, naturál obftacles to truth; and if we be born with propenfities to vice, we are born on that very account prone to error. Strictly speaking, all ideas of vice may be referred to one, that is to error. Every vice, every irregular paffion openly or tacitly implies a falfehood. Every vice, every irregular, paffion in'cludes this error, that a man, who gratifies his paffion, is happier than he, who reftrains and moderates it. Now, every man judging in this manner, whether he do fo openly or covertly, takes the fide of error. If we be then naturally inclined to fome vices, we are naturally inclined to fome errors, I mean, to admit that falle principle, on which the irregular paffion establisheth the vice it would commit, the defire of gratification. An impaffionate man is not. free to dif scern truth from falfehood, at least, he cannot without extreme coaftraint: difcern the one from the other. He is inclined to fix his mind on whatever favors his paffion, changes its nature, and difguifes vice in the habit of virtue; and, to fay' all in one word, he is impelled to fix his mind on whatever makes truth appear falfe, and falfehood true.

I conclude, the difpofition of mind, of which Solomon fpeaks, and which he describes by ruling the spirit, fuppofes labor, constraint, and exercife. A man, who would acquire this noble difpofition of mind, a man, who would rule bis spirit, muft, in fome fort, re-create himself; he finds himself at once, if I may be allowed to say fo, at war with nature; his body must be formed anew; his humors and his fpirits mufe be turned into another channel; violence muft be done to all the powers of his foul.

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