and honour, and others are prone to the SER M. pursuit of pleasure; fome timorous fpirits IX. are very apt to fall into panicks, are thrown into confternation by any fudden surprising emergent, which prefenteth danger to the imagination; and others fall into furious transports of anger upon any apprehenfion of an injury, or appearance of provocation. But that these are not natural in the ftrictest fense, that is, neceffarily belonging to our conftitution, I think appeareth from this confideration, that they are not uniform. Nature operateth alike, and by certain invariable laws. All kinds of beings in the univerfe continue in their motions and relations after the ordinance of their great author, as the Pfalmift fpeaketh, Pfal. cxix. 91. concerning the heavens and the earth. And fo in fome things, the human nature is as uniform as any other; there are certain fenfations, powers, and appetites, in all men, of which we can no more diveft ourselves, than we can cease to be; but these particular propenfities, of which I am speaking, are not fo; they are ftrong in fome, in others weak, or fcarcely to be difcerned at all, which fheweth them either to be contracted, or to depend on accidental causes. Nay, they vary in the fame perfons; he

who

SERM. who is voluptuous in youth, becometh, perIX. haps, covetous in his more advanced years,

and peevish and froward in his old age; fo that even oppofite difpofitions prevail in him at different times. Befides, they have been, the very strongest of them, conquered and amended, by firm refolution, by diligence in the use of proper means, with the affiftance of divine grace.

As to the causes of these affections and propenfions in men, there is generally thought to be, and probably is, a remote tendency to particular difpofitions of mind from the very frame of the body. One is fanguine, another is cholerick, another is melancholy; but there is no fuch infelicity of bodily conftitution as hath a neceffary influence on the mind, while it continueth poffeffed of its natural powers to form its temper, otherwise the disorders arifing from this cause would be faultlefs; the conftitution of the body may minifter great temptations, yet the mind hath a natural force, and is under a law to refift them.

I am apt to believe, the more 'general caufe of criminal diforders, and contracted faulty difpofitions, is from rafh opinions haftily taken up, and on no juft grounds. Every man may find, if he confiders what

passeth

paffeth in his own heart, that befides the SERM, IX. impreffions which are neceffarily made by external objects, there are images continually formed in the fancy, and there are often confufed combinations of thoughts, representations of things, which have no existence, nor any foundation in reafon. The imagination joineth notions very arbitrarily together; fometimes only the dark side of an object is feen, without attending to that which is more agreeable; fometimes only those parts are viewed which are apt to administer pleasure and move defire, ftripping it of every thing which hath a contrary tendency, which however ought to be confidered, in order to form a true judgment. Very often our falfe opinions are imbibed from the company we converse with, or occafioned by outward circumftances, education, and cuftom, all which are known to have a great share in forming the tempers and manners of men.

From this short and general view of the human spirit, we may take our rife to the confideration of the government which is established in it, where the proper authority is lodged, and what ought to be fubject. There are fome things exempted from this dominion, and are indeed not properly un

SERM. der any law, because we have no liberty in IX. them. The original determinations of our

nature we cannot poffibly alter nor hinder, and we are not obliged to it. We cannot put a stop to the perception we have by our senses, to our hearing founds, feeing colours, and perceiving other fenfible qualities; nor yet to the original appetites, as hunger and thirst, or to the natural defire of happiness; nor indeed to the approbation of actions morally good, when we understand them, and the disapprobation of that which is evil. These things do not belong to the rule of our fpirits, they are the conftant neceflary effects of the law of nature, or the conftitution which the Author of our beings hath given us.

But there are powers and affections in our minds, the exercife whereof is under our direction, and we are accountable to ourfelves for it. For inftance, a man's rule over his spirit confifteth in fufpending his determination, till he hath duly examined the causes and motives upon which it is founded. I obferved before, that we are liable to many mistakes in this ftate of infirmity, whereby we are drawn into a wrong conduct; not that the fault confifteth in the erroneous opinions themselves, but the cri

minal causes by which we are betrayed into SER M• them, and in too haftily following their di- IX. rection without inquiring whether it be right or wrong. This power of deliberating and fufpending determinations we are conscious of, and can never justify it to ourselves, that we do not exercise it upon proper occafions. No man findeth himself under a neceffity of confenting to every propofal which is made to him, or of following every fuggeftion in his mind. He hath a power of doing or forbearing, of choofing or refufing; nay, we are not under a neceffity of acting according to the first apparent probability; we can fufpend our judgment and our choice till we have confidered more maturely, till we have examined whether there be not a stronger argument, and a jufter motive of action on the other fide. By a conftant careful attention, a fincere, that is, a diligent impartial inquiry, a great many of our errors might be corrected, which are the unhappy fources. of ill conduct; thofe vain images formed in the fancy, into the eager and indeliberate pursuit of which we fuffer ourselves to be hurried, might be prevented, and that confufed affemblage of thoughts which exciteth ftrong propenfities and averfions, very often unreasonable, might be broken, VOL. III.

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