for it, and, like some wise statute, never executed or thought of, though in full force, lies as unheeded as if it was not in being.

'Tis plain 'twas otherwise in the present instance, where Joseph seems to acknowledge the influence it had upon him in his declaration,- That it was not they, but God who sent him.' And does not this virtue shine the brightest in such a pious application of the persuasion to so benevolent a purpose?

Without derogating from the merit of his forbearance, he might be supposed to have cast an eye upon the change and uncertainty of human affairs which he had seen himself, and which had convinced him we were all in one another's power by turns, and stand in need of one another's pity and compassion;-and that, to restrain the cruelties and stop the insolences of men's resentments, God has so ordered it in the course of his providence, that very often in this world, our revenges return upon our own heads, and men's violent dealings upon their own pates.

And, besides these considerations,-that, in generously forgiving an enemy, he was the truest friend to his own character, and should gain more to it by such an instance of subduing his spirit, than if he had taken a city. The brave only know how to forgive! it is the most refined and generous pitch of virtue human nature can arrive at.- Cowards have done good and kind actions;-cowards have even fought,-nay, sometimes even conquered;—but a coward never forgave! It is not in his nature; the power of doing it flows only from a strength and greatness of soul, conscious of its own force and security, and above the little temptations of resenting every fruitless attempt to interrupt its happiness. Moreover, setting aside all considera

* Christian Hero.

tions of his character in passing by an injury, he was the truest friend likewise to his own happiness and peace of mind; he never felt that fretful storm of passions which hurry men on to acts of revenge, -or suffered those pangs of horror which pursue it. Thus he might possibly argue, and no farther;-for want of a better foundation and better helps, he could raise the building no higher;-to carry it upwards to its perfection, we must call in to our aid that more spiritual and refined doctrine introduced upon it by Christ; namely,-To forgive a brother not only to seven times, but to seventy times seven; -that is, without limitation.

In this the excellency of the Gospel is said, by some one, to appear with a remarkable advantage; That a Christian is as much disposed to love and serve you when your enemy, as the mere moral man can be, when he is your friend.'-This, no doubt, is the tendency of his religion;-but how often, or in what degrees it succeeds,-how nearly the practice keeps pace with the theory, the allwise Searcher into the hearts of men alone is able to determine. But it is to be feared, that such great effects are not so sensibly felt as a speculative man would expect from such powerful motives; and there is many a Christian society which would be glad to compound amongst themselves for some lesser degrees of perfection on one hand, were they sure to be exempted, on the other, from the bad effects of those fretful passions which are ever taking, as well as ever giving the occasions of strife; the beginnings of which Solomon aptly compares to the letting out of waters, the opening a breach which no one can be sure to stop till it has proceeded to the most fatal events.

With justice, therefore, might the son of Sirach conclude, concerning Pride, that secret stream which administers to the overflowings of resent

ments, that it was not made for man; nor furious anger for him that is born of a woman. That the one did not become his station, and that the other was destructive to all the happiness he was intended to receive from it. How miserably then must those men turn tyrants against themselves, as well as others, who grow splenetic and revengeful, not only upon the little unavoidable oppositions and offences they must meet with in the commerce of the world, but upon those which only reach them by report, and accordingly torment their little souls with meditating how to return the injury, before they are certain they have received one! Whether this eager sensibility of wrongs and resentment arises from that general cause to which the son of Sirach seems to reduce all fierce anger and passion; or whether to a certain sourness of temper, which stands in every body's way, and therefore subject to be often hurt;-from whichever cause the disorder springs, the advice of the author of the Book of Ecclesiasticus is proper;- Admonish a friend,' says he, it may be he hath not done it; and if he have, that he do it not again, Admonish thy friend, it may be he hath not said it; and if he have, that he speak it not again. There is that slippeth in his speech, but not from his heart: and who is he who hath not offended with his tongue?'

I cannot help taking notice here of a certain species of forgiveness, which is seldom enforced or thought of, and yet is no way below our regard: I mean the forgiveness of those, if we may be allowed the expression, whom we have injured ourselves. One would think that the difficulty of forgiving could only rest on the side of him who has received the wrong; but the truth of the fact is often otherwise. The consciousness of having provoked another's resentment often excites the aggressor to keep beforehand with the man he has hurt, and not

only to hate him for the evil he expects in return, but even to pursue him down, and put it out of his power to make reprisals.

The baseness of this is such, that it is sufficient to make the same observation which was made upon the crime of parricide among the Grecians : It was so black,-their legislators did not suppose it could be committed; and, therefore, made no law to punish it.

SERMON XIII.

DUTY OF SETTING BOUNDS TO OUR DESIRES.

2 KINGS IV. 13.

And he said unto him, Say now unto her, Behold, thou hast been careful for us with all this care;-what is to be done for thee?-wouldst thou be spoken for to the king, or the captain of the host?-And she answered, I dwell among mine own people.

THE first part of the text is the words which the prophet Elisha puts into the mouth of his servant Gehazi, as a message of thanks to the woman of Shunem, for her great kindness and hospitality; of which, after the acknowledgment of his just sense, which Gehazi is bid to deliver in the words,"Behold, thou hast been careful for us with all this care," he directs him to inquire in what manner he may best make a return in discharge of the obligation, What shall be done for thee? "Wouldst thou be spoken for to the king, or the captain of the host?" The last part of the text is the Shunamite's answer, which implies a refusal of the honour or advantage which the prophet intended to bring upon her by such an application, which she indirectly expresses in her contentment and satisfaction with what she enjoyed in her present station,-" I

dwell among mine own people." This instance of self-denial in the Shunamite, is but properly the introduction to her story, and gives rise to that long and very pathetic transaction which follows,-in the supernatural grant of a child, which God had many years denied her,—the affecting loss of him as soon as he was grown up,-and his restoration to life by Elisha, after he had been sometime dead; the whole of which, though extremely interesting, and forming such incidents as would afford sufficient matter for instruction, yet, as it will not fall within the intention of this discourse, I shall beg leave at this time barely to consider those previous circumstances of it, to which the text confines me; upon which I shall enlarge with such reflections as occur, and then proceed to that practical use and exhortation which will naturally fall from it.

We find that, after Elisha had rescued the distressed widow and her two sons from the hands of the creditor, by the miraculous multiplication of her oil,-that he passed on to Shunem, where, we read, was a great woman, and she constrained him to eat bread; and so it was that, as often as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread. The sacred historian speaks barely of her temporal condition and station in life,- "That she was a great woman," but describes not the more material part of her (her virtues and character) because they were more evidently to be discovered from the transaction itself; from which it appears, that she was not only wealthy, but likewise charitable, and of a very considerate turn of mind;-for after many repeated invitations and entertainments at her house, finding his occasions called him to a frequent passage that way, she moves her husband to set up and furnish a lodging for him, with all the conveniences which the simplicity of those times required: "And she said unto her husband, Behold, now I perceive that