to fly from this that "he rises early, late takes rest, and eats the bread of carefulness?"-that he plots, contrives,-swears,-lies,-shuffles,-puts on all shapes,-tries all garments,-wears them with this or that side outward,-just as it favours his escape?

They who have considered our nature affirm, that shame and disgrace are two of the most insupportable evils of human life: the courage and spirits of many have mastered other misfortunes, and borne themselves up against them; but the wisest and best of souls have not been a match for these; and we have many a tragical instance on record, what greater evils have been run into, merely to avoid this one.

Without this tax of infamy, poverty, with all the burdens it lays upon our flesh,-s long as it is virtuous, could never break the spirits of a man; all its hunger, and pain, and nakedness, are nothing to it; they have some counterpoise of good: and besides, they are directed by Providence, and must be submitted to: but these are afflictions not from the hand of God, or nature;-" for they do come forth of the dust," and most properly may be said "to spring out of the ground;" and this is the reason they lay such stress upon our patience,—and in the end, create such a distrust of the world, as makes us look up,-and pray, "Let me fall into thy hands, O God! but let me not fall into the hands of men."

Agreeable to this was the advice of Eliphas to Job in the day of his distress:-"acquaint thyself (said he) now with God."- Indeed his poverty seemed to have left him no other friends; the swords of the Sabeans had frightened them away, -all but a few; and of what kind they were, the very proverb, of Job's comforters, says enough.

It is an instance which gives one great concern

"who always wept

for human nature, That a man, for him who was in trouble;-who never saw any perish for want of clothing;-who never suffered the stranger to lodge in the street, but opened his door to the traveller;"-that a man of so good a character,—" That he never caused the eyes of the widow to fail,-or had eaten his morsel by himself alone, and the fatherless had not eaten thereof;"that such a man, the moment he fell into poverty, should have occasion to cry out for quarter,"Have mercy upon me, O my friends! for the hand of God has touched me."-Gentleness and humanity, one would think, would melt the hardest heart, and charm the fiercest spirit; bind up the most violent hand, and still the most abusive tongue ;--but the experiment failed in a stronger instance of him, whose meat and drink it was to do us good; and in pursuit of which, whose whole life was a continued scene of kindness and of insults, for which we must go back to the same explanation with which we set out, and that is, the scandal of poverty.

"This fellow, we know not whence he is,"-was the popular cry of one part; and with those who seemed to know better, the query did not lessen the disgrace. Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary?-of Mary! great God of Israel! What!of the meanest of thy people! "for he had not regarded the low estate of his handmaiden," and of the poorest, too! for she had not a lamb to offer, but was purified, as Moses directed in such a case, by the oblation of a turtle dove.

That the Saviour of their nation could be poor, and not have where to lay his head, -was a crime never to be forgiven: and though the purity of his doctrine, and the works which he had done in its support, were stronger arguments on its side, than his humiliation could be against it, yet the offence still remained;—they looked for the redemption of

Israel; but they would have it only in those dreams of power which filled their imagination.

Ye who weigh the worth of all things only in the goldsmith's balance, -was this religion for you?-a religion whose appearance was not great and splendid, but looked thin and meagre, and whose principles and promises showed more like the curses of the law than its blessings:-for they called for sufferings, and promised little but persecutions.

In truth, it is not easy for tribulation or distress, for nakedness or famine, to make many converts out of pride; or reconcile a worldly heart to the scorn and reproaches which were sure to be the portion of every one who believed a mystery so discredited by the world, and so unpalatable to all its passions and pleasures.

But, to bring this sermon to its proper conclusion:

If Astrea or Justice never finally took her leave of the world till the day that poverty first became ridiculous, it is matter of consolation, that the God of Justice is ever over us :-that whatever outrages the lowness of our condition may be exposed to from a mean and undiscerning world,—that we walk in the presence of the greatest and most generous of Beings, who is infinitely removed from cruelty and straitness of mind, and all those little and illiberal passions with which we hourly insult each other.

-

The worst part of mankind are not always to be conquered; but if they are,-'tis by the imitation of these qualities which must do it:-'tis true,-as I've shown, they may fail; but still all is not lost, -for if we conquer not the world,—in the very attempts to do it, we shall at least ourselves, and lay the foundation of our peace (where it ought to be) within our own hearts,

conquer

SERMON XVII.

THE CASE OF HEZEKIAH AND THE MESSENGERS*.

2 KINGS XX. 15.

And he said, What have they seen in thine house? and Hezekiah answered, All the things that are in my house have they seen; there is nothing amongst all my treasures that I have not shown them.

-AND where was the harm, you'll say, in all

this?

'An eastern prince, the son of Baladine, had sent messengers with presents as far as from Babylon, to congratulate Hezekiah upon the recovery from his sickness; and Hezekiah who was a good prince, acted consistently with himself; "he received and entertained the men, and hearkened unto them;" and before he sent them away, he courteously showed them all that was worth a stranger's curiosity in his house and his kingdom; and in this, seemed only to have discharged himself of what urbanity or the etiquette of courts might require.' Notwithstanding this, in the verse which immediately follows the text, we find he had done amiss; and as a punishment for it, that all his riches, which his forefathers had laid up in store unto that day, were threatened to be carried away in triumph to Babylon:-the very place from whence the messengers had come.

A hard return! and what his behaviour does not seem to have deserved. To set this matter in a clear light, it will be necessary to enlarge upon the whole story; the reflections, which will arise out

* Preached before His Excellency the Earl of Hertford, at Paris, 1763,

of it, as we go along, may help us;-at least, I hope they will be of use on their own account.

After the miraculous defeat of the Assyrians, we read in the beginning of this chapter, that Hezekiah was sick even unto death; and that God sends the prophet Isaiah, with the unwelcome message, That he should set his house in order; for that he should die, and not live."

There are many instances of men, who have received such news with the greatest ease of mind, and even entertained the thoughts of it with smiles upon their countenances; and this, either from strength of spirits and the natural cheerfulness of their temper, or that they knew the world, and cared not for it,- -or expected a better;-yet thousands of good men, with all the helps of philosophy, and against all the assurances of a well spent life, that the change must be to their account,-upon the approach of death have still leaned towards this world, and wanted spirits and resolution to bear the shock of a separation from it for ever.

This, in some measure, seemed to have been Hezekiah's case; for though he had walked before God in truth, and with a perfect heart, and had done that which was good in his sight, yet we find that the hasty summons afflicted him greatly; that upon the delivery of the message he wept sore; -that he turned his face towards the wall,-perhaps for the greater secrecy of his devotion, and that, by withdrawing himself thus from all external objects, he might offer up his prayer unto his God with great and more fervent attention.

And he prayed, and said, O Lord! I beseech thee remember!- O Hezekiah! How couldst thou fear that God had forgotten thee! or, how couldst thou doubt of his remembrance of thy integrity, when he called thee to receive its recompence!