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of Warfare; and accordingly has fur- SERM. nish'd us with many excellent Weapons in order to encounter it with Chearfulness and Conftancy, as faithful Soldiers of Chrift; and not only fo, but gives us Encouragement to expect Affiftance, where the Work is too great for us to perform of ourfelves.

or it

If the World was to be governed according to every one's Humour, perhaps we should all be pleas'd; would be a wonder if we should not But where's the Virtue of fuch a Contentment as this? No; this, as well as all other Virtues, is an active Principle, it must be a Work of the Mind, and must have fome Difficulties to ftruggle with: For if a Man would be contented upon no other Terms, he would have made but a contemptible Figure among the Philofophers, and I fuppofe he would not be thought to make a better Chriftian for being a bad Heathen. Having thus fhewn the Falfity of the Infinuation, that the former Days were better than these, and also the

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SERM. Sin and Folly of murmuring and complaining, even upon Suppofition that it was true, I come now in the

Third and laft Place, To lay down fome Rules, by which we may acquire a happier Farme and Temper of Mind. Since the Happiness of a Man depends upon the Mind, and not upon the Things without him, it the more concerns us to keep our Minds in a true, fedate, and eafy Pofture: And in order to it, let us, Firft, Endeavour to regulate our Paffions; for we are reduc'd to the neceffity of governing them, or of fuffering them to govern us. Indeed this is a more difficult Talk to fome People than to others, according to the Nature of the Conftitution, and therefore the greater Pains are requir'd; and when we have done this, but not till then, we fhall be able to confider things to be what they are, and not what they are not; and look upon the World to be, not what it ought to be, but what he finds it to be. We found it to be as it is, when we camo into it, and we shall hardly leave it better

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or worse, when we go out of it. If we SERM. would have every thing fitted to our Humour, that would be again altogether as difpleafing to another, and fo the fame discontented Spirit would still be kept up. If we would fhew that we confider things wifely, we should fit ourselves to our Condition. Whoever expects Happiness in this World is mistaken; he does not confider the thing wifely; it is not poffible in the Nature of things that it fhould be fo: But then we may be much happier than we are, if we will put things upon a right Footing. No Man has a greater Enemy to fear than himself, nor is any thing truly and properly good but Virtuè, or truly and properly evil but Vice.

Secondly, Another Rule in order to acquire a happier Temper of Mind is this, before we complain of other People, to mend thofe Faults in ourselves'; for it is unjust to complain of others, while we are guilty of the fame Things; we should at least take Care to give others no Reason to complain of us; for

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SERM. if we do, we fhall expofe ourselves to the Contempt of all Wife Men, who will fay, It is Time enough for us to complain of others, when we are without Fault ourselves; and that we fhould not pretend to pull the Mote out of our Brother's Eye, till we have taken the Beam out of our own Eye. "Tis an eafy thing to say that no Times were ever fo bad as the prefent, but then it is not fo eafy to prove it: Fact and Experience are against it: But allowing it to be true, would not it prove too much? Would not it prove that we are bad too? But the Infatuation lies here. Every one makes this Complaint more or less: I would fain know then, who these People are that we all complain of? Are they not our own felves? If the Times are bad, why do we not rather help to make them better? But it is a popular Subject: The Wickedness of the Age is a Topic that will be fure to please, because People are glad to have others thought worse than themselves. Some talk of it out of Heedlefsnefs of Temper,

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to fhew how little they think, and how SERM. little they have to fay, as People are wont to talk of the Weather for want of a more proper Subject: I would advise these People to stick to this laft Old Topic till they can find a better.

Others exclaim against the Times out of a malicious Habit that they have got; not that they think what they say to be true, or that they are really forry that the Times are bad, but that they are no worse. Thus are their whole Lives not only. fo many Years of Vanity, but of Difcontent and Ill-humour. Indeed they can hardly be faid to live at all: But the the troublesome Hours pafs dreadfully over their Heads while prefent; and as they roll off in the Tide of Time, they flide out of their Remembrance, and are fucceeded with fresh ones ftill as troublefome as the others.

Thirdly, Another Rule, whereby we may acquire a happy Frame and Tem per of Mind, is to leave the Management of the World, where it ought to be left, in the Hands of God. Suppose the for

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