Death is one of thofe fubjects, fays Dr. Johnson, which always makes a wife man ferious, yet fome have been found who in the moment of death can jeft or trifle, to whom, if we cannot refufe the epithet of wife, we should give that of inconfiderate. In the hands of Dr. Blair this fubject, as may be expect ́ed, is treated with propriety and folemnity. He traces the reflections that ought to arife on the deaths of those who are indifferent to us; of our friends, and our enemies; and from each head draws ufeful practical confequences. The conclufion, from thofe feelings which muft neceffarily arise on the death of our enemies, is not lefs juft than ingenious. When our rival, our oppofer, our enemy, is laid in the grave, we feel the folly, the inanity of our competitions and our enmities; let then the anticipation of this feeling reprefs our rancour and our refentment. This is the view in which we shall one day behold them, if we behold them at all; if we ourselves are not laid in the house appointed for all living.'

The Sermon on the progrefs of vice is in many respects an admirable one. The gradual steps which lead the impetuous thoughtless young man from levities to follies, and from follies to faults, to vices, and to crimes, are traced with great accuracy. The leffon too, which teaches the young man to affociate only with those who to the engaging qualities of fpirit, mirth, and good humour, join the more substantial ones of virtue, honour, and religion, cannot be too firmly inculcated or too often repeated. We fhall felect, as a fpecimen of this Sermon, the preacher's fpirited apoftrophe to the young man who contends that he only follows the dictates of nature by gratifying those paffions which nature has implanted.

• Miferable and deluded man! to what art thou come at the laft? Doft thou pretend to follow nature when thou art contemning the laws of the God of nature? when thou art ftifling his voice within thee which remonstrates against thy crimes? when thou art violating the beft part of thy nature by counteracting the dictates of justice and humanity? Doft thou follow nature when thou rendereft thyfelf an ufelefs animal on the earth; and not ufelefs only, but noxious to the fociety to which thou belongest, and to which thou art a difgrace; noxious, by the bad example thou haft fet; noxious, by the crimes thou hast committed; facrificing innocence to thy guilty pleafures, and introducing fhame and ruin into the habitations of peace; defrauding of their due the unfufpicious who have trufted thee, involving in the ruins of thy fortune many a worthy family, reducing the induftrious and the aged to mifery and want; by all which, if thou haft efcaped the deferved fword of justice, thou haft at least brought on thyfelf the refentment and the reproach of all the refpectable and the worthy.-Tremble then

at the view of the gulph which is opening before thee. Look with horror at the precipice on the brink of which thou standeft; and if yet a moment be left for retreat, think how thou 'mayft efcape and be faved.'

The obfervation that, when reafon no longer furnishes plaufible arguments for thefe vices, when confcience begins to fuggeft with impertinent intrufion other views, the libertine begins to doubt of that religion which interferes with his pleasures, and of that morality which difapproves of his licentious purfuits, is fingularly just and enforced with great propriety.

The next fubject of Dr. Blair's attention is fortitude; and he fhows the foundation and importance of this virtue, giving in the conclusion the best means of attaining it. It is founded on reflection, a manly refolution, or a truft in God; in a word, on religion and virtue. The pfalmift, the apoftle of the Gentiles, and Job, are the preacher's principal examples.

The eighth Sermon is on envy, that fenfation of uneafiness which arifes from contemplating the advantages of others, accompanied by a malignity towards those who poffefs them. It is well obferved, that the fources of envy are an overweening conceit of our own abilities, and an indolence which repreffes any active attempts to excel; that envy implies an inferiority in the person who feels it, and that on a fair impartial confideration, advantages of fortune, fuperiority of rank, or any other means of exaltation, are accompanied with fo much pain, fo many inconveniencies, that neither can properly render the man who poffeffes them the object of envy. Above all we ought to reflect, that we each perhaps enjoy more than we deserve; and that thefe feelings of uneafinefs and malignity are tacit reproaches. to Providence for the difpenfations which occur.

The admonitions against idleness are very useful, and perhaps it might add to their force to represent to the voluptuary, that idleness may become highly pleafant; but the pleasure must be purchased by active and continued labours both of body and mind. Relaxation is of no ufe to the bow which is never bent.

An habitual sense of the divine prefence is next recommended from the ftrongest confiderations; it animates and strengthens virtue, enlivens profperity, and affords the best confolation in adverfity but this we think is not one of the moft ftriking difcourfes.

The excellent precept contained in St. Luke xxi. 19, In your patience poffefs ye your fouls,' employs Dr. Blair's attention in the following Sermon. Though the fubject is nominally patience, yet it is patience in its moft extenfive fenfe, and may rather be ftyled felf-poffeffion. That calm firmness which is not difturbed by accidents, provocations, difappointments, restraints,

injuries,

Injuries, or afflictions, is the virtue both of a man and a Chriftian: it diftinguishes the rational from the irrational creature; the man of reflection, who must perceive on what flender foundation the beft hopes and the moft ftattering profpects in this life are built, from the fool who thinks every thing certain, or the brute who thinks not at all.

Moderation, on the contrary, is that state of mind which preferves the due balance when appearances are promifing or the fuccefs certain: it is the felf-poffeffion in profperity; and our author in the following Sermon points out the chief inftances in which it ought to take place, and the importance of preferving it. We fhould, he obferves, be moderate in our wishes, our purfuits, our expectations, our pleasures, and our paffions. The chief incentive to moderation is the temporary ftate of things in this life, and the little real value of what are fometimes accounted its chief goods.

The thirteenth Sermon is on the joy and bitterness of the heart, from Proverbs xiv. 10. and the preacher examines the chief fources of that bitterness which the heart knoweth,' and that joy with which a stranger does not intermeddle." The fources of this joy and bitterness are our own minds and our connections: the first is in our own power, the fecond often - beyond our reach. This diftrefs or pleasure is not, therefore, wholly independent of every thing external; but the great object is to show (an object near the author's heart, which he examines perhaps too often, and recurs to with eagerness and anxiety) that either are lefs connected with riches and poverty, power, or a fubordinate station, than the world ge nerally imagines. The confequences which follow, viz. the propriety of moderating our paffion for riches or power; of checking our complaints against Providence for a supposed partial diftribution of its favours; of turning our attention on the internal fources of happiness and mifery; and of frequently imploring him who made the human heart, to regulate and govern it, are enforced with much strength of argument and power of perfuafion.

The fourteenth Sermon is on the characters of imperfect goodness, on the distinction between the eafy good humour which is agreeable, and the more steady virtuous firmness which is refpectable. The leffon is drawn from the conduct of the ruler mentioned by the three evangelifts, who addreffed our Lord in these words Mafter, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?' But the terms were too fevere: he went away forrowful.

Perfons of a character fomewhat refembling this, all of us

may

may have met with, efpecially among the young; among thofe who have been liberally educated, and polished by good fociery. They abhor open vice and crimes that disturb the world. They have a refpect for religion; they are willing to receive inftruction for their conduct; they are modeft and unaffuming, refpectful to their fuperiors in age or ftation, gentle in their addrefs, inoffenfive and courteous in their whole behaviour. They are fond of obliging every one, unwilling to hurt or displease any. Such perfons we cannot but love. We gladly promife well of them, and are difpofed to forward and affist them. Yet fuch is the weakness of our nature, that at the bottom of this character there may lie, as we fee exemplified in the inftance before us, fome fecret and material defects. That vigour of mind, that firmness of principle, may be wanting, which is requifite for enabling them to act with propriety when their vir tue is put to a decifive trial. The foftness of their nature is unfavourable to a steady perfeverance in the course of integrity. They poffefs the amiable qualitics, but there is ground to fufpect, that in the estimable ones they are deficient. While, therefore, we by no means class them among the bad, we dare not give them the full praise of virtue.'

Such characters are not fitted for the more important duties of life, when oppofed by difficulties or involved in perplexities.

Nothing can be more amiable than a conftant defire to please, and an unwillingness to offend or hurt. Yet in characters where this is a predominant feature, defects are often found. Fond always to oblige, and afraid to utter any difagreeable truth, fuch perfons are fometimes led to diffemble. Their love of truth is facrificed to their love of pleafing. Their speech and their manners affume a ftudied courtefy; you cannot always depend on their fmile; nor, when they promise, be sure of the performance. They mean and intend well, but the good intention is temporary. Like wax, they yield eafily to every impreffion; and the tranfient friendship contracted with one perfon is effaced by the next. Undiftinguishing defire to oblige often proves, in the present state of human things, a dangerous habit. They who cannot on many occafions give a firm and steady denial, or who cannot break off a connection which has been haftily and improperly formed, ftand on the brink of many mifchiefs. They will be feduced by the corrupting, enfnared by the artful, betrayed by thofe in whom they had placed their truft. Unfufpicious themselves, they were flattered with the belief of having many friends around them. Elated with fanguine hopes and chearful fpirits, they reckoned that to-morrow would be as this day and more abundant. Injudicious liberality and thoughtless profufion are the confequence; until in the end, the traits to which they are reduced, bring them into mean or dishonourable courfes. Through innocent, but unguarded weakness, and from

want

want of the feverer virtues, they are, in procefs of time, betrayed into downright crimes.'

The Sermon which follows is from that awful and affecting fcene, the last Supper, the inftitution of the facrament previous to the death of our Lord. But I fay unto you, I will not drink henceforth of the fruit of the vine, until that day, when I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom.' In this view, our author confiders the facrament of the Lord's Supper as a preparation for death, a ferious and a folemn rather than a gloomy fubject, but adapted to the facrament as it is received more rarely and with more folemnity in the kirk of Scotland, rather than to the fame rite in our church. It is in many respects an excellent practical discourse.

The use and abuse of the world, from Corinthians vii. 31. is the next fubject of attention. To ufe the world is innocently to enjoy its pleasures; to fulfil our duty in the station allotted us in fociety, and not to leave our pofts under the mistaken idea, that in feclufion and meditation we can more effectually ferve God. To abufe it, is to enjoy its pleasures intemperately, to be fordidly attached to its gains, or to employ its advantages in injuring and oppreffing our brethren. Each is the subject of our author's examination; and while he shows the hideous features of those who abuse it, he displays the mildnefs, the chearfulness, and comforts of those who use it with moderation and propriety.

Dr. Blair's feventeenth Sermon is on extremes in religious and moral conduct. This is a nice and a delicate fubject. The author does not mean that there are extremes in religious principle, or that principle should be in any instance relaxed, but that the confcience fhould be carefully enlightened, respecting what is a matter of duty and of fin. There may be an extreme in laying too much stress on what is principle, or what is a practical duty, as for inftance on faith or good works. In a moral view, there are often contefts between inclination and principle: this is exemplified in the extremes of placing all virtue in juftice or in generofity. Other extremes are found in the conduct from the fame fource: and the manners are too fevere or too yielding; we are too anxious or too negligent of our worldly interefts, too bufy or too retired. Each extreme is pointed out with care and counteracted by proper and judicious arguments.

The fin of fcoffing at Religion is in another discourse very properly oppofed; and the author uses an argument which we have more than once had occafion to employ, that in the natural world there are as many myfteries as in religion, and that no oné fhould fcoff at, or difbelieve the myfteries of Godliness,