f Occalions of Sorrow. 25^3 ceafe for ever, for, their pur pofes are broken S E x M.. oj; even the thoughts of their hearts, yob X . xvii. i t. and, verfe t 6, their defires and "°'^'' hopes of that kind go down to the bars of the pit, where men however diftinguifhed in life, reft together in the duff; in other words, this affeEting confideration produces temperance, humility, and patience, virtues of great importance to a religious life, and the only folid foundation of true inward peace and ferenity of mind. I fhall conclude with the following re- flefions. Firff, the great and ruling de- fign which we fhould conflantly purfue, and take our meafures according to its direEtion, i the bettering of our hearts, or, the im- proving ourfelves in wifdom and virtue. That our fcheme of life may be confiflent, and becoming fuch creatures as we are, it is neceffary that fome principal end fhould be always aimed at, and all our deliberations terminate in it. Now, what can be more worthy of our character as intelligent and moral agents, what more fuitable to our pro - fflion, than this I have propofed ? To abandon ourfelves wholly to the purfuit of prefent peafures, without any further view, is not to ad either as men or chrif- tians but to make it our chief ftudy, and the.
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