we must brave persecution, and all the inconveniences to which worldly people never fail to expose them who refuse to follow them down the precipice. To resist example, we must love virtue for virtue's sake. To resist example, we must transport ourselves into another world, imagine ourselves among those holy societies who surround the throne of a holy God, who make his excellences the continual matter of their adoration and homage, and who fly at the first signal of his hand, the first breath of his mouth. What a work, what a difficult work for you, poor mortal, whose eyes are always turned towards the earth, and whom your own involuntary and insurmountable weight incessantly carries downward! 3. Finally, We must acknowledge what labour, pains, and resistance, the disposition of which Solomon speaks requires, if we consider man in regard to the habits which he has contracted. As soon as we enter into the world, we find ourselves impelled by our natural propensities, stunned with the din of our passions, and, as I just now said, seduced by the errors, and carried away by the examples of our companions. Seldom in the first years of life, do we surmount that natural bias, and that power of example, which impel us to falsehood and sin. Most men have done more acts of vice than of virtue; consequently, in the course of a certain number of years, we contribute by our way of living to join to the depravity of nature that which comes from exercise and habit. A man who would rule his spirit, is then required to eradicate the habits which have taken possession of him. What a Solomon intends conquerors, who live, if I may express myself so, upon victories and conquests; he intends heroes, such as the world considers them. Neither is it necessary precisely to fix the bounds of this general expression, is better, He that ruleth his spirit, is better than he that taketh a city.' The sense is easily understood; in general, it signifies that he that ruleth his spirit,' discovers more fortitude, more magnanimity, and more courage; that he has more just ideas of glory, and is more worthy of esteem and praise, than they who are called in the world conquerors and heroes. We will prove this proposition, by compar-" ing the hero of the world with the Christian hero: and we will confine the comparison to four articles; first, the motives which animate them; secondly, the exploits they perform ; thirdly, the enemies they attack; and lastly, the rewards they obtain. He that taketh a city,' is animated with motives mean and worldly, which degrade an intelligent soul, even while they seem to elevate it to a pinnacle of grandeur and glory; but he that ruleth his spirit,' is animated by motives grand, noble, and sublime, every way suited to the excellence of our nature. He that ruleth his spirit,' is capable of all the exploits of him that taketh a city; but he that taketh a city,' is not capable of the exploits of him that ruleth his spirit.' He that taketh a city,' attacks an exterior enemy, to whom he has no attachment; but he that ruleth his spirit,' attacks an enemy who is dear to him, and has the greatness of soul to turn his arms against himself. In fine, he that taketh a city,' is crownWhat a task, when we endeavour to prevented only by idiots, who have no just notions of the return of ideas which, for many years, our grandeur and heroism; but he that ruleth minds have revolved! What a task, to de- his spirit,' will be crowned with the hands of fend one's self from a passion which knows all the only just appraiser and dispenser of glory. the avenues of the mind, and how to facilitate These are four titles of superiority which the access by means of the body! What a task, Christian hero has over the false hero, four to turn away from the flattering images, and sources of proofs to establish the proposition seducing solicitations of concupiscence long ac- in our text, he that ruleth his spirit, is better customed to gratification! What a task, when than he that taketh a city.' we are obliged to make the greatest efforts in the weakest part of life, and to subdue an enemy, whom we have been always used to consider as unconquerable; and whom we never durst attack, when he had no other arms than what we chose to give him, and enjoyed no other advantages than such as we thought proper to allow! Such labour, such pains and constraint must he experience who acquires the art of ruling his spirit! Now then, as we have explained this disposition of mind, let us assign the place which is due to him who has it. Having given an idea of real heroism, we must display the grandeur of it, and prove the proposition in my text,' he that ruleth his spirit, is better than he that taketh a city.' task! II. For this purpose, it is not necessary to observe, that, by him that taketh a city, Solomon does not mean a man who, from principles of virtue, to defend his country and religion, hazards his life and liberty in a just war; in this view, he that taketh a city, and he that ruleth his spirit, is one and the same man. 1. Let us consider the motives which animate a conqueror that taketh a city,' and the motives which animate a man that obtains rule over his spirit;' the motives of the true hero, with the motives of the false hero. What are the motives of a false hero? What spirit animates him, when he undertakes to conquer a city? This is one of the questions which sinful passions have most obscured. Truth is disguised in epistles dedicatory, and in profane eulogiums, yea, sometimes in religious discourses. The majesty of a victorious general, the glory of a conqueror, the pompous titles of victor, arbiter of peace, arbiter of war, have so dazzled us, and in some sort so perverted the powers of our soul, that we cannot form just notions of this subject. Hear pure nature, formerly speaking by the mouth of a nation, who were the more wise for not being civilized by the injustice of our laws and customs. I speak of the ancient Scythians. The most famous taker of cities came to their cabins and caverns. He had already subdued his fellow-citizens and neighbours. Already ploits of him that ruleth his spirit, with the exploits of him that taketh a city.' He who is capable of ruling his spirit,' is capable of all that is great and noble in him that taketh a city;' but he that taketh a city,' is not capable of all that is great and magnanimous in him that ruleth his spirit.' I will explain myself. Thebes and Athens, Thrace and Thessaly, had submitted to his arms. Already, Greece being too small a sphere of action for him, he had penetrated even into Pe. sia, passed the famous Phrygian river, where he slew six hundred thousand men, reduced Caria and Judea, made war with Darius, and conquered him, performed exploits more than human, and, in spite of nature, besieged and took Tyre, the most famous siege recorded in ancient history, subjugated the Mardi and Bactrians, attained the mountains Caucasus and Oxus, and, in a word, conquered more countries, and enslaved more people, than we can describe, or even mention within the limits allotted to this ex-sight of a near and terrible dissolution, These ercise. This man arrives in Scythia. The Scythians sent deputies to him, who thus addressed him: Had the gods given you a body proportioned to your ambition, the whole universe would have been too little for you: with one hand you will have touched the east, and with the other the west, and, not content with this, you would have followed the sun, and have seen where he hides himself. Whatever you are, you are aspiring at what you can never obtain. From Europe, you run into Asia, and from Asia back you run again into Europe; and, having enslaved all mankind, you attack rivers, and forests, and wild beasts. What have you to do with us? We have never set foot in your country. May not a people living in a desert be allowed to be ignorant of who you are, and whence you come? You boast of having exterminated robbers, and you yourself are the greatest robber in the world. You have pillaged and plundered all nations, and now you come to rob us of our cattle. It is in vain to fill your hands for you are always in search of fresh prey. Of what use are your boundless riches, except to irritate your eternal thirst? You are the first man who ever experienced such extreme want in the midst of such abundance. All you have serves only to make you desire with more fury what you have not. If you be a god, do good to mankind; but if you be only an insignificant mortal, think of what you are, and remember that it is a great folly to occupy things which make us forget ourselves. These are the motives which animate the heroes of the world; these are the sentiments which are disguised under the fine names of glory, valour, greatness of soul, he roism. An insatiable avidity of riches, an invinciple pride, a boundless ambition, a total forgetfulness of what is, what ought to be, and what must be hereafter. The motives of him who endeavours to render himself master of his own heart, are love of order, desire of freedom from the slavery of the passions, a noble firmness of soul, which admits only what appears true, and loves only what appears lovely, after sober and serious discussion. In this first view, then, the advan tage is wholly in favour of him that ruleth his spirit. He that ruleth his spirit, is better than he that taketh a city.' 2. Compare, in the second place, the * Quintus Curtius, lib. vii. cap. 8 ex What is there great and magnanimous in a hero that takes a city? Patience to endure fatigue, to surmount difficulties, to suffer contradiction; intrepidity in the most frightful dangers; presence of mind in the most violent and painful exercises; unshaken firmness in are dispositions of mind, I grant, which seem to elevate man above humanity; but a Christian hero is capable of all this, I speak sincerely, and without a figure. A man, who has obtained a religious freedom of mind, who always preserves this liberty, who always weighs good and evil, who believes only what is true, and does only what is right; who has always his eye upon his duty, or, as the psalmist expresses it, who sets the Lord always before him,' such a man is capable, literally capable, of all you admire in a worldly hero. No difficulty discourages him, no contradiction disconcerts him, no fatigue stops him, no dangers affright him, no pain but he can bear, no appearance of death shocks him into paleness, and fear, and flight. Our women and children, our confessors and martyrs, have literally performed greater exploits of fortitude, patience, courage, and constancy, in convents, prisons, and dungeons, at stakes and on scaffolds, than Alexanders and Cesars in all their lives. And where is the hero of this world, who has performed so many actions of courage and magnanimity in sieges and battles, as our confessors have for thirty years on board the galley? The former were supported by the presence of thousands of witnesses; the latter had no spectators but God and their own consciences. The Christian hero is capable then of all that is great in the hero of the world. But the worldly hero is incapable of performing such exploits as the Christian hero performs; and he knows perfectly that his heroism does not conduct him so far in the path of glory. Try the strength of a worldly hero. Set him to contend with a passion. You will soon find this man, invincible before, subdued into slavery and shame. He who was firm and fearless in sight of fire and flame, at the sound of warlike instruments, becomes feeble, mean, and enervated by a seducing and enchanting object. Samson defeats the Philis tines; but Delilah subdues Samson. Samson carries away the gates of Gaza: but Samson sinks under the weight of his own sensuality. Hercules seeks highway robbers to combat, and monsters to subdue; but he cannot resist impurity. We find him on monuments of antiquity carrying an infant on his shoulders, an emblem of voluptuousness, stooping under that unworthy burden, and letting his club fall from his hand. There is therefore no declamation, no hyperbole in our proposition; the Christian hero is capable of performing all the great actions performed by the hero of the rit with him that takes a city, in regard to the world; but the hero of the world is incapable acclamations with which they are accompaof performing such noble actions as the Chris-nied, and the crowns prepared for them. Who tian hero performs; and in this respect, he that ruleth his spirit, is better than he that taketh a city.' 3. Compare him that taketh a city with him that ruleth his spirit,' in regard to the enemies whom they attack, and you will find in the latter a third title of superiority over the former. He that taketh a city,' attacks an exterior enemy, who is a stranger, and of ten odious to him. The ambition that fills his soul leaves no room for compassion and pity; and, provided he can but obtain his end, no matter to him though the way be strewed with the dying and the dead; to obtain that, he travels over mountains of heads, and arms, and carcasses. The tumultuous passions which tyrannize over him, stifle the voice of nature, and deafen him to the cries of a thousand miserable wretches sacrificed to his fame. The enemy whom the Christian combats is his own heart; for he is required to turn his arms against himself. He must suspend all sentiments of self-love; he must become his own executioner, and, to use the ideas and expressions of Jesus Christ, he must actually "deny himself.' Jesus Christ well knew mankind. He did not preach like some preaching novices, who, in order to incline their hearers to subdue their passions, propose the work to them as free from difficulty. Jesus Christ did not disguise the difficulties which the man must undergo who puts on the spirit of Christianity; and I do not know whether we meet with any expression in the writings of pagan poets or philosophers more natural, and at the same time more emphatical than this; If any man will come after me let him deny himself, Matt. xvi. 24. Not that this is literally practicable. not that man can put off himself, not that religion requires us to sacrifice to it what makes the essence and happiness of our nature; on the contrary, strictly speaking, it is sin which makes us put off or deny what is great and noble in our essence; it is sin which requires us to sacrifice our true happiness to it. If Jesus Christ expresses himself in this manner, it is because when man is possessed with a passion, it is incorporated, as it were, with himself; it seems to him essential to his felicity; every thing troubles and every thing puts him on the rack when he cannot gratify it; without gratifying his passion, his food has no taste, flowers no smell, pleasures no point, the sun is dark, society disagreeable, life itself has no charms. To attack a reigning passion is to deny self;' and 'here is the patience of the saints; this is the enemy whom the Christian attacks; this is the war which he wages.. How tremulous and weak is the hand when it touches a sword to plunged into one's own bosom! Love of or der, truth and virtue, support a Christia hero in this almost desperate undertaking. 4. In fine, compare him that rules his spi are the authors of those acclamations with which the air resounds the praise of worldly heroes? They are courtiers, poets, panegyrists. But what! are people of this order the only persons who entertain just notions of glory? and if they be, are they generous enough to speak out? How can a soul wholly devoted to the will and caprice of a conqueror; how can a venal creature, who makes a market of eulogiums and praises, which he sells to the highest bidder; how can a brutal soldiery determine what is worthy of praise or blame? Is it for such people to distribute prizes of glory, and to assign heroes their rank? To be exalted by people of this sort is a shame; to be crowned by their hands an infamy. Elevate, elevate thy meditation, Christian soul, rise into the majesty of the Great Supreme. Think of that sublime intelligence, who unites in his essence every thing noble and sublime. Contemplate God, surrounded with angels and archangels, cherubim and seraphim. Hear the concerts which happy spirits perform to his glory. Hear them, penetrated, ravished, charmed with the divine beauties, crying night and day, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory. Blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving, honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name?" This Being so perfect, this Being so worthily praised, this Being so worthy of everlasting praise, this is he who will pronounce upon true glory; this is he who will compose the eulogium of all who aspire at it; this is he who will one day praise in the face of heaven and earth all those who shall have made the noble conquests which we have been describing. Imagination sinks under the weight of this subject, and this object is too bright for eyes like ours; but the nature of things does not depend on our faculty of seeing them. As God calls us to combats more than human, so he sees fit to support us by a prospect of more than human rewards. Yes. it is the Supreme Being, it is he, who will one day distribute the praises which are due to such as have triumphed over themselves. What a spectacle! what a prospect! Yes, Christian champion, after thou hast resisted flesh and blood, after thou hast been treated as a fool by mankind, after thou hast run the race of tribulation, after thou hast made thy life one perpetual martyrdom, thou shalt be called forth in the presence of men and angels; the Master of the world shall separate thee from the rowd; there he will address to thee this lanuage, 'Well done, good and faithful servant;' here he will accomplish the promise which he this day makes to all who fight under his standard, he that overcometh shall sit down in my throne.' Ah! glory of worldly heroes, profane encomiums, fastidious inscriptions, proud trophies, brilliant, but corruptible diadems! what are you in comparison with the acclamations which await the Christian hero, and the crowns which God the rewarder prepares for him? The duty of an intelligent soul is to adhere to truth, and to practise virtue. We are born with a disinclination to both. Our duty is to get rid of this; and, without doing so, we neglect the obligation of an intelligent soul; we do not answer the end for which we were intended; we are guilty, and we shall be punished for not having answered the end of our creation. And you, mean and timid souls, who perhaps admire these triumphs, but who have not the ambition to strive to obtain them; you soft and indolent spirits, who, without reluc- Let us consider ourselves as soldiers placed tance, give up all pretensions to the immortal round a besieged city, and having such or such crowns which God prepares for heroism, pro- an enemy to fight, such or such a post to force. vided he requires no account of your indo-You, you are naturally subject to violence lence and effeminacy, and suffers you, like brute beasts, to follow the first instincts of your nature; undeceive yourselves. I said, at the beginning, you are all called to heroism; there is no mid-way in religion; you must be covered with shame and infamy, along with the base and timid, or crowned with glory, in company with heroes. The duty of an intelligent soul is to adhere to truth, and to follow virtue; we bring into the world with us obstacles to both; our duty is to surmount them; without this we betray our trust; we do not answer the end of our creation; we are guilty, and we shall be punished for not endeavouring to obtain the great end for which we were created. and anger. It is sad to find, in one's own constitution, an opposition to virtues so lovely as those of submission, charity, sweetness, and patience. Groan under this evil; but do not despair; when you are judged, less attention will be paid to your natural indisposition to these virtues, than to the efforts which you made to get rid of it. To this point direct ail your attention, all your strength, and all your courage. Say to yourself, this is the post which my general intended I should force; this is the enemy I am to fight with. And be you fully convinced, that one of the principal views which God has in preserving your life, is, that you should render yourself master of this passion. You, you are naturally 'The moment you Let this be the great principle of our divi-disposed to be proud. nity and morality. Let us invariably retain leave your mind to its natural bias, it turns to it. Let us not lose ourselves in discussions such objects as seem the most fit to give you and researches into the origin of evil, and high ideas of yourself, to your penetration, into the permission of the entrance of sin into your memory, your imagination, and even to the world. Let us not bury ourselves alive exterior advantages, which vanity generally in speculations and labyrinths; let us not incorporates with the person who enjoys them. plunge into abysses, from which no pains can It is melancholy to find within yourself any disengage us. Let us fear an ocean full of seeds of an inclination, which so ill agree rocks, and let an idea of the shipwrecks, with creatures vile and miserable as men. which so many rash people have made, stop Lament this misfortune, but do not despair; us on the shore. Let us consider these ques- to this side turn all your attention and all your tions, less with a view to discover the perfec- courage and strength. Say to yourself, this tions of the Creator, in the thick darkness un-is the pot which my general would have me der which he has thought proper to conceal force; this is the enemy whom he has appointthem, than in that of learning the obligations ed me to oppose. And be fully convinced, of a creature. I do not mean to decry those that one of the principal views of God in congreat geniuses who have treated of this pro-tinuing you in this world is, that you may found subject. Their works do honour to resist this passion, and make yourself master the human mind. They are eternal monuments to the glory of a reason, which knows how to collect its force, and to fix itself on a single object; but it is always certain, that we cannot arrive at clear truth on this subject, except by means of thousands of distinctions and abstractions, which most of us cannot make. The subject is so delicate and refined, that most eyes are incapable of seeing it and it is placed on an eminence so steep and inaccessible, that few geniuses can attain it. Let us religiously abide by our principle. of it. Let us all together, my brethren, endeavour to rule our own spirits Let us not be dis mayed at the greatness of the work, because greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world.' Grace comes to the aid of nature. Prayer acquires strength by exercise. The passions, after having been tyrants, become slaves in their turn. The danger and pain of battle vanish, when the eye gets sight of conquest. How inconceivably beautiful is victory then? God grant we may obtain it. To him be honour and glory for ever. Amen. END OF VOLUME I |