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2. His character occurs in others, 78.

3. The occasion of Balaam's coming, 78.

4. The circumstances under which he spoke, 78.

66

5. He understood by being righteous to do justly and love mercy, and walk humbly with his God," 79.

6. He did right in refusing to go at first, 80.

7. He began to do wrong when he asked the second embassy to wait till the morning for his answer, 80.

8. God gave him permission to go in anger, 81.

9. He tried to do what he knew was wicked without disobeying God, 81.

10. He hit upon the way of seducing the Israelites into idolatry, 82.

11. We have here a very wicked man, with a deep sense of God and religion, going on in wickedness with a wish to die righteous, neither wholly careless, nor yet hardened, 83. 12. Our attachments to the present world are unreasonably strong, 84.

13. We follow them to the contradiction of our nature, 84. 14. We reconcile ourselves to this by half deceits, 85.

15. Thus Balaam thought of God, and thought of death, and would not break the letter of the command, yet did worse in going against the object of it, 85.

16. Though he could have no settled hopes of a good end, he probably did not despair, 85.

17. He contrived deliberately to impose upon himself in what he knew to be most important, 86.

18. Many persons profess to be religious and yet go on in sin. Some will not give up their sin, but try to make atonement for it, 86.

19. There are others who are not superstitious, and yet go on in sin, while having some real sense of religion, 87.

20. Deliberation about duty is often a seeking to explain it away, 87.

21. Men do not always reflect upon what goes on within, 88.

22. Scarcely any one has got over all religious hopes and fears, and yet many are deliberately wicked, 88.

23. A peculiar inward dishonesty is the cause of this, 88. 24. Every one would wish to die righteous and to be rid of guilt, 88.

25. This proceeds from a sense of evil and apprehension of judgment, 89.

26. To evade, suspend, drown these is useless folly. Only simplicity and fairness will lead to peace at the last, 89.]

SERMONS VIII. IX.

UPON RESENTMENT AND FORGIVENESS OF INJURIES.

Matt. v. 43, 44.-Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy: but I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute

you.

[SERMON VIII.-UPON RESENTMENT.

1. Resentment seems contrary to benevolence, 90.

2. The question ought to be, not why were we not made without this passion, but for what end was it given us? 90. 3. Hatred, malice, and revenge are contrary to our religion, 91.

4. What then is the natural passion of resentment, and what are the abuses of it? 92.

5. Resentment is of two kinds-sudden and deliberateand is not in itself sinful, 92.

6. Sudden anger is sometimes involuntary, without demerit in the object of it, 92.

94.

7. Its purpose is self-defence, 93.

8. Deliberate anger involves the idea of wrong, 94.

9. A story of baseness and anger raises our indignation,

10. And this indignation is not malice, 94.

11. If the wrong were done against ourselves the feeling would be stronger and more lasting, 95.

12. It is not suffering, but injury, that raises lasting resentment, 95.

13. What increases the fault increases the resentment, 95. 14. Men do not resent what does not seem to them a wrong, 95.

15. Carelessness is considered faulty, 96.

16. A thing done gives a sharper sense of injury than mere intention, 96.

17. Resentment varies as the design, deliberation, degree of evil designed and actual evil done, taken together, 96. 18. Resentment is given us as a weapon against wrong, 96.

19. Sudden anger is naturally raised by mere harm, or possibly by injury; deliberate by injury only, 96.

20. Passion is an abuse of sudden anger, 97.

21. So is peevishness, 97.

22. They are indeed the same affection in different tempers, 97.

23. Five abuses of deliberate resentment, 98.

24. A determination not to see the groundlessness of our resentment generally attends abuses of it, 98.

25. Resentment is a balance to compassion, to prevent its hindering justice, 99.

26. Resentment terrifies men from crime and brings offenders to justice, 100.

27. This account of resentment shows, 100.

28. 1. That vice is of ill desert and must be punished, 100. 29. II. That we should not ascribe to God the abuses of what He has given us, 101.

SERMON IX.-UPON FORGIVENESS OF INJURIES.

30. God has given us several passions and affections to correct natural and moral disorders, 102.

31. Resentment is natural and not a fault, 102.

32. It is the excess and abuse only that are condemned, 103.

33. Division of the subject, 104.

34. Nature and reason, not custom and false honour, to guide us as to revenge, 104.

35. I. If retaliation were lawful there would be no bounds to the rage and madness that would follow, 104.

36. II. Resentment is a cause of suffering, and therefore not to be used except for some greater good, 105.

37. Considering society as a whole resentment is an evil to it, because it produces misery, 106.

38. There can be no lawful gratification of resentment except where it prevents misery, 107.

39. Revenge alone of all vices aims at mischief as its end, 107.

40. The good effects of revenge are not a justification of it, 108.

41. The precept to love our enemies presupposes general good-will, 108.

42. Resentment, unless excessive, is consistent with goodwill, 108.

43. Guilt or injury may diminish, but do not supersede the duty of good-will, 109.

44. Nor does our natural regard to ourselves dispense with it, 109.

45. Self-partiality alone can dispute this, 110.

46. Love to our enemies is not a rant, 110.

47. Love towards our enemies ought to be real good-will, though not any peculiar affection, 110.

48. This is perfectly reasonable, 110.

49. Reflections to aid in begetting this temper, 111. 50. We always exaggerate injuries done to ourselves, 111. 51. Anger unreasonably thinks ill of all a man's conduct, 112.

52. Misunderstanding has a great share in all enmities, 112.

53. Common sense suggests thus much, 112.

54. To be indulgent to others is only to treat them as we do ourselves, 113.

55. Vice is a source of misery to the vicious, and in this view they are objects of compassion, 114.

56. There is a natural presentiment, that as we deal with the faults of others so God will deal with ours, 114. 57. And this is confirmed by God's word, 116.]

SERMON X.

UPON SELF-DECEIT.

2 Sam. xii. 7.—And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man.

[1. Nathan's parable to David, 117.

2. David's indignation, though himself guilty of more without remorse, 118.

3. Many men seem perfect strangers to themselves through self-partiality, 118.

4. Men in general have no distrust of themselves, and always think well of their own character, 119.

5. Wise men are easily imposed upon by friends of whom they have no suspicion, and the case is stronger as to deceiving ourselves, 120.

6. Men seldom think that moral reflections apply to themselves, 120.

7. Some fix their eyes so strongly on what makes for them, that they cannot see anything else, 120.

8. Some judge rightly in everything but what concerns themselves, or some favourite passion, 121.

9. Such as these are not wholly hypocrites, there is real honesty as far as it goes, 121.

10. Vice generally comes from false selfishness, which may go so far as to influence our judgment of others, 122.

Note on diffidence and distrust of self as flowing from the same peculiar regard to ourselves, which makes some self-partial.

a. Benefit and abuse of attention to self.

11. Self-partiality as a fact leads to a great part of men's unreasonable behaviour, and may lead to great crimes, 123. 12. Some circumstances are peculiarly open to self-deceit,

124.

13. As where the fault lies in some general temper and course of action, 124.

14. Perhaps the greatest part of our commerce with men is incapable of being reduced to fixed rules, 124.

15. Self-deceit comes in these cases chiefly, and in the circumstances of determinate acts of wickedness, 125.

16. Further observations upon self-deceit, 125.

17. It is often attended by a suspicion that all is not right, 126.

18. Men may, and do, wilfully shut their eyes to their own state and prospects, 127.

19. Reflections to assist in avoiding self-deceit 128.

20. 1. Those who have never caught themselves in it, are most likely misled by it, 128.

21. II. It is well to keep a steady eye on those points an enemy would fix upon, 129.

22. HI. Survey yourself as you would another person, and judge your own actions as though another had done them to you, 130.

23. Conclusion, 131.]

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