XXXV.—OUR MISERIES OFTEN OUR FAULT.BLAIR.
BLAIR.
1. We find man placed in a world, where he has, by no means, the disposal of the events that happen. Calamities[286]sometimes befall the worthiest and the best, which it is not in their power to prevent, and where nothing is left them, but to acknowledge and to submit to the high hand of Heaven. For such visitations of trial, many good and wise reasons can be assigned[287], which the present subject leads me not to discuss.[288]
2. But, though those unavoidable[289]calamities make a part, yet they make not the chief part, of the vexations and sorrows that distress human life. A multitude of evils beset[290]us, for the source of which we must look to another quarter. No sooner has any thing in the health or in the circumstances of men, gone cross[291]to their wish, than they begin to talk of the unequal distribution[292]of the good things of this life; they envy the condition of others; they repine[293]at their own lot, and fret against the Ruler of the world.
3. Full of these sentiments, one man pines under a broken constitution.[294]But let us ask him, whether he can fairly and honestly assign no cause for this but the unknown decree of Heaven? Has he duly valued the blessing of health, and always observed the rules of virtue and sobriety?[295]Has he been moderate in his life, and temperate in all his pleasures? If now he is only paying the price of his former, perhaps, his forgotten indulgences, has he any right to complain, as if he were suffering unjustly?
4. Were we to survey the chambers of sickness and distress, we should often find them peopled with the victims of intemperance and sensuality, and with the viciouschildren of indolence and sloth. Among the thousands who languish there, we should find the proportion of innocent sufferers to be small. We should see faded youth premature[296]old age, and the prospect of an untimely grave, to be the portion of multitudes who, in one way or other, have brought those evils on themselves; while yet these martyrs of vice and folly have the assurance to arraign[297]the hard fate of man, and to “fret against the Lord.”
5. But you, perhaps, complain of hardships of another kind; of the injustice of the world; of the poverty which you suffer, and the discouragements under which you labor; of the crosses and disappointments of which your life has been doomed to be full. Before you give too much scope to your discontent, let me desire you to reflect impartially upon your past train of life. Have not sloth, or pride, or ill-temper, or sinful passions, misled you often from the path of sound and wise conduct? Have you not been wanting to yourselves in improving those opportunities which Providence offered you, for bettering and advancing your state?
6. If you have chosen to indulge your humor or your taste, in the gratifications[298]of indolence and pleasure, can you complain because others, in preference to you, have obtained those advantages which naturally belong to useful labors and honorable pursuits. Have not the consequences of some false steps, into which your passions, or your pleasures, have betrayed you, pursued you through much of your life; tainted[299], perhaps, your character, involved[300]you in embarrassments[301], or sunk you into neglect?
7. It is an old saying, that every man is the artificer[302]of his own fortune in the world. It is certain, that theworld seldom turns wholly against a man, unless through his own fault. “Religion is,” in general, “profitable unto all things.” Virtue, diligence, and industry, joined with good temper and prudence, have ever been found the surest road to prosperity; and, where men fail of attaining it, their want of success is far oftener owing to their having deviated from that road, than to their having encountered insuperable barriers in it.
8. Some by being too artful, forfeit the reputation of probity. Some, by being too open, are accounted to fail in prudence. Others, by being fickle and changeable, are distrusted by all. The case commonly is, that men seek to ascribe their disappointments to any cause, rather than to their own misconduct; and, when they can devise no other cause, they lay them to the charge of Providence. Their folly leads them into vices; their vices into misfortunes; and, in their misfortunes, they “murmur against Providence.”
9. They are doubly unjust toward their Creator. In their prosperity, they are apt to ascribe their success to their own diligence, rather than to His blessing; and, in their adversity, they impute their distresses to His providence, not to their own misbehavior. Whereas, the truth is the very reverse of this. Every good gift and every perfect gift cometh from above; and of evil and misery, man is the author to himself.
[286]Ca-lamˊ-i-ties, misfortunes.[287]As-signˊ-ed, given; specified.[288]Dis-cussˊ, debate, reason on.[289]Un-a-voidˊ-a-ble, inevitable.[290]Be-setˊ, surround; besiege.[291]Cross, adverse; contrary.[292]Dis-tri-buˊ-tion, dispensation.[293]Re-pineˊ, murmur.[294]Con-sti-tuˊ-tion, corporeal frame.[295]So-briˊ-e-ty, temperance.[296]Preˊ-ma-ture, too early.[297]Ar-raignˊ, call in question.[298]Grat-i-fi-caˊ-tions, indulgences.[299]Taintˊ-ed, stained; corrupted.[300]In-volvˊ-ed, entangled.[301]Em-barˊ-rass-ment, perplexity.[302]Art-ifˊ-i-cer, inventor.
[286]Ca-lamˊ-i-ties, misfortunes.
[286]Ca-lamˊ-i-ties, misfortunes.
[287]As-signˊ-ed, given; specified.
[287]As-signˊ-ed, given; specified.
[288]Dis-cussˊ, debate, reason on.
[288]Dis-cussˊ, debate, reason on.
[289]Un-a-voidˊ-a-ble, inevitable.
[289]Un-a-voidˊ-a-ble, inevitable.
[290]Be-setˊ, surround; besiege.
[290]Be-setˊ, surround; besiege.
[291]Cross, adverse; contrary.
[291]Cross, adverse; contrary.
[292]Dis-tri-buˊ-tion, dispensation.
[292]Dis-tri-buˊ-tion, dispensation.
[293]Re-pineˊ, murmur.
[293]Re-pineˊ, murmur.
[294]Con-sti-tuˊ-tion, corporeal frame.
[294]Con-sti-tuˊ-tion, corporeal frame.
[295]So-briˊ-e-ty, temperance.
[295]So-briˊ-e-ty, temperance.
[296]Preˊ-ma-ture, too early.
[296]Preˊ-ma-ture, too early.
[297]Ar-raignˊ, call in question.
[297]Ar-raignˊ, call in question.
[298]Grat-i-fi-caˊ-tions, indulgences.
[298]Grat-i-fi-caˊ-tions, indulgences.
[299]Taintˊ-ed, stained; corrupted.
[299]Taintˊ-ed, stained; corrupted.
[300]In-volvˊ-ed, entangled.
[300]In-volvˊ-ed, entangled.
[301]Em-barˊ-rass-ment, perplexity.
[301]Em-barˊ-rass-ment, perplexity.
[302]Art-ifˊ-i-cer, inventor.
[302]Art-ifˊ-i-cer, inventor.