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A Sermon
are convinced they are really so ? Was their error profitable to their country , friends , or family , in favour of its happy effects I would be tempted to place it in the rank of virtues . — -rBut , as it is arrddle vanity * the dream of a corrupted self-love , destructive to morality and their happiness , it is my duty to tell them that their wisdom is folly . Whoever thinks himself wise , is generally either a rich fool , who
takes the language of flattery for that of truth—or an hypocrite , who has laid your credulity under contribution- ^ -the sensible and virtuous man will repeat after Solomon , " I said I will be wise ; but it was far from me . " " The wisest man is he who is subject to least vices , errors , or follies to no higher degree of perfection can we arise . —Moralists insist we
have it in our power to triumph over human frailties . —I do not commend their zeal , as its jurisdiction may prevent the progress of virtue . - —Never attempt to persuade men that they can be perfectly wise—still less that they ought to be so , if they will have a place in the kingdom of God . —The despair of being happy after death , may annihilate the sense of their duties- ^ and bring them imperceptibly to an absolute contempt of religion .
All pleasures are no more crimes , than all self-denials are virtues . The neglect of a duty is not always a violation of it . Humanity and religion bid me to be benevolent and charitable—but not to feed the idleness of a profligate beggar , or of an abandoned prostitute . It is by the good he does to society , more than by the austerity of his morals , that a man is deemed wise and virtuous . —The qualities
which make a saint , are very different from those which make a good citizen . — -They are seldom as beneficial to the world as the vanity that delights in acts of justice and generosity . Perpetual prayers and fasting do not become the social man , who ought to practise only the virtues useful to the society in which Providence has placed him . —If he be temperate in his diet and leasures
p , so much the better for him . —But why should I praise him for a quality which is good for himself alone ?—Let him restore peace in a disunited family—relieve the distressed—deli ght in his power of doing good and diffuse happiness round him—then I will call him a virtuous , man , worthy of our esteem and respect . ¦
That woman has no claim to wisdom who , though a sincere devotee to virtue , affects an air of libertinism in her manners—unless her looks , dress , and conversation , agree perfectly with the love of her duties ' her virtue is of no advantage to the public , who , from our appearance judging often of our morals , conclude that we are what we seem to be . —I say it without the fear of a reproof—the libertine whose deportthe of virtue
pient supports cause , has a more lawful title to the esteem of the world , than the chaste woman who betrays it by her levity and thoughtlessness . Should ambition , pride , or self-interest , be the motive of the good you do—it matters not ; for the practice of virtue is only the performance of our duties . Would you , or the society , accept of no benefit jjQt what would be conferred through the love of virtue itself
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Sermon
are convinced they are really so ? Was their error profitable to their country , friends , or family , in favour of its happy effects I would be tempted to place it in the rank of virtues . — -rBut , as it is arrddle vanity * the dream of a corrupted self-love , destructive to morality and their happiness , it is my duty to tell them that their wisdom is folly . Whoever thinks himself wise , is generally either a rich fool , who
takes the language of flattery for that of truth—or an hypocrite , who has laid your credulity under contribution- ^ -the sensible and virtuous man will repeat after Solomon , " I said I will be wise ; but it was far from me . " " The wisest man is he who is subject to least vices , errors , or follies to no higher degree of perfection can we arise . —Moralists insist we
have it in our power to triumph over human frailties . —I do not commend their zeal , as its jurisdiction may prevent the progress of virtue . - —Never attempt to persuade men that they can be perfectly wise—still less that they ought to be so , if they will have a place in the kingdom of God . —The despair of being happy after death , may annihilate the sense of their duties- ^ and bring them imperceptibly to an absolute contempt of religion .
All pleasures are no more crimes , than all self-denials are virtues . The neglect of a duty is not always a violation of it . Humanity and religion bid me to be benevolent and charitable—but not to feed the idleness of a profligate beggar , or of an abandoned prostitute . It is by the good he does to society , more than by the austerity of his morals , that a man is deemed wise and virtuous . —The qualities
which make a saint , are very different from those which make a good citizen . — -They are seldom as beneficial to the world as the vanity that delights in acts of justice and generosity . Perpetual prayers and fasting do not become the social man , who ought to practise only the virtues useful to the society in which Providence has placed him . —If he be temperate in his diet and leasures
p , so much the better for him . —But why should I praise him for a quality which is good for himself alone ?—Let him restore peace in a disunited family—relieve the distressed—deli ght in his power of doing good and diffuse happiness round him—then I will call him a virtuous , man , worthy of our esteem and respect . ¦
That woman has no claim to wisdom who , though a sincere devotee to virtue , affects an air of libertinism in her manners—unless her looks , dress , and conversation , agree perfectly with the love of her duties ' her virtue is of no advantage to the public , who , from our appearance judging often of our morals , conclude that we are what we seem to be . —I say it without the fear of a reproof—the libertine whose deportthe of virtue
pient supports cause , has a more lawful title to the esteem of the world , than the chaste woman who betrays it by her levity and thoughtlessness . Should ambition , pride , or self-interest , be the motive of the good you do—it matters not ; for the practice of virtue is only the performance of our duties . Would you , or the society , accept of no benefit jjQt what would be conferred through the love of virtue itself