t of the Son of Sirach: _In every good work trust thy
own soul_; _for this is the keeping of the commandment_. {14}

SERMON VI. UPON COMPASSION.
PREACHED THE FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT.

Rom. xii. 15.

_Rejoice with then that do rejoice_, _and weep with them that weep_.

There is a much more exact correspondence between the natural and moral
world than we are apt to take notice of. The inward frame of man does in
a peculiar manner answer to the external condition and circumstances of
life in which he is placed. This is a particular instance of that
general observation of the Son of Sirach: _All things are double one
against another_, _and God hath made nothing imperfect_. {15} The
several passions and affections in the heart of man, compared with the
circumstances of life in which he is placed, afford, to such as will
attend to them, as certain instances of final causes, as any whatever,
which are more commonly alleged for such: since those affections lead him
to a certain determinate course of action suitable to those
circumstances; as (for instance) compassion to relieve the distressed.
And as all observations of final causes, drawn from the principles of
action in the heart of man, compared with the condition he is placed in,
serve all the good uses which instances of final causes in the material
world about us do; and both these are equally proofs of wisdom and design
in the Author of nature: so the former serve to further good purposes;
they show us what course of life we are made for, what is our duty, and
in a peculiar manner enforce upon us the practice of it.

Suppose we are capable of happiness and of misery in degrees equally
intense and extreme, yet, we are capable of the latter for a much longer
time, beyond all comparison. We see men in the tortures of pain for
hours, days, and, excepting the short suspensions of sleep, for months
together, without intermission, to which no enjoyments of life do, in
degree and continuance, bear any sort of proportion. And such is our
make and that of the world about us that any thing may become the
instrument of pain and sorrow to us. Thus almost any one man is capable
of doing mischief to any other, though he may not be capable of doing him
good; and if he be capable of doing him some good, he is capable of doing
him more evil. And it is, in numberless cases, much more in our power to
lessen the miseries of others than to promote their positive happine