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them as the ministers of Providence : then our reliance on them is in conformity to the will of God , and we are not desirous of employing them , as they too generally are ,, to oppress one , to supplant another , to support injustice , and to render iniquity triumphant . "
The misery of the man who rejects the guidance of Providence is thus forcibly represented : — " Figure to yourselves a vessel well fitted out and provided with stores , but tossed on a tempestuous sea , at the mercy of the winds and waves , without the directing hand of a pilot : such is man in the wide sea ofjife , when no longer guided by the hand of God . Destitute of Providence , on what can he rely ? Were it possible to find some other
ground of confidence , his state would be less pitiable 3 but he is forced to acknowledge that in renouncing Divine Providence , and casting off the yoke of Jesus Christ , he is 1 educed to the alternative of placing his trust in man , or of relying solely on himself ;—two conditions equally gloomy , and which ever he may prefer , he is inevitably and undeniably miserable . If rightly considered , what can be more dreadful than to be reduced to this self-dependence ; and if a man beat all acauainted
with his own heart , what state is so likely to deprive him of all happiness ? Were I left without a guide ia a frightful solitude , exposed to the danger of being irrecoverably lost , I should be seized with extreme terror . Were I abandoned in a dangerous malady , and left entirely to my own care ., I could no longer venture to hope for recovery Were I on a charge which affected not only my fortune , but my life , denied the aid of counsel , I should believe myself inevitably lost .
How can I then be free from perpetual alarms in the midst of a world where I am surrounded by so many snares , where I am menaced with so many dangers , where I am pursued by so many foes , where , if protected by no power but my own , I am so liable to perish } Christians , that of is his obstinate determination
which constitutes the misery man of depending on himself alone r his unhappiness is not the effect of any thing external , of that which is p laced above him , or of that which most violently opposes him ; he is himself the source ofaJl his afflictions , by assuming the regulation of his own actions : and this must of necessity be the case ; for as the thoughts of man are
uncertain , timid , and confused ; especially with regard to himself , when left to his own direction , he is perturbed and irresolute , uncertain of every thing , universally mistrustful , the sport of his own caprice and variableness , and the slave of an unreasonable temper . lie is torn by numberless , contrary , and contending passions ; absorbed in his own mind , he is alternately depressed by sadness , agitated with terror , envenomed with hatred , infuriated with love , devoured with boundless ambition ,
withered with malignant envy , transported with rage , overwhelmed with grief : he finds in himself a source of anguish ; an absolute hell . ¦ " It is true , Christians , that man is endued with reason , which is superior to all these passions , whose aid he is entitled and commanded to claim , but if in some instances , the aid of reason be useful , in
others what suffering does it not inflict ? To what purpose , it has been said , does man employ that reason , which is not subjected to God , which has no addition to its own feeble light ? It serves but to render him more unhappy 5 to discover blessings he cannot obtain , to point out evils he cannot avoid , to excite desires he can never satisfy , to occasion repentance for ever tormenting him , to make him averse
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Bourdaloue ' s Sermons * 603
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1806, page 603, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1730/page/43/
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