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reasonableness , and good temper , and just affection ? Or , do they tell \ x $ that the child has thought himself entirely without his reward , even when the acknowledgment of his cares , and thanks for his kindness , and regret for the injustice done him , have not been expressed , till he has felt and read them all in the dying pressure of his parent ' s hand , and the last tearful , lingering gleam of his parent ' s eye ?"—P . 74 .
The discourse on Christian Contentment infuses some of the spirit it recornmerds . It cheers by its animation , while it instructs by its wisdom . Often as the subject has been treated , it is here any thing but dull . Contentment is distinguished from a gloomy affectation of indifference to the ordinary pains and pleasures of life , from resignation , and from a careless inattention to the future : and enforced by the consideration of the Apostle ' s words , that " we brought nothing into this world , and it is certain we can
carry nothing out . " All this is easily comprehended ; but we should wonder if this discourse should , like too many as easy of comprehension , be immediately forgotten . It is difficult to say how much of the deep interest of the sermon " On the best Preparation for a Time of Sickness , " is attributable to the nature of the subject , and how much to the manner in which it is treated . The subject is one of universal concern ; and we have often had occasion to observe , that in most moral and religious works , those portions are read the first and the oftenest which relate to sickness and death . Those who have
experienced the evils of lingering sickness , are conscious of a thrilling pleasure in reviving their associations ; and others feel a curiosity to know what they are to experience when that infliction arrives which comes to all , or almost all . Every word spoken on this subject , therefore , approves itself to the memory of the one class of persons , and to the anticipations of the other , and is listened to as the experience of a companion , or the prediction of a prophet . This discourse , therefore , is received with eagerness , and read
with favourable prepossession . But if it were not , if it related to the lowest and least interesting subject of Christian morals , the power and beauty conspicuous in it , would find their way to the mind and heart . That it abounds in truth , the experience of many a sufferer can bear witness , both in the delineation of the infliction and in the promise of consolation . Whether the duty of preparation be powerfully and beautifully enforced , let the reader judge from his own feelings .
" Yes , great and manifold and bitter are the evils of lingering sickness The paroxysm of pain when but one sensation is felt—the sensation of anguish ; consciousness reduced to the consciousness of suffering ; the weariness of tossing on a feverish bed , exclaiming , in the morning , ' Would to God it were evening ! ' and in the evening , ' Would to God it were morning V watching the gradual fading of day into night , and again the gradual brightening of night into day , but without exertion in the one , or repose in
the other ; seeing inanimate nature pursuing its destined course , suns rising and setting , moons waxing and waning , flowers opening and withering , all moving , rolling on , and answering- the great end of being without knowing it , while with us consciousness is only that of passive existence j hearing " from afar the bustle and stir of this mighty world , where there is so much doing and to be done , and where even the weakest and humblest has his sphere of action , and ministers something to the sum of happiness and improvement ; but hearing it only as if we were in the grave , and the busy crowd rushed by us or over us ; the painful and humbling sensation of bein ^ not only a blank , but a burden in society ; the feeling of helplessness ana dependence on others , even for the merest trifles , which only the tendereet
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460 Sermons for Families ,
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1829, page 460, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2574/page/12/
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