He

For the space of a year before his death, feeling his faculties considerably on the decline, and thinking himself no longer able to fulfil the duties of his office to his own satisfaction, he formed the resolution to lay it down, and retire to the place of his nativity in Switzerland: But at the united request of his congregation, who assured him that they would willingly on his account content themselves with a discourse from him every fortnight, he was induced to remain in his station. His health even seemed to improve during the summer in consequence of his having passed the intervals of his time in the country at the village of Gohlitz, not far from town. But in the following autumn it too plainly appeared that his recovery was only apparent. still however attended on the duties of his office, though with the utmost difficulty; till, at length, a few weeks be fore his death, he was obliged to apply for assistance to a foreign candidate for orders, who kindly took the charge of preaching upon him. His last illness was extremely painful; yet he bore his sufferings with the patience of a wise man and the resignation of a christian, who looks beyond the grave and corruption to the world of retribution. On the 22d of January, 1788, he gently sank into the arms of death, and was buried on the 25th. The whole of his numerous congregation, together with some hundreds of young students of the university, and numbers of his auditors of the Lutheran communion, attended his body to the grave, with every token of unfeigned sorrow,

Wherein the Dignity of Man Consists,

GREAT and manifold are thy works, O God,

in heaven and on earth; all abundant in wisdom and loving kindness! We also, Almighty and all Bountiful, we also are the work of thy hands; and, of all the creatures of the earth, the foremost, the most glorious! Formed after thy likeness; capable of knowing thee, of loving thee, of having communion with thee; capable of understanding, of feeling, of enjoying all the beautiful works and all the effects of kindness, which thou hast so liberally shed upon thy world, our abode; of elevating our minds to thee, the source of beauty and perfection, of coming ever nearer to thee, of becoming ever more like thee, and in thee of enjoying ever purer delight and bliss! O God! What is man, that thou hast exalted him so far above all the inhabitants of the earth, endowed him with such capacities and powers, allotted him this place in thy dominion, brought him so near to thy son Jesus, and through him to thee, his father and our father, and opened to him such prospects in remote futurity in all the glories of thy creation! O God! What joy, what transports should it raise in our hearts that we are men; that we are thy children, thy image; that we are brethren of thy son Jesus; that we are immortal, and may hope to become ever more perfect and ever more happy! With what gratitude, with what love towards thee our Creator, should it not impress our souls; what lofty sentiments kindle in us; to what good and great actions incite us! O let this grand, this blissful sentiment of our dignity and thy favor be ever present with us! O let it even now in a superior degree be active and effective in us, thorough penetrate and warm us, and so entirely take possession

of us, that it may never more by any thing be weakened or suppressed! No; constantly let us be impressed with the excellence of our nature, our origin from thee and our high vocation, and constantly think and live conformably with what we now are and can do, and what we hereafter shall be and may perform! Bless, in this respect, our meditations on these important doctrines; let thy spirit strengthen and exalt our souls, that they may feel the whole value of their privileges and powers, and rejoice in their existence and their connexion with thee! We ask it as the disciples of him, who taught us to address thee as, Our Fa ther, &c.

PSALM viii. 5.

Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor.

MAN may be considered two different ways. In one we find him a very limited, feeble, and defective being. Little superior, at best, to the beasts of the field, in many respects apparently below them; more circumscribed, more impotent more unhappy than they. Considered in another light, he discovers the fairest dispositions, and the greatest capacities. Look at the effects of his external force; they indicate a being far more elevated than the inanimate or the animal creation. He performs actions which excite and deserve universal admiration; but the operations and productions of his mind, give demonstrations of his affinity with the Father of Spirits, and prove him to be, in the most exalted sense, the son of God.

Considered on one side, human nature appears an object of compassion. And they who thus view it, take all possible pains to dismay us by derision, by representing our pretensions to dignity as the

fancies of a foolish pride. On the other side, man seems to merit the greatest esteem and veneration. And such as regard him in this light, exalt him far above all surrounding creatures, make him capable of every excellence, and fitted for the highest gran

deur.

Now in which way shall we contemplate man? Doubtless, we should study and understand him in both, if we would judge rightly of the ends for which he was made; if we would neither be rash through pride, nor disheartened by conscious abase

ment.

It seems to me, however, as if human nature was not frequently enough considered on its fair and advantageous side; though it should oftener be so than on the other. Limitations, weaknesses, defects, and imperfections, never allow themselves to be forgotten; the sentiment of them is too painful, and too importunate, and their baneful influence on our felicity is too multiform and too apparent for us to deny. But talents that are not drawn forth, faculties that are not exerted, abilities that are not exhibited in action, or only operate in silence and obscurity, may easily be overlooked, may easily be neglected. And then there is a vast difference between these two sides, both in scope and duration. Infirmities, weaknesses, and imperfections, which may be often corrected, and which may, in part at least, be removed; which belong not so essentially to human nature, deserve not therefore so much attention, as capacities, and faculties, and prerogatives, which not only at present preponderate over them, but are to go with us into eternity, constantly effecting greater perfection and more exalted happiness. Certainly then the man that accustoms himself to consider human nature, rather on this side than the other, will judge far more rightly, think far more

nobly, act far better and more virtuously, than he who suffers the sentiment of his meanness and imperfections to be ever before him. Well then; we

will choose the representation that promises us the most advantage and the greatest happiness.

I have

We will consider the dignity of man. often discoursed to you of it before. Oft have I encouraged you to the sentiment and the estimation of it. But, perhaps, this comprehensive term has not always excited the clearest representations in your mind. We will now more distinctly discriminate the principal matters in which it consists.

By the dignity of man, we are, in general to understand, whatever is eminently great and honorable in his nature, his situation, and his vocation; all that gives him an eminent value in the sight of God, and of all rational beings. A dignity which is grounded on his intrinsically noble and generous sentiments, his privileges, and his powers, and is displayed in the excellency of intellect and power of action peculiar to him. A dignity which forces from us some such exclamations to the deity as those of the Psalmist: "Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor!"

Wherein, then, does the dignity of man consist? or what gives him the dignity he has? And how and whereby does he exhibit his dignity? Or, what produces it within him and without him? These are the principal questions we have now to answer.

Understanding, freedom, activity, an always progressive perfection, immortality, the relation in which he stands towards God, and towards his son Jesus, the station he fills on the earth, and what he is and does in regard to all these: This composes the dignity of man; this gives him his eminently great worth.