The third branch of my subject is the most difficult.  It may, indeed, appear strange that we should not have the right to sacrifice our own happiness:  that surely belongs to us to dispose of, if nothing else does.  Besides, happiness is evidently not the state of being intended for us here below; and that much higher state of mind from which all “hap"[44] is excluded—­viz. blessedness—­is seldom granted unless the other is altogether withdrawn.

You must, however, observe that this blessedness is only granted when the lower state—­that of happiness—­could not be preserved except by a positive breach of duty, or when it is withheld or destroyed by the immediate interposition of God Himself, as in the case of death, separation, incurable disease, &c.  Under any of the above circumstances, we have the sure promise of God, “As thy days are, so shall thy strength be.”  The lost and mourned happiness will not be allowed to deprive us of the powers of rejoicing in hope, and serving God in peace; also of diffusing around us the cheerfulness and contentment which is one of the most important of our Christian duties.  These privileges, however, we must not expect to enjoy, if, by a mistaken unselfishness, (often deeply stained with pride,) we sacrifice to another the happiness that lay in our own path, and which may, in reality, be prejudicial to them, as it was not intended for them by Providence:  while, on the contrary, it may have been by the same Providence intended for us as the necessary drop of sweetness in the otherwise overpowering bitterness of our earthly cup.

We take, as it were, the disposal of our fate out of the hands of God as much when we refuse the happiness He sends us as when we turn aside from the path of duty on account of some rough passage we see there before us.  Good and evil both come from the hands of the Lord.  We should be watchful to receive every thing exactly in the way He sees it fit for us.

Experience, as well as theory, confirms the truth of the above assertions.  Consider even your own case with relation to any sacrifice of your own real happiness to the supposed happiness of another.  I can imagine this possible even in a selfish disposition, not yet hardened.  Your good-nature, warm feelings, and pride (in you a powerfully actuating principle) may have at times induced you to make, in moments of excitement, sacrifices of which you have not fully “counted the cost.”  Let us, then, examine this point in relation to yourself, and to the petty sacrifices of daily life.  If you have allowed others to encroach too much on your time, if you have given up to them your innocent pleasures, your improving pursuits, and favourite companions, has this indulgence of their selfishness really added to their happiness?  Has it not rather been unobserved, except so far to increase the unreasonableness of their expectations from you, to make them angry when it at last becomes necessary to resist their advanced