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if they prove unfuccefsful, we too often are chagrin ed with the Difappointment, and fin against Meekefs. Even the holy Commandment, instead of eftraining Sin, or producing Obedience, irritates the bred Depravity; and renders it more reftlefs, more mpetuous, more ungovernable *.-Thofe very Things, which fhould have been for our Welfare (fo nalignant and raging is our Corruption!) are converted into an Occafion of falling.

Ther. The Will is under no Neceffity of mifemploying her Powers. She is free to act in this Manher or in that. And, if a Spendthrift, is not a Slave. Afp. In actions which relate to the animal Oeco nomy, the Will is unquestionably free. She can con tract the Forehead into a Frown, or expand it withi a Smile.In the ordinary Affairs of Life, the is un-der no Controul. We can undertake or decline a Journey, carry on or difcontinue an Employ, just as we pleafe.In the outward Acts of Religion alfo, the Will is her own Miftrefs. We can read the Word of GOD, or go to the Place of divine Wor fhip, without any extroardinary Aid from above.-But, in Matters which are more intimately connected with our Salvation, the Cafe is different. Here, as our Liturgy expreffes it, "We are tied and bound "with the Chain of our Sins."-

Would you have a Perfon delight himself in the LORD; take pleasure in Devotion; fet his Af fections on Things above?-All this is both his Duty and his Happinefs. But alas! He is alienated from the Life of GOD. His Inclinations gravitate quite the contrary Way: His Will is in the Condition of that distressed Woman, who was bowed down with a Spirit of Infirmity, and could in no wife lift up herfelft. Corruption, like a ftrong Bias influences, or rather like a heavy Mountain oppreffes his Mind. C_24v Neither + Luke xiii. II

*Rom. vii. 8.

Neither can he shake off the Propenfity, or ftrug gle away from the Load: until Grace, almighty Grace, interpofes for his Release.-Where the SPÍ RIT of the LORD is, there and there alone is Liberty; that facred and glorious Liberty, which is not the common Privilege of all Men, but the high Prerogative of the Children of GOD.

Would you have a Perfon apply to the great REDEEMER; apply with a real Ardor of De fire; as Bartimæus of old, or the Syrophænician Mother?-His Will is like the withered Arm; cannot ftretch forth itself to the all-gracious SAVIOUR: cannot hunger and thirst after his everlasting Righ teoufnefs and infinite Merit: till the SAVIOUR himself speaks Power into the infeebled, the perverted Faculty. If you think otherwife; try the Experiment. Perfuade Men to this neceflary Practice. Urge the most weighty Arguments: devise the most pathetic Expoftulations: let Zeal fummon all her Force, and Rhetoric employ all her Art. Without being a Prophet, I dare venture to foretel the Lffue. Difappointments, repeated Disappointments, will convince you, that our Divine MASTER knew what he faid, when he folemnly declared; No Mer can come to me, except the FATHER, which hath fent me, draw him +.-Our Church, in Conformity to this and other Scriptures, has taught us to pray; Turn thou us, O good LORD; for nothing but thy omnipo

2 Cor. iii. 17.

+ John vi. 44. It is not faid, The FATHER drives, but draws: not by violent, irrational, compulfive Means;. but by clear Conviction, sweet Perfuafion, and Inducements fuited to a reasonable Being. Thofe are the Cords of a Beast, these of a Man. So that we are not acted upon as Clock-work, nor influenced as mere Machines, but made willing in the Day of his Power, Pfal. Ex. 3.

mnipotent Agency is capable of doing it; and fo

hall we be turned.

Ther. Are we Slaves then? Will Christianity send us to feek our Brethren, in the Mines or in the Gallies?

Afp. Chriftianity does not fend, but find us there. There, or in a worfe Slavery +. It is doubtlefs a moft abject State, to wear the Yoke, and truckle in Chains. Yet fuch, I apprehend, is the State of our Minds by Nature. To prove this, we need not go down to the loweft Ranks of Life.. Thefe, you might fay with the Prophet, are poor; these are foolfh; they have not known the Way of the LORD, nor the Judgment of their GOD.-I will get me therefore to the great Men*, and examine their Difpofition.

Have you not known Perfons of the greatest In trepidity, and.firmeft Refolution, hurried away by their Lufts, as "a rolling Thing before the Whirl"wind+?" Perhaps, they were bold enough to face Danger, and defy the Sword, in the Field of Battle. Yet were no more able to withstand the wanton Allurements of Beauty, or the foft Solicitations of Pleasure; than the Moth can forbear fluttering about the Flame, even though it finges her Wings,

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+ St. Paul fays of Chriftians, and reckons himself in the Number, that naturally they ferved (not drano170 but dues were abfolute Slaves to) divers Lufts and Pleafures, Tit. iii. 3. The whole Verfe is very remark able, and nothing can be more appofite to Afpafio's Purpofe. It fhews us, what they were by Nature, who thro Grace became living Images of the bleffed GOD.

This mortifying Doctrine is often acknowledged by~ our Church. Thus begins one of her publick Supplicathops; Almighty “GOD, who alone can order the unruly Wills and Affections of finful Man. It feems, we cannot determine our own Wills, nor régulate our own Affec tions. What is this but Bondage?

*

Jer. v. 4, 5

+ Ifai. xvii. 13..

"

Wings, and is fcorching her to death. Others, poffeffed of a refined Imagination, difdain the grofs Indulgencies of Senfuality; yet are Slaves to their own domineering Paffions. They are blown into the moft intemperate Rage, and pushed on to the most extravagant Actions, by every little ruffling Accident. They fee the Meannefs, which fuch an ungovernable Spirit argues: they feel the Mifery, which fuch internal Tempefts create: nay, they refolve to fupprefs the Impetuofity of their Temper: yet, are bore away by the Torrent; and, upon the very first Provocation, are as furioully refentful as ever.-Will you call thefe Perfons free, because their Tafk-mafters and their Tyrants are lodged within* Because the Fetters are forged, not for the meaner, but for the immortal Part of their Nature?

Ther. Let us pafs to the Affections. Thefe are to the Soul, what Wings are to the Eagle, or Sails to the Ship. These always ftand ready to receive the Gales of Intereft, and to fpring at the Signal of Reason.

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Afp. O! that they did!But, if the Wings are clogged with Mire; if the Sails are difproportioned to the Ballast; what Advantage will accrue, either to the Animal, or to the Veffel?-The One will, probably, be over-fet in the Voyage; the Other will lie groveling on the Ground.

Ther. Defire feems to be the first, which " opens "the Mouth, or moves the Wing, or peeps t." Defire is active as a Flame, and ever in Purfuit of Happiness.

Afp. What if your Flame, instead of fhooting up

Inordinate Defires

And upstart Paffions catch the Government

From Reafon, and to Servitude reduce

wards,

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Man, till then free.

† Ifai. x. 14.

MILT.

wards, fhould point its inverted Spires to the Earth? Would not this be ftrange, and a Sign of great Diforder?GOD is the Center of Perfection. and the Source of Felicity. All that is amiable in itself, is comprehended in GOD. All that is beneficial to us, proceeds from GOD. Do our Defires uniform-. ily tend to this fuper-excellent Being? Do our Wishes terminate in the Enjoyment of his ever-glorious Majefty? Alas! We are naturally eftranged from him: We covet no Communion with him. We are wedded to Trifles, and dote upon Vanity? but to GOD we fay it is evidently the Language of our ConductDepart from us; we defire not the Know ledge of thy Ways

*

If Defire is the Firft-born among the Affections, obferve it in Children. There it appears in its Dawn, and has moft of pure Nature.-See, how thofe Flies, exulting in the funny Gleam, vibrate with all the Rapidity of Motion their little Wings +. So prompt and expedite are the Defires of Children to any corrupting Diversion.-See, how fluggishly that Snail, crawling forth amidst the refreshing Moisture, dragsher flow Length along. So dull, if not reluctant, are the Difpofitions of our Children, to any improv. ing Exercife. Rewards will hardly win them to the latter; the Rod can hardly deter them from the former.. And none, none but GOD, "by his spe"cial Grace preventing them, can put into their "Minds good Defires +."

Is our Love under better Regulation?-How eafily

*

Job xxi. 14.

are

The Wings of a Fly are fuppofed to have the quickest Motion, of any material Substance which lives. And if they make, as Naturalifts imagine, fome Hundreds of Vibrations in a Second of Time, I think, there can be no Competition in the Cafe.

Collect for Eafter-day.

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