Us, proceeds from GOD. Do our Defires uni formly tend to this fuper-excellent Being? Do our Wishes terminate in the Enjoyment of his ever-glorious Majefty? Alas! We are naturally estranged 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 Languageof our Conduct-Depart from Us; We defire not the Knowledge of thy Ways

If Defire is the First-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 Diverfion.-See, how fluggishly that Snail, crawling forth amidst the refreshing Moisture, drags her flow Length along. So dull ||, if not reluctant, are the Difpofitions of our Children, to any improving Exercise. Rewards will hardly win them to the latter; the Rod can hardly deter them from the former.-And None, None but GOD, by his fpecial Grace preventing them, can put into their Minds good Defires §."

Job xxi. 14.

I's

The Wings of a Fly are supposed to have the quickest Motion, of any material Subftance 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.

This is what the Greeks call explic. Which, with a Propriety not to be equalled by any Tranflation, expreffes both the Promptitude of the Agent, and the Inie quity of the A&tion. As xiii. 10.

11 Nutipos geforale. Heb. v. 11.

Call for Eafter Day.

Is our Love under better Regulation?-How eafily are We captivated with a fair Complexion and graceful Form; efpecially, when fet off with the Decorations of Drefs. But how little affected with the Beauty of internal Character; with the Ornaments of Virtue, and the Graces of Christianity? Can it be fuppofed, that the Pulfe of the Soul beats regularly; where there is fuch a paffionate Fondness for fading Embellifhments, and fuch a cold Indifference for the moft fubftantial Endowments?-How easily are We smitten with Riches* and Splendour! How our Hearts dance under a Senfe of Diftinction, Superiority, or Preferment! Yet how backward to love that infinitely loving and lovely REDEEMER, who would die Himfelf, rather than We should become a Prey to Death! Tinder We are, perfect Tinder to the Sparks of irrational and diffolute Affection. Harder than Adamant, colder than Ice, to this heavenly Flame.

Ther. If our Love is blind, our Fear has not loft her Eyes. Fear is quick of Apprehenfion: and, inftead of being ftupidly infenfible, is ready to "rife up at the Voice of a Bird +."

66

Afp. The Paffion of Fear is fufficiently active, but deplorably misapplied.-We fear the Reproach of Men. But are We alarmed at the View of that everlafting Shame, which the LORD, the righteous Judge, fhall pour upon the Ungodly? We fhudder at the drawn Dagger, and fland appalled at the R 4 head

*On this Account, becaufe We are naturally Lovers of Riches, of Pleasure, and of the World, more than of GOD our SAVIOUR, the Scripture arraigns Us as Adulterers and Adultereffes. James iv. 4.

+ Ecclef. xii. 4..

headlong Precipice. But how often have We defied the Sword of almighty Vengeance, and sported up→ on the Brink of irretrievable Perdition? U at 9.5in

Sin is the most pernicious of all Evils. Sin vio→ lates the divine Command, and provokes the Divine MAJESTY. Sin offers Despite to the Blessed SPIRIT, and tramples upon the Blood of E-. SUS. For Sin, the Tranfgreflor is banished from the blissful Prefence of GOD, and doomed to dwell with inextinguishable Burnings, Do We dread this grand Destroyer of our Happiness? Dread it more than any Calamities, more than all Plagues? Take one of those fine May-dukcs, which glow with fuch an inviting Scarlet, on yonder Espalier. Offer it to the Blackbird, that ferenades us from the neighbouring Elm. The Creature, though fond of the Dainty, will fly from your Hand, as haftily as from a leveled Fowling-piece. He fufpects a Defign upon his Liberty; and therefore will endure any Extremity, will even ftarve to death, rather than tafte the most tempting Delicacy in fuch hazardous Circumstances.-Are We equally fearful of an infinitely greater Danger? Do We fly, with equal Solicitude, from the delufive but deftructive Wiles of Sin? Alas! Do not We too often swallow the Bait, even when We plainly difcover the fatal Hook? Do We not fnatch the forbidden Fruit, though Confcience remonftrates; though GOD prohibits; though Death eternal threatens !

4

Ther

The inftigating Admonition, tranfmitted to Brentius by an anonymous Letter, when the Papifts had formed a Plot against his Life, fhould be the Rule of our Conduct on fuch an Occafion; Fuge! Fuge! cito-citiùsTMTM citiffime.

Ther. Confcience then, according to your own Account, has efcaped the general Shipwreck. Confcience is GOD's Vicegerent in the Soul, and executes her Office faithfully. Even the Gentiles fhew the Work of the Law written in their Hearts, their Con-.. fcience alfo bearing witness, and their Thoughts the mean while accufing or elfe excufing one another *.

**

Afp. If there be any Remains of the divine Image, perhaps, they are to be found in the Confcience. But even this is not exempt from the common Ruin. -Confider its Light. It is like a dim Taper, feebly glimmering; and just serving to make the Darkness vifible. Or, if it discovers, it discovers only an obfcure Something, We know not what. Which, inftead of informing, tantalizes Us; and inftead of guiding, bewilders Us. As falfe and delufory Lights on the Shore, put a Cheat upon the Mariner; and, instead of directing Him to Safety, miflead Him into Danger +.-Confider its Operations. It is either dumb or dead, or both. Dumb; or elfe how vehemently would it upbraid Us, for our fhocking Ingratitude to our Supreme Omnipotent BENEFACTOR?

*་་

Rom. ii. 15. Methinks, I would not tranflate the Word play the mean while, but alternately or interchangeably accufing or excufing; fometimes one, fometimes the other; in Conformity to the different Circumstances of their Temper and Behaviour.

+ This feems to have been the Cafe with the Heathen World.-Confcience arsaigned, and found them guilty. This put them upon practifing their abominable, fometimes their inhuman Idolatries.-Nay, this induced them to invent and propagate the moft impious Mifreprefentations of the DEITY. That they might feath the Sting of Confcience, and find fome Salvo for their own Iniquities, they made even the Objects of their Worship, the Patrons and the Precedents of their favourite Vices."

FACTOR? How loudly would it inveigh against our stupid Neglect of fpiritual Interests, and eternal Ages? Dead; otherwise how keenly would it fmart, when gafhed with Wounds-numerous, as our repeated Violations of the divine Law -deep, as the horrid Aggravations of our various Iniquities.

T

Ther. Do You call this an Answer to my Obection, Afpafio? If it be an Anfwer, it resembles, in Point of fatisfactory Evidence, the Light which You afcribe unto the Conscience.

;

Afp. The Gentiles, We own, fhew the Work, but not the Love of the Law, written on their Hearts. Some leading Notices of Right and Wrong they have fome fpeculative Strictures of Good and Evil. But without a real Abhorrence of the One, or a condial Delight in the Other. Which, far from ennobling their Nature, far from vindicating their Practice, argues the exceeding Depravity of the former, and renders the latter abfolutely without Excufe.

No; You fay, Confcience excufes the Heathens. Rather, their Confcience bears witness to the Equity of the Law; while their Thoughts make some weak Apology, for the Tenour of their Conduct. This is far from acquitting, far from justifying them.→→ Befides, these weak Attempts to excuse, are always founded on Ignorance. Did they know themselves, their Duty, or their GOD, Confcience would, without the least Hesitation, bring in her Verdict, Guilty.

The Word is Toole, fignifying the Attempt of an accused Perfon to vindicate Himself; not pauperler, the Depofition of a Witnefs, attefting his Innocence; much lefs dawcanlar, the Sentence of a Judge, pronouncing Him upright.