Imatges de pàgina
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all my neceffities; you are my Father, I know you will; unless I render myself unworthy of your bounty, by my fins and diffidence.

Seek ye firft the kingdom of God and his righteoufnefs, and all these things fhall be added unto you our firft care must be to ferve God, and to fave our fouls; this is the principal; temporal things are mere acceffories. God placed us in this world, merely to ferve him here, and to enjoy him eternally hereafter. This is the end of every man: the flave at the oar, and the emperor on the throne, have no other business, but to ferve their Creator, and to fave their fouls. All other affairs are infignificant, unless they tend to this end. It is the one thing neceffary. This is our great affair; an eternity of pleasure will be our reward, if we manage it well; and of mifery, if ill. It is our only affair; for we have nothing else to do, but to love God, and place our fouls in as great fecurity, as this dangerous world will permit us. And yet,

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O God! who would think Chriftians had the leaft tincture of this belief? Who would not think, they perfuaded themselves, they fhould die like beafts, they live fo like them? Do they not employ all their thoughts on things of this world, without cafting an eye on the future? Examine their conduct; view their employments; and you will find all tends to grandeur, pleasure and interest. These take up our thoughts; these run away with our time, and captivate our hearts: and if we pray, or perform any chriftian duty, it is only when we have nothing else upon our hands, or when we are tired in the pursuit of vain amusements. So that we only think of God, and our fouls, merely to avoid idlenefs. Yet, dear Chriftian, this is thy great affair; thy only affair: nothing deferves thy thoughts, but this:

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nothing thy care, but this. Why therefore art thou fo follicitous about thy temporal concerns? why fo fupinely negligent in those that are eternal?

Ask a Christian, if he intends to fave his foul, he will answer, yes: in the mean time not one of a thousand takes the way that leads to heaven. * From whence comes this accurfed fecurity? cries out St. Bernard. On what do you ground your hope? You live among a thousand enemies, who labour to enfnare you; why then are you fo fupinely carelefs? fo dangerously fecure? Why do you not open as many eyes, to avoid their fnares, as they lay baits to surprise you ? Alas! Eafe and pleasure raife fuch mifts, you cannot fee the precipice under your feet.

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Take then a refolution to fhake off this careless humour; fly from the world, as Lot did from Sodom, unless you intend to be involved in its ruin; that is, abjure its principles, caft not an eye back on that accurfed region, condemned by our Saviour, (wo to the world!) left, with Lot's wife, you pay for your curiofity, and ftand a perpetual monument to all pofterity of human folly, and of divine juftice. Have pity of your foul, or elfe God will have none; nor does that man deserve any pity from another, who is fo unnaturally cruel, as to allow himself none. When you rise, when you go to bed, ask yourselves this fhort queftion: Am I not made for heaven? and, if I mifs of this, fhall I not take up my eternal abode in hell? Alas! yes: What then have I done, to purchase fo great a happiness? Nothing. What have I done to incur fo fuperlative a mifery? All things. If I die in the

* Unde hæc maledi&ta fecuritas? via impiorum tenebrofa, & non refpiciunt ubi corruunt. S. Bern.

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prefent ftate, I am loft, and accurs'd for ever; if I deplore my paft errors and detest them by a hearty repentance, I am for ever made: fhall I then be fo foolish, as to turn obftinacy into a piece of gallantry? as to continue in fin, to avoid the brand of inconftancy? No, no; I will not lose my foul for a vain punctilio. Oh! that we could fpend fome moments on these confiderations we fhould fet a greater price on our fouls, and take more pains to fave them: fhould obey our Saviour's command, and feek the kingdom of God, before we thought of making any provifion here below.

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Nay, God has engaged his word, to provide me neceffaries here, if I employ my care to lay up treasures in heaven. Cannot we rely on the promise of truth itfelf? Can we have a better fecurity? Why then do we harrafs our bodies with labour, our thoughts with follicitudes for our temporal intereft, when God fo folemnly charges himself with it? Where is our faith? Where our confidence? He is Omnipotent, he can keep his promife; he is Truth, and will.

Take away, my God, the love of my body, which once will fall to duft in fpight of doctors and remedies; and infpire me with a fincere concern for my foul; which has coft thee the labours of a painful life, painful life, and the fhame of an ignominious death.

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EPISTLE to the Galat. Chap. v. and vi. Verse

25. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

26. Let us not be defirous of vain-glory, provoking_one another, envying one another.

1. Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are fpiritual, reftore fuch an one in the Spirit of meekness; confidering thy felf, left thou also be tempted.

2. Bear ye one another's burdens, and fo fulfil the law of Chrift.

3. For if a man think himself to be fomething, when he is nothing, be deceiveth himself.

4. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall be bave rejoycing in himself alone, and not in another.

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5. For every man shall bear his own burden. 6. Let him that is taught in the word, communicate unto him that teacheth, in all good things.

7. Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man foweth, that shall be alfo

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8. For he that foweth to his flesh, fhall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that foweth to the Spirit, fhall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

9. And let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due feafon we shall reap, if we faint not.

10. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the boufhold of faith.

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The MORAL REFLECTION.

E not defirous of vain glory, fays the apoftle to the Galatians; that is, lay aside all defire to raise yourself above your neighbour. Court not the applause of men, which cannot add one grain to your merit. It is certain, this paffion is vain, as well as the esteem it effects and yet it runs in the blood of all men: defire of esteem is the firft paffion that appears in us, and the laft that leaves us. No vice is more foolish, nor more unreasonable: how do men doat on their wit, and women on their beauty? With what contempt do they look upon thofe who have lefs? Now what reafon have fuch people to be vain? Did they procure thefe gifts by their merits? Alas! we owe them wholly to the goodness of our Creator, who gave us these advantages above our neighbour. They are therefore merely the effects of his liberality, not of our deserts.

Has a beggar reason to be vain, or to defire esteem, because he has received a greater alins than his companions? Ought he not rather to thank the giver, than to pride in the gift, and to confider, his mifery procured the alms, not his merits ?

O my Maker! I had no right to be, much lefs to be witty or beautiful, or to be endowed with any extraordinary gift of nature. Thou might'ft have let me fleep eternally in my bed of nothing; or have made me as full of ulcers as a Lazarus, as poor and as deformed as Job on the dunghill, and as void of reafon, as a child in the cradle. My endeavour fhall be to thank thee daily for thy favours; to employ my natural talents to thy glory, not to purchase a vain reputation,

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