unjustly attack'd, but that we must never feek, nor provoke them. In fine, we may fometimes conceal the truth; but when we are obliged to speak it, we must deliver ourselves in the moft civil and leaft offenfive terms. An untimely and an indif creet zeal is dangerous; it rather frights people from virtue, than draws them to it. Sweetness prevails more upon a finner than feverity; this fhews anger, that compaffion; and few are fo obdurate in vice, as not to pity their own ftate, when others deplore it.

Altho' our Lord answered not directly to the captious question, he instructed them fufficiently by this admirable rule: Render unto Cefar the things that are Cefar's; and to God, the things that are God's. Princes have their rights, and God has his, which are unalterable; all the perfection of a Christian confifts in the discharge of these two duties: we must pay our prince fubmiffion and fidelity. And as we owe God all we have, so we must render him all; every thought, every action belongs to him, and we invade his right, if we make them over to any creature.

But, O God! how few difobey the laws of princes, and how many tranfgrefs thine? What can we fear for our infidelity to them, but a prifon, or death? Or what can we expect for our obedience, but an imaginary fortune, which may foon fall, and bury us under its ruins. But from thee, my God, we have received all we have, and may hope for a happinefs that will never end: we may fear for our disobedience an everlasting death, an endless prifon, Where there is no order, and where the light is as darkness, Job x. 22.

O the blindness! O the ftupidity of man! the apprehenfion of a temporal calamity frights him to his duty, and the bare hope of a fading and inconftant fortune perfwades him to it. But tho' thou,

my

my God, doft promife heaven for his obedience, and threaten hell for his infidelity, he fits unconcerned, as if he neither feared thy menaces, nor believed thy promife real. Oh! let me never fall into fo deplorable an infenfibility; let me not mifplace fo foolishly my hope and my fear; let me always fear thy justice, and hope in thy mercy.

EPISTLE to the Philippians, Chap. iii. Ver.

17. Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk fo, as ye have us for an enfample.

18. (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Chrift:

19. Whofe end is deftruction, whofe God is their belly and whofe glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things)

20. For our converfation is in heaven, from whence alfo we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jefus Chrift:

21. Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working, whereby he is able even to fubdue all things unto himself.

TH

The MORAL REFLECTION.

HE apoftle conjures the Philippians to practife all Chriftian virtues, and proposes as a rule, not only the example of their devout neighbours, but alfo his own: Brethren, be fullowers together of me, and mark them which walk fo, as ye have us for an enfample. enfample. What is this enfample, but what he has left us in this epiftle? U

whether

whether ye eat or drink, or whatever ye do, do all to the glory of God. He has made us for himself, and he could not create us but for himfelf, and confequently all our thoughts, all our actions, belong to him: he has favoured us with an understanding to know him, with a will to love him; and we commit a theft, an high injustice, if we give our heart to any creature, or employ one moment in any thing but his fervice. Altho' the title of Creator gives him an indispensable right to all our actions, yet he demands not our service gratis: he promises us heaven, and will reward even the charity of a cup of water, given in his name. Yet all this goodness, all this liberality, cannot excite our fervour, awake our diligence, nor perfwade us to ferve him with fidelity. With what zeal do we ferve a friend, a mafter, a relation? Every one endeavours to discharge his office, with honour and reputation: but, my God, who ferves thee with the fame punctuality, the fame affiduity, the fame fervour, we all ferve the world? To ferve thee, is to keep thy commandments; to serve with fervour, is not only to detest venial fin, but also to employ every moment in the exercise of virtue: how fmall is the number of these happy and faithful fouls? It is true, there are fome, who ferve thee with fidelity in Babylon, as well as in Jerufalem; but they are rare, and scarce difcernible. The crowd runs the other way, and one would think, my God, by their conduct, they fuppofe thou haft no eyes to fee their infidelities, or no power to punish them.

I confefs, my God, I am of the number of thefe unfaithful and unfortunate fervants; every day, every moment fhould have been employed totally in thy fervice, and perchance I have not employed one; all my actions, due only to thee, have been thrown away on eafe, fenfuality, diverfions, always vain, and often criminal.

Alas!

Alas! I am, perchance, almoft at the end of my career, without the confolation of having ferved thee with fidelity one day; let at leaft the future be wholly dedicated to thy fervice; thy grace can fupply my weakness, and make me ftedfaft to my

refolution.

As, at the beginning of chriftianity, many lived up to the fanctity of their calling, fo more profaned the best of religions with the worst vices. For many walk, of whom I have often told you, and now tell you even weeping, whofe end is deftruction ; whofe God is their belly; and whofe glory is in their fhame, who mind earthly things. The apostle deplores with tears the blindness of thofe wretched chriftians, and diffuades the Philippians from following their example: The world is corrupt in practice, and principles: we live in the midst of infection, and therefore we muft guard ourselves with all the care imaginable againft it. How many lead the fame lives thefe loose Philippians did, who refer all their actions to the fatisfaction of sense, and fo turn fenfuality into a Deity? Deluded creatures! They fing and dance, like thofe of whom Job fpeaks, and in a moment their mirth ends to give place to everlasting weeping, and gnashing of teeth; whofe end is deftruction

Indeed, were we to die like beafts, we might imitate their lives, and place our happiness in the gratifying our fenfes: But, alas! we only die to live eternally, either in felicity or mifery, and our destiny in the other world depends on the lives we lead in this; virtue will find a reward, and vice a most severe punishment. Enter then, dear chriftians, into yourselves, and before you abandon yourselves to the inclinations of flesh and blood, weigh the pleafure you expect, with the pain you may juftly fear; what proportion between the laughing

U 2

laughing for a moment, and the weeping for all eternity?

But it is ftrange, not only to fee chriftians fin without remorse, but alfo to glory is their fhame; that is, to do ill, and then to do worse by boafting of their diforders. This is to infult God, and directly to fly in the face of the Omnipotent; it is to provoke his vengeance, and in effect to dare him to damn us. Is it poffible, my God, that depravation of manners can carry impiety fo far, as quite to bereave us of shame, that naturally waits on fin? But Oh! what crime is not an inveterate finner

capable of? When the heart is hardened, and confcience caft into a dead fleep, we ftick at nothing, we lay down fhame, and glory in our infamy.

O dear Jefus defend me from fin; but if I am fo unfortunate as to fall from thy grace, cover me with confufion, and never fuffer me to forfeit fhame with my innocence, much lefs to boast of my offences; this is the fureft mark of thy anger, and moft certain fign of my reprobation; it includes almost a firm resolution, never to return to thee, my God, but to remain obftinate, like the reprobate, and devils: inadvertency may excufe fome failings, and paffion leffen others; but in cold blood, in the face of the world, with a full reflection, to glory in our offences, is to defy thy juftice, and contemn thy mercy, the only refuge of finners: Let us not walk in the way of thefe miferable wretches, which leads to damnation.

But let our converfation be in heaven, from whence alfo we look for the saviour, the Lord Jefus Chrift. We were not created for this world, but for heaven; and therefore we must raife all our thoughts to that happy region of the bleffed: This world is but a paffage to our heavenly Canaan; to the land of promife, which Chrift has purchafed for us, at

the