that ftands in a high relation to God, to his Son Jefus Chrift, and to the Holy Trinity.

You would certainly think it a mighty impiety to treat a writing with great contempt, that had been written by the finger of God; and can you think it a lefs impiety to contenin and vilify a brother, who is not only the workmanship, but the image of God?

You would justly think it great prophaneness to contemn and trample upon an Altar, because it was appropriated to holy utes, and had had the body of Chrift to often placed upon it; and can you fuppofe it to be lefs prophaneness to fcorn and trample upon a brother, who fo belongs to God, that his very body is to be confidered as the temple of the Holy Ghost, 1 Cor. vi. 15.

HAD you defpis'd and ill-treated the Virgin Mary, you had been chargeable with the impiety of defpifing her, of whom Chrift was born. And if you scorn and de pife a brother, you are chargeable with the impiety of defpifing him, for whom Chrift laid down his life.

AND now if this fcornful temper is founded upon a difregard of all these relations, which every Christian bears to God, and Chrift, and the Holy Trinity, can you wonder, or think it hard, that a Christian who thus allows himself to despise a brother should be in danger of hell-fire ?

Secondly, It must here be observed, that tho' in thefe words, Whofoever shall fay, Thou fool, &c. the great fin there condemned is an allowed temper of defpifing a brother; yet we are alfo to believe, that all hafty expreffions, and words of contempt, tho' fpoken by Jurprize or accident, are by this text condemned as great fins, and notorious breaches of Chriftian charity.

THEY proceed from great want of Christan love and meeknefs, and call for great repentance. They are only little fins, when compar'd with habits and fettled tempers of treating a brother despightfully, and

fall

fall as directly under the condemnation of this text, as the groffeft habits of uncharitableness.

AND the reason why we are always to apprehend great guilt, and call our felves to a strict repentance for thefe hafty expreffions of anger and contempt, is this; because they feldom are what they feem to be, that is, meer starts of temper, that were occafion'd purely by furprize or accident, but are much more our own proper acts, than we generally imagine.

A MAN fays a great many bitter things; he prefently forgives himself, because he fuppofes it was only the fuddennefs of the occafion, or fomething accidental, that carry'd him fo far beyond himself.

BUT he fhould confider, that perhaps the accident, or furprize, was not the occafion of his angry expreffions, but might only be the occafion of his angry temper fhewing it felf.

Now as this is, generally speaking, the cafe, as all haughty, angry language generally proceeds from fome feceret habits of pride in the heart; fo people that are fubject to it, tho' only now and then as accidents happen, have great reafon to repent of more than their prefent behaviour, to charge themselves with greater guilt than accidental paffion, and to bring themfelves to fuch penance and mortification, as is proper to deftroy habits of a haughty fpirit.

AND this may be the reafon, why the text looks no farther than the outward language; why it only fays, Whosoever shall fay, Thou fool; becaufe few can proceed fo far, as to the accidental ufe of haughty, difdainful language, but they whofe hearts are more or lefs poffefs'd with habits and fettled tempers of pride and haughtiness.

BUT to return: Interceffion is not only the best arbitrator of all differences, the best promoter of true friendship, the best cure and prefervative against all unkind tempers, all angry and haughty paffions, but is alfo of great use to discover to us the true itate of our own hearts.

THERE

THERE are many tempers which we think lawful and innocent, which we never fufpect of any harm; which, if they where to be try'd by this devotion, would foon fhew us how we have deceiv'd ourselves.

Sufurrus is a pious, temperate, good man, remarkable for abundance of excellent qualities. No one more conitant at the service of the Church, or whose heart is more affected with it. His charity is fo great, that he almost starves himself, to be able to give greater alms to the poor.

YET Sufurrus had a prodigious failing along with these great virtues.

You

He had a mighty inclination to hear and discover all the defects and infirmities of all about him. was welcome to tell him any thing of any body, provided that you did not do it in the ftile of an enemy. He never diflik'd an evil-speaker, but when his language was rough and paffionate. If you would but whisper any thing gently, though it was ever fo bad in it felf, Sufurrus was ready to receive it.

WHEN he vifits, you generally hear him relating, how forry he is for the defects and failings of fuch a neighbour. He is always letting you know how tender he is of the reputation of his neighbour; how loth to say that which he is forc'd to fay; and how gladly he would conceal it, if it could be conceal'd.

Sufurrus had fuch a tender, compaffionate manner of relating things the moft prejudicial to his neighbour, that he even seem'd, both to himself and others, to be exercising a Chriftian charity, at the fame time that he was indulging a whispering, evil-fpeaking temper.

Sufurrus once whifper'd to a particular friend in great fecrecy, fomething too bad to be spoke of publickly. He ended with faying, how glad he was, that it had not yet took wind, and that he had fome hopes it might not be true, tho' the fufpicions were very strong. His friend made him this reply:

You fay, Sufurrus, that you are glad it has not yet taken wind; and that you have fome hopes it may not

prove

Prove true. Go home therefore to your closet, and pray to God for this man, in fuch a manner, and with fuch earneftnefs as you would pray for your felf on the like

occafion.

BESEECH God to interpofe in his favour, to fave him from falfe accufers, and bring all thofe to fhame, who by uncharitable whispers, and fecret ftories, wound him, like those that ftab in the dark. And when have made this prayer, then you may, if you please, go tell the fame fecret to fome other friend, that you have told to me.

you

Sufurrus was exceedingly affected with this rebuke, and felt the force of it upon his confcience in as lively a manner, as if he had feen the books open'd at the day of judgment.

ALL other arguments might have been refifted; but it was impoffible for Sufurrus either to reject, or to follow this advice, without being equally felf-condemn'd in the highest degree.

FROM that time to this, he has conftantly us'd himfelf to this method of interceffion; and his heart is fo entirely chang'd by it, that he can now no more privately whisper any thing to the prejudice of another, than he can openly pray to God to do people hurt.

Whisperings and evil-fpeakings now hurt his ears, like oaths and curfes; and he has appointed one day in the week, to be a day of penance as long as he lives, to humble himself before God, in the forrowful confeffion of his former guilt.

Ir may well be wonder'd, how a man of so much piety as Sufurrus, could be fo long deceiv'd in himself, as to live in fuch a state of fcandal and evil-speaking, without fufpecting himfelf to be guilty of it. But it was the tenderness and feeming compaffion with which he heard and related every thing, that deceiv'd both himself and others.

THIS was a falseness of heart, which was only to be fully difcover'd, by the true charity of interceffion. AND if people of virtue, who think as little harm

of

of themselves, as Sufurrus did, were often to try their fpirit by fuch an interceffion, they would often find themselves to be fuch, as they leaft of all fufpected.

I HAVE laid before you, the many and great advantages of interceffion. You have feen what a divine friendship it muft needs beget amongst Christians, how dear it would render all relations and neighbours to one another; how it tends to make Clergymen, Mafters, and Parents, exemplary and perfect in all the duties of their station; how certainly it deftroys all envy, fpight, and ill-natur'd paffions; how speedily it reconciles all differences, and with what a piercing light it discovers to a man the true state of his heart.

THESE Confiderations will, I hope, perfuade you to make fuch interceffion as is proper for your ftate, the conftant, chief matter of your devotion at this hour of prayer.

CHAP. XXII.

Recommending Devotion at three o'Clock, call'd in Scripture the ninth hour of the day. The fubject of pray er at this hour, is Refignation to the divine pleasure. The nature and duty of conformity to the will of God in all our actions and defigns.

I

HAVE recommended certain fubjects to be made the fix'd and chief matter of your devotions, at all the hours of prayer that have been already confider'd.

As thanksgiving, and oblation of your felf to God, at your firft prayers in the morning; at nine, the great virtue of Chriftian humility is to be the chief part of your petitions; at twelve, you are call'd upon to pray for all the graces of univerfal love, and to raise it in your heart by fuch general and particular interceffions, as your own ftate, and relation to other people, seem more particularly to require of you.

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