OR fuppofe, through the peculiar Bleffing of a pious Education, you have remembred your Creator from your Youth: Yet have you found no Inclination within you to caft off the Yoke? no Rifings of a Will of your own against the Will of God? Hath there not been fomething in you which would plead for a Difpenfation of the Commandments of GOD? fomething which hath made you ready to murmur at God's providential Directions; and to be displeased with the Spirituality and Strictness of the Law? Regard the Paffages of your Heart, what they have been, and what they too often are; and you shall readily confefs the univerfal Truth, that the Heart of Man is defperately wicked (m), even Enmity against God (n), although you were never numbered with that more infolent Tribe, who fay unto God, Depart from us; for we defire not the Knowledge of thy Ways: What is the Almighty, that we should ferve him? And what Profit should we have, if we pray unto him (o)?

ALAS! what a Sight must a World of fuch felf-willed Rebels have been in the Eye of GOD; a World of Creatures turned every one to his own Way! And fuch have you been, whatever you are, joined in the general Apoftafy. O let us all feel and ówn the never enough to be lamented Truth; (m) Jer. xvii. 9. (2) Rom. viii. 7. (0) Job xxi. 14, 15:

all

all of us Rebels and Apoftates! This is the evil Stock, which hath put forth its Branches and yielded its Fruit in a Variety of Sin. BEING fet up for yourself, you were impatient of God's providential Government of you When he fmote you with his gracious and well-defigned Afflictions, you were fretful: You acknowledged not his Hand, nor his Goodness in them; but, disordered in your ungentle Spirit, you wreaked that peevish Anger upon thofe about you, which' you durft not discharge againft GOD. You must have your own Will and Way: when you found not Compliance in others, you grew haughtily enraged or fullenly difpleafed; when Difappointment met you in your worldly Projects, or carnal Joys, or even innocent Amusements, the troubled Sea of Discontent was within you; you could not endure the leaft Opposition with Patience as if you had been the Lord of the Universe, and all Things were to be devoted to your Humor.

;

GOD being forgotten, you minded earthly Things, the Favor of Men, and the Wealth: of this World: In queft of Praife, you were fawning and deceitful; in fearch of Wealth, you were fordid and selfish. Reputation and Wealth made you proud and vain: and that Pride and Vanity would endure no Rival; you must be the foremost in Abundance and Respect. Hence your Heart was filled

with envious Difguft and malicious Pleafure, as others outftript or fell beneath you in thefe your favourite Purfuits.

MEAN-time that delicate Body of yours was craving for Indulgence. The Eye, the Ear, the Palate, every Senfe lufted for its peculiar Gratification. Your Soul was carnal. You were but a Beaft with more Refinement: May I not add, with more Luxury too?

You must own now, that your inward Parts have been very Wickedness; that GoD hath feen your Soul without the Disposition of a Dependent Creature; that you have had an Indifpofition of Spirit either to do his Will, or to fubmit yourself and your Affairs to his Ordering; that your Love hath been laid out upon prefent Enjoyments, in the Pursuit of which you have been proud, envious, malicious, deceitful and felfish; that Luft or Indulgence hath taken place of fpiritual and reasonable Gratifications within you, rendering your Soul infenfible to every Thing, but the Enjoyments of the lower Part, of which you are compofed. Such was the Difpofition of your Soul. And how filthy and defiled then were you! What a Sight in the pure Eye of God! And judge: now, what the Fruit of fo corrupt a Tree muft have been!

SURELY all the outward Carriage could have nothing of Worth in it.

Whatever

was

was the Iffue in the Thoughts, Words, and Actions, it was but the Way of one who knew not God. There might be a Regularity free of Scandal; a Form there might be of Godliness: But fince the Principles of the Heart were thus corrupted, nothing which proceeded out of it could do other than offend GOD. And what a Load of Guilt muft you have contracted, while you were thus trading and living in a State of Sin, all within and without evil continually! Confider what an heavy Charge God hath against you for thofe rebellious Days of your Life, when you were not serving Him, but following your own Lufts.

FROM this general Accufation fhould I defcend to Particulars; fhould I charge you with the Acts of Sin, which have been compaffed and contrived in your own Heart, without being brought forth into outward Conduct; how would Time and Calculation fail, to bring before you the inceffant Actings of Pride and Impatience, of Hatred and Refentment, of Envy and Malice; the ceafelefs Contrivances for worldly Honor and Wealth; the Projects which have paffed through your Mind, for the Enjoyments of Pleafure and Luft! Ah, how would you fink under the Condemnation, could you fee only the Sin, which hath been committed in your own Heart in Defire and Purpose, but was prevented in the Practice and Exe

cution!

cution! Might I herewith alfo draw into one View all the Sins of your Life, fuch as the heedless Discharge of the peculiar Duties of your Station, and the repeated Omiffions of them; the Hour vainly fquandered, and the Talents facrilegiously mifapplied; the fcandalous Submiffions and bowing the Neck to human Favor, and the irrecoverable Opportunities you have loft of glorifying GOD and benefiting your Neighbour: In a word, the many Leanings and Approaches to groffer Acts of Sin, and the repeated Commiffion of thofe Acts themselves of whatever Kind, together with the Aggravations attending them; their having been done against Knowledge and Confcience: Should I be able to draw up this Charge and Catalogue of actual Sins against you, Confufion must needs cover your Face, and you would fee your Iniquities increafed over your Head, and your Trefpaffes grown up unto the Heavens (p).

LET Confcience fpeak; and how great. will the Sum of your Sins be! But however multiplied and aggravated your Trefpaffes. are, place them all to the Account of that undutiful and apoftate Spirit which poffeffed you, your own ufurping Will and Pleasure. This was the Fountain that fent forth all these bitter Waters. This hath been the Foundation of all the other evil Difpofitions of your Heart, and of the various Acts of (p) Ezek, ix. 6.

Iniquity