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ple indeed will rail at the trickster, and make sport with his character; but this is all: for, in the commerce of the world, his falsehood is so much needed by one, makes him so like another, and his flattery goes down so sweetly with all, that he meets with surprising toleration. That villain must be of the deepest dye, and carry the most glaring brand in his forehead, who cannot make a shift to pass muster pretty well in such an age and country as this What is the world but a stage, where we rarely meet with one, who wears his own face or garb, or is what he appears to be? This indeed might make a mere farce of life, were it not that the plots are serious, and the cheats real; and that there are too many deep and melancholy scenes interwoven with the rest; insomuch that, were a man only to look on, he would find reason to weep with the one philosopher, as well as laugh with the other. It is here, as on other stages, that if we meet with a man who wears no mask nor disguise, he is generally some one of those low creatures, who shares not in the plot, and what passes, but only makes his appearance to sweep the stage, or snuff the candles.

There are some, who allow themselves the use of cunning and deceit, because they see the like in Rebecca, Jacob, and some other persons of high reputation in Scripture. But is every action applauded, that is not reproved, in history? Or, if a good man shall blemish an upright life with one or two ill actions, shall another extort a licence from thence to practise the like himself, all his days?

Others think, because God commanded the Israelites tc spoil the Egyptians, and seize the land of Canaan, they may, with impunity, by fraud or oppression, fleece all they deal with. But can they produce the grant, by which God the proprietor of all things, hath made over to them the property in other people's goods? Are they all Israelites? Or are all the rest of the world Egyptians, and Canaanites?

A third sort, observing how St. Paul delivered himself from persecution, by raising a dissention among his enemies, upon declaring himself a Pharisee, and noting the use of such stratagems on some other occasions, take this for a sufficient warrant, to use the basest arts for the vilest purposes. But did not St. Paul tell the truth, when he called himself a Pharisee? And did he say it for any other pur

pose, but to relieve an innocent man from persecution and cruelty? If St. Paul was, on this occasion, as wise as a serpent, was he not also as harmless as a dove? Will this justify the man, who imitates the serpent in things detested by the dove? It was in this manner that the devil tempted our Saviour with Scripture. He who hath found the way to tempt himself by the word of God, needs no devil to teach him dissimulation.

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A man inclinable to deceive those he deals with, would willingly deceive himself into an opinion, that, if God cannot approve of, he will at least wink at, the use of cunning. But he should consider, that as God neither will deceive, nor can be deceived, so he will not suffer himself to be served with deceit. If he did, the devil might be his best servant still. But the case is quite otherwise; for God expressly forbids us to go beyond, or defraud, one another;' he requires that we should do justice,' and serve him in spirit, and in truth.' He that would please God, must serve him according to the scheme and principles by which he proposes to govern the world; for such as the master is, such must be the servant. Now God, in the government of the world, hath appointed certain ends, to which he would have us direct ourselves, on all occasions; and certain means, by which he would have us pursue those ends. Of all those ends, there is not one that is not purely good. Of all those means, there is not one that is not strictly just and honest. Of those only will he approve; those only will he bless; for the judge of all the earth will,' not only do right' himself, but see that it be done by his subjects; and, if they will presume to do otherwise, vengeance is his, and he will repay.'

The grand and final end he sets before us, is our own eternal happiness. The only means of arriving at this end, are piety, honesty, and a holy life. To propose any other end, inconsistent with this, as the chief end; or to depend on any other means, of a contrary nature to those, as pointing out a shorter or easier way, is gross folly, is horrible presumption, and must end in eternal ruin.

Can deceit be means of happiness? Surely if it is, there is no God, or he is not good. But if there is a righteous judge, who sees all we think, speak, or do, what terms can that man expect from him, who keeps his fair side for the

eyes of men, and that which is foul and detestable for the Searcher of hearts; who, having two faces, one resembling a Christian, and the other resembling the devil, turns his Christian face to men, that he may deceive them, and his diabolical to God, that he may insult him? Is he stupid enough, with all his long reach of subtlety and cunning, to scheme his happiness on a plan like this? If he trusts to so wild a thought, let the word of God undeceive him.

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'The triumphing of the wicked,' saith Zophar, 'is short, and the joy of an hypocrite but for a moment. Though his excellency mount up to the heaven, and his head reach unto the clouds; yet he shall perish for ever, like his own dung: they which have seen him, shall say, Where is he? He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night. He hath swallowed down riches, and shall vomit them up again. That which he laboured for, shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down: according to his substance, shall the restitution be. In the fulness of his sufficiency, he shall be in straits every hand of the wicked shall come upon him. While he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating. The heaven shall reveal his iniquity, and the earth shall rise up against him.' 'What is the hope of the hypocrite,' saith Job, though he hath gained? Will God hear his cry, when trouble cometh upon him? If his children be multiplied, it is for the sword; and his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread. Those that remain of him shall be buried in death, and his widow shall not weep. Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as the clay, he may prepare it, but the just shall put it on, and the innocent shall divide the silver. And what is the hope of the hypocrite, when God taketh away his soul? He shall lie down, but he shall not be gathered. Terrors take hold of him as waters; a tempest stealeth him away in the night. For God shall cast upon him, and not spare: he would fain flee out of his hand. Men shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of his place.' Dreadful sentence!

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Blessed Lord, be graciously pleased, by the assistance of -thy Holy Spirit, so to purify and turn our hearts, that, when

we shall stand before thee in judgment, thou mayest 'impute no iniquity to us, nor find in our spirits any guile.' Grant this, we beseech thee, for the sake of Christ Jesus our Saviour; to whom, with God the Father, and God the Holy Ghost, be all might, majesty, dignity, and dominion, now and for evermore. Amen.

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WHEN John the baptist, who was then in prison, had heard the works of Christ, be sent two of his disciples, and said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?' In answer to this, our Saviour does not bear witness of himself, but says, 'Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see the blind receive their sight, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.' Here he appeals to the 'works which his Father had given him to finish,' to those very works, which the prophets had foretold he should do, and had by that means made them the sure marks and signs of his mission. And what could be so sure. a sign and proof of its divinity, as miracles wrought to fulfil prophecies delivered many ages before? Miracles alone had been a sufficient attestation to the rational and candid; but prophecies so old, promising miracles, which are the most unlikely events, nay, specifying the particular kind of miracles, and clearly fulfilled in the open actual performance of those very miracles, give a proof sufficient, one would think, to convince the most unbelieving minds. Concerning this work, in particular, of 'preaching the gospel to the poor,' Isaiah had prophesied in two places. In the sixty-first chapter he introduces Christ thus speaking, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath appointed me

to preach good tidings (or the gospel) to the meek. He hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.' Again, in the ninth chapter, speaking of the wisdom Christ should bestow on the ignorant, he says, 'The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.'

That we may perceive this to be a very distinguishing mark of our Saviour's mission, we must consider, that, at his coming, the rich, and the great ones of the world had engrossed to themselves almost all the philosophy and divinity then in vogue; that they were extremely vain of their learning, because it distinguished them from the vulgar; and that they generally made a secret of it, and kept it to themselves. The philosophers taught for hire the children of the wealthy. The priests of the heathen gods taught nothing; and those of them that probably knew most of true religion, such as the Egyptian, the Samothracian, and the Athenian priests, made a profound mystery of what they knew, and would not discover their rites and principles, but upon the most dreadful oaths of secrecy.

Matters were not on a much better footing among the Jews. The schools of the rabbies were open only to such as could afford to give themselves somewhat of human learning before they entered, and were able afterward to reward them for their instructions; and, what was worse, both here and in the synagogues, where they read the Scriptures to the people, they thrust in between the light of God's word, and the understanding of their hearers, the dark cloud of their own fanciful and superstitious refinements, and made the commandments of God of none effect, by teaching for doctrines the traditions of men.'

When things were at this pass, our Saviour began to preach the gospel, that is, the saving knowledge of the true God, and the true religion, with such a simplicity and plainness, as made it intelligible, and with such power, in parables, and pithy sayings, as made it affecting to the minds of the most ignorant. That they understood with their minds the truth, and felt in their hearts the force of what he preached, is plain, from the greatness of his success, and

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