Thirteenth Argument.

obedience, and expose ourselves to the just penalty of his broken law. The following example may illustrate this observation:—

If a rich man gives a thousand meals to an indigent neighbour, he acts only as a man, he does nothing but his duty; and the judge allows him no reward. But if he gives him only one dose of poison, he acts as a murderer, and must die a shameful death. So greatly does one act of sin outweigh a thousand acts of obedience! How exceedingly absurd, then, is the common notion, that our good works counterbalance our bad ones! Add to this, that—

4. Guilt necessarily arises in proportion to the baseness of the offender, the greatness of the favours conferred upon him, and the dignity of the person offended: an insulting behaviour to a servant is a fault, to a magistrate it is a crime, to a king it is treason. And what is wilful sin, but an injury offered by an impotent rebel to the infinitely powerful Lawgiver of the universe, to the kindest of Benefactors, to the gracious Creator and Preserver of men: an insult given to the supreme Majesty of heaven and earth, in whose glorious presence the dignity of the greatest potentates and archangels as truly disappears, as the splendour of the stars in the blaze of the meridian sun? Sin, therefore, flying into the face of such a Lawgiver, Benefactor, and Monarch, has in it a kind of infinite demerit from its infinite Object; and rebellious, ungrateful, wretched man, who commits it a thousand times with a thousand aggravations, may, in the nervous language of our Church, be said, in some sense, to deserve a thousand hells, if there were so many. THIRTEENTH ARGUMENT.

Our natural depravity manifests itself by constant omissions of duty, as much as by flagrant commissions of sin, and perhaps much more. Take one instance out of many that might be produced. Constant displays of preserving goodness, and presents undeservedly and uninterruptedly bestowed upon us, deserve a perpetual tribute of heartfelt gratitude: God demands it in his law; and conscience, his agent in our souls, declares it ought in justice to be paid. But where shall we find a Deist properly conscious of what he owes the Supreme Being for his “creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life?” and where a Christian duly sensible of “God’s inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ?” A due sense of his ever-multiplied mercies would fill our souls with never-ceasing wonder, and make our lips overflow with rapturous praise. The poet’s language would suit our grateful sensations, and without exaggeration paint the just ardour of our transports:— Bound every heart, and every bosom burn:

Praise, flow for ever; (if astonishment

Will give thee leave;) our praise, for ever flow;

Praise, ardent, cordial, constant, &c,

Is not any thing short of this thankful frame of mind a sin of omission, a degree of ingratitude, of which all are naturally guilty; and for which, it is to be feared, the best owe ten thousand talents both to Divine goodness and justice?

Throw only a few bones to a dog and you win him: he follows you; your word becomes his law: upon the first motion of your hand he flies through land and water to execute your commands: obedience is his delight, and your presence his paradise; he convinces you of it by all the demonstrations of joy which he is capable, of giving: and if he unhappily loses sight of you, he exerts all his sagacity to trace your footsteps; nor will he rest till he finds his benefactor again.

Shall a brute be so thankful to a man for some offals, while man himself is so full of ingratitude to God who created him, preserves his life from destruction, and hourly crowns him with mercies and loving kindness! How should shame cover our guilty faces! Surely, if the royal prophet could say, “He was a beast before God,” may we not well confess that in point of gratitude we are worse than the dullest and most stupid part of the brute creation? For even “the ox,” says the Lord, “knoweth his owner,” and “the ass his master’s crib; but Israel doth not know” me, “my people do not consider” my daily favours. And if the very heathens affirmed that “to call a man ungrateful” to a human benefactor, “was to say of him all possible evil in one word;”f27 how can we express the baseness and depravity of mankind, who are universally so ungrateful to so bounteous a benefactor as God himself!

FOURTEENTH ARGUMENT.

But though we seem made of cold inattention, when the sight of Divine mercies should kindle our hearts into gratitude and praise, we soon get out of this languid frame of mind: for, in the pursuit of sensual gratifications, we are all activity and warmth; we seem an ardent compound of life and fire.

What can be the reason of this amazing difference? What but rebellious sense and wanton appetite, raised at the sight and idea of some forbidden object! The bait of pleasure appears, corrupt nature summons all her powers, every nerve of expectation is stretched, every pulse of desire beats high, the blood is in a general ferment, the spirits are in a universal hurry, and though the hook of a fatal consequence is often apparent, the alluring bait must be swallowed. The fear of God, the most inestimable of all treasures is already gone; and if the sinful gratification cannot be enjoyed upon any other term, a good reputation shall go also. Reason indeed makes remonstrances; but the loud clamours of flesh and blood soon drown her soft whispers. The carnal mind steps imperiously upon the throne; sense, that conquers the greatest conquerors, bears down all opposition; the yielding man is led captive by a brutish lust; and while angels blush, there is joy in hell over the actual and complete degradation of a heaven-born spirit.

Some indeed affirm that these conflicts suit a state of probation and trial. But it is evident that either our temptations are too violent for our strength, or our strength too weak for our temptations; since, notwithstanding the additional help of Divine grace, there never was a mere mortal over whom they never triumphed.

Nor can we exculpate ourselves by pleading that these triumphs of sense over reason are neither long nor frequent. Alas! how many perpetrate an act of wickedness in a moment, and suffer death itself for a crime which they never repeated!

See that crystal vessel. Its brightness and brittleness represent the shining and delicate nature of true virtue. If I let it fall and break it, what avails it to say, “I never broke it before: I dropped it but once: I am excessively sorry for my carelessness: I will set the pieces together, and never break it again?” Will these excuses and resolutions prevent the vessel from being broken—broken for ever? The reader may easily make the application. Even heathen moralists, by their fabulous account of the companions of Ulysses turned into swine, upon drinking once of Circe’s enchanted cup, teach us that one fall into sensuality turns a man into a brute, just as one