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appealed therein to common sense, not only as it is found in plain unlearned people, but also to so much of it as the pride of philosophy or human refinements hath left still remaining in those who value themselves on the more uncommon degrees of invention, penetration, and knowledge. It is common sense, which is but another expression for reason, whereby a plain man is distinguished from a beast; and sure it is, if the philosopher or refiner, particularly as to religion, whereof God is undoubtedly the sole teacher, loses sight of common sense, he sinks himself below the rank of plain men, and degenerates into a beast. If he therefore should vouchsafe to read my Appeal, let him consider it as an attempt (howsoever weak he may judge it) to lead him into a more masterly way of thinking in the same track.

SEQUEL TO THE APPEAL.

1 JOHN II. 16, 17.

All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.—And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof.

In the foregoing Appeal the reader hath seen, that lust, or desire of fleshly pleasure, was that appetite, and pride that passion, into which the enemy of God and man tempted our first parents, and whereby he persuaded them to believe and trust in himself, and to a disbelief in, and rebellion against, God; and whereby he hath led us all, more or less grievously, into the same sins, and into all our other transgressions and crimes. Not thinking it proper in the course of that work to dwell as largely on those two dreadful subjects, and their effects, as your concern in them required, I shall here endeavour to lay before you a few considerations on each of those shockingly important corruptions, to awaken you to a right sense of your danger, or rather certain destruction, in laying your hearts open to their allurements.

And first, as to the lust of the flesh and of the eyes, you see in the words of the Holy Spirit, above quoted, that it is not of the Father, but of the world. No; from your heavenly Father, and from your God, nothing can proceed, and nothing can by him be approved, but that which is innocent and pure, that which is holy and good. It is true, the mere animal part of your nature, which you partake with the beast, which perisheth, is his work, as well as your souls, which you have in common with his immortal angels. But your brutal part hath been so perverted and corrupted by the devil, since you left the hands of your Creator, that although you may gratify it in a certain degree, made naturally necessary to every man who sojourns in this world, yet there is no going beyond the bounds of this degree without sin; and though that sin may, at first, not be of the most heinous kind, it is, however, then hard for the poor weak creature,

man, to stop; nor can he, at all, assure himself that he shall not rush forward to crimes of the deepest die. Now, under the government of his brutal flesh, his covetous eye, and the artful devil, he hath no power in himself to return; nor shall he ever return, if the rod of his Father do not whip him back into the sheepfold of moderation, by remorse and misery, ten times greater than all the pleasure he tasted in sin.

What, however, is the pleasure of sin, though without remorse or affliction to balance it? Filthy in itself, shared with the swine, and of no continuance; pursued, perhaps, at great expense of fortune, labour, trouble, and probably at the risk of character, health, and life itself. This is the true account of every pleasure in excess; that is, every pleasure not justified by our religion.

But then remorse and affliction must follow it, as surely as your shadow follows your body in the sunshine. You are but a traveller and pilgrim in this world, and must pay your overcharged bill at every inn for whatsoever you have called for. The passage from pain to pleasure is not more joyous, than the passage from pleasure to pain is grievous. Lay your account for this scourge as the very best thing you can, in your circumstances, desire, and pray for it; because, should your Father give you over to yourself, and not force you back by correction, your jaunt of pleasure must end in hell. In that horrible place, with your seducer for your tormentor, you will feel your own folly in trusting the father of lies, rather than the God of truth, as Eve did, to govern your course of life through your short journey in the former world. You chose to be a beast, a swine, a wolf, a serpent, rather than a man; and God, giving you up to your own freedom of choice, hath suffered you to become a devil. Then this doctrine here repeated to you, than which there is none that the religion of Christ utters with a louder voice, shall most wofully upbraid you with its neglected truth. You yourself, in flames, must confess this, and justify your Judge in the severity of your punishment.

Indeed, had the true religion been less alarmingly express on the subject, you could not have hoped, that a soul, so drenched in pollution, in that iniquity and oppression, which fed your appetite of pleasure, could ever enter into the presence of God, or make one in a company of angels.

Even nature, corrupt as it is, and reason howsoever enfeebled; start back at the thought, and open an impassable gulph between Abraham and you. Like to like must make the great rule of society in every world. Lambs and tigers must no where be mixed. Much less must angels and devils have the same place of abode. The good Christian, in this life of trial, takes all the care he can, not only to do justice, to walk humbly with his God, to keep himself unspotted from the world,' and from such pleasures as are 'sensual and devilish;' but to improve his heart and soul in high and heavenly meditations; to transport them in psalms, hymns, and acts of the most ardent devotion; to study with a deep attention the infinite proofs of goodness, which his Father, Saviour, and Comforter have afforded him, and then to dissolve like wax before this fire, in gratitude and love towards God, and in charity towards the human image of God; this it is, to go upward through Christ,' the way.' This is is, to be like God, and this is the soul, thus trained, thus accustomed, thus exercised, which is dear to God, that can never possibly be separated from God, with such as these, and none but such as these, the regions above are peopled; and from these resounds, throughout the universe, 'the song of Moses and the Lamb, great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.'

What I have just said leads us directly to the consideration of our nature as compounded of a soul and body; of these the former, before our fall into corruption and sin, had power to govern the latter; but that corruption no sooner took place in us, than the body with its appetites and passions, that is, the brutal nature in man, began to rebel against our souls or our angelic nature. Hence it is, that the spirit lusteth against the flesh, and the flesh against the spirit, and these two are so contrary the one to the other,' that peace can never be recovered, but in a conquest obtained by the spirit. When the spirit, assisted by religion, by a strict temperance in all things, and at all times, and sometimes by fasting and other acts of mortification, recommended to us by Christianity, hath obtained this victory, the whole man then, and not till then, becomes a good Christian. Then he hath reason to build on the promises of God,

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that, if he continues, through the spirit to mortify the deeds of the body, he shall live in' the spirit alone, and live for But should the flesh overcome the spirit, the whole man is undone to all eternity. Feed not your flesh then, for as it rises, the spirit sinks; but deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Christ.' Suffer not a moment of sensual pleasure to pass upon you for happiness, which cannot possibly be found in this place and state of trial. No, the way to it is above to the wise;' and it is in fleshly pleasure, as in a bait, that your enemy hides his hook.

In the second place, the pride of life is not of the Father, but of the world. Pride, we know, had a father, but that father was the devil, who, too proud for obedience in heaven, where it was so infinitely sweet and honourable, as the first and greatest fool broke out into rebellion against the Almighty. Infinite goodness poured upon him in a measure, far above all human comprehension, instead of binding him in the golden chains of gratitude, served only to swell him with haughtiness. It was in vain to say to him, as the Holy Spirit saith to each of us, under the temptations of this rebel, Who hath made thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou didst not receive it?' And what great matter is it that you, a man, have received? Why, a weak body, and a weaker mind; at most, a very little knowledge, only just enough to distinguish you from a beast; a little strength, a little beauty, a little worldly substance; all begged, borrowed, stolen, or plundered from one weaker or more stupid than yourself; at best but lent you by Providence for a very short space of time, to be repaid and accounted for to a master, on whom your low cunning cannot impose. There is surely no room to glory in that, whereof another man, and he after all but a sorry sort of man, possesses ten times more than you. Your troubles, your sicknesses, your death, but above all, your follies, your sins, your conscience, are more than enough to keep down your vanity, and humble you to your original dust. What a number of vermin crawl upon your skin, if you are not careful perpetually to wash off the natural filth which it throws out! What a variety of worms burrow in your bowels, and bore their way to your death, like butchers,

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