me that you are not an angel. I grant it, neither are you Jesus Christ, neither are you God; yet you are called to be holy, as Jesus Chaist was holy; and to be perfect, as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Though you are not an angel, yet it is part of your glorious hope, that you shall be as the angels of God; so that as you are capable of their happiness, you must think yourself obliged to be as like them in your temper, as the infirmity of your present state will permit. If angels are to rejoice in singing the praises of God; though their joy may exceed yours, yet you are as much obliged to your degree of joy in this duty as they are. Angels, by the light and strength of their nature, may abhor all manner of sin with stronger aversion, a higher degree of abhorrence: yet you are as much obliged to abhor all manner of sin, as they are. So that it is no more lawful for you to delight in impure, profane diversions, which good angels abhor, than it is lawful for you to hate those praises and adorations which are their delight.

You are to consider also, that these contradictory tempers, are no more possible in the same men, han in the same angels; it is no more possible for your heart truly to delight in the service of the church, to be in earnest in all its devotions, and at the same time delight in the entertainment of the stage, than it is possible for an angel to delight in them both.

You may fancy that you relish these entertainments, and at the same time relish and delight in the service of God, and are very hearty in your devotions; you may fancy this as cruel men may fancy themselves to be merciful, the covetous and proud may fancy themselves to be humble and heavenlyminded; but then take notice, that it is all but mere fancy: for it is as impossible to be really devout with your reason and understanding, and at the same time delight in the entertainment of the stage; as it is impossible to be really charitable,

and delighting in malice at the same time. There is indeed a falseness in our heart, a mechanism in our constitution, which will deceive those, who do not constantly suspect themselves. There are forms of devotion, little rules of religion, which are fixed in us by education, which we can no more part with, than we can part with any other customs which we have long used. Now this makes many people think themselves mighty pious, because they find it is not in their nature to forbear or neglect such and such forms of piety; they fancy that religion must have its seat in their heart, because their heart is so unalterable in certain rules of religion. Thus a person that is exact in his times of prayer, will perhaps think himself much injured, if you was to tell him that it is his want of piety that makes him relish the diversion of the stage: his heart immediately justifies him against such an accusation, and tells him how constant he is in his devotions: whereas it is very possible, that he may have but little more piety, than what consists in some rules and forms, and that his constancy to such rules may be owing to the same cause, which makes others constantly sleepy at such an hour, that is the mere mechanism of his constitution, and the force of custom. This is the state of numbers of people, otherwise it would not be so common, to see the same people, constant and unalterable in some rules of religion, and as constant and unalterable in pride, passion and vanity.

Again; there are many other instances of a false piety some people feel themselves capable of religious fervours, they have their passions frequently affected with religious subjects, who from thence imagine, that their hearts are in a true state of religion. But such a conclusion is very deceitful. For the mere mechanism and natural temper of our bodies and our present condition, may be the chief foundation of all this. Thus a lady may find herself, as she thinks, warm in her devotions, and praise God

at church with a sense of joy; she thinks she is very good, because she finds herself thus affected and pleased with the service of the church; whereas, it may be the very reason why she is more than ordinarily devout, and thinks it a pleasure to praise God, is because she is going to a ball, or a play, as soon as divine service is over. This agreeable expectation has so put her spirits in order, that she can be very thankful to God all the time she is at church.

Another has been pleased with the compliments paid to her person, she finds herself very finely dressed, she is full of joy under such thoughts, and so can easily break out into fervours of devotion, and rejoice in God at a time when she can rejoice in any thing. These frequent starts of devotion make her think herself to be far advanced in piety, and she does not perceive, that the height of her devotion is owing to the height of her vanity. Let her but be less pleased with herself, let her be unregarded, undressed, without such pleasing reflections, and she will find herself sunk into a strange dulness towards devotion..

The same temper is very frequent in common life; you meet a person who is very fond of you, full of affection, and pleased with every thing you say or do: you must not imagine that he has more friendship for you, than when he saw you last, and hardly took any notice of you: the matter is only this, the man is in a state of joy at something or other, he is pleased with himself, and so is easily pleased with you; stay but till this flow of spirit is gone off, and he will show you no more affection than he used to do. This is the religion of numbers of people; they are devout by fits and starts, in the same manner as they are pleased by fits and starts, and their devotion at those very times is no more a sign of true piety, than the civility and compliments of a person over-joyed, are signs of true friendship. But still

these little flashes of devotion, make people think themselves in a state of religion.

Take another instance of a false piety of another kind: Junius has been orthodox in his faith, a lover of churchmen, a hater of heretics these several years; he is the first that is sorry for a dangerous book that is come out, he is amazed what people would be at by such writings, but thanks God there is learning enough in the world to confute them. He reads all the confutations of atheists, deists, and heretics; there is only one sort of books, for which Junius has no taste, and that is, books of devotion. He freely owns, that they are not for his taste, he does not understand their flights.

If another person was to say so much, it would be imputed to his want of piety; but because Junius is known to be an enemy to irreligion, because he is constantly at church, you suppose him to be a pious man, though he thus confesses that he wants the spirit of piety. It is in the same manner, that Junius deceives himself, his heart permits him to neglect books of devotion, because his heart is constantly showing him his zeal for religion, and honour for the church; this makes him no more suspect himself to want any degrees of piety, than he suspects himself to be a favourer of heresy. If he never thinks any ill of himself; if he never suspects any falseness in his own heart; if he is prejudiced in favour of all his own ways, it is because he is prejudiced in favour of all orthodox men. Junius reads much controversy, yet he does not take it ill, that you pretend to inform him in matters of controversy; on the contrary, he never reads books of devotion, yet is angry if you pretend to correct him in matters of that kind. You may suppose him mistaken in something that he is always studying, and he will be thankful to you for setting him right; but if you suppose him mistaken in things that he never applies himself to, if you suppose that any body knows what

humility, heavenly-mindedness, devotion, self-denial, mortification, repentance, charity, or the love of God is, better than he, you provoke his temper, and he will not suffer himself to be informed by you. Great numbers of people are like Junius in this respect, they think they are very religious by listening to instructions upon certain points, by reading certain books, and being ready to receive farther light, who yet cannot bear to be instructed in matters, where they are most likely to be deceived, and where the deceit is of the utmost danger. They will be thankful for your telling them the particular times in which the Gospels were writ, for explaining the word euroclydon, or anathema maranatha; they will be glad of such useful instruction, but if you touch upon such subjects as really concern them in a high degree, such as try the state and way of their lives, these religious people, who are so fond of religious truths, cannot bear to be thus instructed.

What is the reason, that when we consult lawyers, it is not to hear harangues upon the law, or its several courts, it is not to hear the variety of cases that concern other people, but it is to be instructed and assisted in our own case? Why do we thank them for dealing impartially with us, for searching and examining into the true state of our case, and informing us of every thing that concerns us? What is the reason that we apply to physicians, not to hear the rise and progress of physic, or the history of disputes amongst them, not to hear of other people's distempers; but to tell them our own particular state, and learn the cure of our own distempers? Why do we thank them for being nicely exact in searching us out, for examining into every part of our lives, our ways of eating, drinking, and sleeping, and not suffering us to deceive ourselves with wrong opinions and practices? What is the reason why we act thus consistently, and in the same manner, in both these instances? Now the