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immortal Life, thefe Men who have renounced this high and heavenly Confolation, when they fall into the common Calamities of Life, fink under them into Dejection and Despair, and fly to an Opiate, or a Piftol, to put an End to a miserable Life. The true Chriftian, conscious of his Heavenly Original, fupported by a Hope full of Immortality, preffes on boldly and steadily in the Path that leads to Eternal Life, and fcorns to do any Thing that may disgrace the Dignity of his heavenly Profeffion, and is afraid of nothing but the Displeasure of his God. He fcorns to prostitute the exalted Faculties of his Heavenborn Soul to the fervile Drudgery of Ambition and Covetoufnefs; or pollute his Body, which is the Temple of God, and defigned for eternal Glory, by Luft and Intemperance. He confiders all Mankind as his Brethren, and Fellow-Heirs of the fame Promises, whom he thinks himself obliged to affift and comfort, under all the Difficulties and Diftreffes of this mortal Life; and is therefore ever ready to do Good and to communicate, without Hypocrify, or Partiality, or Refpect of Perfons; and he finds already the Earnest of his future Reward, the Seal of his Redemption, even the Peace of God which paffeth all Understanding. This-This is true Honour, which the Princes of this World can neither give, nor take away. This is the Honour that cometh from God only; and SUCH HONOUR HAVE ALL HIS SAINTS.

LETTER

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LETTER IX.

LL the Offices of Piety and Devotion towards God, as well as of Juftice and Charity to our Fellow-Creatures, are bound upon us, by the fober Dictates of Nature, Reason, and common Sense. The former, I hope, I have fufficiently fhewn, in the Course of these Letters; and it would be as eafy to fhew what particular Kinds of Behaviour may be reasonably expected from Men of Honour, and true Greatness of Mind, in the several different Branches and Articles of focial Life; but I fhall confine myself to one or two Inftances only.

There is a Sort of complexional Tenderness and Affection for our Species interwoven in our very Nature, which is finely expreffed by a Word peculiar to our Language, which is Humanity. This is that which involuntarily melts and softens the most favage Hearts, at the Sight of a miserable Object. This makes us naturally mourn with them that mourn, and grieve for the Miseries of those whom it is not in our Power to relieve: And when we see a Man fo hard-hearted, fo void of all Pity, so loft to all Senfe of Compaffion, as not to affift the Miferable and Afflicted, and do the best he can to relieve them, we juftly call him an Inhuman Brutish Creature. But, as this natural Tenderness is in all Men, more or less, and in fome intirely weakened and deftroyed, by the Corruption of their Hearts, the Violence of their Paffions, the bafe Treachery and infatiable Avarice of Self-love; therefore Men have been forced VQL. I.

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to patch up and improve the Ruins of it, by certain artificial Methods of Education, which we call Goodmanners and Good-breeding; by which the Language and Forms of Humanity are in fome measure preferved, without any correspondent Sympathy in the inward Man. Hence proceed the affected Sigh, the aukward Smile, the lying Tear, the ceremonious Compliment, the infincere Promife, the merry Mourning, and all the various Forms and Shapes of Hypocrify, which pafs current through the polite World, under the venerable Names of Good-nature and Good-manners; from whence (as I have already obferved) the partial and corrupt Obfervers of human Nature have taken occafion to refolve all the Appearances of Humanity and Benevolence among Mankind into Policy, Affectation, or Self-love: But let these Enemies of human Nature declaim and reafon as loudly and perversely as they please, fure I am, there is fuch a Principle as Generofity and Benevolence, the original Growth of human Nature, implanted in us by the Great Author of our Being, which is inseparable from great and worthy Minds; which, however it may be checked and buried under the corrupt Paffions and Inclinations of degenerate Nature; yet has ftill fome Force, even in the worst of Tempers, and is an invincible Bias and Direction in the best. Let us but obferve the involuntary (I had almost faid, mechanical) Emotions of Compaffion that arise in the Hearts of all Men, who are not quite abandoned, at the Sight of an unhappy Object in Distress; and the God-like Pleasure that arifes from our fuccessful Endeavours to relieve them, and get them removed into a happier Situation: This is an unanfwerable

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anfwerable Proof that there is, even in thefe Ruins of human Nature, fuch a Virtue as a difinterested Benevolence; and that this is not an artificial, but a natural State of Soul, appears plainly from hence, that we fee even Children, and People of weak Underftandings, who are not capable of abstracted Reflections, who are most thoughtless of their own Condition, and incapable of entering into the Profpects of Futurity, have the moft tender and affecting Sentiments of Compaffion. But when we proceed further, and reflect upon the divine Satisfaction that arises in a generous Heart, from the Consciousness of having done a good-natured, compaffionate Thing, to a Perfon in Diftrefs, of having relieved his Sorrows, and comforted an afflicted Soul, it can proceed from nothing but a Consciousness of having acted agreeably to the Dignity of our Nature, fomething worthy of a great and generous Soul.

This is faying a great deal; but this is not all. It is poffible that all this may be done by the mere Strength of Good-nature, but especially if joined with good Sense, and improved by wife and strong Reflection; but there is yet behind one Point of Honour, one Inftance of a great and noble Soul, which mere Nature, unaffifted by the Grace of God, can never attain to; and that is, after the Command and Example of our Blessed Mafter, to forgive Injuries, to love our Enemies, to bless them that hate us, to pray for them that defpitefully ufe us and perfecute us. This is a hard Leffon to corrupt Flesh and Blood, and appears as abfurd and unreasonable to unmortified Reason, as to be in love with Sicknefs and Poverty, or to pray for Peftilence and Famine. But, that even this

is a Duty, though not discoverable by corrupt Reason, nor agreeable to our corrupt Paffions, not only bound upon us by the Obligations of Religion, but perfectly agreeable to the supreme Truth and Nature of Things, I fhall endeavour to make appear from these two Confiderations:

1. That an unforgiving revengeful Temper can only proceed from a Littleness and Weakness of Mind, and a narrow Understanding.

2. That, by plain Consequence, a Forgiveness of Injuries, and a placable and merciful Difpofition towards those that commit them, is an infallible Mark of a great Mind, animated by noble Sentiments, and just Views of the real State and ultimate Issue of Things.

Infirmi eft animi exiguiq; voluptas

Ultio, was the Observation of a wife Heathen; and whatever Opinion the military Gentlemen (who, in all Ages and Nations are much the fame), might have, of the Lawfulness and Expediency of Revenge, the wifer and better Part of the heathen World, the Moralifts and Philofophers were univerfally agreed to condemn it as ungenerous and unmanly. If we duly confider the real Ground and Foundation of most of the Enmities and Disputes which divide and disturb Mankind, (I mean private Persons) we generally find, they arise from fuch Trifles as a wife Man would be afhamed to own. All the great Articles of human Property are happily fecured to every good Man by the Laws of our Country, and all Controverfies upon these Accounts are eafily reducible to a juft and equitable Decifion; but the Things which break the Friendships, interrupt the Peace, and trouble the Re

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