peafantry, as well as the nobility. Other fins are but perfonal; but this takes in the whole fpecies; fo that all are guilty, as well as the Sodomites. Who would not think, that chastity and uncleanness had changed places in the opinion of chriftians that this was a virtue, that a vice; this commanded, that forbid, under pain of God's high difpleasure ? ; Could difufe repeal divine or natural laws, as well as human, Thou shalt not commit adultery, would be of no force. But alas! neither time nor custom can plead prescription against God and nature. The law was writ in our hearts before it was engraven on a table of ftone. It came into the world with our creation, and binds eternally those, who tranfgrefs it, fhall never pafs from this fenfual paradife of Mahomet into that of Jefus Chrift. Number will not (as in rebellions against princes) plead for impunity nor quality, nor youth, nor all thofe fpecious covers, men throw over the fin, to conceal its Foulnefs, and their own guilt. One would wonder by what fatal charms it has gained fo much ground in the world; and why reafonable creatures will buy one drop of honey, dafh'd with gall and wormwood, at the price of health, eftate, honour, contentment, and, in the end, of heaven too. I fay, one drop: for though this vice, mask'd under the disguise of a Platonic amour, appears with a pleafing afpect in fable and romance; in life and practice, it is waited on by all the torments of the damn'd, but that of eternity. For a perfon, poffefs'd by the unclean devil Afmodeus, burns with heat, and fhivers with cold: He fwells with rage, and finks into defpair. Jealousy ftabs him; and a thoufand fufpicions throw his heart on the tenters. In fine, to conclude with St. Jerome, (Lib. 2. adv. Jovin.) Love and folly go hand in band. It is a paffion that never lodges at the fign of bealth: it burns the brain: it makes a man ftupid, unfit for all things, and in the end even for love itSelf. But what is yet worse, this curfed paffion feems (even in this world) to ftamp a visible mark of reprobation on the foreheads of thofe, who fin rather by profeffion than out of frailty. For a continual commerce with flesh turns the very reason of the finner into sensuality. He becomes stupid, and brutal; repents of his folly, without being forry for his crimes; detefts his chains, yet will not refolve to break them. So, like the devils, he undergoes all the trouble of a true repentance, and suffers all the torments of a falfe one. What remedy for a vice fo prevailing? First, Beg of God that he will fortify the weakness of nature by the strength of his grace. Without this, you can do nothing; and with it you are half omnipotent. Poor St. Auftin, when he felt the ftrength of concupifcence, and was a stranger to the force of grace, found only eyes to fee his crimes, but not a heart to forfake them. He thought uncleanne's neceffary, and chastity impoffible: but when he had read this very place of St. Paul, and felt the ftrong impulfe of interior grace; he found by experience, it is far more eafy to live in continency, than to fatisfy fenfuality. And as he found a pleasure, where he expected a torment, we have reafon to hope for the fame favour, if we afk it with fervour, humility, and perfeverance. 2dly, Fly the occafion; other vices are conquered by combat, this by flight. You may as well pretend to freeze in fire, or to burn in a congealed lake, as to stand undefiled in the midst of danger. If you dote on a creature, nothing can break the charm, or cure the dotage, but feparation; when you are out of the reach of an ill action, you are almost out of the danger of fin. But oh! one day's abfence will seem B 4 a a year. Separate notwithstanding, and in time a year will not feem a day. Ah, dear chriftian, is it not better to divorce from the company of a wretched creature for fome years, than from the enjoyment of God for ever? 3dly, Have no familiarity with the fex: tho' you intend no harm, the devil does: thofe very converfations you entertain for a mere pastime, he will improve to your ruin. Nature has a terrible bent to evil; it is hard to reftrain its fallies and if the devil adds a byafs, they are almost irresistible. Familiarity will foon fhoot up to esteem, and then love follows. And when this tyrant has tied their hearts, impurity feals the engagement. In fine, if you avoid this fin, the other precept of the apoftle, But put ye on the Lord Jefus Christ, will eafily be put in execution. We shall fquare our lives by his model, that is, by the practice of all thofe virtues he recommended by his example, and commanded by his apostles. Oh! my dear Redeemer, feeing thou haft taken. my flesh, to die for my fins, and to merit my falvation, it is time to thank you for the favour. Infenfible of your kindness, and forgetful of my intereft, I have flept in fin, and gloried in my iniquities: I have done juft what you forbid, and neglected what you command: but now thy mercy has awaked my negligence, and thy vaft promifes raifed a firm refolution to fecure my foul (as much as this region of uncertainties will permit) by thofe virtues, which will give me content in this world, and, if waited on with perfeverance, eternal glory in the next, GOSPEL GOSPEL of St. Luke, Chap. xxi. Verse 25. And there fhall be figns in the fun, and in the moon, and in the Stars; and upon the earth dif trefs of nations, with perplexity, the fea and the waves roaring; 26. Mens hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things, which are coming on the earth; for the powers of heaven fhall be shaken. 27. And then fhall they fee the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh. 29. And he spake to them a parable; behold the fig-tree, and all the trees; 30. When they now shoot forth, ye fee and know of your own felves, that fummer is now nigh at band. 31. So likewife ye, when ye fee these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at band. 32. Verily I Say unto you, this generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled: 33. Heaven and earth fhall pass away, but my words fhall not pass away. S The MORAL REFLECTION. AINT Luke in this chapter fets down a difmal account of the great affize at the last day, together with the preliminaries: and he, who can read the whole without agony and convulfion, muft either disbelieve the text, or have loft both sense and reason. First, He gives us a catalogue of thofe dreadful prodigies that will prefage the approach of this fatal tal day, that muft decide whether we fhall burn eternally with the devils below, or fing never ending alleluia's with the faints and angels above. The heavens will open the first scene of this amazing tragedy. And there fhall be figns in the fun, and in the moon, and in the stars. And altho' our bleffed Saviour does not fpecify, in this place, the nature of the figns: yet, in another, he affures us, the fun fhall change his glittering beams into more than Egyptian darkness, and bury the world in horror and obfcurity. The moon, that gilds the fhades of night, fhall put on a bloody veil, and all the stars, that now delight the eye with fo glorious a profpect, fhall put on the frightful fhapes of blazing comets. In a word; The powers of heaven fhall be shaken, and all nature tremble. The elements, that have contributed to mens fins, fhall now revenge the affront by contributing to their punishment, The air will flame with lightening, and echo with peals of thunder. The fea will foam with fury, and fwell its raging billows above the tops of mountains. The earth will tremble under our feet. What wonder then, when every object throws before us profpects of horror, and reprefents death under the moft ghaftly drefs, mens hearts fail them for fear of prefent evils, and stand congealed with the expectation of future calamities. If the irregular motion of one difordered element oftentimes scares people out of their wits, and turns their imaginations into real executioners: what fear and amazement fhall a general mutiny of every part of the universe caufe? When God fhall repeal the common laws of nature, and exert his power to produce aftonishing meteors in the heavens, and ftrange throws and convulfions on earth! What thoughts fhall men have in this dreadful agony of nature? Alas! They fhall die in fancy a thousand times before they die indeed, and call upon death as |