Now, I ask, was this St. Paul's way of con- | Spirit." There is now no condemnation: but of sidering the subject? Was this the turn which whom, and to whom, is this spoken? It is to he gave to it? Altogether the contrary. It was them who first are in Christ Jesus; who, secondimpossible for any Christian of any age, to be ly, walk not after the flesh; who, thirdly, walk more deeply impressed with a sense of the weak- after the Spirit. ness of human nature than he was; or to express it more strongly than he has done in the chapter before us. But, observe; feeling most sensibly, and painting most forcibly, the sad condition of his nature, he never alleges it as an excuse for sin: he does not console himself with any such excuse. He does not make it a reason for setting himself at rest upon the subject. He finds no relief to his fears in any such consideration. It is not with him a ground for expecting salvation: on the contrary, he sees it to be a state not leading to salvation; otherwise, why did he seek so earnestly to be delivered from it?

And whence arises this alteration and improvement in our condition and our hopes; this exemp tion, or rather deliverance, from the ordinary state of man? St. Paul refers us to the cause. "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." Which words can hardly bear any other signification than this, viz. "That the aid and operation of God's Spirit, given through Jesus Christ, hath subdued the power which sin had obtained, and once exercised over me." With this interpretation the whole sequel of St. Paul's reasoning agrees. Every sentence almost that follows illustrates the And how to be delivered? that becomes the interpretation, and proves it to be the true one. next question. In order to arrive at St. Paul's With what, but with the operation and the comeaning in this matter, we must attend with some operation of the Spirit of God, as of a real, effidegree of care, not only to the text, but to the cient, powerful, active Being, can such expressions words which follow it. The 21th verse contains as the following be made to suit?—“If so be that the question, "Who shall deliver me from the the Spirit of God dwell in you."-" If any man body of this death?" and then the 25th verse goes have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." on, "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord." -"If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from Now there is good reason to believe, that this the dead dwell in you."-" By his Spirit that 25th verse does not appear in our copies as it dwelleth in you."-"Ye have received the Spirit ought to be read. It is most probable that the of adoption."-"The Spirit itself beareth witness passage stood thus: the 21th verse asks, "Who with our spirit." All which expressions are found shall deliver me from the body of this death?" in the eighth chapter, namely, the chapter followThen the 25th verse answers, "The grace of ing the text, and all, indeed, within the compass God, through Jesus Christ our Lord." Instead of a few verses. These passages either assert of the words "I thank God," put the words "The or assume the fact, namely, the existence and grace of God," and you will find the sense cleared agency of such a Spirit; its agency, I mean, in up by the change very much. I say, it is highly and upon the human soul. It is by the aid, thereprobable that this change exhibits what St. Paul fore, of this Spirit, that the deliverance so earnestly really wrote. In English there is no resemblance sought for is effected; a deliverance represented either in sound or writing between the two sen- as absolutely necessary to be effected in some way tences, "I thank God," and "The grace of God;" or other. And it is also represented as one of but in the language in which the epistle was writ- the grand benefits of the Christian dispensation. ten there is a very great resemblance. And, as 1"What the law could not do in that it was weak have said, there is reason to believe that in the transcribing one has been confounded with the other. Perhaps the substantial meaning may be the same whichever way you read the passage: but what is implied only in one way, is clearly expressed in the other way.

The question, then, which St. Paul so earnestly and devoutly asks is, "Who shall deliver me from this body of death?" from the state of soul which I feel, and which can only lead to final perdition? And the answer to the question is, "The grace of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord." Can a more weighty question be asked? Can an answer be given which better deserves to be thoroughly considered?

The question is, "Who shall deliver us?" The answer: "The grace of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord." The "grace of God" means the favour of God: at present, therefore, the answer stands in general terms. We are only informed, that we are rescued from this state of moral difficulty, of deep religious distress, by the favour of God, through Jesus Christ. It remains to be gathered from what follows, in what particularly this grace or favour consists. St. Paul having asked the question, and given the answer in general terms, proceeds to enlarge upon the answer in these words:" There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the

through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Which passage I expound thus: A mere law, that is, a rule merely telling us what we ought to do, without enabling us, or affording us any help or aid in doing it, is not calculated for such a nature as ours; "it is weak through the flesh;" it is ineffectual by reason of our natural infirmities. Then what the law, or a mere rule of rectitude, (for that is what any law, as such is,) could not do, was done under the Christian dispensation; and how done? The righteousness of the law, that is, the righteousness which the law dictated, and which it aimed, as far as it could, to procure and produce, is fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit; is actually produced and procured in us, who live under the influence and direction of the Holy Spirit. By this Holy Spirit we have that assistance which the law could not impart, and without which, as a mere rule, though ever so good and right a rule, it was weak and insufficient, forasmuch as it had not force or strength sufficient to produce obedience in those who acknowledged its authority.

To communicate this so much wanted assistance, was one end and effect of Christ's coming. So it is intimated by St. Paul, "What the law

could not do, in that it was weak through the | It does not mean any particular form of words flesh, God did; that is, God "sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin," namely, sending him by reason or on account of sin, "condemned sin in the flesh;" vouchsafed, that is, spiritual aid and ability, by which aid and ability sin and the power of sin might be effectually opposed, encountered, and repelled.

SERMON XXVIII.

THE AID OF THE SPIRIT TO BE SOUGHT AND
PRESERVED BY PRAYER.

(PART III.)

O, wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?-Rom. vii. 24.

IF it be doctrinally true, that man in his ordinary state, in that state at least in which great numbers find themselves, is in a deplorable condition, a condition which ought to be a subject to him of great and bitter lamentation, viz. that his moral powers are ineffectual for his duty; able, perhaps, on most occasions, to perceive and approve of the rule of right; able, perhaps, to will it; able, perhaps, to set on foot unsuccessful, frustrated, and defeated endeavours after that will, but by no means able to pursue or execute it:if it be also true, that strength and assistance may and can be communicated to this feeble nature, and that it is by the action of the Holy Spirit upon the soul, that it is so communicated; that with this aid and assistance sin may be successfully encountered, and such a course of duty maintained as may render us accepted in Christ; and further, that to impart the above described assistance is one of the ends of Christ's coming, and one of the operations of his love towards mankind:-if, I say, these propositions be doctrinally true, then follow from them these three practical rules: first, That we are to pray sincerely, earnestly, and incessantly for this assistance; secondly, That by so doing we are to obtain it; thirdly, That being obtained, we are to yield ourselves to its agency, to be obedient to its dictates.

whatever; it does not mean any service of the lips, any utterance or pronunciation of prayer, merely as such, but supplication actually and truly proceeding from the heart. Prayer may be solemn without being sincere. Every decency, every propriety, every visible mark and token of prayer may be present, yet the heart not engaged. This is the requisite which must make prayer availing; this is the requisite indeed which must make it that which the Scripture means whenever it speaks of prayer. Every outward act of worship, without this participation of the heart, fails, not because men do not pray sincerely, but because, in Scripture sense, they do not pray at all.

If these qualities of internal seriousness and impression belong to prayer, whenever prayer is mentioned in Scripture, they seem more peculiarly essential in a case, and for a blessing, purely and strictly spiritual. We must pray with the spirit, at least when we pray for spiritual succour.

Furthermore; there is good authority in Scripture, which it would carry us too widely from our subject to state at present, for persevering in prayer, even when long unsuccessful. Perseterance in unsuccessful prayer is one of the doctrines and of the lessons of the New Testament.

But again: We must pray for the Spirit earnestly, I mean with a degree of earnestness proportioned to the magnitude of the request. The earnestness with which we pray will always be in proportion to our sense, knowledge, and consciousness of the importance of the thing which we ask. This consciousness is the source and principle of earnestness in prayer; and in this, I fear, we are greatly deficient. We do not possess or feel it in the manner in which we ought; and we are deficient upon the subject of spiritual assistance most particularly. I fear that many understand and reflect little upon the importance of what they are about, upon the exceedingly great consequence of what they are asking, when they pray to God, as we do in our liturgy, "to cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of his Holy Spirit;" "to make clean our hearts within us ;""not to take his Holy Spirit from us;" "to give us increase of grace;" "to grant that his Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts."

These are momentous petitions, little as we may perceive, or think, or account of them at the time. It has been truly said, that we are hardly ever certain of praying aright, except when we pray for the Spirit of God. When we pray for temporal blessings, we do not know, though God does, whether we ask what is really for our good: when we ask for the assistance and sanctification of God's Spirit in the work and warfare of religion, we ask for that which by its very nature is good, and which without our great fault, will be good to us.

First: We are to pray sincerely, earnestly, and incessantly, for this assistance. A fundamental, and, as it seems to me, an insurmountable text, upon this head, is our Saviour's declaration, Luke xi. 13,-" If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" This declaration, besides expressing (which was its primary object) God's benignant, prompt, and merciful disposition towards us; which here, as in other places, our Saviour compares with the disposition of a parent But, secondly; We must obtain it. God is towards his children; beside this, the text un- propitious. You hear that he has promised it to doubtedly assumes the fact of there being a Holy prayer, to prayer really and truly such; to prayer, Spirit, of its being the gift of God, of its being riz. issuing from the heart and soul; for no other given to them that ask him; that these things are is ever meant. We are suppliants to our Maker all realities; a real spiritual assistance, really for various and continual blessings; for health, for given, and given to prayer. But let it be well case, it may be for prosperity and success. There observed, that whensoever the Scripture speaks is, as hath already been observed, some degree of of prayer, whensoever it uses that term, or other uncertainty in all these cases, whether we ask terms, equivalent to it, it means prayer, sincere what is fit and proper to be granted, or even what and earnest; in the full and proper sense of these if granted, would do us good. There is this likewords, prayer proceeding from the heart and soul.wise farther to be observed, that they are what, if

such be the pleasure of God, we can do without. I we will use them or not, still depending upon ourBut how incapable we are of doing without God's selves. Agreeably hereunto St. Paul, you have Spirit, of proceeding in our spiritual course upon heard, asserts, that there is no condemnation to our own strength and our own resources, of final- them who walk not after the flesh but after the ly accomplishing the work of salvation without it, Spirit. The promise is not to them who have the strong description which is given by St. Paul the Spirit, but to them who walk after the Spirit. may convince us, if our own experience had not To walk after the flesh, is to follow wherever the convinced us before. Many of us, a large majori- impulses of sensuality and selfishness lead us; ty of us, either require, or have required, a great which is a voluntary act. To walk after the Spichange, a moral regeneration. This is to be ef- rit, is steadily and resolutely to obey good motions fectuated by the aid of God's Spirit. Vitiated within us, whatever they cost us; which also is a hearts will not change themselves; not easily, not voluntary act. All the language of this remarkfrequently, not naturally, perhaps, not possibly. able chapter (Rom. vii.) proceeds in the same Yet, "without holiness no man shall see God." strain; namely, that after the Spirit of God is How then are the unholy to become holy? Holi- given, it remains and rests with ourselves whether ness is a thing of the heart and soul. It is not a we avail ourselves of it or not. "If ye through few forced, constrained actions, though good as the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the flesh, ye shall actions, which constitute holiness. It must reside live." It is through the Spirit that we are enawithin us; it is a disposition of soul. To acquire, bled to mortify the deeds of the flesh. But still, therefore, that which is not yet acquired, to change whether we mortify them or not, is our act, bethat which is not yet changed, to go to the root cause it is made a subject of precept and exhortaof the malady, to cleanse and purify the inside of tion so to do. Health is God's gift, but what use the cup, the foulness of our mind, is a work of we will make of it is our choice. Bodily strength the Spirit of God within us. Nay, more: many, is God's gift, but of what advantage it shall be to as the Scripture most significantly expresses it, us depends upon ourselves. Even so the higher are dead in sins and trespasses; not only commit- gift of the Spirit remains a gift, the value of which ting sins and trespasses, but dead in them: that is, will be exceedingly great, will be little, will be as insensible of their condition under them, as a none, will be even an increase of guilt and condead man is insensible of his condition. Where demnation, according as it is applied and obeyed, this is the case, the sinner must, in the first in- or neglected and withstood. The fourth chapter stance, be roused and quickened to a sense of his of Ephesians, verse 30, is a warning voice upon condition, of his danger, his fate; in a word, he this subject: "Grieve not the Spirit of God;" must by some means or other be brought to feel a therefore he may be grieved: being given, he may strong compunction. This is also an office for be rejected; rejected, he may be withdrawn. the Spirit of God. "You hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins," Eph. ii. 1. Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light," Eph. v. 14. Whether, therefore, we be amongst the dead in sin, or whether we be of the number of those with whom, according to St. Paul's description, to will is present, but how to perform that which is good they find not; who, though they approve the law of God, nay delight in it, after the inward man, that is, in the answers of their conscience, are nevertheless brought into captivity to the law of sin which is in their members; carnal, sold under sin; doing what they allow not, what they hate; doing not the good which they would, but the evil which they would not; whichever of these be our wretched estate, for such the apostle pronounces it to be, the grace and influence of God's Spirit must be obtained in order to rescue and deliver us from it; and the sense of this want and of this necessity lies at the root of our devotions, when directed to this object.

St. Paul, Rom. viii., represents the gift and possession of the Spirit in these words: "Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you" and its efficacy, where it is efficacious, in the following magnificent terms: "If the Spirit of him that raised Christ from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies, by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." What, nevertheless, is the practical inference therefrom stated in the very next words? "Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh, to live after the flesh; for if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die:" consequently it is still possible, and plainly conceived, and supposed, and stated to be so, even after this communication of the Spirit, to live, notwithstanding, according to the flesh; and still true, that, "if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die." "We are debtors;" our obligation, our duty imposed upon us by this gift of the Spirit, is no longer to live after the flesh; but, on the contrary, through the Spirit so given, to do that which, To those who are in a better state than what without it, we could not have done, to "mortify has been here described, little need be said, be- the deeds of the body." Thus following the sugcause the very supposition of their being in a bet-gestions of the Spirit, ye shall live; for ter state includes that earnest and devout application by prayer, for the continual aid, presence, and indwelling of God's Holy Spirit, which we state to be a duty of the Christian religion.

But, thirdly, The assistance of God's Spirit being obtained, we are to yield ourselves to its direction; to consult, attend, and listen to its dictates, suggested to us through the admonitions of our conscience. The terms of Scripture represent the Spirit of God as an assisting, not a forcing power; as not suspending our own powers, but enabling them; as imparting strength and faculty for our religious work, if we will use them; but whether

as many

as are led by the Spirit of God," as many as yield themselves to its guidance and direction, "they are the sons of God."

To conclude the subject: The difference between those who succeed, and those who fail in their Christian course, between those who obtain, and those who do not obtain salvation, is this: They may both feel equally the weakness of their nature, the existence and the power of evil propensities within them; but the former, by praying with their whole heart and soul, and that perseveringly, for spiritual assistance, obtain it; and, by the aid so obtained, are enabled to withstand,

SERMON XXIX.

THE DESTRUCTION OF THE CANAANITES.

So Joshua smote all the country of the hills, and of the south, and of the vale, and of the springs, and all their kings: he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the Lord God of Israel commanded.-Joshua x. 40. |

and do, in fact, withstand, their evil propensities; | mitted before you; and that you defile not yourselves the latter sink under them. I will not say that all therein." Now the facts disclosed in this passage, are comprised under this description: for neither are, for our present purpose, extremely material are all included in St. Paul's account of the matter, and extremely satisfactory. First, The passage from which our discourse set out; but I think, that testifies the principal point, namely, that the Cait represents the general condition of Christians naanites were the wicked people we represent as to their spiritual state, and that the greatest them to be; and that this point does not rest upon part of those who read this discourse, will find, supposition, but upon proof: in particular, the that they belong to one side or other of the alter- following words contain an express assertion of native here stated. the guilt of that people. "In all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you; for all these abominations have the men of the land done." Secondly, The form and turn of expression seems to show that these detestable practices were general among them, and habitual: they are said to be abominable customs which were committed. Now the word custom is not applicable to a few single, or extraordinary instances, but to usage and to national character; which argues, that not only the practice, but the sense and notion of morality was corrupted among them, or lost; and it is observable, that these practices, so far from being checked by their religion, formed a part of it. They are described not only under the name of abominations, but of abominations which they have done unto their gods. What a state of national morals must that have been! Thirdly, The passage before us positively and directly asserts, that it was for these sins that the nations of Canaan were destroyed. This, in my judgment, is the important part of the inquiry. And what do the words under consideration de clare? "In all these, namely, the odious and bratal vices which had been spoken of, the nations are defiled which I cast out before you; and the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it." This is the reason and cause of the calamities which I bring on it. The land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants. The very land is sick of its inhabitants; of their odious and I intend in the following discourse to consider brutal practices; of their corruption and wickedthis matter so far as to show that these transac-ness. This, and no other, was the reason for detions were calculated for a beneficial purpose, and for the general advantage of mankind, and being so calculated, were not inconsistent either with the justice of God, or with the usual proceedings of divine providence.

I HAVE known serious and well-disposed Christians much affected with the accounts which are delivered in the Old Testament, of the Jewish wars and dealings with the inhabitants of Canaan. From the Israelites' first setting foot in that country, to their complete establishment in it, which takes up the whole book of Joshua and part of the book of Judges, we read, it must be confessed, of massacres and desolations unlike what are practised now-a-days between nations at war, of cities and districts laid waste, of the inhabitants being totally destroyed, and this, as it is alleged in the history, by the authority and command of Almighty God. Some have been induced to think such accounts incredible, inasmuch as such conduct could never, they say, be authorised by the good and merciful Governor of the universe.

stroying them: this, and no other, is the reason here alleged. It was not, as hath been imagined, to make way for the Israelites; nor was it simply for their idolatry.

It appears to me extremely probable, that idolaNow the first and chief thing to be observed is, try in those times led, in all countries, to the vices that the nations of Canaan were destroyed for here described; and also that the detestation, their wickedness. In proof of this point, I pro- threats, and severities, expressed against idolatry duce the 18th chapter of Leviticus, the 21th and in the Old Testament, were not against idolatry the following verses. Moses in this chapter, after simply, or considered as an erroneous religion, laying down prohibitions against brutal and abo- but against the abominable crimes which usually minable vices, proceeds in the 24th verse thus: accompanied it. I think it quite certain that the "Defile not yourselves in any of these things, for case was so in the nations of Canaan. Fourthly, in all these the nations are defiled which I cast It appears from the passage before us, and what out before you, and the land is defiled; therefore I is surely of great consequence to the question, that do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land God's abhorrence and God's treatment of these itself vomiteth out her inhabitants. Ye shall crimes were impartial, without distinction, and therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, without respect of nations or persons. The words and shall not commit any of these abominations, which point out the divine impartiality are those neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger in which Moses warns the Israelites against fallthat sojourneth among you: for all these abomi-ing into any of the like wicked courses; "that the nations have the men of the land done which were land," says he, "cast not you out also, when you before you, and the land is defiled; that the land defile it, as it cast out the nations that were before vomit not you out also, when ye defile it, as it you; for whoever shall commit any of these abovomited out the nations that were before you.minations, even the souls that commit them, shall For whosoever shall commit any of these abomi-be cut off from among their people." The Jews nations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from amongst their people. Therefore shall ye keep my ordinances that ye commit not any of these abominable customs which were com

are sometimes called the chosen and favoured prople of Gol; and, in a certain sense, and for some purposes they were so: yet is this very people, both in this place, and in other places, over and

the burning of cities, the laying waste of countries, are things dreadful to reflect upon. Who doubts it? so are all the judgments of Almighty God. The effect, in whatever way it shows itself, must necessarily be tremendous, when the Lord, as the Psalmist expresses it, "moveth out of his place to punish the wicked." But it ought to satisfy us, at least this is the point upon which we ought to rest and fix our attention—that it was for excessive, wilful, and forewarned wickedness, that all this befel them, and that it is expressly so declared in the history which recites it.

over again reminded, that if they followed the same practices, they must expect the same fate; "Ye shall not walk in the way of the nations which I cast out before you; for they committed all those things, and therefore I abhorred them: as the nations which the Lord destroyed before your face, so shall ye perish: because ye were not obedient unto the voice of the Lord your God." What farther proves not only the justice but the clemency of God, his long-suffering, and that it was the incorrigible wickedness of those nations, which at last drew down upon them their destruction, is, that he suspended, as we may so say, the But further: If punishing them by the hands stroke, till their wickedness was come to such a of the Israelites, rather than by a pestilence, an pitch, that they were no longer to be endured. earthquake, a fire, or any such calamity, be still In the 15th chapter of Genesis, God tells Abra- an objection, we may perceive, I think, some reaham, that his descendants of the fourth genera- sous for this method of punishment in preference tion, should return into that country, and not be- to any other whatever; always, however, bearing fore; "for the iniquity," saith he, "of the Amorites in our mind, that the question is not concerning is not yet full." It should seem from hence, that the justice of the punishment, but the mode of it. so long as their crimes were confined within any It is well known that the people of those ages bounds, they were permitted to remain in their were affected by no proof of the power of the country. We conclude, therefore, and we are gods which they worshipped so deeply, as by well warranted in concluding, that the Canaanites their giving them victory in war. It was by this were destroyed on account of their wickedness. species of evidence that the superiority of their And that wickedness was perhaps aggravated by own gods above the gods of the nations which they their having had among them Abraham, Isaac, conquered was in their opinion evinced. This and Jacob-examples of a purer religion and a being the actual persuasion which then prevailed better conduct; still more by the judgments of in the world, no matter whether well or ill founded, God so remarkably set before them in the history how were the neighbouring nations, for whose adof Abraham's family; particularly by the destruc-monition this dreadful example was intended, how tion of Sodom and Gomorrah: At least these things prove that they were not without warning, and that God did not leave himself without witness among them.

were they to be convinced of the supreme power of the God of Israel above the pretended gods of other nations, and of the righteous character of Jehovah, that is of his abhorrence of the vices which prevailed in the land of Canaan? how, I say, were they to be convinced so well, or at all indeed, as by enabling the Israelites, whose God he was known and acknowledged to be, to conquer under his banner, and drive out before them those who resisted the execution of that commission with which the Israelites declared themselves to be invested-the expulsion and extermination of the Canaanitish nations? This convinced surrounding countries, and all who were observers or spectators of what passed; first, That the God of Israel was a real God; secondly, That the gods which other nations worshipped were either no gods, or had no power against the God of Israel; and, thirdly, That it was he, and he alone, who possessed both the power and the will to punish, to destroy, and to exterminate from before his face, both rations and individuals who gave themselves up to the crimes and wickedness for which the Canaanites were notorious. Nothing of this sort would have appeared, or with the same evidence however, from an earthquake, or a plague, or any natural calamity. These might not have been attributed to divine agency at all, or not to the interposition of the God of Israel.

Now, when God, for the wickedness of a people, sends an earthquake, or a fire, or a plague among them, there is no complaint of injustice, especially when the calamity is known, or expressly declared beforehand, to be inflicted for the wickedness of such people. It is rather regarded as an act of exemplary penal justice, and, as such, consistent with the character of the moral Governor of the universe. The objection, therefore, is not to the Canaanitish nations being destroyed; (for when their national wickedness is considered, and when that is expressly stated as the cause of their destruction, the dispensation, however severe, will not be questioned;) but the objection is solely to the manner of destroying them. I mean there is nothing but the manner left to be objected to: their wickedness accounts for the thing itself. To which objection it may be replied, that if the thing itself be just, the manner is of little signification; of little signification even to the sufferers themselves: For where is the great difference, even to them, whether they were destroyed by an earthquake, a pestilence, a famine, or by the hands of an enemy? Where is the difference, even to our imperfect apprehensions of divine justice, provided it be, and is known to be, for their wicked- Another reason which made this destruction ness that they are destroyed? But this destruc- both more necessary and more general than it tion, you say, confounded the innocent with the would have otherwise been, was the consideration, guilty. The sword of Joshua and of the Jews spared that if any of the old inhabitants were left, they neither women nor children. Is it not the same would prove a snare to those who succeeded them with all other national visitations? Would not an in the country; would draw and seduce them by earthquake, or a fire, or a plague, or a famine degrees into the vices and corruptions which preamongst them have done the same? Even in an vailed amongst themselves. Vices of all kinds, but ordinary and natural death the same thing hap-vices most particularly of the licentious kind, are pens. God takes away the life he lends, without regard, that we can perceive, to age, or sex, or character. But, after all, promiscuous massacres,

astonishingly infectious. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. A small number of persons addicted to them, and allowed to practise them