while he is traveling in the plain road of duty. Queen Elizabeth's motto was "femper eadem." i. e. always the fame. "My beloved brethren, be ye stedfast immoveable, "always abounding in the work of the Lord, forafmuch as "ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." Stratford. W. N.

ON EVIL SPEAKING.

Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour, so doth a little folly [disgrace] him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour. Eccles. x. i.

WHEN perfons by a profeffion of religion, acquire a

good name among men, and for a time fupport it with refpectability, the whole of their character is laid open to fufpicion, when, though rigidly tenacious of outward forms, and declared enemies to an irreligious practice, they privately, without any apparent fenfe of evil, tranfgrefs the plaineft precepts of the word of God. Chriftians are exhorted not to fpeak evil of one another; and who will venture to fupport their claim to religion, who, as bufy bodies, go from house to house, not merely bringing the characters under view, but defignedly putting fuch conftructions on their conduct as have a tendency to tarnish their good name?" Judge not (faith our Lord) that ye be not Judged." But we are led to doubt, and not without reafon, whether fuch can be at all influenced by the fpirit of the Gospel, who, under a mask of religion, devife, publish the grossest flanders, and lay to the charge of others, things that they know not. To wound a character in fecret, yet in fuch a manner as that it fhall foon be difcernable to all, is a far greater evil than an open attack, where the injured has an opportunity of making his defence. Sin does not ceafe to be evil, though practifed in fecret; and the malicious whif per circulated among a few friends does not cease to be flander, becaufe not publifhed on the houfe top. Where the law of Chrift has reached the confcience, it will influence the conduct; and where fin of any kind is willingly practifed and perfevered in, does it not amount to a demon ftration, that the tranfgreffors are yet in the gall of bitternefs and bond of iniquity? To make and evenom arrows

of calumny to wound the innocent, will certainly exclude fuch hellish artificers from a feat with thofe "who have "clean hands, and a pure heart." "Inftruments of cruel"ty are in their habitations; O my foul, come not thou in"to their fecret; unto their affembly, mine honour, be not "thou united."

The profeffion of religion, which they vainly fuppofe entitles them to preference, can be no palliation to the offence; for, if under that profeffion, they take the liberty to mangle the characters of others, they wreft religion to a purpofe fubverfive of its defign, and quite contrary to the fpirit of the Gospel.

They act from that spirit which worketh in the children of disobedience, and imitate the conduct of the devil, the accufer of the brethren. "As a little folly difgraces a man "that is in reputation for wifdom and honour, fo will lying "flander," &c. foon forfeit a good name, however fair the reputation otherwise stands; for deliberately to lie, flander, and calumninate, will foon unmask a character to the difcerning, who are naturally led to infer that the religion of fuch is fraudulence and deceit. What other fins would not fuch practife, provided they could be concealed? To make great pretentions to religion, and at the fame time to be deliberate in falfehood, in calumny and flander, is to make clear the outfide of the platter, and leave the infide full of ravening and wickedness.

If those who are the objects of their flander are blameable, in unneceffarily circulating evil reports, they betray a want of that charity that thinketh no evil, and covereth a multitude of fins; and if they wound the people of Chrift without a cause, they wound Christ himself; for they that harm his people, touch the apple of his eye. Not lefs obnoxious to fociety are they, who, under the bafe counterfeit of friendship, under flattering lips and a deceitful tongue, conceal enmity and diftruft; and who, on every convenient opportunity, fhew their hatred in the moft malevolent infinuations: "one fpeaketh peaceably to his neighbour "with his mouth, but in his heart he layeth wait for him." Such characters deferve to be excluded from every religi ous fociety, and fent among the foxes of the field.

If fuch deceitful conduct, as I now reprobate, can be confiftent with a state of grace, what fiery trials muft men of that defcription come through before they leave this world. They may expect to feel in the most poignant manner, the lafh of their own cenfures reverberate with encreafed feve rity on themselves. Like ferpents lurking in the way, they

mark every step, and are ready to take the advantage; and with equal caution, as thofe accurfed animals, ought fuch characters to be avoided. Though in the most exprefs manner the facred fcripture condemns lying, back-biting and evil-fpeaking, there are, who ufe their bibles with much fanctity, to appearance, on whofe practice, in these particulars, the fcriptures have not the fmalleft influence.

"A good name," fays Solomon, "is rather to be cho"fen than great riches." To have their good name fullied by calumniating men, is an evil dreaded by all who value reputation. Men are often expofed to fome corporal pu niihment, or to the ignominious gaze of the multitude, for pilfering their neighbours' property; and if a good name is rather to be chofen than great riches, those who rob others of their good name are guilty of a greater evil, than if they had plundered their houfes, or rifled their pockets; it would then be a punishment highly merited by the offen ders to expofe them to public contempt. There is a prac tice in fome reformed churches, that finners of a certain defcription, fuch as fornicators and adulterers, are publicly rebuked for their offence, on the Lord's-day, in the face of the congregation. And why fhould not liars, backbiters and flanderers undergo the fame difcipline? Certainly the qualities of crimes were not properly judged of, or thefe evil fpirits had been firft in the lift of thofe on whom fuch cenfures are inflicted; for liars, whoremongers and idolaters, with every thing that worketh abomination and maketh a lie, fhall have their portion in the lake that burns with fire and brimflone. How prepofterous to expofe to public view thofe who in the violence of temptation have fallen in the fare, who feel the pangs of godly forrow for their of fence, while others regardlefs of all truth, frame falfehood, and utter deceit, to the wounding of the innocent, and the diffolving of the most facred ties of friendship with impuni ty; and in a fanctimonious manner, obferve all the duties of religion with fo much archnefs, as would Satan himself transformed into an angel of light.

If perfons would ferioufly confider the evil of fuch a prac tice as oppofte to the plain inftructions of revelation, if they would think of the injury it does to others, and the reproach it brings upon religion; if they weighed ferioufly the dangerous confequences that may enfue to themfelves, they would, it is hoped, at least attempt to put themfelves under fuch restraints, which, if they did not affift in cherishing that charity that thinketh no evil, might affift in preventing their cafting about fire-brands, arrows and death. With what

grace can they pray, "Lord forgive us our trefpaffes as we forgive them who trespass against us," when, not merely by circulating reports injurious to the characters of others, but by framing falfehoods, and taking advantage of every circumstance in their lives, they ftudy to fully their unblemished reputation? Alas, how many call Chrift, Lord, Lord, who do not the things which he commands!

In reading thefe few reflections, many will readily conclude, that the writer of them has had fome perfons in his view: I acknowledge the picture is drawn from life, and with a defign that thofe into whofe hands it may fall, and who are exhibited in it, may have fuch a view of themselves, as may make them deteft the vices they now practife. He who fpeaks and writes at random has no claim to attention. He who fpeaks or writes in fuch a general manner, as to make no impreffion on the mind that may lead to fome ufeful enquiry, will have but a fmall fhare of fuccefs; but to write or fpeak fo plainly, that those who read or hear, may have an opportunity of making a particular application to themfelves, will, at leaft, if it does no more, afford the author this fatisfaction, that he has done his duty, and that the objects of his reproof will be inexcufeable if they do not repent. That every one who reads this, and who is cenfured by it, may make as pointed an application of it to himfelf as if he heard Nathan faying to him, "Thou art the man," is the prayer of "is ADJUTOR.

W

THE FALLEN STATE OF MAN.

E lately furveyed the blifsful height where once we ftood. We must now behold the dreadful pit into which we are all funk. The human heart is a dark and deep abyfs, which we cannot fathom. Its veins and windings we are not fully able to discover and diffect; even with the fearching knife of the divine word. "The heart is deceit"ful above all things, and defperately wicked; who can "know it?" However, we may fee enough of our finful ftate to confound our foolish pride, and clofe for ever our boafting lips. We learn from unerring writ, that man in honour did not abide. His primeval glory foon departed. Ichabod is now written upon him in legible characters. His

prefent ftate is a state of fin and mifery. Seriously to cons template this melancholy theme, can hardly be pleafing to the proud heart of man; but the knowledge of it is abfolutely neceffary to our embracing the Saviour; and confequently, to our falvation. By fome it is, in a great measure denied, but it never can be difproved. The very denial of it, in many cafes, proves its awful reality. If we open our ears to the voice of Scripture, and fhut not our eyes against ocular demonflration, we fhall foon confefs, that in man the. gold is become dim, and the fine gold changed. Mofes, that meek man of God, faithfully relates, that our first parents were expelled from paradife, because they had fallen from God. Their children were begotten in their own finful likeness, and their first-born even murdered his own brother. As the earth filled with men it filled with violence. Such was the wickedness of Adam's pofterity, that every imagination of the thoughts of their hearts were only evil, and that continually. God faw their wickedness, and determined to deftroy them for it with a deluge of water. When the world was again repeopled, from Noah, whom God had spared, the whole race was ftill corrupt. The imagination of man's heart was evil from his youth. In the days of Job, his friends never spake a greater truth than when they faid, "Man is born like the wild afs's colt;" and, that he is" abominable and filthy, and drinks in iniquity "like water." In David's time, none were righteous, no, not one. Solomon obferved that folly was bound up in the heart of a child. Ifaiah faid, all were as an unclean thing. Jeremiah pronounced the human heart to be desperately wicked. On the fame fubject, the New Teftament writers affert the fame things. Jefus himself, whofe Spirit inspired both the prophets and apoftles declares, that men loved darknefs and not light; and that out of their hearts proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications thefts, falfe witnefs and blafphemies. That, fuch being the cafe, "Except a "man be born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." His apofties affert that the natural or unrenewed man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; but that his carnal mind is enmity against God. Thofe for whom Chrift died, are the ungodly and unjuft. The beft men that ever lived have abhorred themfelves. They have freely owned that they were conceived and fhapen in iniquity; and that in their fleth dwelt no good thing. All, all are children of wrath by nature. Every man, and every part of man is utterly degenerate.