nished the Society and Converfation of Men. Much lefs are thofe to be endured who attack Religion by Ridicule, inftead of Argument. Many a Man is able to talk Senfe, who is not qualified to return a Joke; and why, if you will fuppofe him to be in the wrong, muft he be treated as if he were a Fool? The only reasonable End of Religious Difputes, is Conviction but Men are not to be convinced by Reproaches; and to laugh at Religion, is a Reproach upon all that believe it. If I cannot think as you think, am I to be perfecuted for it? And yet the Petulancy of fome Mens Tongues is, to an ingenuous Mind, one of the wort Kinds of Ferfecution.

;

As to profane Curfing, the Queftion may be asked, Where lies the Immorality of it? If you can fuppofe that a Man really means what he fays, when he curfes his Neighbour, the Point is decided: For he must have a very wicked Spirit, who can wifh from. his Heart, that the eternal Wrath of God may fall upon the Head of his Fellow-creature. But I do not confider the Thing in this Light: For, in the first: Place; when a Man wikes Damnation to his Neighbour, it must be fuppofed that he has great Malice against him; but Curfes are often thrown out, not only where there is no Malice, but even where there is no Provocation. In the next Place; he that reallywishes Damnation to his Neighbour, muft be fuppofed. to believe what he fays, when he talks of Damnation; i. e. he must be fuppofed to believe that there is a God, and a Judgment to come: But, on the conrary, Curfes generally come moft plentifully from the Mouth of thofe who have no Senfe of Religion, nor ever seriously think with themselves that God will eternally punith Sinners; of which this is a mot evi. dent Proof, that it is not more familiar with fuch to call for Damnation upon others, than it is to call for it upon their own Souls. Can any Man do this, who believes that he has a Soul to be made happy or miferable in a future State! The Offence, therefore, which this Practice, gives, and very jafly gives, is,.

that.

that it difcovers a profligate and abandon'd Mind, which makes itfelf Sport with the vindictive Juftice of God; which amounts, by plain and neceffary Conftruction, to a Denial of his Being, or a Contempt of his Authority, and governing Providence. I do not fay that every Curfe, haftily and paffionately thrown out, will justify this Construction, but a Habit of Curfing imports little lefs: And it is obfervable, in Fact, that this Practice fcarce ever grows to be habitual, but in those who shew too plainly, by other Parts of their Conduct, that they have not the Fear of God before their Eyes. No one pities the Man on whom fuch Curfes fall, but all must deteft the Wretch that utters them; who, by defpifing God's Judgments, fets an Example to others to defpife them, and reads to every one, with whom he converfes, a Leffon of Atheism.

4. Words may be culpable, as they are an Offence against Decency. Of this Sort are unmannerly Words, which though neither falfe, nor malicious, nor uncha. ritable, nor wicked, are (conftructively) a Denial of that Efteem which is due to a Man's Worth, his Station, or Character. For this Reason, they are always offenfive; and, upon fome Accounts, they may be reckoned, not the loweft kind of Injustice. He that cheats me, or fteals from me, means not Me, but my Money; but Rudeness is an Attack upon a Man's Self; in this, worfe than Slander; that whilft it charges him particularly with nothing, it leaves him open to charge himself, with every Thing he can but fuspect of himself, that may render him worthy of Difefteem; which, the lefs Self Confidence a Man has, the more. it hurts him. Nor is there any Defence against rude Treatment. One cannot avoid an unmannerly Man, as he may avoid a Knave or a Thief. Il Breeding is unbecoming; not fcandalous. We may meet with it in moft Companies; and when we do, there is no Remedy but Patience. For though there is always enough in it to make it troublesome, there is common. ly too little in it to make it accountable. Ill Manners, it is true, have not always an ill Meaning, but they

have

have always a bad Appearance; and make even what is well done, to come with an ill Grace; which spoils much of that Pleasure and Satisfaction, which Conver. fation, and the mutual accepting and returning good Offices, is naturally difpo'ed to yield. But the worst kind of unfeemly Difcourfe, is that which is lewd, wanton, or lafc.vious; which is so shocking to natural Bafhfulr efs, that nothing but the very Crimes, painted out by fuch Difcourfes, can be more offensive to a virtuous Mind. Therefore as, by difcovering a naughty Heart in those who make them familiar to themselves, they fet forth a bad Example; fo they carry with them a tacit Imputation upon thofe that hear them; and a very jutt one upon those who are delighted with them. There would be foarce Decency even in faying what might juftly be offered in Rebuke of this filthy kind of Communication, fitter for Beafts (if they were able to speak) than for Men. Therefore I fhall close this Head only by repeating St. Paul's Advice ; But Fornication, and all Uncleanness let it not be once named among you, as becometh Saints; neither Filibinefs, nor foolish talking, nor jefting. For this ye know, that: no Whoremonger, or unclean Perfon bath any Inheritance in the Kingdom of Chrift, and of God, Eph. v. 3. 4.

I have now gone through the feveral Abufes of Speech; and fhall conclude with obferving, that our Converfation will then be as it ought to be, when we thew forth those Virtues, which fand in Oppofition to them. To this Purpose the fame Apostle, Let no corrupt Communication proceed out of your Mouth, but that which is good to the Use of edifying, that it may minifter Grace to the Hearers, Eph. iv. 29 As Words are the Image of the Mind; and it is out of the Abundance of the Heart that the Mouth Speaketh; the Innocency, the Benevolence, the Decency, the Serioufnels, the Inftru&tiveness of our Difcourfes, will be a Proof that we are poffeffed of every amiable Quality; according to that of St. James; If any man offend not in Word, the fame is a BERFECT Man, Jam. iii. 2.

ACAU

A CAUTION againft RELIGIOUS DELUSION.

GALAT. vi. 15.

In Chrift Jefus neither Circumcifion availetb any thing, nor Uncircumcifion, but a new Creature,

T is evident, and on all Hands confeffed, that the End of CHRIST'S coming into the World was to open the Way to eternal Life by Faith and true Repentance. The World had long lain under great Darkness and Corruption; the Heathens more efpecially, whom St. Paul reprefents as walking in the Vanity of their Mind; as alienated from the Life of God through the Ignorance that was in them; as being paft feeling, and having given themselves over unto Lafciviousness to work all Uncleanness with Greediness, Eph. iv. 18. So that their coming to Chrift, and fubmitting to be governed by the pure Law of his Gofpel, muft infer a great and a mighty Change, as is intimated in the next Chapter, ver. 8. Ye WERE fometimes Darkness, but Now are ye Light in the Lord. And I Cor. vi. 9 Neither Fornicators, nor Idolaters, nor Adulterers nor Thieves, nor Covetous, nor Drunkards, nor Revilers, nor Extortioners, Shall inherit the Kingdom of God. And SUCH WERE fime of you; but ye are WASHED, but ye are SANCTIFIED, but ye are justified, in the Name of the Lord Jefus, and by the Spirit of our God.

This

This Change, from Light to Darknefs; from Un cleanness to Holiness; running through the whole moral Man, and fhewing itfelf in every Inftance of Behaviour; is in Scripture fet forth by a Variety of Expreffions. Our Saviour calls it a NEW BIRTH. Except a Man be BORN AGAIN he cannot fee the Kingdom of God, John iii. 3. St. Paul, a new Spirit, a new Man, or (as the Text has it) a new Creature. The very Variety of these Expreffions fhews them to be figurative; and the Circumstances of the Places where they are used fufficiently open to us their true Meaning. The New Spirit and the New Man, are oppofed to the Old Man, the former EVIL CONVERSATION: And they who are thus renewed are faid to be created in RIGHTEOUSNESS and TRUE HOLINESS; putting away Lying,· Anger,-Stealing, and all manner of corrupt Communication, Eph. iv. 22-29. To be created in Righteousness (that is, to be fo difpofed in Heart and Mind as to follow after Righteousness) is to be a NEW CREATURË; as St. Paul himself has very plainly fhewn us in other Places, where the fame Thing is mentioned in other Terms. In the Text he fays, that in Chrift Jefus neither Circumcifion availeth any thing, nor Uncircumcifion, but aNEW CREATURE. In the Chapter before (ver. 6.) he fays, in Jefus Chrift neither Circumcifion availeth any thing, nor Uncircumcifion, but FAITH WHICH WORKETH BY LOVE; and 1 Cor. vii. 19. Circumcifion is nothing, and Uncircumcifion is nothing, but the KEEPING THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. Faith, then, which worketh by Love, is the NEW CREATURE; and keeping the Commandments of God, is the NEW CREATURE: He who anfwers to any one of thefe Characters, is what is intended by all the reft; for they ALL mean but one and the fame thing.

How the State of a true Believer came to be reprefented to us in fuch Figures as thefe, is not at all dif-~ ficult to apprehend. For there is that Difference between the Temper and Difpofition of a Man addicted to his fenfual Lufts, and that of the fame Man when reformed by the Influence of the Gofpel; as, in great

measure