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66 ons, and encompass them about with clouds "and thick darkness: Could no fuch thing as fa66- vour and affection enter this facred COURT : "Did Wit difdain to take a bribe in it;-or

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was afhamed to fhow its face as an advocate "for an unwarrantable enjoyment: Or, laftly, "were we affured that INTEREST stood always unconcerned whilft the caufe was hearing,"and that Paffion never got into the judgment "feat, and pronounced fentence in the ftead of "Reason, which is fuppofed always to precide "and determine upon the cafe :—was this truly

fo, as the objection muft fuppofe ;-no doubt "then the religious and mortal state of a man "would be exactly what he himself esteemed it ;

and the guilt or innocence of every man's "life could be known, in general, by no better "measure, than the degrees of his own appro"bation and cenfure.

"I own, in one cafe, whenever a man's con-"fcience does accufe him (as it feldom errs on "that fide) that he is guilty; and unless in me"lancholy and hypocondriac cafes, we may fafe"ly pronounce upon it, that there is always "fufficient grounds for the accufation.

"But the converfe ofthe propofition will not "hold true; namely, that whenever there is "guilt, the confcience must accufe; and if it does 66 not, that a man is therefore innocent.

This

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" is not fact-So that the common confolation "which fome good christian or other is hourly administering to himself,-that he thanks "God his mind does not mifgive him; and that, "confequently, he has a good confcience, because " he has a quiet one,-is fallacious;—and as "current as the inference is, and as infallible as

as the rule appears at first sight, yet when you "look nearer to it, and try the truth of this rule "upon plain facts,you fee it liable to fo "much error from a falfe application;-the "principle upon which it goes fo often perver"ted; the whole force of it loft, and fometimes "fo vilely caft away, that it is painful to produce "the common examples from human life, which confirm the account.

"A man shall be vicious and utterly debauched

in his principles ;-exceptionable in his con"duct to the world; fhall live shameless, in the "open commiffion of a fin, which no reafon or σε pretence can juftify,-A fin by which, con"trary to all the workings of humanity, he fhall "ruin for ever the deluded partner of his σε guilt-rob her of her beft dowry; and not "only cover her own head with dishonour;-but "involve a whole virtuous family in fhame and "forrow for her fake. Surely, you will think "confcience must lead such a man a troublesome "life; he can have no reft night or day from << its reproaches,

"Alas!

"Alas! CONSCIENCE had fomething else to ❝do all this time, than break in upon him; as "Elijah reproached the good Baal,this do"meftic god was either talking, or pursuing, or was

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on ajourney, or peradventure he slept and could "not be awoke. Perhaps He was going out in company with HONOUR to fight a duel; to pay "off fome debt at play ;-or dirty annuity, the bargain of his luft; Perhaps CONSCIENCE "all this time was engaged at home, talking "aloud against petty larcency, and executing "vengeance upon fome fuch puny crimes as his "fortune and rank of life fecured him against all "temptation of committing; fo that he lives as

merrily."[if he was of our church, though "quoth Dr. Slop, he could not]" -fleeps as "foundly in his bed; and at last meets death as 66 unconcernedly; perhaps much more fo, than a much better man."

All this is impoffible with us, quoth Dr. Slop, turning to my father, the cafe could not happen in our church-It happens in ours, however, replied my father, but too often.I own quoth Dr. Slop, (ftruck a little with my father's frank acknowledgment) that a man in the Romish church may live as badly;but then he cannot eafily die fo.'Tis little matter, replied my father, with an air of indifference, how a raf cal dies. I mean, anfwered Dr. Slop, he would be denied the benefits of the last facraments.

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Pray how mary have you in all, faid my uncle Toby, for I always forget?Seven, answered Dr. Slop.Humph!-faid my uncle Toby ; though not accented as a note of acquiefcence,but as an in terjuction of that particular species of furprise, when a man in locking into a drawer, finds more of a thing than he expected. Humph! replied my uncle Toby. Dr. Slop, who had an ear, understood my uncle Toby as well as if he had wrote a whole volume against the seven facraments. -Humph! replied Dr. Slop, (ftating my uncle Toby's argument over again to him)Why, Sir, are there not feven cardinal virtues?-Seven mortal fins?-Seven goldën candlesticks?-Seven heavens?-Tis more than I know, replied my uncle Toby.Are there. not Seven wonders of the world?-Seven days of the creation?-Seven planets?-Seven plagues?

That there are, quoth my father, with a most affected gravity. But prithee, continued he, go on with the rest of thy characters, Trim.]

"Another is for did, unmerciful," (here Trim, waved his right hand)" a ftrait-hearted, felfish, "wretch, incapable either of private friendship.

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or public fpirit. Take notice how he paffes by "the widow and orphan in their distress, and "fees all the miferies incident to human life with❝out a figh or a prayer." [An't please your ho"nours, cried Trim, I think this a viler man than "the other.]

"Shall

"Shall not confcience rife up and fting him son fuch occafions?-No; thank God, there

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is no occafion, I pay every man his own;-I have no fornication to answer to my confcience;no faith❝lefs vows or promises to make up ;—I have de"bauched no man's wife or child; thank God, I am

not as other men, adulterers, unjust, or even a "this libertine, who ftands before me. A third is "crafty and defigning in his nature. View his "whole life,'tis nothing but a cunning con"texture of dark arts and unequitable subterfuges, bafely to defeat the true intent of all laws, —plain-dealings, and the safe enjoyment of "our feveral properties.You will fee fuch "a one working out a frame of little defigns upon "the ignorance and perplexities of the poor and "needy man;-shall raife a fortune upon the

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inexperience of a youth, or the unfufpe&ing "temper of his friend, who would have trufted "him with his life. When old age comes on, "and repentance calls him to look back upon this "black account, and ftate it over again with his "confcience-CONSCIENCE looks into the

STATUTES at LARGE; finds no exprefs law "broken by what he has done;-perceives no "penalty or forfeiture of goods and chattels in"curred;-fees no fcourge waving over his head, 66 or prifon opening his gatcs upon him :-What "is there to affright his confcience?-Con"fcience has got fafely entrenched behind the

"Letter

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