"Letter of the Law, fits there invulnerable, "fortified with CASES and REPORTS fo "ftrongly on all fides ;-that it is not preach"ing can difpoffefs it of its hold."

[The character of this laft man, faid Dr. Shop, interrupting Trim, is more deteftable than all the reft ;-and feems to have been taken from some pettifogging lawyer amongst you :-amongst us, a man's confcience could not possibly continue fo long blinded,-three times in a year, at least, he muft go to confeffion. Will that restore it to fight? quoth my uncle Toby.Go on, Trim, quoth my father. 'Tis very short, replied Trim.—I wifh it was longer, quoth my uncle Toby, for I like it hugely.Trim went on.]

"A fourth man shall want even this refuge; "fhall break through all the ceremony of "flow chicane;-fcorns the doubtful workings"of fecret plots and cautious trains to bring a"bout his purpose :- See the bare-faced vil"lain, how he cheats, lies, perjures, robs, mur"ders!-Horrid !-But indeed much better was

not to be expected, in the prefent cafe-the 66 poor man was in the dark !-his Prieft had got the keeping of his confcience; and all "he would let him know of it, was, That he "must believe in the Pope;-go to Mass;— "crofs himfelf;-tell his beads ;-be a good "Catholic, and that this, in all confcience, was

F

"enough

"enough to carry him to Heaven. What ;"if he perjures !-Why ;-he had a mental re"fervation in it.- But if he is fo wicked and "abandoned a wretch as you reprefent him; "if he robs,-if he ftabs, will not confcience σε on every fuch act, receive a wound itself!.

Aye, but the man has carried it to confeffi"on; the wound digefts there, and will do well "enough, and in a short time be quite healed "up by abfolution. O Popery! what haft thou "to answer for ?-When, not content with the "too many natural and fatal ways, through "which the heart of man is every day thus trea"cherous to itself above all things ;-thou haft "wilfully fet open the wide gate of deceit be"fore the face of this unwary traveller, too apt, "God knows, to go aftray of himself; and con"fidently speak peace to himself, when there is 66 no peace.

"Of this the common inftances which have "drawn out of life, are too notorious to require "much evidence. If any man doubts the reality "of them, or thinks it impoffible for a man to "be fuch a bubble to himself,-I must refer ❝him a moment to his own reflections, and will "then venture to trust my appeal with his own

"heart.

"Let him confider in how different a degree "of deteftation, numbers of wicked actions "ftand

"ftand there, tho' equally bad and vicious in "their own natures ;-he will foon find, that "fuch of them as strong inclination and custom "have prompted him to commit, are generally "dreffed out and painted with all the falfe "beauties, which a foft and a flattering hand "can give them ;-and that the others, to "which he feels no propenfity, appear, at once "naked and deformed, furrounded with all the "true circumstances of folly and dishonour.

"When David furprifed Saul fleeping in the cave, and cut of the skirt of his robe-we read "his heart fmote him for what he had done : -But in the matter of Uriah, where a faith

ful and gallant fervant, whom he ought to "have loved and honoured, fell to make way› "for his luft,-where confcience had fo much "greater reafon to take the alarm, his heart "fmote him not. A whole year had almost "paffed from the firft commiffi on of that crime "to the time Nathan was fent to reprove him ; "and we read not once of the leaft forrow or "compunction of heart which he testified, du"ring all that time, for what he had done.

"Thus confcience, this once able monitor, "-placed on high as a judge within us, and "intended by our Maker as a just and equitable "one too, by an unhappy train of causes and "impediments, takes often fuch imperfect cogF 2 "nizance

"nizance of what paffes, does its office fo "negligently, sometimes fo corruptly, that "it is not to be trusted alone; and therefore we

find there is a neceffity, an abfolute neceffity' "of joining another principle with it, to aid, "if not govern, its determinations.

"So that if you would form a juft judgment "of what is of infinite importance to you not "6 to be misled in, namely, in what degree of "real merit you stand either as an honest man, 66. an useful citizen, a faithful fubject to your ແ king, or a good fervant to your God,call in "religion and morality.Look what is writ"ten in the law of God? How readeft thou? "Confult calm reafon and the unchangeable "obligations of juftice and truth ;-what fay they?

"Let CONSCIENCE determine the matter 66 upon these reports;and then if thy heart "condemns thee not, which is the cafe the a

poftle fuppofes,the rule will be infallible,"

[Here Dr. Slap fell asleep]" thou wilt have "confidence towards God; that is, have just "grounds to believe the judgment thou haft "past upon thyfelf, is the judgment of God; "and nothing elfe but an anticipation of that "righteous fentence, which will be pronounced upon thee hereafter by that Being, to whom "thou art finally to give an account of thy ac❝tions.

"Bleffed is the man, indeed, then, as the author of the book of Ecclefiafticus expreffes it, "who is not pricked with the multitude of his fins: "Bleffed is the man whofe heart hath not condemn"ed him; whether he be rich, or whether he be "poor, if he have a good heart (a heart thus gui"ded and informed) he shall at all times rejoice in a cheerful countenance; his mind shall tell him more than seven watchmen that fit above upon a " tower on high.

"In the darkeft doubts it fhall conduct "him fafer than a thousand cafuifts, and give "the ftate he lives 'in, a better fecurity for his "behaviour than all the caufes and reftrictions "put together, which law-makers are forced "to multiply-Forced, as I fay, as things ftand; "human laws not being a matter of original "choice, but a pure neceffity, brought in to "fence against the mischievous effects of thofe "confciences which are no law unto themselves; "well intending, by the many provifions made,' "that in all fuch corrupt and mifguided cafes, "where principles and the checks of conscience "will not make us upright,-to fupply their "force, and, by the terrors of gaols and halters, "oblige us to it.

[I fee plainly, faid my father, that this fermon has been compofed to be preached at the Temple, or at fome Affize-I like the reafonF 3

ing,