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already mentioned, it may be prudent to deal tenderly with the rich, or if you do exclude them, be very tender of their reputation- -you may receive and return their visits as usual; and by every attention in your power, endeavour to mollify the inevitable decree-by these and such like emollients, the bull will gradually lose its ferocity, and will at length lie down and be forgotten.

The poor fool however, who has had the misfortune to ingur the censure of the church, or to offend its male or female rulers, need not be treated with such ceremony---, some sacrifices must be made to the church's dignity; for I am not vain enough to suppose, that any existing church, from the hill to the valley, makes the restoration of an amputated member, a matter of any great consequence---the poor fool may therefore be hunted down, as an example to others---and now that the chace is commenced, let us consider the best mode of maintaining it And first---let the bull that has been issued against him, be kept fed, that he may maintain his post, and increase his ravages-You may ask, how can that be, since the monster of persecution has been chained by law? I will ask you another question---Has the law secured to the excommunicated member, any species of kindness?---Does it open the heart or the house of any man, to shelter the hunted game? Does it prevent the forging of false stories, or the exaggeration of true ones, to the prejudice of his trade, his charaeter, or other temporal interests ? Rather are not these the common aliments, which feed the bull, and animate him in the pursuit?'tis true, the unhappy victim too frequently

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furnishes food with his own hand to the insatiable monster---but this proof of insanity, ought rather to excite the public pity, than the public cry---but that the reverse is the usual fact; witness ye myriads of men, who physically or morally deranged, are permitted to travel this howling wilderness, without any other entertainment, than the shouts of monsters still more mad than you!!

CAPRICE

OF

HUMAN NATURE.

OBSERVATIONS ON ITS UNIVERSAL DEPRAVITY,

Is it not astonishing, how strangely we are affected to various objects, with which we have imperfect acquaintance, or perhaps none at all, but through the channel of information-Both in the animate, and inanimate world, we form attachments and dislikes, according as the objects we reflect upon, give us pain or pleasure; quite independent of their intrinsic qualities-To this caprice may be attributed, a multitude of prejudices, which are totally destitute of rational foundation-such, as the animosity of men inhabiting nations of opposite interests-sects differing in their theological sentiments, or forms of church government-of men hating each other, for their habits, their language, or

the conformation of their features-of others remarkable for their attachment to persons and things, which have nothing valuable to recommend them-while they are equally remarkable for their aversion to persons who have done them no injury, and to things which are innocent in themselves these reflections resulted from a high degree of esteem, expressed by one person for another whom he had never seen, and whose private character he had not any opportunity of knowing-and a thousand incidents which are daily to be met with, convince us that they are not without foundation-these prejudices, which are termed eccentricities by many, but which are in reality either uncharitable or unjust, and are therefore real evils; could never have proceeded from him who is a Being of infinite wisdom and purity-and indeed how any person who will impartially take a survey of the disorders produced by ignorance and depravity, in every corner of this monument of divine displeasure-or who will attentively consider what passes within his own breast for a very short space of time, however upright his

*

* Some wise philosopher may exclaim, "What have men to do with each other's thoughts, it is their actions only which concern society?"-to this I answer- -Next to the cure of moral evil-there is nothing in which mankind is so deeply interested, as in the knowledge of its actual existence, and its universal fruits and consequences-when these are not felt and lamented, the remedy provided for them, will be undervalued and neglected- -For this reason, I shall follow up the argument contained in this contemplation a little further in the following

note.

Although the predominance of evil action in society, is sufficiently apparent, to prove the scripture doctrine of man's forfeiture of original purity and integrity-and also furnishes a strong presumptive argument, in support of evil intelligences,

deliberate intentions (those established in a state of sanc tification only excepted) can once doubt that man is a fallen and depraved creature, I am utterly at a loss to conceive--those who argue otherwise, should keep a record of their thoughts, (I shall not say any thing about their actions) for some considerable time--and after having done this with fidelity, if they would oblige the world with an inspection of this mental registry, it might assist to decide, upon which side of the controversy, truth has taken her position.

and their access to the mind of man; yet if the thoughts of mankind, and their secret actions, were made apparent to each other, they would establish these truths beyond the possibility of contradiction-How many professions of friendship in such a case, would appear hypocritical; how many splendid actions operating for the general good, would appear to have resulted from weak and unworthy motives?-How many intentions of evil, the operations of which have been prevented by the overruling providence of God, would then be brought to light? How many schemes to rob the widow, the fatherless, and the defenceless, would appear? What scenes of secret pollution would be exposed to public view? What curious methods of obtaining places and pensions, both in church and state, from the highest to the lowest office, and in almost all congregated societies of men?--Alas the picture is dreadful, but it is true! neither is it an error to know, feel, and acknowledge its deformity, as some philosophers have stated-On the contrary, a true sense of our condition, as it weakens the fabric of our pride; so it prepares the heart for the reception of those influences and instructions, which are calculated to correct and improve it-In a word, we must feel and confess our miserable and disordered state; or we cannot be fit subjects of a free pardon, and a cure "without money and without price"-for of the coin of heaven we are wholly destitute, being laden only with the base treasures of fallen and depraved spirits; to offer which in return for the gifts of God, would increase our own condemnation- -He therefore who feels himself broken, may expect through Jesus Christ to be made whole-he who feels himself a sinner, may expect to be made righteous; but ere these become in reality the objects of his research, he must feel his want of them-and know of a truth, that in God alone this want can be supplied.

The proneness of mankind to charge the guilt of their sins upon the persons, who innocently or designedly have been the instruments of bringing their depravity into action, is very remarkable-Scarce any thing more clearly manifests the infirmity of the human character than this propensity-it appeared first in the garden of Eden, after the fall of our first parents, and has ever since been propagated with their blood-Eve threw the blame of her transgression upon the serpent--Adam upon Eve-and many of their posterity are equally industrious in blaming them both--Does a man strike his neighbor in a passion, defraud, defame, or oppress him-he will tell you that the other is wholly indebted to his own depravity, for the treatment which he has received-'tis true he may have received strong provocation from his neighbor's depravity, or he may have received none at all-but by his own incapacity of bearing either the real or supposed injury with firmness-or what still more clearly marks his character-his violent and intemperate resistance his firm purposes of revenge-his utter inability to forgive-and by his still greater incapacity of repaying injuries with kindness-he is furnished with the most satisfactory evidences which a reasonable being can require, that man is a fallen and depraved creature, possessing neither virtue nor power independent of his God.

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This depravity of nature is not partial-it affects all ranks and degrees of men-the French citizen and the American savage-the sound as well as the crazy constitutionthe placid as well as the turbulent temper-not I grant in

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