as it were a beast,' or as the veriest beast 'before thee. The voice of experience therefore will attest, what the word of revelation has averred, that the natural man, be his intellectual abilities ever so pregnant, or ever so improved, 'cannot know the things of the Spirit of God :'t he has no sight to discern their beauty, no taste to relish their sweetness. Nay, though they are the purest light and the most perfect wisdom, to him they appear not only dark and obscure, but even foolishness itself. Would this be the case if the understanding was not greatly depraved? Should it be difficult for your ear to distinguish the diversity of sounds, or for your eye, to discern the diversity of colours, would you. not conclude, that the organs were very much impaired ? Ther. I think you have treated the understanding as Zopyrus served his own body, when he went over to the enemy. Do you intend to mangle the other faculties at the same unmerciful rate? Asp. That nobleman made the wounds which disfigured his flesh. I have only probed the sores which were found in the understanding. If I have touched. the quick, and put the patient to pain, it is only to facilitate the operation of medicine, and make way for a cure. But permit me to ask, wherein does the excel. lency of the human will consist? Ther. In following the guidance of reason, and submitting to the influence of proper authority. Asp. The will, I fear, rejects the government of rea. son; and it is undeniably certain, that it rebels against the authority of God. Cast your eye upon that team of horses, with which yonder countryman is ploughing his fallcw ground. the more enlightened people are, the more they lament their ignorance; the more they pant after a continual progress in heavenly knowledge; and pray for clearer, still clearer manifestations of the incomprehensible God. I question whether Aspasio's translation comes fully up to the emphasis of the original. The comparative particle is omitted in the Hebrew. As' softens and palliates the matter; therefore the psalmist, to express the deepest sense of his ignorance, says, I was a beast, yea, the veriest beast,' man, Psal. ixxii. 22. +1 Cor. ii. 14. See Rollin's Ancient History, vol. iii. p. 46. No less than five of those robust animals are linked to. gether, and yield their submissive necks to the draught. They have more strength than twenty men, yet are managed by a single lad. They not only stand in awe of the lash, but listen to the voice of their driver. They turn to the right hand or to the left; they quicken their pace, or stop short in the furrow, at the bare intimation of his pleasure, Are we equally obedient to the calls, to the exhortations, the express injunctions of our heavenly Lord? The blessed Jesus spoke at the beginning, and the world was made. He speaks by his providence, and the universe is upheld. When he shall speak at the last day, the heavens will pass away, and the earth be dissolved. Yet he speaks to us in his divine word, and we turn a deaf ear to his address. He speaks in tender expostulations, and no melting of heart ensues. He speaks in precious promises, and no ar dent desires are enkindled. The will, which, in these cases, ought to be turned as wax to the seal, is unimpressed and inflexible as an iron sinew. Ther. The human will is constantly inclined to preserve, accommodate, and make its possessor happy. Is not this the right position in which it should always stand? or the most desirable direction that can be given to its motions? Asp. I should be glad, if fact bore witness to your assertion. But fact, I apprehend, is on the contrary side. I took notice, as we came along, of some ants busily employed on a little hillock. Have you made any observations, Theron, on this reptile community? Ther. It is a little republic. They inhabit a kind of oblong city, divided into various streets. They are governed by laws, and regulated by politics, of their own. Their magazines are commodiously formed, and judiciously guarded against the injuries of the weather. Some are defended by an arch made of earth, and cemented with a peculiar sort of glue. Some are covered with rafters of slender wood, and thatched with rushes or grass. The roof is always raised with a double slope, to turn away the current of the waters, and shoot the rain from their store-houses. See Nat. Displ. vol. i. They all bestir themselves with incessant assiduity, while the air is serene, while the roads are good, and abundance of loose grain lies scattered over the fields. By these precautions, they live secure when storms embroil the sky; they want no manner of conveniency, even when winter lays waste the plains. Asp. Do we improve so diligently our present opportunities? This life is the seed-time of eternity. Do we husband the precious moments like persons sensible of their unspeakable importance? Sensible, that if we trifle and are indolent, they will be irrecoverably gone, and we irretrievably ruined. Sickness, we know not how soon, may invade us, pain may torment us, and both may issue in our final dissolution. Are we duly aware of these awful changes, and properly solicitous to put all in order for their ap proach? We walk (alarming thought!) upon the very brink of death, resurrection, and judgment. Do we walk like wise virgins, having our loins girt, with our lamps trimmed, in a state of continual readiness, for the heavenly bridegroom's advent? Those ants have no guide, overseer, or ruler; ' yet they prepare their meat in the summer, and gather their food in the harvest." We have all these, yet neglect the time of our visitation. We have God's unerring word to guide us; God's ever-watchful eye, to oversee us; God's sovereign command to rule and quicken us. Notwithstanding all these motives, is not the speech of the sluggard the very language of our conduct? A little more sleep, a little more slumber, a little more folding of the hands to sleep.'+ The most supine Prov. vi. 8. + There is, if I mistake not, a nice gradation in this speech of the sluggard; such as very naturally mimics the manner of that lazy creature. He pleads, first, for some considerable degree of indulgence, a little sleep.-If that is too much to be granted, he craves some smaller toleration of his sloth, a little slumber.If the task-master still rings in his ear, still goads his side, one almost sees him rubbing his heavy eyes, and yawning out his last request a little folding of the hands, at least to lie down, Prov. vi. 10.-When such is our conduct with חבק ידים לשכב regard to eternal interests, how justly may we apply that spirited expostulation of the poet; Tantamne Rem tam negligenter! indifference, where all possible diligence is but just sufficient! This, you must allow, is the true character of mankind in general. And does this demonstrate the rectitude of their will? Ther. The understanding may be said to carry the torch, the will to hold the balance. Now, the perfection of a balance consists in being so nicely poised, as to incline at the least touch, and preponderate with the slightest weight. This property belongs, without all dispute, to the human will. Asp. What, if one of your scales should descend to the ground, though charged with trifles that are light as air! If the other should kick the beam, though its contents be weightier than talents of gold? Is not this an exact representation of our will, when the fleeting pleasures of sense, or the puny interests of time excite our wishes; even while the solid delights of religion, and the immensely rich treasures of immortality, can hardly obtain our attention? However, let us quit the metaphor, and examine fact. Suppose I make it appear that, instead of choosing the most eligible objects, the will. is so deplorably vitiated, as to loathe what is salutary, and be fond of what is baneful. Ther. If you prove this to be universally the case, you will prove your favourite point with a witness. Asp. When Providence is pleased to thwart our mea. sures, or defeat our endeavours, to bring us under the cloud of disgrace, or lay upon us the rod of affliction; what is our behaviour? Do we bow our heads in humble resignation? Do we open our mouths in thankful acknowledgments? Observe the waters in that elegant octangular basin; they assimilate themselves with the utmost readiness, and with equal exactness to the vessel that contains them. So would the human will, if it were not extremely froward and foolish, conform itself to the divine; which is unerringly wise, and of all possible contingencies incomparably the best.. Yet This seems to be themeaning of the prophet, p Isa. xxvi. 7. Not- The way of the just is uprightness; this sense, in the present connexion, is hardly consistent with humility, is by no means proper to introduce a devotional address to the great Jehovah. Rather, God's way to the just how apt are we to fret with disquietude, and struggle under afflictive dispensations, as a wild bull in a net ! Ther. This is a very imperfect proof, Aspasio, and corresponds only with part of your accusation; we may dislike what is wholesome, especially if it be unpalatable, yet not be fond of our bane. Asp. Should you see a person who thirsts after the putrid lake, but disrelishes the running fountain; who longs for the empoisoned berries of the nightshade, but abhors the delicious fruit of the orchard, would you applaud the regularity of his appetite? 1 don't wait for your answer; but I more than suspect this is a true picture of all unregenerate people. How do they affect dress and external ornament; but are unwilling rather than desirous, to be clothed with humility," and "to put on Christ!'+ Amusement will engage, play animate, and diversion fire them; but as to the worship of the living God, O! what a weariness is it!' This is attended, if attended at all, with languor and a listless insensibility. Frothy novels and flatulent wit regale their taste, while the marrow and fatness of the divine word are as their sorrowful meat.' What is all this, but to loathe the salutary and long || for the baneful? is uprightness; or still more emphatically, uprightnesses;' ts in all respects irreprovable, excellent, admirable; suited, perfectly suited, to every sacred attribute of wisdom, goodness, and truth. * 1 Pet. v. 5. + Rom. xiii. 14. 1 Mal. i. 13. The reader may see this unhappy contrast drawn in the strongest colours by the royal preacher, and by the mourning prophet. Because I have called, and ye refused: I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded: but ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof.' What a crowd of words! Emphatically declaring the most incorrigible perverseness, which is proof against every method of reformation; against all the arts even of divine persuasion. Prov. 1. 24, 25. The Host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped.' What a heap of expressions! significantly describing that impetuous ardour which no prohibitions can restrain; and that insatiable avidity, which never knows when to say, 'It is enough.' Jer. viii. 2. If I beg leave to add another example of this kind, it is chiefly for the sake of clearing up an obscure passage in the Psalms, which seems to have been mistaken by the authors of both our versions. David, to set forth the barbarous assiduity of his persecutors, says,They wander up and down;' they pry into every corner, they search the city, and examine the country; |