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holiness it cannot be otherwise: and poor blind mistaken men, who would make it consistent with unholiness, know nothing about it, and can have no share in it. How precious then is the gospel, if it can lead man to the glorious presence of God! It is therefore represented to us by something more precious than gold itself, even by pearls: "cast not your pearls," saith the text. And in another text, the kingdom of heaven, which is still no other than the gospel, is like unto a merchant, seeking goodly pearls: who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it. So apposite is this comparison, that even the history of the pearl will afford us moral instruction. Pearls do not lie in the way of every common observer; they lie deep in the ocean; he that would obtain them must seek for them; and he that would purchase the best of them all must give a great price. So also must he who would purchase the gospel; he must seek it—he must give -the whole world for it; nothing less will buy it; and he who would have it for less, shews that he is not worthy of it. The world, as men commonly understand and use it, is one great lie: he that would have the truth, must give it up. "We have left all," said the disciples;

VOL. VII.

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and they did right: they were merchants that knew how to reckon, and how to estimate : they were therefore assured what they should have in return this pearl would make them amends for all they had given up.

But this pure, this holy, this inestimable treasure, is not to be thrown away upon those who are incapable of possessing it. It is not to be given to dogs or swine. A dog is incapable of that which is holy if he were fed with a limb from a sacrifice, it would in that capacity be nothing to him: he would feed upon it, as upon any common thing.* Give a pearl to a swine, and it becomes a thing of no value. It is the same with men. To many of them the gospel signifies no more, than if you were to give a sacrifice to a dog and its value is no more seen or understood, than when pearls are cast before the filthiest beasts in nature; who tread them under foot as they would the mire of the streets. The author of the epistle to the Hebrews bids us think of what sore punishment they must be worthy, who have trodden under foot the Son of God,

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*The ancient Greeks had holy or sacred places; they had even sacred iflands; but into such places it was not lawful to transport a dog. See Xenoph. Cyneg. cap. v. § 23.

and counted the blood of the covenant wherewith they were sanctified, an unholy thing; regards ing these sacred and precious things as dog's and swine would regard and treat the greatest treasures of the world. But of that sore punishment such persons do not think, because they are insensible of their own unworthiness. From the animals by which they are denoted, we may learn what temper they are of, and what is the true reason of their contempt and insensibility. The chief qualities by which dogs and swine are distinguished, are greedi ness, impudence, and uncleanness. These qualities are odious in the worst of beasts; but how much more so, when they are found in men: worst of all, when they are found in Christians; I mean, in those who are so called. And first, for their greediness.

To a bad man this world is the great object. He thinks he never can have enough of it; and he is resolved to get it by any manner of means. As one dog will snatch the meat from the mouth of another, so will he take to himself the property, the prospects, the character, of another man. The dog is all for the present The dog sees nothing beyond it; no more doth he: if the appetite is supplied, it is all he looks for. When the dog is

time; so is he.

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hunting, he thinks of nothing but his prey; and the man of the world, in all his pursuits, thinks only of what he shall catch. The pro phet complains of bad watchmen under the name of greedy deos, which can never have enough; looking every one for his own gain from his quarter.-Isa. lvi. 11. Such men think only how they may get, and have and enjoy; as the dog when he is hunting thinks only how he shall overtake and devour. How incessant are the labours of some men in this chace hunting the world; hunting one another; and snatching whatever they can from those who are upon the same hunt with themselves! These are the men who are so fond of the doctrine of equality; they admire it of all things: but this shews their true character } for a pack of dogs are all equal; all have the same rights; all are born to hunt and devour. No dog gives any thing to another dog: his rule is, to have it all to himself: and so little justice or mercy is there among these animals, when the devouring principle takes place, that it is not an uncommon accident for one poor beast to be marked out for a victim; in which case the rest fall upon him, and tear him to pieces.

That fatal distemper of madness, communicable

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micable to men and all four-footed beasts, and so dreadful in its effects, begins wholly (to the best of our knowledge) in the species of dogs; and is therefore distinguished by the name of canine madness. Distempers of the same quality are bred in the minds of greedy men: distempers as unaccountable, as infectious, and as deadly as that which is bred in dogs. When they lose their religion, and all sense of another world, they are often given up to this malady; and when one man hath it, he is as eager as a raving dog to communicate the same to others. The doctrine of equality; what is it, but the bite of a mad dog? The rights of man" is another bite: The doctrine of election, as the fanatics understand it, is another; and as the dog under his distemper leaves his home, and runs wild into the fields, and woods; so do men with this notion in their heads, leave the church and go off into schism. In all these cases, we see how fast the infection spreads; and how often it is incurable : reason and argument cannot reach it. What can the event be, but that men shall worry and devour one another to the end of the world, unless God of his infinite mercy shall find some remedy? And what does all this arise from but a dog-like greediness after this world? This it is which makes men the enemies

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