ing to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” 2 Cor. v. 10. Let us therefore study to fill our respective stations with faithfulness to the trust, he has committed to us, 66 as they that must give account, that we may do it with joy, and not with grief." Heb. xiii. 17. Let those, who bear the Christian name, Their holy vows fulfil; The saints, the followers of the Lamb, They hate the appearance of a lie, They love the truth; and when they die, ON THE EVIL OF VIOLATING THE TRUTH. THE sin which first brought death and ruin into the world was introduced by a lie. Satan deceived our original parents, by first exciting a doubt concerning God's veracity, and then by telling a direct untruth. And as it is the glory of God that he is the God of truth, so it is the characteristic of Satan that he is the father of lies. He suppprts his kingdom by deceit. It is a common thing for a person, when he has done wrong, to tell lies in order to escape the blame which he justly deserves. And this is with many a very early habit, formed even in childhood, and continued throughout the whole course of life. Now, whenever such an occasion for lying occurs, let me request the person who is temped to it to pause for one moment, while he thus reasons with himself. "If I acknowledge my fault, I shall, it is true, be blamed; but what then? I shall have maintained my character for veracity. If I attempt to conceal my fault by telling a lie, it is probable, that I shall be suspected, and my character for truth may be lost. And what confidence can be afterwards reposed in a person who is detected in telling a lie. Besides, I shall commit, probably, a much greater sin by telling a lie, than I have already done. I shall also violate my conscience; and surely it is better that the whole world should know that I have done wrong, than that God and my conscience should be witness against me that. I have told a lie." If direct lying is thus to be avoided as highly sinful, all approaches to it ought equally to be avoided. The christian, therefore, will take care, that he does not, for instance, hastily make promises which he may be unable to perform. For though he may intend, at the time, to perform them; yet if they are made rashly, and without due consideration, and especially if he is conscious that he has been in the habit of promising too readily, he exposes himself to the danger of uttering a falsehood. The christian will also guard as sedulously against equiv ocation as against a direct lie. The miserable ingenuity of .some persons, who think they have not been guilty of lying because their words have been so managed, as to convey the false idea which they were intended to convey, while they admit of a construction consonant to truth; argues both a want of good sense, and a mean and disingenuous mind. Let such remember that God is not deceived by their sophistry. Liars they are, unquestionably, with cowardice, and a mean, despicable subtelty added to their lie. Such conduct ought, therefore, to be abhorred by every upright and ingenuous character. I conclude this paper with a caution to my readers against indulging a habit of exaggeration in common discourse. The reverence due to the sacred majesty of truth cannot be too strongly enforced upon the mind; and it becomes every person therefore, to measure and guard his words habitually, that reverence may be cherished, and may appear on all occasions. There may indeed, be an unnecessary and ridiculous preciseness, as there is a counterfeit of every thing that is excellent; but the indispensable obligation which lies upon us to keep truth inviolate in every relation, and even in our common modes of expression, ought strenuously to be maintained. Who shall say that one slight transgression may not be a step to another: and that the want of reverence for truth, which now appears only in lesser matters, may not, when wilfully indulged, become so strengthened by habit, as to discover itself on the most im portant occasions? ANDOVER: FRINTED FOR THE NEW ENGLAND TRACT SOCIETY BY FLAGG AND GOULD. 1820. [5th edit. 6,000. MODERATION IN FOOD. THIS virtue is too little practised by many, who, at the same time, would be shocked by the charge of excess in drinking. Such is the weakness of human nature, and such the deceitfulness of sin. Yet gluttony is perhaps, no less mischievous than drunkenness, and when properly considered, equally disgraceful. It enfeebles both mind and body; it is a sinful waste, and the frequent forerunner of poverty and want. The victim of this unhappy vice becomes heavy, idle, and eventually good for nothing, but to supply a larger feast for the worms of the grave. The poet has described persons of this class in the following lines: "There are a number of us creep Into this world to eat and sleep; Ravens and crows might fill their place, The excess, against which we would warn the reader, begins at a point far short of that brutal intemperance which shocks every beholder; it begins soon after hunger is appeased, and the animal spirits are refreshed; it begins when the otherwise satiated appetite must be tempted by variety and by dainties; it begins when a person begins to feel oppression. Listen for a moment to enlightened moralists: "For my part," (says Mr. ADDISON,) when I behold a fashionable table set out in all its magnificence, I fancy that I see gouts and dropsies, fevers and lethargies, with other innumerable distempers, lying in ambuscade among the dishes." "It has been observed, by medical writers, that sober excess, in which many indulge by eating and drinking a little too much at every day's dinner, and every night's supper, more effectually undermines the health, than those more rare excesses by which others now and then break in upon a life of general sobriety." Miss HANNAH MORE. It is by no means intended to suggest that extravagance of this sort is confined to the higher ranks of life. Much to be lamented is the fact, that many of the poor have been known to spend more than the day's earnings upon one meal, and in the dearest times have been found the last to practise lessons of frugality. Such persons involve themselves deeply in debt, and sacrifice character and respectability to a fleshly appetite, under the pretext of supporting themselves in their daily labour. The apology is "We cannot live without it." Let us consult the physicians. Dr. CHEYNE: "Most of all the chronical diseases, the infirmities of old age, and the short periods of the lives of Englishmen are owing to repletion." Dr. BUCHAN: "The slave of appetite will ever be the disgrace of human nature. The great rule of diet is to study simplicity. Nature delights in the most plain and simple food; and every animal, except man, follows her dictates. Man alone riots at large, and ransacks the whole creation in quest of luxuries to his own destruction." Dr. WILLICH: "A much greater number of diseases originate upon the whole from irregu larities in eating, than in drinking." Hear the word of God. "Be not among wine-bibbers, among riotous eaters of flesh. For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty." Prov. xxiii. 20, 21. Jesus, the Son of God, the Saviour of sinners, thus warned his disciples: "Take heed to yourselves lest at any time your hearts be over-charged with surfeiting and druukenness." Luke xxi. 34. Paul, when animating the Christian to a holy warfare, remarks, that "every man who striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things." 1 Cor. ix. 25, And when the Apostles are describing some of the vilest of men, they speak of them as "feeding themselves without fear-whose God is their belly, whose glory is their shame, whose end is destruction." Jude 12. Phil. iii. 19. If the duty of moderation be obligatory at all times, it derives an additional force from the pressure of public and general affliction in a Season of Scarcity. When multijudes pine at home or abroad, dinnerless every day, economy and temperance are doubly binding; prodigality and gluttony brand their votaries with double infamy and guilt. (See Isa. xxii. 12, 13.) Consider how mean it is to pamper a frail and dying body; how foolish to bring dullness and stupidity over the noble powers of the soul: how ungrateful to abuse the bounty of God; how dreadful to contract a habit so difficult to root up, so apt to grow, and which exposes to the heaviest condemnation! What will Jesus the Judge say to the intemperate, the sensualist, the glutton? "Debauched souls! that sacrifice WATTS. Is the reader convicted, ashamed, and self condemned? Let him listen to the following affectionate hints. In the first place, repent in deep abasement, humble yourselves before God, and intreat him to pardon you through the medi- ation of Christ for having abused his bounty, disgraced your rational nature, squandered away precious time and money, which might have been used for nobler purposes, and exhibited a pernicious example to all who have been eye or ear witnesses of your sensuality. Resolve that, by divine assistance, you will put a knife to the throat of this fleshly lust. Be resolute and in a little time you will attain a command over your appetite that will surprise, and please, and profit you. But something more is necessary than the sober use of the food which perishes. The soul requires richer food, and being immortal, will require it forever. Of this food, the Saviour speaks, when he says, "My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed; whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life." By eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Jesus Christ is meant be |