IIOLY FORTITVDE, CSSRM. XXYi. -comply with thewarmest temptations toa fashionable sin? Hast thou got such a victory over thyself as to dare to be singular, if thycompany would lead thee into any modish vice ? This is an hard lesson to youngand tender minds, but it must be learned, O my soul, if thou wilt be a christian indeed. Hast thou courage to vindicate the innocent, when he is assaulted with slanders, and to frown upon those who delight in scandal ? Or art thou so meanly spirited, as to join in a common jest, that is thrown upon the absent, and to mix with the odious tribe of back biters ? Re- member this is a shameful baseness of spirit; but a christian must be a man of honour Canst thou see thy friends, thy.companions,,indulge a sinful course, and hast thou not one kind admonition for them ? Hast thou not virtue and courage enough to warn thy brother, and to turn his foot from the path of iniquity, that leads to ruin and death ? But remember also, that gentleness and love must attend thy rebukes, if thou ever desirest they should attain success.. A re prover should have a bold, but a tender spirit. What zeal host thou, O my soul, for reformation ? Or canst thou bear with immoralities and corruptions of every kind ? And rather than venture to displease man, wilt thou let thy neighbours go on for ever to displease God ? Ghat wouldest thou do, if thou wert called to face the great, and to profess religion before the mighty men of the earth Is thy faith grown bold enough to shew itself in a court, in a palace, and to venture all thy earthly in- terests for the defence of it ? Thus far concerning thy active fortitude. But how stands the case with regard to passive valour, and endur- ing,of sùfferirrgs ? Is thy heart firm under sharp trials of providence ? Canst thou resign thy healthand thy ease into the .:hand of God without fretting or repining ? Or doth thy courage faint, and thy impatience shamefully discover itself under the common pains and diseases of nature ? .I grant, there is much of weakness derived even' to a manly spirit, from the distempers of the flesh : When the nerves are unbraced, and the tabernacle òf the body tottering, the soul partakes of the infirmities of this poor fleshly engine. O frail unhappy state of human na-
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