226 Loving Chrill above all, SE R M." Father and mother, wife and children, IX. " brethren and fillers, yea and his own life cc a fa.,, This, in the cafe of temptation to idolatry, was exprefsly provided againft by a divine declaration ; and it may by parity of reafon be applied to other cafes. Deut. xiii. 6, 8. " If thy brother, the fon of thy mother, or " thy fon, or thy daughter, or the wife of " thy bofom, or thy friend, which is as thine " own foul, entice thee fècretly, laying, let " us go, and ferve other Gods Thou (halt " not content unto him, nor hearken unto " him." Befides this, there are other temp- tations which derive their force from the fame root, the love of our intimate friends ; and are only defeated by the fame principle, a fuperior affeäion to Chrift. There is no- thing more common in the world, than for mens families to be fnares to them : While to make a large, or (as they pretend) a com- petent provifion for them, they violate their confciences, and fin againft God, either by dire ì injuftice, or, at leaft, by fuch immo- derate follicitude, and inceffant toil, as is inconfiftent with piety, leaving no room for the exercifes of it ; or by fuch narrownefs, and withholding more than is meet, as is directly contrary
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